Sign up for TPR Today, Texas Public Radio's newsletter that brings our top stories to your inbox each morning.
A four-member panel of the Ethics Review Board (ERB) found that two council members violated at least one section of the city’s ethics code, and found that mayoral candidate Beto Altamirano did not violate the code.
District 1 Councilmember Sukh Kaur, District 10 Councilmember Marc Whyte and Altamirano each faced ethics complaints on Monday night.
Complaints against Kaur and Whyte came from opponents in their respective council races.
Councilmember Marc Whyte
One of Whyte’s opponents in the latest District 10 council election Eric Litaker accused him of violating section 2-49 of the city’s ethics code related to using city facilities, personnel, equipment, or supplies, or time while on city duty for private purposes.
Whyte was not in attendance at Monday’s hearing. In a statement over the phone before the hearing, he said the accusations were politically motivated and denied wrongdoing.
In written responses to the ERB panel, he said images posted to his campaign Facebook page included members of the San Antonio Police Department (SAPD), San Antonio Fire Department (SAFD), and a post made in error that implied he was endorsed by both SAPD and SAFD. He said he believed it was not a violation of the code because any member of the public could have taken or used similar photos; the code includes an exception for actions that the public could lawfully take.
Whyte made similar arguments when the ERB found he violated three sections of the city’s ethics rules last August when he contacted San Antonio Police Department leadership over a potential instance of child abuse that his wife informed him of.
The ERB panel found that Whyte violated section 2-49 anyway, and ERB Chair Patrick Lang said the decision to impose fines came because of the “egregious” nature of the offenses, citing a January 5 memo from City Attorney Andy Segovia that explicitly advised council members not to use city resources for campaign social media posts or they would be in violation of the city code.
The panel ordered that Whyte pay a $2,500 civil fine — $500 each for five separate complaints under a section 2-49 of the code — the first time the board has ordered a civil fine of any size in at least seven years. $500 is the highest amount the ERB can impose per violation. Whyte was also ordered to attend ethics training and to receive a letter of reprimand in his personnel file.
Whyte has the opportunity to appeal the ruling to state district court.
Councilmember Sukh Kaur
Kaur’s opponent Julisa Medrano-Guerra initially accused Kaur of violating multiple sections of the city’s ethics code; the third-party attorney who reviewed the allegations and presented them to the ERB dismissed most of those accusations shortly after they were made.
But Kaur still faced allegations under several sections of the ethics code, including rules related to using city resources for private purposes and conducting political activity while acting in her official capacity.
ERB members pushed Kaur to say whether her chief of staff, Ryan Salts, had made clear when he moved from his official capacity as a city employee to his capacity as a staff member on her campaign during a Lavaca Neighborhood Association meeting in her district.
Kaur said the neighborhood association, which ran the meeting, made a clear distinction between District 1 updates where Salts spoke in his official capacity, and the period after the meeting was reserved for candidate forums, where he spoke with constituents about the campaign.
“There was nothing that he was doing that was out of bounds of what he could have been doing at a community meeting,” she told the panel.
The ERB found that Kaur violated section 2-49 of the city’s ethics code related to using city facilities, personnel, equipment, or supplies, or time while on city duty for private purposes. The panel ordered that Kaur attend ethics training as the only sanction for the violation.
The ERB dismissed allegations under three other sections of the ethics code relating to errors with Kaur’s personal financial statement and improperly undertaking political activity.
Kaur has the opportunity to appeal the ruling to state district court.
Mayoral Candidate Beto Altamirano
Altamirano faced accusations that he violated ethics rules by taking more campaign contributions than the legally allowed $1,000 limit for individuals and entities, not disclosing in-kind campaign contributions and using property owned by a nonprofit he co-founded for campaign purposes.
Altamirano provided evidence to the panel that he had addressed campaign finance reporting and filing errors, including returning at least one donation of $1,000, and that he properly rented out space for his campaign and did not take an in-kind donation.
The ERB’s independent attorney dismissed the final claim of misuse of nonprofit property, since that falls under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Internal Revenue Service and the Texas Election Code.
The ERB panel went on to find that Altamirano did not violate any section of the code, and said he had cured errors in his campaign finance reporting by the time the panel convened.
Only four members of the 11-member ERB were present for the panel reviewing the three cases. City code gives the ERB chair the authority to call the members of their choosing for a panel; the chair must call a panel of at least three in total. Neither board member for District 1 nor District 10 presided on the panel.
Disclosure: Sukh Kaur is a former board member of Texas Public Radio.
