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San Antonio Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones issued a public apology for her actions on Feb. 5 when she yelled at Councilwoman Sukh Kaur and used profanity in an exchange with her.
The apology stems from a code of conduct complaint filed by Kaur in which the councilwoman said Jones had “used profanity, abusive language, and intimidating behavior directed at me and in close proximity to others in the room” in a city council breakroom the morning of a vote related to the Bonham Exchange.
In a brief press conference Tuesday morning, Jones said she apologized privately to the councilwoman.
“I wanted to publicly apologize, certainly to my colleague, to my teammate, Councilwoman Kaur, I have apologized to her privately, but I wanted to make sure everybody knew that I had done the right thing and certainly apologized for hurting her feelings. That was certainly never my intention, Jones said.
What exactly was said is not clear as it’s not detailed in the complaint nor addressed by Jones beyond the mayor saying she used profanity during the conversation.
“As an Air Force veteran, Iraq War veteran, I admit that I have a different set of experiences that allow me to view things a little bit differently than some of my colleagues," said Jones. "But that morning, we were discussing public safety, and I should not have raised my voice, and I should, I should not have used profanity, and for that, I apologize."
Jones faces a censure vote from her colleagues on Friday. The censure resolution from council includes a request that she go through leadership training and temporarily step down from her chairmanship of the council’s governance committee until that training is completed.
However, Jones said that the entire council should undergo leadership training and she would not be stepping down from the committee.
“I think that is separate and distinct from what I do on the Governance Committee, so I will not be doing that,” she said.
