The removal hearing of Corpus Christi Mayor Paulette Guajardo is expected to launch in late July, a process that will play out similarly to a civil case in which witness testimony and evidence will be presented, and the parties represented by attorneys.
The City Council in a June 2 pretrial hearing set July 22 and July 23 as the initial dates for the removal hearing, with additional days following if so needed.
The majority of the council who will be standing as judge and jury also shot down motions posed by Guajardo’s attorney, John Flood, including requests that sitting council members who were part of the 2024 deliberations on tax incentives for a hotel — the origin of the controversy — bow out of participating in the process.
Flood has contended that council members who were on the panel for the vote approving $2 million in funding for the downtown hotel development are also witnesses in the case, asserting that two council members who have not recused themselves or been disqualified from participating make the proceedings void.
Corpus Christi City Council members listen to attorneys during a pretrial hearing for the removal proceedings of Mayor Paulette Guajardo at City Hall on June 2.
“Simply put, fundamental fairness requires that witnesses to disputed facts underlying the impeachment cannot also serve as the tribunal deciding those same facts,” he told six council members June 2. “It is a simple concept, and it renders this proceeding unlawful.”
That wasn’t the take of attorney Doug Allison, who represents petitioners who are seeking Guajardo’s removal, as well as competing hotelier Ajit David, who is a plaintiff in a lawsuit against the city related to the tax incentives.
“What (Flood) is asking you to do is, ‘Don’t even get to the corruption issues, don’t even get to the malfeasance issues, don’t even get to the issues of incompetence or improper or misconduct,’” he said. “‘Stop now before you hear any evidence’ is what he’s asking you to do, and that’s the exact opposite of what the charter asks you to do.”
Flood has contended in a federal lawsuit filed by Guajardo against the city of Corpus Christi and five council members that the proceedings are rife with “procedural and substantive due process” issues.
Supporters of the removal hearing have pushed back on that assessment, maintaining that the City Charter and the rules and procedures adopted for the proceedings have due process assurances built in.
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The request
Council members currently involved in the decision-making for the upcoming trial are Gil Hernandez, Sylvia Campos, Mark Scott, Kaylynn Paxson, Eric Cantu and Carolyn Vaughn, who is also serving as the presiding officer.
Guajardo cannot participate on the City Council tribunal, and City Councilmen Roland Barrera and Everett Roy are abstaining.
The process was put into motion when a petition signed by six registered voters was filed in August, with public discussions by the City Council picked up about seven months later.
Hernandez, Paxson, Campos, Cantu and Vaughn — the five council members named as defendants in Guajardo’s federal case — had voted to move forward with the removal process, citing the petition.
The document accuses the mayor of misconduct or malfeasance related to granting the tax incentives.
Petitioners contend that she was aware of allegations that hotel developers had used an altered screenshot in a presentation requesting the money, but had put an item for the funding on an agenda for council consideration.
Articles of impeachment, filed by lead petitioner Rachel Caballero in March, further claim the mayor had perjured herself during a deposition taken as part of David’s lawsuit.
Guajardo has denied all allegations of wrongdoing.
A law enforcement investigation and an investigation by an independent attorney did not find criminal wrongdoing in the controversy.
The removal hearing is about ethical questions and not a criminal inquiry, removal hearing supporters have said.
The motion
Had Flood’s motion been approved, it would have applied to Roy, Barrera, Hernandez and Campos, who each had considered the tax incentives in 2024.
Barrera and Roy previously announced their recusals from the proceedings.
Flood’s recusal and disqualification motion was denied in a 5-1 vote, with Paxson, Cantu, Vaughn, Hernandez and Campos in support and Scott in dissent.
Flood had made similar arguments about the matter as part of a request for a preliminary injunction in the federal civil case, which was denied by U.S. District Judge George C. Hanks Jr.
The preliminary injunction that had been suggested was rejected, according to the judge’s May 28 written opinion, because the mayor hadn’t shown that either the city of Corpus Christi or the City Council was “acting without legal authority or in violation of the City’s charter.”
Flood and Allison disagree on whether the opinion penned by Hanks directly answered the argument related to council members involved in the 2024 vote also sitting on the tribunal.
Flood has said the judge did not address the issue in the order, while Allison has said the judge did and that the argument was rejected.
Accusations
Guajardo had also sought to strike the articles of impeachment. Flood asserted that the documentation didn’t provide adequate notice of the specific accusations against her and failed to clearly identify “the precise conduct alleged to constitute fraud, misconduct, perjury and malfeasance.”
The articles of impeachment span 15 pages, Allison noted, asserting that they provide details on the allegations and aren’t “scant.”
The allegations listed in the articles are “incompetence, malfeasance, corruption, breach of trust, fraud, aiding and abetting fraud,” Allison said.
“I would easily submit to you that you would have to be deaf, dumb and blind to not understand what this is about,” he said. “I mean, you’re kidding me.”
What’s next
Council members in the June 2 pretrial hearing also gave the nod for petitioners and the mayor to begin issuing subpoenas.
They are enforceable by a city code, said Assistant City Attorney Lisa Aguilar, and noncompliance could lead to a Class C misdemeanor.
The mayor’s witness list includes about 60 names across four pages — among them, City Manager Peter Zanoni, Corpus Christi Police Chief Mike Markle, Nueces County District Attorney Jimmy Granberry, U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation agents, the petitioners, hotel developers and David, along with Allison.
The petitioners’ witness list of 20 names features some overlap, including Zanoni, Markle, the hotel developers and the district attorney.
Allison is also requesting the mayor’s text messages, as well as hotel developers’ text messages, from December 2023 through April 2024.
Additional pretrial hearings are scheduled for June 8 and June 9.
Kirsten Crow covers city government and water news. Have a story idea? Contact her at kirsten.crow@caller.com.
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This article originally appeared on Corpus Christi Caller Times: Pretrial hearing launches Corpus Christi mayor’s removal proceedings