Censuring Council Member Heather Heidelbaugh for remarks made during the course of the March 26, 2014 meeting of the Committee on Budget and Finance which, in the judgment of Council, violate the standards established by the Rules of Allegheny County Council and the Allegheny County Ethics Code.
WHEREAS, the Ethics Code of Allegheny County clearly establishes that all Council Members are to abide by the Code’s standards for honor and integrity, and “[d]edicate themselves to the highest ideals of honor and integrity in all public relationships in order to merit the respect and confidence of covered persons, and the public;’ and
WHEREAS, Article II, Rule M.9. of Council’s Rules permits the censure of Council Members by motion for violating Council’s own rules regarding decorum in the course of Council proceedings; and
WHEREAS, it is the judgment of Council that this Rule was not intended to foreclose the availability of the censure motion for violation of other ethical or legal standards of behavior that are applicable to the Council Members in the course of conducting County business; and
WHEREAS, during the course of the Committee on Budget and Finance’s March 26, 2014 meeting, Allegheny County Council Member Heather Heidelbaugh engaged in debate relating to Bill No. 8151-14, a resolution undertaking certain interdepartmental transfers withi n the County’s 2014 operating budget; and
WHEREAS, in the course of this debate, Ms. Heidelbaugh compared Budget and Finance Chairman Michael Finnerty to Russian President and former KGB officer Vladimir Putin; and
WHEREAS, the comparison, made at a time at which President Putin was undertaking a forcible annexation of the Crimean Peninsula, an action that was widely publicized as constituting a violation of international law, inevitably implies that Chairman Finnerty was consciously undertaking violations of the Council’s practice and/or rules relating to committee meetings; and
WHEREAS, pursuant to Article II, Ru...
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