An Aransas Pass man was removed from the podium and the speaker at the most recent Corpus Christi City Council meeting following an expletive-laden interaction with Mayor Paulette Guajardo near the end of his public comments.
During the Corpus Christi City Council meeting on March 17, Aransas Pass resident Jason Followell stepped to the podium during the meeting’s public comment period to speak on the rules of decorum.
Followell said this was not the first time he’s spoken out on decorum in front of the council.
“I come up here each time to talk about decorum – that’s the line we use when you don’t want an answer. Decorum is not a right – it’s not even a law. The First Amendment of the Constitution is the law of the land. And you know that,” he said. “One protects feelings, the other protects truth. And truth is rarely polite.”
Before his comments, the council repeatedly asked Followell to identify himself by stating his name and what city he was from, per meeting policy. And eventually Followell said, “I identify as ‘We the people,’ and my city as America.”
After repeated requests and eventually stating the city of Aransas Pass, Followell requested his time back for public comment before launching into his comments.
“Decorum is not the First Amendment – the First Amendment doesn’t exist to protect polite speech, it exists to protect uncomfortable speech – speech that calls out your corruption,” he said in the direction of Guajardo.
After a timer went off signifying his time was up, Followell initially refused to leave the podium and asked for additional time to make additional comments. Following the council’s denial, Followell then released an expletive-laden statement in the mayor’s direction before a pair of police officers escorted him out of the meeting.