This was not Dunlap’s only comment on the wildfires. Earlier, he had said, “Do what you want, don’t do what you want. If you have a breathing problem, if you have apprehensions, if you feel like it’s not safe for you, stay home. If you’re A-OK with things, and you feel like, well, you know, we’re all gonna die some day anyway, what’s one day of walking around, getting a little smoke in my lungs, then go out and live your life.”

Not exactly controversial.

Gardner confirmed to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that she recorded and posted the video to her personal Instagram account independently, without clearing the comments with Innamorato beforehand.

On Monday afternoon, five days after the incident, Gardner posted a press release saying she made a tasteless comment and apologized for her lack of judgment. She also said she had been placed on administrative leave. Gardner did not apologize to Dunlap in the statement, nor did she say whether her leave was with or without pay.

As of publication, the county administration has not announced any formal discipline or termination of Gardner. Its silence — and its failure to publicly repudiate her comments — raises questions about leadership within both the administration and the local party.

To date, no local Democrat has condemned her actions. In fact, some decided to encourage Gardner and reward her.

J.J. Abbott, former Gov. Tom Wolf’s press secretary, posted on X that Colin Dunlap was a notorious bully who was now opportunistically playing the victim.

The widening divide between Allegheny County residents and the progressive political class running local government is visible not only in the Innamorato administration’s policies but also in its officials’ behavior on social media.

County employees who reached out said they were stunned by the actions of a high-level official venting about a local broadcaster who questioned public health alerts about wildfire smoke. Watching her expose the raw, ugly contempt progressive power holds for anyone who dares ask questions was just a daily reminder of what they face working in county government.

For decades, southwestern Pennsylvania’s political culture was defined by a measure of institutional grace: No matter how hard-fought the politics became, those working in the county courthouse ultimately respected both the community they served and the journalists who covered them.

But politics has changed. The rise of a hyper-partisan, online-first political class has replaced the old-school labor and community coalition with something far more volatile.

To voters in communities ranging from McKeesport to Hazelwood’s emerging technology and manufacturing centers, the silence from Innamorato and other local elected officials speaks volumes. It suggests that the basic rules of human decency do not apply when the offender belongs to the right political team.

If a standard county employee — say, a public works driver or an administrative clerk working the desk at the health department — had posted a public video telling a local resident to go jump off a bridge, their employment would have been terminated before sunset. 

Dunlap himself noted the glaring double standard, observing that a private citizen or media personality would face immediate, ruinous consequences for similar behavior.

JD VANCE ON FAITH FATHERHOOD AND FORGIVENESS

Dunlap said over the weekend he received a flood of emails from county employees livid over Gardner’s suicide quip, and not just because of her directing it at him. A few months ago, an Allegheny County 911 telecommunicator died by suicide directly outside the facility where they worked. 

The employee, a dispatcher assigned to the county’s emergency communication network, took their own life in the staff parking lot of the Allegheny County Emergency Services building.