Former San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg’s attorneys admit he didn’t report an autographed jersey he obtained from Spurs participant Victor Wembanyama in January, and requested an ethics panel to dismiss a criticism alleging he used public assets to advertise his marketing campaign.
The Ethics Evaluate Board is assembly Monday night to debate the 2 allegations, and Nirenberg doesn’t plan to attend.
As a substitute his legal professional, Frank Burney, filed a proper response saying Nirenberg has been “an exemplary metropolis official” who “would by no means knowingly or deliberately violate” the legislation.
“He expresses remorse for this misstep and takes full accountability,” the letter mentioned.
The unique 63-page criticism, filed by authorities accountability activist Kelly Partitions in June, accused Nirenberg of failing to reveal an autographed NBA jersey that retails on-line for about $1,500.
Nirenberg’s legal professional mentioned the problem was an oversight that’s now been corrected on his private monetary disclosure.
As for the opposite portion of the criticism — alleging Nirenberg violated town’s election code by posting images of official metropolis enterprise to a Fb web page owned by his marketing campaign — the legal professional’s letter says Nirenberg sought steerage from the Metropolis Lawyer’s workplace on a social media utilization and acted inside these tips.
Whereas Nirenberg’s legal professional went on to say that the previous mayor “posted 1000’s of photos on his social media accounts over the past 12 years,” a few of which “might, arguably, be technical violation[s] of [city] rules.”
However he didn’t imply to interrupt the principles, the legal professional wrote.
“The mayor’s resolution to make use of social media to attach together with his constituents was an try to satisfy the folks the place they’re,” based on the letter. “He adopted theadvice of authorized counsel in establishing accounts impartial of town [and] clearly was not conscious that any of his social media posts might have violated the Metropolis Code of Ethics.”
Earlier this yr Councilman Marc Whyte (D10) was sanctioned for the same criticism, arguing on the time that all the metropolis’s elected leaders could possibly be punished for such actions — together with Nirenberg. Partitions filed the criticism in opposition to Nirenberg days later.
Nirenberg’s letter notes that as an elected official, he pushed for a extra stringent ethics course of.
It mentioned he would waive his proper to a listening to, and requested that the board “dismiss this criticism; or, within the various, impose the least excessive sanctions.”
The criticism comes as Nirenberg is termed out after eight years as mayor and exploring a possible bid for increased workplace. Whereas he hasn’t mentioned what will probably be, a new Texans for Nirenberg PAC was filed this month.
He joins a rising variety of council members and candidates whose complaints have been taken up by the ethics board in current months.
Whyte (D10) and Councilwoman Sukh Kaur (D1) had been issued reprimands in June for campaign-related complaints. It was Whyte’s second time being sanctioned, and Councilman Jalen McKee-Rodriguez (D2) was hit with a violation in January over his dealing with of a zoning difficulty.
