A Georgia state police officer escorted a Republican state legislator out of the Atlanta City Council on Tuesday after he refused to comply with the legislature’s coronavirus testing protocols.
Congressman David Clark, who represents a suburban district northeast of Atlanta, was led from the chamber by order of Congressman David Ralston, the mayor and another Republican. Mr. Ralston, without mentioning Mr. Clark’s name, initially announced that a colleague did not follow the testing protocols and asked that member to leave. But Mr. Clark refused.
“I don’t know about you, but I’ve been to a lot of funerals – and I’m tired of going to them,” said Ralston from the Casa dais after ordering Clark to be removed.
Lawmakers are required to be tested twice a week on a Capitol website during the session.
The outbreak was just the latest internal struggle between Georgia’s Republicans, who were divided by former President Donald J. Trump’s efforts to overturn state election results. Clark and other lawmakers signed an amicus brief in support of a Texas lawsuit, rejected by the United States Supreme Court, which sought to nullify Trump’s losses in Georgia and three other undecided states.
Ralston was among the top Republican lawmakers who resisted Trump’s efforts to change election results based on unsubstantiated allegations of widespread electoral fraud.
Clark, in a telephone interview on Tuesday, said he did not take the test because he was upset that people working in Georgia had access to regular tests, while many other Americans did not. “There are only a few tests,” he said.
Mr. Clark said he was considering legal action to challenge his expulsion and that he believed it was political retaliation by Mr. Ralston. Mr. Clark had already demanded Mr. Ralston’s resignation after an Atlanta Journal-Constitution investigation found that the speaker, who is a lawyer, used his political position to delay lawsuits for clients accused of child sexual abuse, violence domestic violence and rape, among other charges.
“The speaker is trying to crucify me because of what I did to him in the past,” said Clark.
Mr. Clark said he did not deny the pandemic. But he said he considered the state’s regular testing regime for lawmakers excessive if they were following the recommendations of public health experts to wear masks, monitor temperatures and distance socially.