ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – The State Senate majority leader, Paul Gazelka, R-East Gull Lake, said he could have handled positive COVID cases among Republican senators better. Gazelka withheld information from Senate Democrats that several Republican senators had tested positive for COVID at possible spreader events and then returned to the Capitol. Gazelka had, however, written a memo to Republican senators that “a number of members and staff” had been diagnosed with the virus. In retrospect, Gazelka said, he should have done better to notify other senators and staff members. A lesson learned, he said in a statement from a Florida vacation. Democrats have called on Gazelka to resign for exposing them and others to the virus at the Legislature’s special session last week. Gazelka was also criticized for holding a post-election event that 100 GOP leaders, aides and spouses attended without masks.
Earlier: Democrats to Gazelka: Step down
Gazelka. Posing at a happier moment with his GOP majority on Capitol steps.