Leading congressional libertarians Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) and Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) have showed solidarity with a Washington restaurant which had its liquor license revoked by D.C. authorities for not enforcing COVID-19 mask and vaccine mandates by publicly dining there.
“I’m proud of the owner for not submitting,” Paul told Reason Magazine in an interview.
“Congress has allowed you to make these rules, and you’ve shown yourself unsuitable,” says Massie, speaking of D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser.
Big Board is a sports bar and restaurant based on H-Street in Washington, D.C., a city which has enforced some of most draconian mandates in the country. It is owned by Eric Flannery, a small businessman who drew praise from Massie and Paul for his bold stand.
“I’m just a little old bar owner,” Flannery stated to the Reason reporter. “I’ve been down here for ten years, and I love everybody who comes. My servers are not lesser people. They don’t need to be masked. They don’t carry disease.”
Flannery also added that he did not have the human resources to enforce a vaccine mandate and the D.C. government was not providing additional personnel to facilitate this.
“I don’t have the people for that,” he said. “I just know that I’m doing the right thing and this place is supposed to be open.”
Although the liquor license has been suspended, the restaurant has continued serving food and soft drinks to customers.
