New District 10 councilman takes office
Marc Whyte was the only new face sworn in to the San Antonio City Council this week after all but one incumbent who ran for office won another term in May.
Council members for Districts 1 and 7 will be determined in the June 10 runoff election.
District 1 Councilman Mario Bravo is running against Sukh Kaur, while Marina Alderete Gavito and Dan Rossiter seek the open District 7 seat. Early voting for the June 10 runoff ends on Tuesday.
Whyte replaced three-term incumbent District 10 Clayton Perry, who decided in February not to run for re-election after drunkenly driving his Jeep Rubicon into a Honda Civic on the North Side and fleeing the scene on Nov. 6. Perry was handed one year of probation in April as part of a plea deal. He also must pay $500 and perform 24 hours of community service.
Whyte easily beat six other candidates to win the Northeast Side district without a runoff, garnering 58 percent of the vote. Whyte had support from all seven former District 10 council members still living in San Antonio, in addition to other influential leaders in town. Perry also endorsed Whyte.
The new councilman, who was sworn in Thursday, is staunchly conservative, as was Perry. Whyte wants to lower property taxes and reform the appraisal system; he stresses the need to reduce crime, and he wants to protect small businesses while attracting new businesses to the city.
And though many in the city have been fearful that House Bill 2127 — a bill that may end up limiting local authority — could be catastrophic for local government, Whyte, like Perry, is not concerned about it.
However, Whyte said he doesn’t want to be the lone dissenting vote on issues — a position Perry frequently took as the council’s lone conservative. Whyte feels he can gain support for issues that matter most to him.
He said seven people are working in his office as he gets the ball rolling, and about half of them previously worked for Perry. Whyte said he was “ready to go to work.”
“This is something that I wanted to do for a while,” Whyte said, adding that he has been getting to know his colleagues and discussing priorities.