SAN ANTONIO — City Council members never get standing ovations when they enter council chambers. But Clayton Perry got one Monday afternoon.
What had the Northeast Side councilman recently done to earn such a show of support from attendees at Monday’s special council meeting?
Well, on the night of Nov. 6, Perry apparently got drunk, took the wheel of his black Jeep Wrangler and caused a disturbance at a Bill Miller Bar-B-Q. Then he drove around a median barricade on Redland Road and smashed into a Honda Civic whose driver was waiting to make a left turn. Finally, he hot-tailed it out of there before he could get caught, swerved all over the road and sped through a stop sign before pulling into his home driveway and hitting his garage door.
Three days after putting the lives of several San Antonians in danger, and with plenty of time to clear his head, Perry released a tepid statement apologizing for the “hassle” he had caused.
Sounds like he really deserved that standing ovation.
Don’t get me wrong. We all make bad choices and we should all have the chance for redemption. Alcoholism is a disease and if Perry is afflicted with that disease, I hope he gets the help he needs.
Perry served his country in the Air Force and has been a responsive councilman to his constituents. His worst moments don’t negate the positive things he has accomplished in his life.
District 10 Councilman Clayton Perry collects his thought before he gives a statement at his district office on Monday, Nov. 14, 2022 prior to a City Council special session to admonish Perry for his involvement in a hit-and-run incident last week. The council will likely seek his resignation from office.
Kin Man Hui, San Antonio Express-News / Staff photographerTo his credit, on Monday, he fully accepted responsibility for the first time for his actions and acknowledged the passengers in the car he hit.
In a statement that he read twice — at a noon press conference and two hours later at the council meeting — Perry said, “I humbly and respectfully ask for forgiveness.”
Forgiveness is one thing. Adulation is another. And it was kind of sickening, in light of everything that’s happened over the past week-and-a-half, to see Perry receive a hero’s welcome.
What if the two people in that Honda Civic had been killed or paralyzed by that head-on crash? Would those applauding constituents be feeling so sympathetic to the councilman?
Monday was the culmination of the most bizarre week at City Hall since two council members were arrested by FBI agents in 2002 on federal bribery charges.
It marked the second time in four days that council members approved a resolution censuring one of their own. Last Thursday, they took action against freshman Councilman Mario Bravo for his verbal attack against Councilwoman Ana Sandoval, his former romantic partner, shortly before a September budget vote by the council.
In Perry’s case, after he asked for a sabbatical from his council duties, his colleagues removed a provision calling on him to step down.
Both of these censure efforts made council members visibly uncomfortable. At the same time, taking no action in the face of disturbing behavior by council colleagues would have created its own sense of discomfort.
Both resolutions were designed to convey to voters — and to each other — that the actions of Perry and Bravo are not acceptable.
Both efforts, however, primarily succeeded in riling up sympathizers of these two councilmen. (In the case of Bravo, those sympathizers included his parents and his current romantic partner.)
In the upside-down world of city politics, the process had the weird effect of making Perry and Bravo look like martyrs — and their colleagues look like judgmental villains.
Last Thursday, Bravo supporters begged the council not to pass its censure resolution, on the grounds that it would disenfranchise his District 1 constituents. Since the resolution was purely symbolic and contained no language stripping Bravo of his powers, the argument made no sense.
On Monday, similar arguments were made with regard to Perry, despite the fact that even the resolution’s harshest provision — the resignation request that ultimately was removed — did not force Perry to leave office.
Screen grabs from the body camera of a responding SAPD officer. The video is labeled Critical Incident Video Release of Hit & Run Investigation on 11/6/22 and shows San Antonio City Council member Clayton Perry in his back yard on November 6, 2022.
Video courtesy of San Antonio Police Department.This misunderstanding prompted Mayor Ron Nirenberg to ask City Attorney Andy Segovia to explain that no one was forcing Perry to do anything.
“The council right now does not have the ability to remove Councilman Perry from office,” Segovia said.
One speaker, David Pierce, argued that no person should be defined by a single event.
In doing so, Pierce made an absurd comparison between Perry’s potentially deadly drive and Nirenberg’s off-the-cuff statement at a 2020 Black Lives Matter rally that he was “mayor of this goddamn city and we’re going to make change together.”
Pierce said to Nirenberg, “Your conduct and comment, as I recall, generated no similar motion as the one before council now, based upon your mistake and seriously bad choice of wording.”
Perry faces criminal charges for his actions. Last time I checked, using the word “goddamn” at a political rally is not a criminal act.
ggarcia@express-news.net| Twitter: @gilgamesh470
