By Megan Rodriguez, Staff Writer | San Antonio Express-News (SAEN), 2025-09-15 16:22:14
由生成式人工智能翻译，译文内容可能不准确或不完整，以原文为准。
道德审查委员会将于今晚决定，圣安东尼奥市前市长罗恩·尼伦伯格 (Ron Nirenberg) 是否为竞选目的不当使用了公共财产和资源。
该委员会的一个小组将于今天下午6点在市中心的城市塔广场 (City Tower Concourse) 召开会议。
凯莉·里德·沃尔斯 (Kelly Reid Walls) 是一名动物福利活动家，同时也是政府问责组织 InfuseSA 的成员。她指控尼伦伯格自2023年以来，在超过40个场合违反了城市道德准则。她在6月20日提交的申诉中，重点列举了尼伦伯格竞选活动Facebook页面上的数十篇帖子，在这些帖子中，他与急救人员并肩站立，或出现在包括其办公室和圣安东尼奥国际机场安全区域在内的多个非公共场所。
沃尔斯还指控尼伦伯格未能在其财务申报报告中申报一份高价值礼物——来自马刺队明星中锋维克托·文班亚马 (Victor Wembanyama) 的签名球衣。按规定，竞选人应申报价值超过100美元的礼物。而这位法国球星的亲笔签名球衣价值超过1000美元。
文班亚马在一月将这件球衣赠送给了尼伦伯格。
市检察官办公室不鼓励竞选人在其竞选宣传材料或网站上使用市政工作人员的照片。
“州法律禁止将城市资源、设备或资金用于竞选活动，”市检察官安迪·塞戈维亚 (Andy Segovia) 在一月份给尼伦伯格和市议会的一份备忘录中说道。“这包括在竞选材料（含竞选账户的社交媒体帖子）中使用涉及市政雇员的照片（即在该雇员当值时拍摄或其服装上带有明显的城市徽章的照片）以及城市设备。”
市检察官办公室要求违反该规定的竞选人从其竞选材料中移除相关照片。在6月7日的第一区议员决选中输给苏克·考尔 (Sukh Kaur) 的帕蒂·吉本斯 (Patty Gibbons)，就曾应办公室要求，从其竞选网站上删除了警官的照片。
尼伦伯格通过当地律师弗兰克·伯尼 (Frank Burney) 致信委员会，请求驳回此项申诉。伯尼表示，市政府的法律部门已就适当的社交媒体使用方式向尼伦伯格提供了建议。
“该Facebook页面有显著的免责声明，并且市长已采取措施避免发布可能违反城市道德准则的材料，”伯尼在对申诉的回应中说。“尽管沃尔斯女士申诉中引用的许多图片并不构成对《城市道德准则》的违反，但尼伦伯格市长在过去12年中已在其社交媒体账户上发布了数千张图片，其中一些可能在理论上存在技术性违反COSA（圣安东尼奥市）规定的情况——但他并无意违反这些规定。”
伯尼表示，尼伦伯格已经修正了财务报表，以反映此前未披露的球衣信息。
这并非尼伦伯格首次面临道德申诉。
当尼伦伯格还是第八区议员时，他曾被指控接受了来自《NSIDE》杂志的超额实物竞选捐赠。道德委员会最终裁定他并未违反道德准则。
2021年，一桩针对尼伦伯格的道德申诉迫使时任市长的他退还竞选捐款并修正相关文件。当时他被指控在选举前的两年内，非法接受或不当申报了超过16万美元的竞选捐款。
违规者一览
道德审查委员会的一个小组在六月裁定，市议员苏克·考尔和马克·怀特 (Marc Whyte) 在近期的连任竞选活动中违反了城市道德准则。
委员会因怀特在其竞选Facebook页面上反复发布城市活动和身着制服的市政雇员的照片而对其进行了训诫。
曾在5月3日选举中与怀特竞争的埃里克·利塔克 (Eric Litaker) 共投诉了九篇Facebook帖子，但委员会小组决定仅就其中五项最严重的违规行为对怀特处以每项500美元的罚款，其中包括怀特与身着制服的警察和消防员合影的图片，以及一篇吹嘘获得警察和消防员工会支持的帖子。（支持该议员的是工会，而非政府部门，但怀特发布了部门徽章的图片。）
怀特在为自己辩护时指出，市议员发布类似图片并不少见。
完整的道德审查委员会还裁定，怀特在去年由律师马丁·菲普斯 (Martin Phipps) 提起的一起案件中违反了城市道德准则。
菲普斯的申诉指控怀特滥用职权，因其就菲普斯前妻提出的无根据指控——声称菲普斯在一次法院指令的探视期间虐待他们的孩子——而致电并发送短信给警察局长威廉·麦克马纳斯 (William McManus)。
与怀特一样，考尔也被认定违反了道德准则中禁止将城市资源用于私人目的（包括政治竞选）的条款。
朱莉莎·梅德拉诺-格拉 (Julisa Medrano-Guerra)——她在5月3日的第一区10人选举中输给了考尔——在4月1日的申诉中指控该议员在一次拉瓦卡社区协会 (Lavaca Neighborhood Association) 会议上违反了道德准则。
尽管考尔未被处以罚款或正式训诫，但她和怀特都被要求完成道德培训。
