SAN ANTONIO — Whether or not it ends up passing, Friday’s City Council scheduled vote to potentially censure Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones will represent a remarkably rare moment in San Antonio history. Not since July 1970 has a sitting mayor of the Alamo City faced such a reprimand from council colleagues.
While the most immediate context of the Friday vote is a confrontation between Jones and a fellow council member that occurred behind closed doors, the contention 56 years centered on nationally televised remarks by then-Mayor Walter W. McAllister, who was in the final months of a 10-year decade at the helm.
What happened in 1970?
According to the city’s written record, City Council met on July 9, 1970, two days after an NBC News interview featuring McAllister which caused controversy in the city.
During a portion of the meeting officially noted in city materials as “Discussion of mayor’s remarks on television concerning Mexican-Americans,” McAllister read a lengthy prepared statement in which he threw blame at then-NBC News reporter Jack Perkins for what he called a “distorted commentary.” At issue was a segment of the TV news piece in which McAllister said it was made to appear as if he was referencing Mexican-American residents just before discussing Communism…