Marc Whyte was elected to former councilman Clayton Perry’s District 10 seat. Credit: Facebook / Marc Whyte for City Council

Anyone expecting new San Antonio Councilman Marc Whyte to be less of a contrarian than Clayton Perry, his District 10 predecessor, may want to think again.

Hours after Mayor Ron Nirenberg and City Attorney Andy Segovia told reporters on Monday that the city had joined Houston in suing the state over its so-called “Death Star bill,” Whyte was quick rebuke the legal action.

“Simply put, in my view, this decision is short-sighted, ignores the needs of businesses in San Antonio and around Texas, and is yet another attempt by our city government to try to exert power and have control in areas it should not,” Whyte said in a Monday press release.

Whyte was referring to San Antonio’s lawsuit against HB 2127, a measure passed by the Texas Legislature that would bar municipalities from enacting business-related statutes that go further than existing state law. One such statute would be a proposed council ordinance requiring employers to give water breaks to outdoor laborers.

Set to take effect on Sept. 1, HB 2127 has been widely criticized as the Republican-controlled Lege’s bid to strip local control from Texas’ Democrat-run large cities. Opponents argue that the bill runs afoul of the state constitution and is so broadly written that it will create a legal morass for city and county governments.

“We do not intend to meekly surrender our community’s right to self-govern,” Nirenberg said in a statement explaining San Antonio’s decision to sue.

Meanwhile, Whyte’s support of the bill suggests he’s willing to play conservative naysayer on a council dominated by moderates and progressives — just like Perry, who spent three terms doing the same. Whyte won the District 10 seat after Perry, in the fallout from a DWI arrest, declined to run for a fourth term.

Although HB 2127 would essentially strip San Antonio of its right to enact progressive local ordinances, Whyte argued that such a restriction is a great thing. At least for an alphabet soup of business advocacy organizations.

“This new law has been widely praised by business groups around Texas, such as the Texas Chapter of the National Federation of Independent Businesses, our state chamber — the Texas Association of Business as well as by local chambers, including our own San Antonio Hispanic Chamber of Commerce,” Whyte wrote in his statement.

Whyte — a business attorney who ran as a “common sense  conservative” — added that instead of racking up “thousands upon of dollars in legal fees,” the mayor and council should focus on issues including “homelessness, rising crime and maintaining our streets and sidewalks.”

Perry may be gone, but it sounds like council is in for more of the same from its District 10 representative.

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This article appears in Jul 12-25, 2023.

Michael Karlis is a multimedia journalist at the San Antonio Current, whose coverage in print and on social media focuses on local and state politics. He is a graduate of American University in Washington,...