梅德拉诺-格拉是菲普斯屋顶酒吧 Paramour 的共同所有人，她表示，考尔的幕僚长瑞安·索尔茨 (Ryan Salts) 在以第一区雇员身份做完报告后，在同一场协会会议上分发竞选标牌并讨论了考尔的连任竞选事宜。
市议员可以雇佣其选区工作人员参与竞选工作，前提是不能占用城市工作时间。
委员会表示，考尔或索尔茨本应更明确地说明，索尔茨在会议的后半部分是代表竞选团队。
今年一月，委员会裁定市议员杰伦·麦基-罗德里格斯 (Jalen McKee-Rodriguez) 违反了城市道德准则，因其试图阻止一名开发商在东区一个社区附近建造一个半挂卡车经销店。
委员会以6比0的投票结果裁定，这位第二区议员违反了一项禁止市政官员利用其职位不公平地阻碍私营公司或其他方利益的规定。
Ron Nirenberg answers questions from reporters following his final State of the City luncheon as mayor at the Grand Hyatt in downtown San Antonio on Tuesday, April 15, 2025.
Kelly Walls (right) expresses concerns during a public safety town hall on animal control regulations hosted by District 7 Councilwoman Marina Alderete Gavito at Grace Lutheran Church, 950 Donaldson Ave., on Thursday, March 7, 2024.
点击查看原文：Ethics panel to weigh claims about Nirenberg's Wemby jersey, photos
Ethics panel to weigh claims about Nirenberg’s Wemby jersey, photos
The Ethics Review Board will decide tonight if former San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg improperly used public property and resources for campaign purposes.
A panel of the board will meet at the City Tower Concourse downtown at 6 p.m. today.
Kelly Reid Walls, an animal welfare activist involved in the government accountability group InfuseSA, accused Nirenberg of breaking the city ethics code on more than 40 occasions dating back to 2023. Her June 20 complaint highlights dozens of posts on Nirenberg’s campaign Facebook page in which he’s standing alongside first responders and in various locations unaccessible to the public, including his office and secured areas of the San Antonio International Airport.
Walls also accused Nirenberg of failing to report a high-value gift on his financial disclosure report — a signed jersey from Spurs star center Victor Wembanyama. Candidates are supposed to report gifts that cost more than $100. Jerseys autographed by the French star are valued at more than $1,000.
Wembanyama gave the jersey to Nirenberg in January.
The city attorney’s office discourages candidates from using photos of city staff for their campaign literature or websites.
