Council censures Whyte after arrest

Resolution says District 10 representative’s drinking and driving ‘put the public at risk’

City Council voted 10-0 on Sunday morning to censure District 10 Council Member Marc Whyte after his arrest on a charge of driving while intoxicated in late December.

Whyte’s reprimand is the third that council has leveled against members in the last 14 months.

Mayor Ron Nirenberg said the censure sent a message that council does not take drinking and driving lightly and that when one member of council behaves badly, it tarnishes San Antonians’ trust in city government.

“Nobody on this dais is eager to discipline a colleague, but we are linked as members of the City Council, and it’s our duty to protect that reputation,” he said. “As community leaders, elected officials are held to a higher standard, and rightfully so.”

Such measures are symbolic, carrying no concrete penalties for the affected council member’s misbehavior.

However, Nirenberg did punish Whyte in a tangible way, suspending the Northeast Side council member last week from three council committees on which he sat. His suspension will make it harder for Whyte to influence city policies, many of which take shape in council committees.

The first-term council member sat on the Public Safety, Audit, and Economic and Workforce Development committees. Nirenberg has not said when he will let Whyte return to committee assignments.

Sunday’s resolution states that Whyte’s actions and pending DWI charge have “negatively impacted his and the City Council’s ability to conduct its business.”

“A Councilmember should not put the public at risk, and by Councilmember Whyte irresponsibly drinking and driving, he put the public at risk,” it states.

But in his comments to council ahead of the vote and to reporters afterward, Whyte characterized his censure as a broader statement against drinking and driving, downplaying his own DWI arrest.

“This resolution here today, making a statement to the public that we don’t want anyone to consume any amount of alcohol before they drive a car, I believe is worthy,” he said as he urged his colleagues to vote for the censure without debate.

The resolution didn’t include a general statement along the lines Whyte described, and City Attorney Andy Segovia pointed that out during the meeting. He told council members that they were voting on the resolution as it was publicly posted late last week rather than as Whyte interpreted it on the dais.

When asked about the discrepancy between the resolution’s wording and his take on it, Whyte said that though the reprimand was based on his actions, he believes the broader message to the community is that people should

not drink and drive.

Whyte was not allowed to vote on the resolution Sunday.

Council now has reprimanded two District 10 council members for drinking and driving since November 2022, when members unanimously cast a vote of no confidence against Council Member Clayton Perry, Whyte’s predecessor, who was accused of DWI and fleeing the scene of an accident.

The week before the vote against Perry, council censured then-district 1 Council Member Mario Bravo for verbally attacking thencouncil Member Ana Sandoval, a former romantic partner of his, during a meeting about two months earlier.

In the two weeks leading up to Sunday’s censure vote, District 8 Council Member Manny Peláez expressed concerns over symbolic reprimands, though he had voted to rebuke Bravo and Perry. He questioned whether council should reprimand members because the city charter does not outline when or how to do so.

Peláez said he voted to censure Whyte on Sunday because Whyte had asked his colleagues to do so.

“That’s profound,” Peláez said. “Very rarely, sad to say very rarely, do we see elected officials or anyone in leadership positions ask, ‘Please hold me accountable’ and insist on something meaningful when it comes to that accountability.”

District 2 Council Member Jalen Mckee-rodriguez, one of council’s most liberal members, called on Whyte, council’s staunchest conservative, to rethink his toughon-crime approach in light of his recent actions.

“When I found out this happened, it was a shock to me, and I know it doesn’t speak to your character,” Mckee-rodriguez said, addressing Whyte. “But also, as a friend and colleague, what I hope to hear from you, Councilman Whyte, is a shift in rhetoric, because you now know what it feels like to be criminalized for something you’ve done, that you now regret — actions that don’t reflect on your character. And I believe that’s what you owe our community.”

Council chose to meet Sunday, Nirenberg said, because it wanted to act swiftly. It would have been difficult to schedule a meeting during the week partly because of Monday’s Martin Luther King Day holiday and Nirenberg’s travel schedule.

Whyte’s arrest

On the night of Dec. 29, an officer with the San Antonio Police Department’s DWI unit pulled over Whyte, 43, after watching him drive erratically in the eastbound lanes of the Northeast Loop 410 access road south of San Antonio International Airport, according to the officer’s affidavit. Whyte was allegedly speeding and changing lanes without signaling.

Whyte told Officer D. Mccroy that he had consumed three beers that night: one at El Mirasol, a popular Mexican restaurant at the upscale shopping and dining center Alon Town Centre on Northwest Military Highway; a second at Myron’s Prime Steakhouse next door; and a third at the Thirsty Horse Dance Hall & Saloon, the affidavit states. Whyte met up with friends at El Mirasol, including District 6 Council Member Melissa Cabello Havrda, who also visited Myron’s with Whyte. However, she told the San Antonio Express-news that when the group decided to go to the Thirsty Horse, she was suffering from allergies and decided to go home. She had taken an Uber to El Mirasol, but Whyte drove her home, dropping her off between 9 and 9:30 p.m. before meeting his other friends at the Thirsty Horse.

Whyte was arrested shortly after 11 that night.

District 1 Council Member Sukh Kaur was also at El Mirasol that night, but with a different group. She told the Express-news that she spoke briefly with Whyte at the restaurant and had no other interaction with him.

Neither Kaur nor Cabello Havrda made comments before voting to reprimand Whyte.

On the day he was arrested, Whyte had returned to San Antonio after a weeklong family trip to Australia. He landed in Houston that morning, then drove back to San Antonio. His family remained in Australia for another week to continue visiting with Whyte’s cousins. Whyte left early for a volunteer engagement in San Antonio.

On Mccroy’s body camera footage, the council member was polite and coherent, and he insisted he was sober and able to drive.

Mccroy questioned Whyte and put him through a series of field sobriety tests in the parking lot of a PNC Bank branch.

Whyte refused to take a breathalyzer test or have his blood drawn to determine his blood alcohol concentration. Police got a warrant, and a nurse drew his blood about 1:30 a.m. Dec. 30.

The results of the blood test aren’t expected for several weeks or months.

Whyte was released from the Bexar County Jail early Dec. 30, his bail having been set at $2,000. A court hearing is scheduled for Jan. 30.

The day he was released, Whyte apologized for driving after having a few drinks, though he insisted he did not feel intoxicated.

Whyte continued to apologize Sunday for his actions.

“I think what I’ve learned from this is that priorities are important,” he said. “And for me, it’s serving the constituents of District 10, it’s my family and my faith. Moving forward, I’m going to refocus on those priorities. And I can promise you all that the mistake that I made on Dec. 29 will not happen again.”