Thursday February 9, 2017
Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday February 9, 2017
Hamilton city staff broke rules at Washington Trump protest
A group of city of Hamilton employees who took part in the massive anti-Trump women’s march in Washington last month were in breach of city policies.
The staffers used a city van without permission to get to Washington and conducted out-of-country city business without proper authorization.
Joe-Anne Priel, general manager of community and emergency services, was the ranking staffer among the seven employees.
Priel should have gotten authorization for the travel and use of the van from city manager Chris Murray. She didn’t.
In an email to Murray and councillors, Priel explained the group used the city van because they were conducting business while in Washington, specifically visiting community hubs and picking up “ideas which we are keen to implement.”
The question is, did they book the hub visits before or after the decision to take part in the Washington march?
The answer is a muddy as the optics. (Source: Andrew Dreschel, Hamilton Spectator)