Published: Sat, 01/13/24
San Antonio Express-News
By Megan Rodriguez, Staff writer
City Council will decide on Sunday whether to reprimand District 10 Council Member Marc Whyte after his arrest two weeks ago on a charge of driving while intoxicated.
But the Northeast Side council member is already paying a price.
Mayor Ron Nirenberg on Thursday stripped Whyte of his committee assignments “until further notice or until more details of the incident are known,” the mayor said in a memo to City Council.
Whyte's banishment hurts his ability to shape city policy, which usually winds through City Council committees before going to the full council for approval. The first-term councilman sat on the Economic and Workforce Development, Public Safety and Audit committees.
“It is incumbent upon the council to make a statement about behavior when one of its members breaches that standard of conduct,” Nirenberg told reporters after Thursday’s council meeting. “And that’s what we’re doing. We want to send a message to ourselves and to the rest of the community that we serve that this behavior is not condoned and it’s not acceptable.”
As Nirenberg spoke at noon Thursday, the San Antonio Police Department released body camera footage of Whyte’s arrest Dec. 29 in the parking lot of an office building on Northeast Loop 410. It was after 11 p.m.
The councilman said neither his removal from council committees or, potentially, a reprimand by City Council would impede his work at City Hall.
“None of this will have any effect on my work for District 10,” said Whyte, the lone social and fiscal conservative on City Council. “I will continue to be a loud, strong voice for stopping the violent crime going on in our city, better infrastructure and fostering economic opportunities for our citizens and small businesses.”
Council members discussed Whyte's DWI charge for the first time during a closed-door meeting on Wednesday, but didn’t disclose their decision to hold a censure vote this weekend until Thursday morning. Whyte was out of the room as his nine council colleagues and Nirenberg conferred.
Council will vote at 11 a.m. Sunday.
A city staff memo on the upcoming session laid out the reason council members set up the censure vote.
“While Councilmember Whyte’s acceptance of responsibility for his choices is important and demonstrates personal accountability, Councilmember Whyte’s actions and pending criminal case has negatively impacted his and the City Council’s ability to conduct its business,” the memo states.
Whyte told reporters on Wednesday that he would respect any decision his colleagues make in his case — but he added that a vote of no confidence would be unfair.
A vote of no confidence would be a public rebuke of Whyte's actions, but a largely symbolic one with no concrete consequences.
In District 2 Councilman Jalen McKee-Rodriguez’s view, votes of no confidence are for when a council member has committed an act heinous enough that the person can no longer effectively represent their district — that they've lost too much trust. He doesn't think Whyte lands in that category.
“In this instance, I think this was an uncharacteristic action,” McKee-Rodriguez said.
Still, McKee-Rodriguez said he's uncertain how he will vote on Sunday.
Previously, the East Side councilman has questioned whether council should target members with censures, votes of no confidence or calls for resignation, in part because such measures have no teeth and aren't defined in the city charter.
The East Side council member said Whyte had apologized to him and other council members, and said that he wants to be held accountable in a “way that’s fair and sets a clear standard of expectation.”
Whyte said he will attend the Sunday meeting, though he won't be allowed to vote on the reprimand.
An officer with the San Antonio Police Department’s DWI unit pulled over Whyte, 43, after watching him driving erratically in the eastbound lanes of the Northeast Loop 410 access road south of San Antonio International Airport, according to the arrest affidavit.
The council member told the officer he’d had one drink at El Mirasol restaurant on Northwest Military Highway and a second at Myron’s Prime Steakhouse next door, the affidavit states. Whyte later told the officer he also stopped for a drink at the nearby Thirsty Horse Dance Hall and Saloon, also located on Northwest Military Highway.
Whyte refused to take a breathalyzer test or have his blood drawn to determine his blood alcohol concentration. Police got a warrant, and a nurse drew his blood about 1:30 a.m. Saturday. Results likely won’t be available for weeks.
Whyte's predecessor in District 10, then-Council Member Clayton Perry, faced a DWI charge of his own, as well as one for hit-and-run, as he neared the end of his third council term.
City Council quickly reprimanded him, casting a 9-0 vote of no confidence just eight days after an intoxicated Perry crashed into a car on a major North Side street and fled the scene on Nov. 6, 2022.
Days before Perry’s accident, council had censured then-District 1 Council Member Mario Bravo and passed a vote of no confidence after he verbally attacked then-District 7 Council Member Ana Sandoval the day council approved the 2022-2023 budget.
Council members have been torn over what to do about Whyte’s arrest, with several members saying they want more information on the incident.
Whyte was booked into the Bexar County jail and released early on Dec. 30 after making bail, set at $2,000. A court hearing in his case is scheduled for Jan. 30.
The crime of driving while intoxicated is a Class B misdemeanor, punishable by up to 180 days in jail.