The same sheriff who was a keynote speaker at a Grand Rapids, Michigan, rally against Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s stay-at-home COVID-19 order is, himself, working from home over fear of the virus.
Barry County Sheriff Dar Leaf, 55, confirmed that he is working most of the time from home, despite having no underlying conditions that could make him more vulnerable.
The Republican sheriff spoke to a crowd of about 300 at a rally in Grand Rapids last week, and it got him national attention. He compared the stay at home order to mass arrest.
Leaf, who’s been sheriff 16 years, is reportedly among a number of sheriffs in Michigan who believe they, not the governor, have the authority to uphold laws in their counties.
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel has warned that the sheriffs are setting a dangerous precedent by arbitrarily enforcing laws.
The sheriff said he has had no cases of COVID-19 in his department and doesn’t want to spread it, so he mainly works from home and goes in to the office only occasionally.
To justify his protests while working from home he told the news source that “people are ready to get back to work.” Then he thought of another excuse and reached out to say that he and the undersheriff, who was also working from home, needed to stay healthy in case others in the department became ill.
See the local source here.
