Scott intends to run for mayor despite council vote

The race for Corpus Christi mayor just got ugly. The city council voted 6-2 Feb. 28, the first day candidates were eligible to file for the position, that former council member Mark Scott is not eligible to run. The vote, which was not on the council’s meeting agenda, came at the urging of Mayor Pro-tem Carolyn Vaughn, who said Scott violated voters’ trust by trying to resign his seat last fall to maintain his eligibility. Scott said at the time he quit before serving his full term so he would not reach term limits and be disqualified from running. 
Vaughn called foul at the time, leading to a vote to reprimand Scott.  Despite his earlier resignation, Scott stayed on the council after an outside lawyer hired by the city declared that he had not reached his term limits because one of his four terms in office was only 18 months long and not two-years as stated in the charter. City elections were moved from spring to fall in 2012.
With the special election now set for May 6, Vaughn brought in another lawyer, one she paid herself, to address the council. That lawyer deemed Scott ineligible based on the restrictions of the city charter’s term limits ordinance. Vaughn made a motion to declare Scott ineligible.
“I am going to remember I took an oath to uphold our charter and our state law,” she said. “It is clear to me what a term is. It’s clear to me that he shouldn’t be able to run. It’s clear to me that he told us that he was going to do this in order that he can do this and he thought that was okay. You can go rob a grocery store and tell them ahead o time, that still doesn’t make it right. I disagree with what happened. I want our city to go forward and our city to have an election that is going to hold.”
Voting in favor of directing city secretary Rebecca Huerta to administratively declare Scott ineligible to run if he files for a position on the council anytime in the next six years were: Vaughn, Lucy Rubio, Michael Hunter, Paulette Guardo, Ben Molina and Rudy Garza Jr. Council member Joe McComb, who is also running for mayor, recused himself. Council member Greg Smith voted against the disqualification, because the item was not clearly stated on the agenda and Scott was not there to represent himself. 
Scott was not at the meeting because he was not on the agenda and had no idea he was going to be a subject of discussion, he told a local TV station in an interview. The motion and vote came under an agenda item for issues around the special election, which attorney Miles Risley said meets Open Meetings Act requirements. 
Scott further told the TV reporter he had no intention of backing down, although he has not officially filed. Deadline for filing is March 27
“I’m running for mayor, I don’t care what six people on the city council say,” he said. “I’m not working for them. I work for the 340,000 plus citizens of Corpus Christi.” 
The council does not have the authority to bar him from the election, he said. 
“They violated their own legal opinions, not one, but two of them,” he said. “I think we need leadership and I think I can be a good mayor.” 
Scott explained to Corpus Christi Business News in the fall that he did not see any reason his plan should be considered a circumvention of the ordinance as it is based on the 12-year limit set up in the city’s charter. 
According to the ordinance, a person can serve six years as a council member and six years as mayor with a two-year break in between, the idea being that each person serve no more than 12 years total. The limit for a council member is four, two-year terms or eight years total before having to wait six years to run again.
“The important part is 12 years, and I intend to honor that,” he said. “My intent is to serve these four terms and two terms as mayor and move on.” 
According to the charter, Scott explained, someone could serve 10 years, sit out two, serve 10 more, sit out two, on and on. 
“The ordinance needs work,” he said, agreeing with the rest of the council, who might not agree with him on much else where this issue is concerned. 
Scott went on to explain that, in his mind, the charter limits are all about limiting the power of incumbency and encouraging more people to serve.
“I eliminated the power of incumbency and am allowing people to serve,” he said. “In my little brain, what I’m doing complies with the intent of the term limits.” 
Since that statement, the newly elected mayor, Dan McQueen, resigned his position after only 37 days in office. The council recently set the dates for a special election for mayor. Seven people have so far announced their intention to run. 
The seven candidates so far are: 
• at-large Councilman Joe McComb
• former mayoral candidate Ray Madrigal
• former At-Large Councilman Mark Scott
• Ethics Commission member Larry White
• former Mayor Nelda Martinez
• Tom Browne Middle School Assistant Principal Jonathan Garrison
• attorney Mark A. DiCarlo
Early voting should begin April 24 and continue through May 2. If no one candidate receives 50.1 percent of the vote, the top two vote getters will face off in a run off that would be held June 24.