Florida Democratic lawmaker wants Mar-a-Lago punished for maskless New Year's Eve bash

A newly elected state lawmaker from South Florida wants Palm Beach County to take on President Trump's Mar-a-Lago club for its New Year's Eve bash, at which many patrons and performers were seen without masks. 

State Rep. Omari Hardy, D-Lake Worth Beach, wrote a letter Friday evening to Todd Bonlarron, assistant county administrator for Palm Beach County, asking whether the county will take action against the private club for violating a countywide mandatory mask policy. 

"I recognize that the President is a powerful person and that his business, Mar-a-Lago is a daunting target for enforcement," Hardy wrote in an email that included a link to a Twitter post from the party that showed people without masks. "But as far as I know, the law still applies to the President and to his business." 

Hardy was a Lake Worth Beach City commissioner before resigning and being elected to the Florida state House in November. 

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Trump left South Florida on Dec. 31, before that evening's Mar-a-Lago event, which featured performers Vanilla Ice and members of the Beach Boys. 

A message left Sunday morning for Mar-a-Lago Managing Director Bernd Lembcke was not immediately returned. 

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis extended an executive order last month that bans local governments from enforcing mask mandates with fines against individuals, but some counties and municipalities are trying to sidestep the rule. 

According to a Sarasota Herald-Tribune story last month, the city of Tampa, as well as Hillsborough and Pinellas counties, said they would issue $500 fines to business that allow customers to go maskless.

Palm Beach County Administrator Verdenia Baker recently responded to concerns about a mostly maskless gathering of 2,000 high school and college students at the Palm Beach County Convention Center for Turning Point USA's Student Action Summit. 

She said the group, which is pro-Trump, had oversold the event, but an event spokesman said that wasn't true. 

The Town of Palm Beach issued an alert in late December asking people to be cautious on New Year's Eve and to abide by the county's mask mandate. 

Town Council President Maggie Zeidman said at the time she was concerned that some organizations and clubs had chosen to go ahead with their New Year's Eve plans.

"I think that's all going to come back and bite us eventually. People know the message: wearing masks, not congregating with people you don't live with, keeping a distance from others, wash your hands and don't touch your face. So it's either they don't want to believe it can happen to them, or they reject the concept of the pandemic altogether," Zeidman said.

Hardy doesn't mention the Turning Point event in his letter, but said he is concerned about the Mar-a-Lago staff and the people they encounter — and presumably might infect — after the event. 

"It is for them that we should see to it that our mask order is enforced and that potential super-spreader events like this are kept form happening," Hardy said. 

Follow Kimberly Miller on Twitter @Kmillerweather