Northeast Rep. Sam Morgan pleads not guilty to misdemeanor charge, council postpones censure

Northeast city Rep. Sam Morgan began his day pleading not guilty to a misdemeanor charge in El Paso County court, stemming from an incident in October where he was accused of striking his wife. 

He later attended Tuesday's City Council meeting a little more than hour after it began a few blocks away from the county courthouse. The council considered censuring Morgan because of the allegations against him but ultimately decided to postpone action for a third time. The discussion will be picked up at the next meeting Feb. 4. 

The council voted, 5-1, to postpone with District 2 city Rep. Alexsandra Annello making the sole no vote just after 6 p.m. Reps. Peter Svarzbein and Claudia Ordaz Perez were absent. 

"Dr. Morgan will not be doing interviews on this matter," his attorney, Leonard Morales, said. "What I will say on Dr. Morgan's behalf is that he will continue to represent the people of Northeast El Paso, he will obey and comply with any court orders or requirements, and will continue to love and support his family." 

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Morgan also has a pending felony charge against him stemming from the Oct. 4 incident where he allegedly struck his wife and was arrested. A jury trial is scheduled for April over the felony charge and a pre-trial hearing is scheduled in March over the misdemeanor. 

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City Reps discuss censure process

The City Council pushed discussion about censuring the allegations against Morgan to the end of Tuesday's meeting after there was back-and-forth about what kind of process the city should adopt to censure an official. 

Deputy City Manager Cary Westin and city staff say they reviewed other cities' procedure to censure an official. In cities like Dallas, an official would not be censured unless they'd already been found to have done something wrong by a court or that city's ethics commission, he added.

But District 2 city Rep. Alexsandra Annello challenged Westin's claims saying that she had spoken with other cities' attorneys to understand their process. She claimed that the city was trying to "mold" the process for an incident in El Paso, alluding to the allegations against Morgan. 

Westin responded that the city was not and insisted that other cities had adopted policies that required a form of adjudication to proceed with a censure. 

Dallas' policy for censure can be found in its code of ethics.

It says that "the city council may adopt a resolution of censure if the city council finds that a serious or repeated violation of this chapter has been committed intentionally or through reckless disregard of this chapter and the violation substantially threatens the public trust."

The city has proposed a process to censure an elected official when a representative or group of elected officials compile a complaint and submit it to the city clerk.

The clerk would then notify the representative identified in the complaint and allow them a chance to respond. The proposal would then require four representatives to post the censure item onto the agenda. 

For now, it requires a sponsor and three additional signatures from elected officials.

"When you place an item of censure on the City Council agenda, that in of itself is censure," he said. 

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Morgan, who has rarely spoken during the meetings since the Oct. 4 incident, asked city attorney Karla Nieman whether city representatives could reach out to attorneys from other cities. 

"One of the things that we hear in El Paso all the time is we're not Dallas, we're not Austin, we're not Houston, we're not all this," Morgan said. He questioned why the council would now want to emulate another city.

Nieman said she has reached out to attorneys in other cities only when the council directs her to.

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Annello responded by saying that she did not consult with outside legal counsel and had spoken with other city officials to understand their processes. 

"This staff and our city attorney quoted the Austin and Dallas City Council," she said. "So, what I did was I called the Austin and Dallas City Council, who directed me to their city attorneys, who told me that our city attorney and our staff were not being honest about what they were saying on the dais."

Annello asked whether the city could consider the state's process for censuring.

There is a reference to censure in the Texas government code for judges.

That's when Nieman asked the council to retire into executive session, or behind closed doors, to discuss the issue.

Annello asked Nieman to do the presentation in public but Morgan and Rivera motioned to go into executive session. 

The council voted, 5-2, to go into executive session. Annello and Hernandez voted against it.

When the council came out of executive session, they decided to move the issue to the end of the Tuesday meeting. 

Change to ‘Code of Conduct’

Representatives voted unanimously to make a change to the city’s code of conduct, which changes the number of votes needed to reprimand a city representative for violating the code.

The council voted in favor of requiring a super majority to reprimand an official for violating the code, which would be at least a 6-2 vote. The original version had required a simple majority vote.

Svarzbein, who motioned for the change, said it would be so that the council could not resort to ‘bullying’ another representative.

The code of conduct was adopted by the council last June despite push back from Annello, Hernandez and Svarzbein. 

Campaign report shows Morgan living in District 4

A Jan. 15 report filed by Sam Morgan answers whether the representative is living in District 4. The report is required of council office holders to file in January and July.

Morgan’s report shows he is a resident in a Northeast El Paso apartment complex.

The report also lists Morgan’s wife as his campaign treasurer. There is a court order requiring Morgan to stay away from his wife.

His campaign finance report shows that he has raised $285 from three donors that include a university student, an El Paso Independent School District teacher and a member of the U.S. Air Force.

His seat is up for election in the November general election along with the mayor and districts 2,3 and 7. 

Aaron Montes may be reached at 915-546-6137; amontes@elpasotimes.com; @aaronmontes91 on Twitter.