Bexar County Judge Peter Sakai fired his chief spokesman in December over a series of flirtatious texts the staffer sent the publisher of an East Side newspaper that she said left her “creeped out,” the Express-News reports, citing documents and interviews.
Sakai took the action against Jim Lefko, his communications director, after an investigation by Bexar County’s ombudsman, an independent official who looks into complaints about county employees, the daily reports. Lefko, 67, a former Express-News sports editor, reportedly consented to an interview with the ombudsman but refused to turn over his text messages.
“The judge has not and will not ever put up with that behavior, and it was quite obvious once we started asking questions that the only solution was termination,” Sakai’s chief of staff, Matthew Polanco, told the Express-News. “The judge will not allow that behavior from anyone in the county, especially not his staff.”
Lefko sent the texts in question to Stephanie Zarriello, publisher of the San Antonio Observer, an East Side community paper, while he was tasked with building support for the county plan to use public money to revitalize Freeman Coliseum, according to the daily.
During text exchanges last fall, Lefko praised Zarriello’s appearance and asked her to send him a photo of herself “all dolled up,” the Express-News reports, citing statements in the county report and texts supplied by Zarriello. At one point the former Sakai spokesman urged Zarriello to meet him for drinks because he was a “bachelor for the weekend,” according to the report.
In a statement to the daily, Lefko said his texts had been “misconstrued” and maintained that stayed in communication with Zarriello to build support from her publication for the county project.
“I was under no obligation to share my texts (with the ombudsman), and did not believe I had done anything wrong although in hindsight I could have used better judgment,” he said in the statement.
County ombudsman Allison Highley’s four-page report to Sakai was based on a Dec. 1 interview with Lefko and a review of emails between Lefko, Zarriello and her husband, Observer CEO Waseem Ali, according to the Express-News. The investigator reportedly didn’t review texts between Lefko and Zarriello.
“Mr. Lefko stated that, looking back, he regretted many of his actions and would have done things differently,” Highley said at the end of the report obtained by the daily.
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