San Antonio City Councilwoman Sukh Kaur (D1), who faces nine challengers in her first reelection race this year, says an old arrest record that should have never become public is being used against her by political opponents.
Kaur, who is now 36, said she was arrested on suspicion of driving while intoxicated in Houston 12 years ago.
She was a 24-year-old teacher at the time.
Kaur chose to disclose the arrest in an interview with the San Antonio Report after her campaign heard that rumors were swirling and people were starting to mention it on social media.
An arrest record from June 19, 2013, shared with the San Antonio Report stated that her blood alcohol content was .08 — the legal limit for intoxication in Texas — and that she pleaded guilty.
Independent efforts to verify the arrest record were rejected by authorities in Harris County. Authorities acknowledged that the records exist, but said they could not be provided, nor could they explain why.
“I made a mistake,” Kaur said of the incident Thursday. “No one was hurt, and I took full responsibility, complied with the legal process, and learned an important lesson that has shaped the person and leader I am today.”
Kaur also went through the legal process of having the record sealed in 2020, which allows a person to make documents related to an arrest inaccessible to the public.
It also means that in most circumstances, the person doesn’t have to disclose it when filling out an application, like filing to run for office.
(A separate process called expungement makes criminal records disappear completely, as Councilman Manny Pelaez (D8) went through roughly a decade ago.)
“I had my record sealed because I believe in second chances and wanted the opportunity to go forward with a clean slate, like the legal justice system allows any individual to do,” Kaur said.
A private investigator
District 1 has easily become the one of the messiest City Council races so far this year, with a crowded field of candidates jockeying to unseat a first-term incumbent in a fast-growing district.
Kaur said Thursday she believes the old arrest is being used against her by an opponent, bar owner Julisa Medrano-Guerra.
“It’s unfortunate that my political opponent has chosen to weaponize my past in a smear campaign rather than focus on the real issues that matter to District 1,” Kaur said.
A spokesman for Medrano-Guerra’s campaign, Roger Legrand, acknowledged that the campaign had hired a private investigator to physically follow Kaur’s social life in San Antonio. But he said the campaign wasn’t aware of the DWI record.
Though she hasn’t spoken about it publicly until now, Kaur told the San Antonio Report that many close friends already know about the DWI.
Kaur says she took a breathalyzer test on site and was charged with a misdemeanor for a first-time offense.
“I’ve never hidden this, but I also don’t disclose it,” she said. “This came up 1741972218 because some of my opponents had shared with some other folks that they found this, and they wanted to use this as opposition research.”
Raquel Torres contributed to this report.
