Council member faces ethics hearing
Ethics panel to look at accusations against council member.
Austin’s Ethics Review Committee will take up complaints against Don Zimmerman.
On Monday evening, City Council Member Don Zimmerman faces a hearing on an ethics complaint stemming from comments he made on Facebook criticizing the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to legalize same-sex marriage.
The comments, in which Zimmerman questioned whether the court’s argument could be used to legalize pedo - philia, drew a complaint in June by Austin resident Mark Walters. He accused Zimmerman of violating a city policy prohibiting the use of city equipment for personal use and violating another city policy about the “integrity” of government officials.
A few weeks later, Walters fifiled a second ethics complaint accusing Zimmerman of not filing several required end- ofyear campaign fund reports.
Both complaints will be taken up by the city’s Ethics Review Commission on Monday evening in a “preliminary” hearing to determine if the commission has jurisdiction over the complaints and if there is enough evidence to merit a full-fledged hearing.
“It’s politically motivated,” Zimmerman said by phone Friday. He called the complaints “absurd,” adding that “to me it underscores the hypocrisy of a city that brags about being tolerant and diverse.”
His attorney issued an email statement echoing Zimmer-
man’s comments about political motivations. Zimmerman, who represents Northwest Austin’s District 6, is the most conservative council member in a city that has historically voted Democratic.
“I will reserve my comments about the ethics complaints for the hearing,” attorney Jerad Najvar said. “But the complaints are a stunt by political opponents who want to abuse the ethics process to harass a person they disagree with.”
It’s extremely rare for a council member to face ethics complaints outside of the mudslinging campaign season.
In the complaint about Zimmerman’s Facebook comments, Walters says Zimmerman violated two aspects of the city code, one that broadly defines a city policy requiring public officials to have integrity and be “responsible to the people.”
Walters’ complaint also cited a part of the city code that prohibits city officials from using city equipment or supplies for “private purposes.” Walters said he has received, through an open-records request, Zimmerman’s computer activity during the time period of the Facebook comments, and he will share that information at the hearing.
The second complaint is more straightforward. City code says as part of the Jan. 15 campaign report filings, candidates must include a bank reconciliation report and a report on remaining campaign debt. Zimmerman did not file these additional reports. Zimmerman,
Walters rejected the description of his complaints as political.
who has a pending lawsuit challenging the city’s campaign finance rules, said Friday that he has made it “abundantly clear” through other finance reports how much was raised, spent and loaned to his campaign.
Ultimately, if the ethics commission finds a violation occurred, it can issue a letter of warning or reprimand.
Walters rejected the description of his complaints as political.
“I’m not a politician, I don’t live in his district and I don’t know any of the people that ran against him,” said Walters, who works as a law clerk and will be representing himself at Monday’s hearing. Walters said he was motivated by what he saw as “derogatory statements toward a large segment of our community.” (He added that he’s a “straight guy” but that Zimmerman’s comments about gay people make him “ashamed and embarrassed” of the city.)
Zimmerman also faces another complaint filed in February that accuses him of improperly paying his wife for campaign work.
That complaint was sent to the state ethics commission and the Travis County attorney, who is still investigating.