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<\/p>\nKENS 5 obtained audio from a September 2025 staff meeting after a councilmember referenced the comment at the Aug. 24, 2026, council meeting.<\/p>\n
BALCONES HEIGHTS, Texas \u2014 The city of Balcones Heights says it is reviewing comments Mayor Johnny A. Rodriguez Jr. made during a September 2025 staff meeting, after KENS 5 obtained audio of him repeating a remark about rape.<\/p>\n
KENS 5 is the first news outlet to obtain the recording, which the city says an employee made during a Sept. 19, 2025, meeting with city staff.<\/p>\n
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During the meeting, Rodriguez criticized previous city leaders\u2019 financial decisions, including the city\u2019s mall investment, and discussed changes he wanted to make to staffing and management.<\/p>\n
Before repeating the remark about rape, he questioned whether arguing with critics he called \u201cangry birds\u201d accomplished anything.<\/p>\n
\u201cLike T. Boone Pickens said, when you\u2019re gonna get raped, just lay down and enjoy it,\u201d Rodriguez says in the recording. He then laughs.<\/p>\n
During the same discussion, he told staff they had nothing to worry about if they did their jobs.<\/p>\n
Although Rodriguez attributed the remark to Pickens, a similar comment was documented during Clayton Williams\u2019 1990 campaign for Texas governor. Williams compared bad weather to rape, saying, \u201cIf it\u2019s inevitable, just relax and enjoy it,\u201d according to Associated Press reporting.<\/p>\n
Rodriguez\u2019s comment resurfaced nearly a year later during a tense exchange at the Aug. 24, 2026, City Council meeting.<\/p>\n
As Rodriguez prepared to leave the dais, he said, \u201cI\u2019m not gonna take this from a child-support dodger and a wife beater.\u201d A councilmember responded by referencing the mayor\u2019s earlier remark about rape.<\/p>\n
That exchange prompted KENS 5 to file a public records request for the original audio. The city provided the recording.<\/p>\n