House Speaker Matt Ritter, D-Hartford, instructed lawmakers take their seats. He ordered the doors to the House chamber locked.
“Nobody out. Nobody in.”
What followed on Thursday afternoon was a rare dressing down — over dress, no less — prompted by Rep. Cara Pavalock-D’Amato, R-Bristol, flouting the House rules of decorum as the annual session opened Wednesday. She wore a political message on the back of her blazer: “ICE IN.”
The same rule that bans smoking and the use of cell phones during debates, among other things, also bars the display of slogans, banners or plaques. Essentially, if you have something to say, the rules require it be done by rising to speak, a right easily exercised in a legislature with a tradition of unlimited debate.
“Look, this is the historic House of Representatives. It’s not an elementary school, and I’m not a hallway monitor,” Ritter said, his voice sharp. “I am the duly elected speaker of the House, and I was elected to enforce the rules of this chamber, and I will do that.”
On another opening day, Pavalock-D’Amato arrived wearing a black dress emblazoned with a four-letter acronym: MAGA. It largely went unnoticed, or at least unremarked. The same was true this year until Pavalock-D’Amato stood and turned her back to Gov. Ned Lamont as he delivered his State of the State to a joint session.
The moment came as Lamont decried the tactics and training of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Homeland Security unit central to President Donald Trump’s aggressive campaign to detain and deport unauthorized immigrants.
“ICE, everywhere you go uninvited, violence follows. Go home. We’re keeping Connecticut safe without you,.” Lamont said.
From her seat two rows behind the Republican leaders, Pavalock-D’Amato stood, turned around and motioned to her pro-ICE message.
Ritter said members of the House are free to wear slogans in other parts of the building, but not in a chamber.
“Think about the fact that you represent the town and represent your state. You’re lucky to be one of 151 people that can engage in debate and pass laws. Think about that. Have pride in that,” Ritter said, his voice rising. “But don’t turn this place into a circus.”
“Do I make myself clear that we’re not going to have this tomfoolery and riffraff ever again this session?”
There were mumbled murmurs of assent.
“Don’t test me,” he said.
There was a brief, awkward silence. When some Democrats began softly applauding, Ritter turned on them.
“No. No. No!”
The chamber fell silent.
Ritter said, “Let’s get on with the business of the day.”
Pavalock-D’Amato was not in her seat when Ritter spoke, but she was unrepentant when speaking to reporters later. She said she had received a death threat via text Thursday.
“I don’t have any regrets whatsoever,” she said.
Pavalock-D’Amato said she respected Ritter and the House, but she had the jacket made and wore it to make a statement. She said she anticipated Lamont might make an issue of ICE or the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.
“The governor has the floor,” she said. “There’s no way for us to speak during that speech, so I don’t have any regrets whatsoever.”
House Republicans did not object to Ritter’s dressing down, but they said the governor’s remarks were offensive, if falling within the rules expression.
Rep. Ben McGorty, R-Shelton, was one of a few Republicans who walked out on the governor — a gesture also within the rules.
McGorty’s son has been an ICE agent for a decade, and he is well-trained, he said.
“He appreciates the local cops. No respect for the ICE agents. He says, ‘They wear masks. They’re cowards.’ They wear a mask because they don’t live in another planet. They don’t live in a cocoon somewhere,” McGorty said. “They’re here in our neighborhoods. They don’t want to get attacked by the gang members and stuff like that.”
House Minority Leader Vincent J. Candelora, R-North Branford, said he told the governor after the speech it was inappropriate and a disappointment.
