CNN "Newsroom" - Transcript Interview with William Boddie

Interview

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Joining me now is William Boddie, he is a member of the Georgia legislature and a Democrat. Thank you so much for being with us, Representative. I wonder just what was your reaction when you found out that your state has actually been getting reality-based warnings that complete contradict the public health stance from the state government, and that they are not following this, and that they're keeping it secret?

STATE REP. WILLIAM BODDIE (D-GA): Well, that's a great question. I was completely stunned and shocked. I mean, for the citizens of the state of Georgia to find out about this White House Task Force report in regards to their great state and my great state of Georgia through a leak, and AJC basically making this leak come to light, was very problematic for me.

Because we're talking about people's lives, and then this is not a political issue, this is a public health issue that every citizen in the state of Georgia needs to know what needs to be done to stop the spread of COVID-19 in the state of Georgia. And so it was very problematic for me.

[14:20:03]

KEILAR: And the Task Force, quote, "strongly recommends," those were the two words --

BODDIE: Yes.

KEILAR: -- that were used, that Georgia adopt a statewide mandate that citizens wear masks.

BODDIE: Yes.

KEILAR: As you are well aware -- and I think our viewers all over the country are aware -- the governor there, Governor Kemp, has recommended masks but he has refused so far to issue a statewide order. He even sued the mayor of Atlanta when she tried to impose one in the city of Atlanta, which has since been dropped.

BODDIE: Yes.

KEILAR: But I wonder what you think he might be doing going forward. He's talked about an executive order this weekend, what are you expecting?

BODDIE: I just think that is totally out of line for the governor. And the reason why is that in the state of Georgia, you have mayors like Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms in the city of Atlanta, and Mayor Van Johnson in Savannah, Georgia that are trying to do the right thing to protect their constituents. They are closest to their constituents and they know.

And so my request to the governor would be, if you're not going to mandate masks statewide, leave the local elected officials alone and let them enforce mask mandates on the local and county level.

When we talk about local control, the governor wants to control mask mandates for cities. However, he's letting the school system pick and choose if they want to mandate masks. So if you're going to let the school system mandate masks on the local levels, let the local municipalities and counties do the same thing in the state of Georgia.

KEILAR: I do want to mention that we contacted the governor's office to see if he could join us, and we got this statement from his press secretary.

Quote, "Governor Kemp continues to rely on data, science, and the public health advice of Dr. Kathleen Toomey and her team in our state's ongoing battle against COVID-19. As the governor has said many times before, this fight is about protecting the lives and livelihoods of all Georgians."

What's your reaction to that?

BODDIE: What data is he looking at? I would challenge the governor. The Governor's Mansion is less than 15 minutes, I would say, away from the CDC, less than 15 minutes away from Emory University, where you have global pandemic experts that are getting the data on a daily basis.

And I would ask the governor, just drive over to one of those facilities or both and sit down with the experts on the COVID-19 virus and talk with them, and analyze their data. Because the data that he's looking at obviously is not the right data.

If you're a citizen in the state of Georgia and we have 10.6 million people and we're up with the other states that are twice our size, like the state of Florida, the state of Texas and the state of California, the state of Florida has 22 million people. The state of Texas has 30 million people, and the state of California has 40 mil.

So you're going to tell me that the data that the governor's looking at and examining is the right data? Because if it is, we wouldn't be in the top five with other states that are twice, three times and four times the size of the state of Georgia. If he was looking at the right data.

KEILAR: Representative, thank you for being with us. William Boddie, we appreciate it.

BODDIE: Thank you so much for having me.

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