Police should investigate Ferguson shoving incident: Merulla

East-end councillor SamMerullacalled Sunday for the city to rescind Coun. Lloyd Ferguson's appointment as chair of the Hamilton Police Services board;to explore sanctions and to request a third-party police investigation into a 2014incident where Ferguson pushed a journalist.

Merulla plans to bring motions to that effect to Hamilton city council's general issues meeting on Wednesday.

There is a "perception of bias, incompleteness and a lack of justifiedsanctions," Merulla saidafter a report from Hamilton's integrity commissioner.Earl Bassefound that Ferguson violated the city's code of conduct when he shovedJoey Coleman last year,but stopped short of recommending any sanctions. Coleman is an independent journalist who live streams city hall meetings.

The report, released last Tuesday, did not adequately address the severity of the incident, Merulla said.

"The reality is this," Merulla said. "It all comes down to that one day, where he physically assaulted Joey Coleman, admitted to it, apologized for it, but hasn't been held accountable."

Merullasaid he'll ask council to request a third-party police service like the Ontario Provincial Police to investigate the incident.

'Stinkbomb'

Ferguson, who represents Ancaster, said Sunday the motion is "just another stinkbomb from Sam Merulla."

"The integritycommissioner did his report. It's complete. The matter is now over," Fergusonsaid.

• Integrity commisioner: Coun. Ferguson violated code of conduct
• Ombudsman rips Hamilton integrity report on Coun. Ferguson incident

The report, which did not include an interview with Coleman, drew criticism from at least two other councillorsand Ontario ombudsman Andre Marin. A number of local citizens active on Twitter, including Coleman, called over the weekend for Merulla to do more to address the shortcomingsthey seein the report.

Merulla said he was "shocked" that the integrity commissioner's report provided a description of events the city council already was aware of, but didn't go further to recommend a punishment.

"What we were really waiting for was what was the sanction going to be," Merulla said.

He mentioned Ferguson's "stinkbomb" comment. "The reality is the stink is resonating from where he's standing," Merulla said.

Merulla said the council received the report into the public record last week without endorsing its findings, but said Sunday he wants to explore further options for appealing the report and sanctioning his council colleague. The city council should rescind Ferguson's appointment as chair of the Police Services Board, Merulla said.

Ferguson said Sunday he has not talked with Coleman this week, but said he remains open to questions from any member of the media, including Coleman. He said the city's solicitor advised him that the integrity commissioner's report is not open to appeal.

Fergusontold CBC Hamilton lastTuesdayhe knew he violated the code of conduct. That's why he apologized privately and publicly the following day.

"I knew I made a mistake," he said. "Nobodys perfect. I knew it."

"I admitted it the next morning and apologized for it."

CBC Hamilton is pursuing comment fromBasse, whose term expires in June. The city is replacing the position with a joint integritycommissioner/lobbyist registrar and hopes to name the successful candidate in April.

Here's Basse's report: