Reid Burdick wants to pull the plug on his dubious ethics complaint against out-going New London Mayor Daryl Justin Finizio. The city’s Board of Ethics should take the opportunity to drop the matter.

Mr. Burdick initiated the complaint when he contended that Mayor Finizio violated ethics rules by using the word “homophobic” to characterize comments Mr. Burdick had made about the mayor. While it was a questionable response by the mayor, we didn’t see then, and we don’t see now, how it was an ethical violation.

The Board of Ethics, however, voted to proceed to a hearing to consider whether the comment violated the Code of Ethics language stating that members of the public “shall be treated courteously, impartially and fairly” by city officials.

That is a subjective policy to include in an ethics law. The First Amendment gives public officials, and everyone else, the right to reply to critics. It is not courteous or discourteous to call someone’s actions homophobic. It is an observation and a matter of opinion.

In this case, the mayor said he was not happy with Mr. Burdick’s contention he did not pay taxes. Mayor Finizio is in a same-sex marriage, the property in the name of his spouse. The mayor questioned whether Mr. Burdick would make the same contention about a heterosexual couple.

“I must say that his repeated claims in this forum and others, that I do not pay taxes to the City of New London, is homophobic,” the mayor said at the time.

While the tax comment was a cheap shot, we see no evidence that Mr. Burdick, a former Republican city councilor, is prejudiced. On the other hand, it is understandable why the mayor might see otherwise.

In any event, in a Sept. 23 letter to the ethics board chairman, K. Robert Lewis, Mr. Burdick seeks to close the matter.

“Any further use of municipal resources toward this issue is not in accordance with the best interests of the residents of this great city,” wrote his attorney, and son, Jason B. Burdick.

Perhaps Mr. Burdick found sufficient vindication when Mayor Finizio lost the Sept. 16 Democratic primary to Michael Passero. To his credit, Mr. Burdick also raises a fairness issue.

He notes all those voting to find probable cause in the case of the Democratic mayor are Republicans.

The board could press on, but there is no point in it doing so. This matter already went too far. It should go no further.