Bedford Town Councilor refuses mask request

“I am not comfortable, you aren’t wearing a mask”

This is what I said to Bedford Town Councilor and candidate for NH State Senate Denise Ricciardi to try and get her to respect my wishes to keep safe in these uncertain times.

She stopped for a moment. Stared at me. Then declared to my face, "I wear one when I feel it is necessary." and continued to shout across me without a mask.

This incident occurred last weekend. We were at our designated spots to campaign at the Bedford Transfer station, Ms. Ricciardi was there with fellow candidate Linda Gould. Both did not wear masks. Coincidentally, this was the weekend the President was brought to Walter Reed Medical Center because of his recent Covid-19 infection.

Despite trying to be good natured with their making sport of our mask wearing and distancing, we were all there to increase visibility (hold signs) for our campaigns and we were all committed to be cordial. Denise Ricciardi kept trying to engage in friendly conversations with many of us in the group. Unfortunately this required her to speak loudly, almost yell to get her voice out to connect from her space to ours. It meant that her remarks and discussion was often in the face of many of us. Finally, this became too much for me. The pit in my stomach signaled this was not a situation that felt safe. The masked and safe distanced public activity that I had signed up for was now becoming too risky for me. I spoke up. I kindly requested that Denise stop speaking near me as I was "uncomfortable" with her being unmasked. Denise flatly refused to face away from me or don a mask and continued to speak in my direction and near my masked face. No apology or any attempt to consider my concern.

Unfortunately, the simple act of wearing a mask has been made into a political statement instead of a sign of respect and consideration for health and safety. For someone running to represent our community this blatant disregard for such a simple act of common courtesy is disturbing.

We have a President who has shown wanton disrespect for people’s lives throughout this pandemic. I never imagined that this callous behavior would actually seep into our own backyards by a person seeking to represent us all. Shame on you Town Councilor Ricciardi.