Nothing to correct, Mr. Mayor
Peduto’s office proves my point
Ididn’t want to write about Mr. Mayor again. I really didn’t.
I had in the works plans for a column of a completely different ilk.
Then came the email from Bill Peduto ( more accurately, from his PR guy. I guess the mayor was too busy to type his own snippy note to me. And while I’m being really precise, the snippy note was to my boss — I just was cc’d). “The Mayor’s Office requests a correction.”
That was the closing line.
The proposed correction was to my July 12 column “Peduto’s Pose: The Mayor Prefers Posture Over Substance.”
To sum, the column was about the irony and hypocrisy of Mr. Peduto, to wit: his administration filed a friend of the court brief in litigation before the U. S. Supreme Court seeking workplace protections for people in the LGBTQ community. Two days earlier, it was disclosed in the news columns of the Post- Gazette that Mr. Mayor’s own LGBTQ advisory panel had written him a note complaining of, well, a general lack of respect. Mr. Peduto had met with the panel only three times since it was created in 2017 and not at all this year; the city had failed to provide enough financial support for the panel to do meaningful work; the council doesn’t have access to a dedicated Facebook account or email.
Now we’re getting to the fun part.
Mr. City Communications Guy included in his note, in italics, an excerpt from my column. It follows:
“All of this is particularly perplexing when juxtaposed with the fact that Pittsburgh City Council has been working on a new city ordinance amendment ( enacted this week) that adds “gender identity” and “gender expression” to the municipal anti- discrimination code. Doesn’t it seem logical Mr. Mayor’s administration would have wanted and would have sought input from the LGBTQIA+ Advisory Council while drafting such legislation? If not then, when?”
The email from the mayoral mouthpiece directs my boss ( and me) to “the email thread below.”
I know this is a bit convoluted but stick with me for a minute:
The thread included an email sent from yet another mayoral “communicator,” this one to the LGBTQ advisory council. It was sent June 11, informing the council of the pending LGBTQ legislation, when it was to be introduced to city council ( June 25) and when the press conference announcing the legislation was to be held ( June 25). And members of the LGBTQ panel were invited to attend said press conference. ( Of course they were.)
I wish I had the space to include the entire email from the city to the advisory council. Suffice it to say that it’s more than 500 words — not including the “matrix” attachment. The email extensively details the changes, the intent, explanations, et al, associated with the city’s proposed LGBTQ legislation. It notes that “feedback” from the panel is “welcome” then proceeds to give the location, time and day for the all- important press conference.
Exactly what kind of input was being sought? Clearly, nothing substantive. Perhaps nothing at all.
But back to the email from Mr. Mayor’s Communications Guy to my boss. He writes:
“As you can see from the email thread below, Mayor Peduto’s liaison to the Advisory Council... did indeed seek input from the Council on June 11, a full two weeks before the legislation was introduced to Pittsburgh City Council.”
Oh, I can picture Bill and PR Guy gleefully rubbing their hands together. I can hear the “gotcha.”
Here’s the thing: The emails from the mayor’s office only bolster the point of my last column. When it comes to Mr. Peduto, it’s more about the window dressing than the glass.
The mayor’s LGBTQ council wasn’t being asked on June 11 for meaningful input while changes to city law were being drafted. Heck, the proposed legislation was all but signed, sealed and delivered when the perfunctory contact was initiated with the advisory council. The email was nothing more than a matter of protocol — much like the creation of the LGBTQ panel itself, it would seem.
So, no, there will be no correction, Bill. But you do get a nod of appreciation. Thanks for driving home my message. Your window glass is pretty transparent despite all the dressing.