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Walter Griffith&rsquo;s recent sharing of a critical Facebook post about Luzerne County Council colleagues Kendra Radle and LeeAnn McDermott has prompted a proposed resolution of reprimand, according to a council work session agenda released Friday.
				The resolution says Griffith did not &ldquo;conduct himself with courtesy and respect for fellow council members&rdquo; as required in council bylaws when he commented on and shared a post about Radle and McDermott. It cites this comment composed by Griffith: &ldquo;These two are huge disappointments for the Luzerne County Republican Party that tan [sic] on a platform of accountability and standing up for taxpayers.&rdquo;
				Playing on &ldquo;Star Wars,&rdquo; the meme Griffith shared was created by a citizen and dubbed &ldquo;Swamp Wars.&rdquo; It contained an image of Radle transposed as a character, with &ldquo;The Fall of Reydle&rdquo; written underneath and a message that Radle and McDermott had voted against extending the no-penalty period for county property taxes.
				Griffith has said he did nothing wrong but removed his comment from the post after reading emails from council colleagues expressing concerns.
				In response to the proposed reprimand, Griffith said Friday the action would have &ldquo;no teeth&rdquo; and is not permissible in his opinion because he is an elected official.
				&ldquo;My comment at the meeting will be that I think they should worry about more important things in this county than whether Walter offends someone on a Facebook page,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;If that&rsquo;s the biggest fish to fry on council, then I guess the county is in good shape.&rdquo;
				Radle agreed the focus should be on &ldquo;getting things done,&rdquo; which is why she believes Griffith&rsquo;s actions must be addressed.
				Stressing she believes differences in opinion are healthy, Radle said Griffith &ldquo;attacks the people&rdquo; instead of keeping the discussion on the voting matters at hand.
				&ldquo;That&rsquo;s now how we&rsquo;re going to get things done,&rdquo; Radle said, of remaining civil. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s a way of saying someone&rsquo;s idea is bad, versus the person.&rdquo;
				Radle said Griffith&rsquo;s disrespectful treatment also has been directed toward employees. She said Griffith apologized when she and McDermott had questioned his Facebook post shortly after the three took office in January, but he &ldquo;kept going.&rdquo;
				&ldquo;He&rsquo;s violating the bylaws, and if we don&rsquo;t do something about it, then it&rsquo;s just going to keep going on,&rdquo; Radle said.
				Griffith said he has the right to speak as he chooses and views the action as &ldquo;another avenue to try to embarrass me.&rdquo; He said his proposed reprimand of the manager was deemed impermissible, prompting him to question how this action would be allowed.
				Council is set to discuss the matter at its virtual work session Tuesday, which follows a 6 p.m. voting meeting. Instructions on attending the meeting are posted under the council section at <a href="https://www.luzernecounty.org/1279/Public-Meetings-Online" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">www.luzernecounty.org</a>.

Council members propose reprimand against Griffith