The next D.C. Council meeting could be a lot calmer than usual.
Chairman Kwame Brown told the Washington Post he wants to enact a code of conduct prohibiting members from using crude or abusive language in public meetings.
This comes days after Councilmembers Marion Barry and David Catania got into a profanity-laced shouting match concerning the future of United Medical Center.
From the Post:
“It’s time for members to understand decorum, and a code of conduct, is in place,” Brown said in an interview.
If approved, the body’s code of conduct will be formally amended to state, “a council member shall treat other council members with dignity and respect, and refrain from using profane, or abusive language at another council member or the council member as an institution.”
Brown told the Post he’s had enough of the bad language.
If a councilmember continues to use profane language after being warned, the chairman would be able to remove the member from the meeting.
The Council doesn’t have a sergeant-at-arms to handle an unruly councilmember, but Brown says the members would get the point.
