Pittsburgh police Chief Cameron McLay told city investigators that he tried to remain neutral when he delivered a speech at the Democratic National Convention, even threatening to back out when he was asked to mention Hillary Clinton, according to a report released Friday.

The report by the city's Office of Municipal Investigations cleared the chief of accusations that his convention appearance violated departmental policy and local law.

But a draft report by the independent Citizen Police Review Board — saying that, regardless of what the chief said, delivering a speech in uniform at a political, nominating convention broke rules requiring officers to remain neutral. The police union has taken the same stance.

Officer Robert Swartzwelder, president of the Fraternal Order of Police, said that the city's decision to clear the chief was an example of someone "redefining" a regulation "to suit someone or somebody's agenda."

City code prohibits Pittsburgh police officers from campaigning "for a candidate for any office...while on duty, while wearing a uniform or while on City property. Nor may he/she identify himself/herself as an employee of the Department of Police."

Chief McLay spoke in uniform for less than five minutes before the convention in Philadelphia in July. In his 395-word speech, the chief did not make any references to specific candidates or endorsements. But the OMI report said that his trip was paid for by the Democratic National Convention Committee, and his speech was edited multiple times by a "third-party entity, hired by the campaign."

According to the OMI report, Chief McLay received a call the day before the convention from Elizabeth Fishback, a former staffer for U.S. Sen. Bob Casey who is working for state Democrats on the 2016 election. She asked whether the chief would be able to speak at the convention. Ms. Fishback told OMI she was part of a committee tasked with finding a Pennsylvania law enforcement official to speak at the convention and recommended Chief McLay “because of his extensive background in community policing and the headway that he has made in Pittsburgh in strengthening community and police relations.”

The OMI report indicates that Chief McLay consulted with Mayor Bill Peduto’s chief of staff, Kevin Acklin, who spoke to the law department about whether the chief could speak at the convention. The report states that there “was never any discussion about his attire.” The report says Chief McLay agreed to the speech on the condition that his speech “could have nothing to do with politics, the campaign or any candidate.”

The chief told OMI that he hoped his speech would “enrich the national discussion on the issue of community/police relations” and that he felt he had been “monumentally unsuccessful” at “getting the conventional media to report the good things that the Pittsburgh Police are doing.”

“He believed that this was a stage where he could ‘brag about the good things we’re doing here in Pittsburgh in a context where no one can shut me up,’” according to the report.

Chief McLay told OMI that he flew to Philadelphia the morning of the convention, submitted his speech and received feedback from a speech writer, whose edits “almost made my head explode.”

The report continued: “Chief McLay stated that they ‘completely changed the words,’ overtly indicated his support of Hillary, talked about ‘cops being outgunned on the streets,’ etc.”

The OMI report says Chief McLay told speech writers his speech would be “my words or I’m walking” and updated Mr. Acklin. According to the report, the chief was then contacted by a person “from the campaign,” who told him “that this was not supposed to happen.” At one point, the report says, the chief refused to get into a car picking him up from his hotel “because the issues surrounding his speech had not yet been resolved.”

Chief McLay told OMI he submitted another draft, which he was also asked to “retool,” which made him angry. About 5 p.m., roughly three hours before his speech, Chief McLay got a final draft, which he said he liked but “continued to make a few minor word changes.”

After his speech, the report says, the chief headed straight for local law enforcement and received a ride from the Philadelphia police department. “By this point, Hillary Clinton had been officially named as the Democratic Candidate so this had turned purely into a political event,” according to the report.

Ms. Fishback did not respond to a request for comment. The Clinton campaign, Hillary for America, also declined to comment directly on the report, but did point to portions of it that indicated that both Ms. Fishback and a campaign staffer worked to address Mr. McLay's concerns.

It is difficult to reconstruct the events leading up to Mr. McLay's appearance, because political conventions involve multiple entities, including the Democratic National Convention Committee, which handles much of the event's logistics.

The OMI report either does not name or only partially identifies many of those involved with Mr. McLay's speech, and its claim that the speech-writer was "hired by the campaign" could not be confirmed Friday.

Chief McLay declined comment Friday, saying it would be inappropriate to discuss the investigation “until my bosses tell me that this is over and I simply take a step back.” Mr. Acklin said the chief is always permitted to speak to the press.

The mayor said Friday that he has asked public safety director Wendell Hissrich to consider creating regulations that would clarify which sorts of appearances are appropriate for police officers.

Staff reporter Chris Potter also contributed. Liz Navratil:lnavratil@post-gazette.com, 412-263-1438 or on Twitter @LizNavratil. Adam Smeltz: asmeltz@post-gazette.com, 412-263-2625.

First Published: September 2, 2016, 5:45 p.m.
Updated: September 3, 2016, 4:35 a.m.