SAN ANTONIO – A four-member panel of San Antonio’s Ethics Review Board has determined two city council members violated the city’s ethics code during the recent election.
District 10 Councilman Marc Whyte and District 1 Councilwoman Sukh Kaur were both accused by their political opponents of violating a portion of the code that prohibits using public resources for campaign purposes. The panel considered the complaints at a Monday night meeting.
Kaur was accused over a neighborhood meeting in which her chief of staff appeared to attend in his official capacity while also distributing campaign materials. Whyte was accused of using city logos and personnel on his campaign Facebook page.
Both were sanctioned and required to take ethics training. But Whyte also received a letter of reprimand and a $2,500 civil fine.
This is Whyte’s second ethics violation. In August 2024, the ethics board decided he had abused his position by responding to a local attorney’s home.
The hearing took place just two days before the next city council, including Whyte and Kaur, is inaugurated for a four-year term that will last through May 2029.
Whyte won his race outright in the initial May 3 election, defeating four challengers, including the man who filed the complaint against him, Eric Litaker.
Kaur ultimately defeated Patty Gibbons in the June 7 runoff election after initially facing nine challengers, including Julisa Medrano-Guerra, who filed the complaint against her.
The panel did not sanction Whyte for all the photos included in the complaint against him, and an outside attorney did not initially recommend sending all the complaints filed against Kaur to the board for review.
The panel also considered complaints against mayoral candidate Beto Altamirano over alleged campaign finance violations.
The panel of board members did not find Altamirano to have violated the ethics code, but a city spokeswoman said they “encouraged him and other candidates to be more thorough and complete in their campaign finance reporting.”
Altamirano finished third in the May 3 mayoral race, missing out on a runoff election.
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