San Antonio's Ethics Review Board on Wednesday reprimanded Councilman Marc Whyte, saying he violated the city’s ethics code by urging law enforcement officials to dispatch additional personnel to investigate a potential child-abuse case.
As a result of details revealed during the hearing, a prominent local attorney suggested he may pursue an ethics complaint against Councilman Manny Pelaez .
Wednesday's three-hour hearing stemmed from an April 26 incident during which Whyte, a first-term councilman representing District 10, and District 8 Councilman Manny Pelaez — a current mayoral candidate — allegedly asked the Bexar County Sheriff's office to intervene in a family matter at the home of high-profile attorney Martin Phipps.
"I don't know that the code was truly analyzed and that the words were looked at," Whyte told reporters after the hearing."If you go and look at the code, what it says is I can't do something that's not lawfully available to another member of the City of San Antonio. Nothing we did that night a member of the city couldn't have done.
The issue at hand, Ethics Review Board member Jude Valdez said was that the BSCO deputy informed both Whyte and Pelaez that police were already on the scene due to Joyner's 911 call. Whyte worked at Phipps' law firm before becoming a councilman, and Phipps served as Whyte's mock trial coach when he was a St. Mary's Law School student, according to the councilman's Wednesday testimony.
"Please call Whyte. URGET ," Pelaez wrote. "Family violence case happening now in King Williams . Mom of victim called us. Mom's name is Jessica Joyner. I'm told assalailant is Martin Phipps!""I'm told officers on the scene said that he was conducting 'reasonable disciple' on the minor," Pelaez said in one of the messages."Minor claims he was hurting .
Councilman Manny Pelaez Ethics Review Board Martin Phipps San Antonio City Council San Antonio Politics
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