“State law prohibits the use of City resources, equipment, or money for election campaigning,” City Attorney Andy Segovia said in a January memo to the Nirenberg and the City Council. “This includes the use of photographs involving City employees (i.e., photos taken while that employee is on duty or with visible City insignia on their clothing) and City equipment in campaign materials including social media posts from campaign accounts.”
The city attorney’s office asks candidates who break that rule to remove the photographs from their campaign material. Patty Gibbons, who lost to a June 7 runoff to District 1 Councilwoman Sukh Kaur, removed photos of police officers from her campaign site at the office’s request.
Nirenberg asked the board to dismiss the complaint in a letter written by local attorney Frank Burney, who said the city’s legal department had advised Nirenberg on appropriate social media usage.
“The Facebook Page features prominent disclaimers, and the Mayor took measures to avoid posting materials that would run afoul of City ethics rules,” Burney said in his response to the complaint. “While many of the images cited in Ms. Walls’ Complaint do not constitute violations of the City Code of Ethics, Mayor Nirenberg has posted thousands of images on his social media accounts over the last 12 years, and it is likely that some of them may, arguably, be in technical violation of COSA regulations — but he did not intend to violate such regulations.”
Burney said Nirenberg corrected a financial statement to reflect the previously undisclosed jersey.
This isn’t the first time someone has lobbed an ethics complaint against Nirenberg.
Nirenberg was accused when he was a District 8 councilman of accepting excessive in-kind campaign contributions from NSIDE magazine. The ethics board found that he hadn’t violated the ethics code.
In 2021, an ethics complaint against Nirenberg forced the then-mayor to issue campaign donation refunds and correct paperwork when he was accused of illegally accepting or improperly reporting more than $160,000 in campaign contributions for two years leading up to an election.
String of violators
Council members Sukh Kaur and Marc Whyte were found to have violated city ethics rules during their recent reelection campaigns, an Ethics Review Board panel ruled in June.
The board reprimanded Whyte in for repeatedly posting photos of city events and employees in uniform on his campaign Facebook page.
Eric Litaker, who ran against Whyte in the May 3 election, complained about nine Facebook posts in all, but a panel of the board decided to fine Whyte $500 each for five of the most egregious violations, including images of Whyte standing with uniformed police officers and firefighters and a post touting endorsements from the police and firefighters’ unions. (The unions, not the departments, backed the councilman, but Whyte posted images of the department insignia.)
It’s not uncommon for council members to post similar images, Whyte noted when defending himself against the complaint.
The full Ethics Review Board also ruled that Whyte violated the city’s ethics code last year in a case brought by attorney Martin Phipps.
Phipps’ complaint accused Whyte of abusing his office when he called and texted Police Chief William McManus about unsubstantiated allegations that Phipps’ ex-wife made about him abusing their child during a court-ordered custody visit.
Like Whyte, Kaur was found to have broken a section of the ethics code that prohibits the use of city resources for private purposes, including political campaigns.
Julisa Medrano-Guerra — who lost to Kaur in District 1’s 10-way election on May 3 — accused the councilwoman in an April 1 complaint of breaking the ethics code at a Lavaca Neighborhood Association meeting.
Though Kaur was not issued a fine or a formal reprimand, she and Whyte were both required to complete ethics training.
Medrano-Guerra, the co-owner of the Paramour at the Phipps rooftop bar, said Kaur’s chief of staff, Ryan Salts, handed out campaign signs and discussed Kaur’s reelection campaign at the association meeting after giving a presentation in his capacity as a District 1 employee.
Council members are allowed to employ their district staff for campaign work as long as they don’t do it on city time.
The board said Kaur or Salts should have been more clear about the fact that Salts was representing the campaign in the latter half of the meeting.
In January, the board ruled that Councilman Jalen McKee-Rodriguez violated the city’s ethics code when he tried to stop a developer from building a semi-truck dealership near an East Side neighborhood.
The board ruled 6-0 that the District 2 councilman violated a provision that bars city officials from using their positions to unfairly impede the interests of private companies or other parties.
By Megan Rodriguez, Staff Writer, via San Antonio Express-News