With the new mask guidelines the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released Thursday, the COVID-19 pandemic feels like it’s nearing an end for many of us. I get my second Moderna shot next week, at which point my transformation into the little-known Batman supervillain Blood Clottus will be complete. (Okay, just kidding. Side effects don’t scare me. Needles, on the other hand …)

There are plenty of things I want to go back to, like movie theaters, restaurants, worry-free shopping trips, and my favorite sex fetish game: “Bats in Pants.” It feels pretty good because I feel like I’ve earned it by quarantining, social distancing, masking, and, most recently, getting half-vaxxed. I also feel like I’ve spent the past year respecting the rights, dreams, and wishes of my fellow travelers on this fragile blue-green globule of wanton pestilence.

But there are plenty of people who refused to take the vaccine seriously—at all—for the past year and change, people who eschewed common-sense health guidance in favor of the former guy’s sporadic head-methane emissions. We call these people assholes. Another good word for them would be “Republicans.”

Meet Rep. Doug Lamborn. The Colorado Republican is getting sued for what could only be described in layman’s terms as “chronic assholery.” A former Lamborn staffer named Brandon Pope filed the suit on May 13 in the District Court for the District of Columbia, claiming he was fired after raising objections to his boss’ “reckless and dangerous approach” to COVID-19.

From Politico:

Yup, sounds like a horrible, dangerous, and hostile environment—also known as “America” (for most of the past year, anyway).

According to Pope’s lawsuit, early on in the pandemic, when most congressional offices moved to remote work, Lamborn insisted that his staff continue to operate in-person — allegedly saying that he would not allow House leadership to dictate how he ran his office, and “belittl[ing] any staffer who raised health-related concerns.” When Pope suggested that one staffer with health conditions at least be afforded a “zip wall” to limit exposure to other staff, Lamborn denied those requests.

Holy shit, what a prick.

Pope also alleges that Lamborn once told a staffer, “Well, I don’t care about you guys getting it.” This was in October 2020, just as U.S. COVID-19 case numbers were poised to skyrocket, and after Lamborn had discovered his office was becoming a “hotbed” of infection. The lawsuit claims that around Oct. 5, 2020, Lamborn was told that his deputy chief of staff had tested positive. Despite having worked closely with the individual just prior to hearing about the positive result, Lamborn refused to quarantine, attending a campaign event and a shipyard tour in subsequent days. Earlier in the pandemic, Lamborn had also referred to COVID-19 as a “hoax” that was being hyped up to influence elections.

And it keeps getting worse. Lamborn also reportedly told his staff to stay mum about their infections “lest the media pick up on the office’s (COVID-19) problem.”

And that’s still not all!

Pope also claims he was fired for “alleged lack of professionalism and abrasiveness toward his colleagues and supervisors” after continuing to raise concerns about the office’s failure to follow COVID-19 protocols.

In order to further establish Lamborn’s assholery, Pope also alleged that Lamborn let his son live in a storage area in the Capitol basement after he moved to Washington, D.C., and that the congressman’s staff did personal errands for him and his family, such as moving furniture or picking up his personal mail when he went on vacation. Staffers were also allegedly told to do campaign work during office hours.

Having watched Republicans flout the rules from sea to shining sea for most of the past year, it’s refreshing to see that there may be a comeuppance for at least one of them.

And, hey, maybe this will inspire others to file their own suits. Now wouldn’t that be fun?

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