SAN ANTONIO – More than a week after one of the challengers for her council seat hit Councilwoman Sukh Kaur with an ethics complaint, an outside attorney has forwarded part of the complaint to the Ethics Review Board to consider.
Julisa Medrano-Guerra, who is running against Kaur for the District 1 council seat, filed a complaint on April 1, alleging seven separate violations of the city ethics code. They ranged from using district staff to do campaign work, to failure to report financial interests and obligations, to conflicts of interest.
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An outside attorney, Nadeen Abou-Hossa, reviewed the complaints for the city. In an April 9 email, provided by the Medrano-Guerra campaign, Abou-Hossa told the council candidate that part of her complaint had been forwarded to the board — the portion dealing with using public resources for political activity.
In her complaint, Medrano-Guerra alleged Kaur’s chief of staff, Ryan Salts, also performed campaign business when he attended a March 18 Lavaca Neighborhood Association meeting, as part of her district staff.
After introducing himself under his district title and presenting information on district business, Medrano-Guerra claims Salts also began distributing campaign signs and discussed Kaur’s re-election campaign efforts with attendees.
In a statement, Medrano-Guerra indicated she plans to push for a full hearing in front of the board on the issue.
First, Kaur has 10 business days to respond to the complaint. Medrano-Guerra will have another five days to reply to that response.
Abou-Hossa told Medrano-Guerra that her complaint did not provide facts showing Kaur had engaged in violations of conflict of interest or unfair advancement of private interests.
Though the attorney did not forward the claims about incomplete financial declarations to the board, Abou-Hossa said the city clerk had notified Kaur about requirements to correct any erroneous personal financial statements.
Medrano-Guerra will be provided with any corrections Kaur makes, the lawyer wrote, “and they will also be provided to the Ethics Review Board for consideration.”
In an emailed statement to KSAT Thursday, Kaur dismissed her challenger’s accusations.
“The Medrano Guerra campaign persists in resorting to smear tactics instead of addressing real policy solutions,” she said. “I remain fully confident that the ethics review board, following its due process, will dismiss these baseless allegations.”
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