28 Oct How Corpus Christi council members voted in the mayor’s removal case as they seek office

With early voting under way, five of the six Corpus Christi council members who sat in judgment of Mayor Paulette Guajardo are now asking voters for their support in the current election. Carolyn Vaughn, Eric Cantu and Mark Scott are seeking new council terms, and Kaylynn Paxson and Gil Hernandez are running for mayor against Guajardo, who is pursuing a sixth and final term, according to the Caller-Times.

The tribunal heard the case across four days in July and August after a petition from six registered voters. It did not remove Guajardo. It ordered a formal reprimand and a 30-day suspension that began Aug. 8, after finding she committed “misconduct, malfeasance, incompetence, or inability or willful neglect of performance of her official duties” on each of three charges: aiding a fraud on taxpayers in connection with a $2 million hotel tax incentive, perjury in a deposition, and breaching the confidentiality of the city’s economic development corporation.

Guajardo denies wrongdoing. An investigation by law enforcement and an outside legal review found no crime, and a council finding is not a criminal charge.

The five candidates did not vote as a bloc. Four of them, all but Scott, found the fraud and perjury charges proven and supported a penalty on each. The confidentiality charge split them: Vaughn, Paxson and Hernandez found it proven, while Cantu joined Scott in voting no.

How the five voted:

• Hernandez: Took the hardest line. Voted with Councilwoman Sylvia Campos, who is not on the ballot, to remove Guajardo on the fraud and perjury charges, and backed a suspension on all three.
• Vaughn: Opposed removal on every charge. Backed a suspension on the fraud charge and a reprimand on the perjury and confidentiality charges.
• Paxson: Opposed removal on every charge. Backed a suspension on the fraud charge and a reprimand on the perjury charge, and served as acting mayor during the suspension.
• Cantu: Opposed removal on every charge. Backed a suspension on the fraud charge and a reprimand on the perjury charge.
• Scott: Voted against every finding and every penalty.

The reprimand on the confidentiality charge failed on a 3-3 tie, with Vaughn and Hernandez joining Campos in favor and Cantu, Paxson and Scott opposed.

The same members shaped whether a removal hearing took place to begin with. The council voted 5-3 on March 24 to take up the petition, with Scott, Roland Barrera and Everett Roy opposed and Guajardo abstaining. Vaughn, Cantu, Hernandez, Paxson and Campos made up the majority, and the same five approved the articles of impeachment and hearing rules April 14. On June 2, they rejected a request by Guajardo’s attorney to disqualify members who had voted on the 2024 incentive. Barrera and Roy sat out the tribunal.

Brandon Rottinghaus, a University of Houston political science professor, said in August that the hearing carried the fight out of City Hall and onto the ballot. With all nine council seats up, he said, the election could reshape the majority that took up the case against her, with the city’s water shortage and desalination debate also likely to figure in.

Council members described the political fallout in different terms in August. Vaughn said it is up to voters in November whether to “put up with” the conduct the council found if they do not look into what happened. Campos said candidates should be talking to residents, who she believes would tell them the council did the right thing. Scott said he saw confusion among residents about what the council did and why, and expected the hearing to polarize some voters. Barrera, who has called the allegations false, said he was glad Guajardo was not removed because the decision should rest with voters.

Early voting runs through Friday, Oct. 30, and Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 3.