SAN ANTONIO – In a rare hearing Wednesday night, the City of San Antonio’s Ethics Review Board ruled Councilman Marc Whyte (D10) abused his position when he tried to get local law enforcement to respond to a local attorney’s home this spring.
The attorney, Martin Phipps, filed a complaint against Whyte in May, accusing him of using his position as a councilman to “interfere” in a private custody matter. Whyte argued he was worried about possible child abuse and had a duty to act.
However, Ross Fischer, an outside attorney hired by the city to assist the board, said that Whyte knew police were already involved by the time he tried contacting the heads of two law enforcement agencies. At least one board member also questioned why Whyte didn’t simply call 911.
In a presentation to the board, Fischer pointed to comments Whyte made to KSAT about how calling 911 “I don’t think would have given me information about what was going on.”
The council-appointed Ethics Review Board voted 6-1 to find Whyte had violated three sections of the city ethics code related to using his position for private interests and using city resources in a way not lawfully available to the public.
It voted by the same margin to issue Whyte a letter of reprimand and referred him to ethics training.
The board also voted unanimously to dismiss a fourth charge that Whyte had used his power to help the economic interests of himself or his wife.
Board Chairman Patrick Lang said this was the first time in 12 years an ethics complaint had made it to a hearing and said the reprimand was one of the board’s most severe options.
“So unfortunately, we’re only allowed to use what’s available to us,” Lang said. “So that ranges from that is a reprimand — you can have a civil fine and things of that nature. We decided that these two were best for us just because I think it covers, the gamut of what was — what took place, what we felt was accurate, and just the best case of action — the best course of action.”
The board’s decision came after a more than three-hour public hearing and closed-door deliberation that got heated at times, with both men on hand to speak.
Councilman Manny Pelaez (D8), who was with Whyte that night, also spoke to the board as a witness.
Fischer said Pelaez also attempted to contact City Manager Erik Walsh and Assistant City Manager Maria Villagomez with concerns about what might be happening at Phipps’ home. No ethics complaint has been filed against Pelaez, who is running for mayor next year.
Following the board’s ruling, Whyte told reporters, “Obviously, I strongly disagree with those findings, on those couple of matters.”
“There is nothing that I did on the night in question that isn’t lawfully able to be done by any other citizen of San Antonio,” Whyte said, adding that he would do the same thing again.
Phipps left immediately after the hearing but sent KSAT a statement via text message:
“It was an emotional day and it has been hard on my children and my mother for us to endure a process where elected officials misuse their office to attack and ridicule anyone who questions their authority. The Ethics Review Board in an open and transparent proceeding did not accept two councilman attempting to justify their inappropriate actions. My family cannot thank the Board enough for their time, patience and strength and conviction to do what had to be done.”
APRIL 26
Before Phipps and Whyte spoke, Fischer walked board members through a timeline of what happened on April 26, when Whyte was at a Fiesta party in King William, a few blocks from Phipps’ home.
At 8:19 p.m., police dispatch received a call from Phipps’ ex-wife, Jessica Joyner. In an affidavit she submitted for the hearing, Joyner said she received messages from a child in Phipps’ home saying Phipps was grabbing the child hard and screaming, and that the child was scared.
San Antonio Police were sent to Phipps’ home, and the first unit arrived at 8:27 p.m.
Lorien Whyte said in an affidavit she received messages from Joyner at about 8:30 p.m., including screenshots of the messages. Joyner also told her she had called police.
Lorien Whyte had previously represented Joyner for an appellate issue in her custody case with Phipps. However, Joyner wrote in her own affidavit she and Lorien Whyte were friends, and Whyte was no longer representing her.
At about 8:50 p.m., Lorien Whyte texted her husband, saying police were at Phipps’ home but couldn’t get in because Phipps had gates, and everything was locked.
“We may need to get police chief involved,” Lorien Whyte wrote.
She also sent the screenshots of the messages she had received from Joyner, which included the child saying they were scared.
Councilman Whyte tried unsuccessfully to call SAPD Chief William McManus at about 8:53 p.m. He then texted a request for the chief to call him and included a screenshot of the messages.
Whyte also approached Pelaez, who was at the same event, and they both approached Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar, who was also there, at about 9 p.m.
Salazar summoned a deputy who was working private security nearby. Fischer said the deputy indicated he had already been by the house.
Salazar introduced the deputy to the councilmen, and Whyte asked him to return to the house, with the sheriff giving his deputy the go ahead, Fischer said.
Pelaez, though, said he was the one who did the majority of talking with Salazar and the deputy.
The deputy also took a picture of the text message on Whyte’s phone.
At 9:06 p.m., the deputy talked with SAPD officers at Phipps’ home and mentions Whyte and the photo he took of the councilman’s phone.
Salazar said in a public statement that his deputy returned a few minutes after leaving and said police were already handling it.
At 9:26 p.m., Fischer said Pelaez texted Walsh and Villagomez, saying he and Whyte had a “problem” and asking them to call Whyte “ASAP.” Pelaez wrote in his texts it was a family violence case, and “I’m told officers on the scene said that he was conducting ‘reasonable discipline’ on the minor.”
At the same time, Fischer said Whyte tried calling SAPD Deputy Chief Jesse Salame but didn’t get an answer. He sent a text asking Salame to call him back.
Whyte also texted Joyner “we are on this” about the same time.
SAPD officially closed the incident at 9:46 p.m. According to an SAPD report, the officers talked with a child at the home, but did not see any injuries and did not remove the child.
Chief McManus texted Whyte back at 10:09 p.m. and told him the scene had been cleared. Whyte responded “Chief - I really hope something doesn’t happen. I can’t believe your guys left.”
PERSONAL HISTORIES
Lorien Whyte and Joyner weren’t the only ones from the April 26 incident who knew each other.
Phipps said Whyte and Pelaez had both been his students and had both worked for him “for a short time.”
In his written response to Phipps’ original complaint, Whyte included several news stories about Phipps’ employees claiming a hostile work environment “to note why I had a heightened concern for the child in question.”
During the hearing, Whyte attempted to get into what he said was his “mindset” on April 26.
“There’s a reason that his kids were taken away from him for 18 months by that judge,” Whyte said in a comment that caused Phipps to bristle and interject “that’s not true.”
Lorien Whyte’s text messages to her husband also claimed Phipps had mental health and drug problems, which he denies.
Phipps told the board he’d had a hair follicle test just days earlier that had come back “zero.”
“They’re trying to get a result that they couldn’t get otherwise,” he said.
“They don’t want you to look at the pink elephant in the room. And the pink elephant is ‘You were using your office and your prestige to get a result that you wanted,’” Phipps told the board later on.
Whyte also tried to brush off the direct line he has to McManus, saying the police chief frequently hands out his phone number at community events.
Board members, though, were dubious. Lang even asked the room for a show of hands of who had the chief’s number.
“I mean, I’ve broken bread with, sat with him, been in many events. He has never given me his phone number,” the board chairman said.