Editor's note: This story includes an obscenity.
Bexar County commissioners on Tuesday voted to rescind the appointment of the head of a county committee who allegedly referred to a county commissioner with a derogatory term.
Chris Forbrich was chair of the advisory committee of the Small, Minority and Women Owned Business Enterprises program. It's designed to help those businesses win contracts for goods and services with the county.
Forbrich allegedly called Precinct 1 Commissioner Rebeca-Clay Flores a "crusading c- - - of a commissioner" on July 10 during an event at the Frost Bank Center.
Clay-Flores said in a statement that his alleged comment may have been a response to her attempts to revamp membership of the committee to eliminate potential conflicts of interest.
Forbrich told commissioners on Tuesday that he did not receive reasonable notice of the vote to rescind his appointment.
"Well, I think there's a learning opportunity here to have a discussion about what protected political speech means in the context of a private citizen in a private conversation that may be in the public square," he said. "I'm not prepared to have that because I have not had the due process to prepare."
Clay-Flores told commissioners that she has previously pointed out incidents of people treating her disrespectfully but felt only little support from her colleagues.
"As the only woman on the court, I have publicly said before that I have experienced sexism and racism in this very seat from people who have come and spoke at that very mic," she explained, "and I did not feel that my male colleagues defended me or said anything about me."
The other commissioners — all men — voted to rescind Forbrich's appointment.
Clay-Flores said Bexar County for decades has been a "good ol' boys' network" until now. She thanked County Judge Peter Sakai for placing the Forbrich vote on the agenda.
