Charleston’s elected leaders will soon have the power to reprimand their fellow board members if they step out of line and apparently violate their oath.
The City Council created a new “code of conduct” for itself and its colleagues on February 23, but with a split vote of 8 to 4. The measure still needs to pass two more readings on the council before it goes into effect.
If so, it would allow a supermajority on the board to censor other members of the elected body and potentially remove these officials from committees where many of the city’s policies and laws are drafted and developed.
Council members started asking about this code after Harry Griffin, a councilor representing Ashley West, was accused of speaking to members of the Proud Boys, a far-right hate group, about a demonstration held in downtown Charleston. last year.
Griffin denied any association with the Proud Boys, but a video was released online showing Griffin supporting some of the ideas the group was putting forward before the rally. He was also caught on tape humiliating other members of the council.
Since then, there have been petitions calling for Griffin’s resignation, who is in his first term, and the public has used the comment period during board meetings to repeatedly ask him to resign. This trend continued at the beginning of this week’s board meeting.
“He shouldn’t be able to sit among you,” Rev. Nelson Rivers, a longtime member of the NAACP who is also associated with the National Action Network, told board members.
Other people who spoke before the meeting expressed support for Griffin, who is the youngest member of the city’s administrative body.
“Don’t let them push you out, Harry,” said one speaker, who called the virtual meeting.
Several board members said they currently have no mechanism to officially condemn the actions of one of their colleagues or hold them accountable. That is why they asked the city attorney in December to help draft the new code of conduct.
Council members debated the language of the new ordinance for more than an hour before finally approving it in the late evening of February 23.
Griffin acknowledged that the code of conduct was aimed specifically at him because of his actions last year. Even so, he initially said he would support the move because it was “the council’s will”.
But just before the board meeting ended, Griffin changed his mind. He went on to label the effort as a “witch hunt” and ended up choosing to abstain from voting.
“You can put me on trial. Okay. You can try to embarrass me. Okay. You can remove me from the committees. Okay,” said Griffin. “But at the end of the day, the people who elected me are District 10, and they will decide whether to stay or not.”
According to the new rules, there are specific measures that board members must follow if they want to challenge the conduct of one of their colleagues. First, they will need to file a complaint with the mayor in particular, according to the ordinance, and if the complaint is about the mayor, the matter will be referred to the mayor provisionally.
Thereafter, the complaint can be dealt with through “advice” or can be publicly reviewed at a hearing. If the breach is serious enough, nine of the 13 board members can vote to censor that person or remove them from their committee assignments.
Ross Appel, who represents parts of West Ashley and James Island, said he saw no problem in giving the council the same kind of power that South Carolina’s Congress and Legislature have. He said that board members should be able to hold their own colleagues accountable.
“This is something that is done. It is a way for a body to police its ranks,” said Appel.
Peter Shahid, who represents West Ashley, also supported the new code of conduct and said elected officials have a responsibility to act appropriately because they represent the city.
“I’m sorry to have to debate this. I’m sorry to have to bring it up,” he said. “But we have to do it.”
Other board members questioned whether the code of conduct would be used by elected officials in the future to launch political attacks on each other.
Keith Waring, who represents the central part of West Ashley, said he feared the law could be used to punish minority groups on the board.
It should not be up to other council members to say how other elected officials can participate in city government, Waring said. Council members are already held accountable by their voters every four years, he said. “I think it’s an instinctive reaction.”
William Dudley Gregorie, whose district includes the west side of the peninsula, agreed with Waring. “I will not support this,” he said. “This is a slippery slope.”
Marie Delcioppo, whose district includes Daniel Island and part of the Charleston peninsula, explained that the process would have protections in place. She said that any alleged violations in the future would be reviewed and a hearing could be held to determine whether board members violated their oath of office.
Appel pointed out that censoring a council member or removing him from the committees would require the support of three-quarters of the city council. This would help prevent complaints from being made for political or personal reasons, he said.
Council members also said they could adjust the decree before it was taken for a final reading by the city council in the coming weeks to put more safeguards in place.