SAN ANTONIO – A San Antonio ethics review board panel took up a sworn complaint against District 2 Councilman Jalen McKee-Rodriguez Thursday over a Facebook post on his personal account that included a constituent’s personal email address. The panel did not issue a final ruling and instead requested an additional written response from the councilman.
McKee-Rodriguez did not attend the hearing. Panel Vice Chair Philip Ryan Garza said neither party was required to appear or speak.
Juan Rider Mireles II, a San Antonio resident, filed the sworn ethics complaint against McKee-Rodriguez, alleging he misused official city resources and violated the city’s ethics rules by publicly exposing a constituent’s private information on his personal social media.
Mireles filed the complaint June 1. KSAT obtained a copy of the complaint, which alleges McKee-Rodriguez violated multiple parts of the city’s ethics rules and also raises claims about the council code of conduct and federal constitutional standards.
The complaint stems from a series of Facebook posts made by McKee-Rodriguez in May 2026.
According to the complaint, a constituent posted a comment on social media that used a racial slur against McKee-Rodriguez. McKee-Rodriguez, who is Black, then published three images on his Facebook page in response — including a screenshot of the constituent’s comment, her profile picture and a screenshot of an email from the Council District 2 office sent to her on Sept. 12, 2024.
The complaint alleges the email screenshot appeared to have been accessed through a Microsoft Outlook application on an iPhone and exposed the constituent’s full email address, which the complaint said McKee-Rodriguez obtained through official council channels.
According to the complaint, McKee-Rodriguez posted the following statement later that day:
“Every now and then a comment will cross my feed and I decide to either ignore it or I’ll give the commenter the attention they’re asking for. It’s been that way since long before I became a public figure. However, it has come to my attention that every time you click on the profile of said person being hateful - they have a face like gollum, are built like a beanbag, were one of the children our education system failed long ago, or represent some combination thereof. I may no longer be entertaining these folk on my personal profile and will instead heed the advice of my friend, colleagues, loved ones and will exercise the block button. This will henceforth be a space of positivity because I decided it so. Peace and love! JMR”
Jalen Mckee-Rodriguez, District 2 councilmember
At Thursday’s hearing, outside counsel Frank Garza summarized the complaint and told the panel the ethics process could address possible ethics violations but could not hear the complaint’s First Amendment or code-of-conduct claims because those issues fall outside the panel’s jurisdiction.
Frank Garza told the panel that McKee-Rodriguez submitted a response dated June 24 and acknowledged he should have redacted the email address before posting the image. He also said McKee-Rodriguez took Texas Public Information Act training June 3 after the incident.
After the panel went into executive session, they returned to open session without a final decision.
“No official action was taken in the executive session,” Philip Ryan Garza said after the panel reconvened.
The panel then voted to request an additional written response from McKee-Rodriguez on an allegation that he may have used his position to unfairly harm a private citizen’s interests.
Board staff said Mireles will have an opportunity to respond after the panel receives the councilman’s written statement, and the panel will reconvene later to make a determination.
In the complaint, Mireles also identified several categories of records he wants the city to review, including device assignment logs, IT access logs, cloud storage audits and internal staff communications. The complaint said those records are under the control of the city’s Information Technology Services Department and the Council District 2 administrative office.
The complaint said the constituent’s original contact with the council office involved a concern about a 94-year-old woman who the constituent alleged was being exploited and robbed by a family receiving city funds for East Side revitalization.
According to the screenshot of the Sept. 12, 2024 email included in the complaint, a member of the District 2 team told the constituent the office does not get involved in legal matters and directed her to Texas RioGrande Legal Aid.
McKee-Rodriguez later added a note to his post acknowledging the response.
“Correction: She reached out and received a response from a member of my team in 2024,” McKee-Rodriguez wrote.
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