Allegheny County Ordinance: Who to Thank and Who to Shame

July 02, 2009

Allegheny County Ordinance: Who to Thank and Who to Shame

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Here is how the vote turned out for the Allegheny County Ordinance to create a human relations commission and adopt a policy of non-discrimination in the areas of housing, employment, and public accommodations.

What was most striking to me, was how many of those who voted against it would say “No one should be discriminated against, but…” It is difficult to square that idea of being against discrimination but voting against the ordinance, except to call it bull shit. They are hypocrites.

A number of “no” hypocrites claimed that this doesn’t belong at the county level of government and belongs at the state level. These individuals display cowardice, and seek to be followers rather than leaders. If Allegheny County is to become a thriving economic leader in the state, we need to get rid of the followers and replace them with forward thinking leaders.

A few of the “no” hypocrites claimed that it would cost too much. Aside from the fact that the human relations commission is a volunteer body, Where has this objection been all along? The bill was fist introduced a year ago. If this was a real objection, it would not have been hard to – over the past 12 months- gather data from Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, and other locales across the state as to what exactly has been the cost to run their human relation boards. These individuals are lazy. They had a tear to explore this issue and did nothing except raise the objection at the 11th hour. Allowing lazy people to occupy seats on our county government will not allow Allegheny County to grow and be progressive.

One “no” hypocrite was worried that this might not be legal. I’m unclear as to label this as blind, ignorant, lazy or all three. With attorneys on the Council including the sponsor of the bill, and with a vast array of resources at his disposal, it would not have been hard to seek guidance about this before the meeting. Similar to the cost issue, it would not have been hard to collect information about how other municipalities across the state saw the legal issue.

At least one no vote wasn’t hypocritical at all. Jan Rea said almost nothing at all during the heated debate. She did not say that no one should be discriminated against. It isn’t clear if she is in favor of discrimination, or she is just quiet. Her only contribution, aside from voting “no,” was to state that the number of calls received on this issue. I did not take adequate notes, but I think the numbers were about 119 against the ordinance and 38 for the ordinance. I’d label her, guilty of a lack of thoroughness. The numbers she mentioned are only the numbers that came in to the general switch board, and for those council members who request that the office record their messages. A number of the council members collect their own phone messages and these numbers wouldn’t be in the database. So, the only thing the numbers do is say that more people who were opposed to the ordinance called Â than who supported it. Does this mean, more people are opposed to the ordinance than are for it? By no means! Rea introduces data which is irrelevant to the real issue at hand as a way to derail the discussion.

However, in the spirit of MSNBC’s countdown, the worst council person would have to be Chuck McCullough who introduced an amendment to put this issue up for a referendum vote, who presented himself as trying to be fair, and who was busy playing politics with our civil rights. His rationale for a referendum was two-fold. 1) Let the voters decide. 2) Because the democrats had pushed for a referendum over the drink tax. He went so far as to blame the democrats- if they hadn’t pushed for a referendum, than he wouldn’t be doing it now. McCullough is one of two at-large council seats. We need to get him out of there as soon as we can! It was pointed out to me that in February, McCullough was arrested. Is this the type of person we want to be leading Allegheny forward?

Take some time to email or write and thank those who voted for this legislation, and to shame those who did not. Especially thank Amanda Green for all her hard work on this, and Jim Burn who worked skillfully throughout the debate last evening.