Four days after close exposure to someone with COVID-19, Ben Baker is taking his campaign door-to-door

Only four days after being in close proximity to someone with COVID-19, Rep. Ben Baker, R-Neosho, announced he will take his re-election campaign door-to-door.

Baker, along with his fellow area state representatives and other local officials, were with Gov. Mike Parson when he came to Carthage Monday for a ceremonial signing of HB 66, which provides pre-trial protection for witnesses.

Baker also had the opportunity to shake hands with the governor, an eyewitness told the Turner Report.

Two days later, Parson announced that he and his wife had contracted the coronavirus.

None of the state representatives pictured with Parson for the signing wore a mask, though Baker, perhaps misunderstanding the CDC guidelines, did wear a scraggly beard.

COVID-19 exposure notwithstanding, Baker promoted his plans for a door-to-door campaign on his Facebook page this morning.

We're putting together a big volunteer group to knock some doors this Saturday. Send me a PM if you are interested in helping for a few hours. It’ll be fun and lunch will be provided! 

 One responder to Baker's potential super spreader invitation was so enthused that she said Baker could come to Morse Park in Neosho where a prayer walk is being held and spread the good news.

Baker's message offered no encouragement to wear masks (or beards).

Baker has been a staunch opponent of nearly every attempt to battle the pandemic, including leading a vocal and unruly contingent to the July 9 Neosho City Council meeting when a proposed mask ordinance for the city was being discussed.

That ordinance was rejected.

At the time when businesses were shut down to COVID-19, Baker wrote a letter strongly encouraging Parson, the same governor who brought the disease into an already heavily-afflicted Carthage Monday and never wore a mask to protect anyone else, to reopen the state.

"Even before a stay-at-home order was implemented in Missouri, most responsible people were taking heed and staying home. Most were willing to do whatever it took to save lives and mitigate the spread,"

Baker wrote, not clearly indicating whether he was one of those responsible people.

My constituents have made it very clear to me that we need to re-open our state. At the very least, we need to open up areas that have not been hard hit. Our area has relatively very small numbers of COVID-19 cases and the shutdown is unwarranted in these areas.

While Baker was certainly right that the economic shutdown could not have remained the way it was, he has resolutely opposed measures that could have made a difference in slowing the spread of the coronavirus through Newton County.

Since Baker organized and led the opposition to a Neosho mask ordinance, Newton County has recorded 928 COVID-19 cases and 16 deaths in 79 days.

On his Facebook page, Baker has continued, almost always without providing any documentation, to rail against lockdowns (though no one has been proposing any) and the taking of basic precautionary measures.

For those who are receptive to Ben Baker's message, the good news is that you won't have to sign in to Facebook to read it.

He may be knocking on your door tomorrow.