SAN ANTONIO – A taped debate between the two remaining candidates for San Antonio mayor was interrupted this week, after Rolando Pablos accused opponent Gina Ortiz Jones of using her cellphone.
The incident happened Thursday morning during a taping at KWEX-TV, the Univision affiliate in San Antonio.
KWEX station management declined to comment, but it has since aired the debate in its entirety on Friday afternoon.
The station had previously scheduled the hourlong program to be published to YouTube late next week and to air on television one week from Sunday.
Footage captured during the forum shows Ortiz Jones holding her cellphone while referencing a mayoral questionnaire from the San Antonio Express-News.
Rules for the debate, which were agreed to by both sides before the taping, expressly prohibited either candidate from using a phone during the forum.
Footage of the debate aired by KWEX on Friday afternoon shows a cellphone on Ortiz Jones’ podium throughout the question-and-answer session.
“If you can’t stand on your own two feet and answer questions from a moderator without having a device or supplemental notes that you take with you, you don’t deserve to be in office,” Justin Hollis, campaign manager for Pablos, said.
Hollis was at the studio on Thursday morning and shared footage with KSAT of Ortiz Jones holding her phone as her campaign manager, Jordan Abelson, scrolled and then texted on her cellphone while seated in a chair behind the cameras.
Pablos interrupted the debate to question why Ortiz Jones was using her phone, causing the debate to stop for more than a minute, KWEX’s footage shows.
A production staff member eventually approached Ortiz Jones, retrieved her device and handed it to someone off-screen, the footage shows.
A second clip of footage shared with KSAT by the Pablos campaign shows Abelson being questioned by KWEX management shortly after the debate ended.
Abelson eventually gave Ortiz Jones her phone back, the footage shows.
Hollis told KSAT on Friday that KWEX staff asked Ortiz Jones and Abelson to “produce their devices.”
“They declined at first and just said they would send screenshots later,” said Hollis.
Sources said Ortiz Jones, Abelson and KWEX management later went into a conference room.
Sources also told KSAT on Friday that the devices contained matching screenshots of the newspaper questionnaire sent by Abelson to Ortiz Jones.
She told KSAT over the phone that she had texted her candidate the screenshots, but had done so on Wednesday morning, nearly a full 24 hours before the debate occurred.
Abelson also shared with KSAT screenshots of her texts to Ortiz Jones.
Screenshots of the questionnaire were sent before 11:15 a.m. on Wednesday.
The next text from Abelson to Ortiz Jones was a copy of a voicemail sent after 3 p.m. on Thursday, several hours after the debate had concluded.
“They dodge the press, they break the rules, they’re not transparent. Do we really want a mayor who won’t even answer a question on election night, who has to use her phone to gain an advantage over her opponent?” said Hollis, who questioned whether Ortiz Jones and Abelson possibly deleted messages before showing their devices to Univision.
Reached for comment, Pablos released the following statement to KSAT on Friday: “Gina always asks voters to judge candidates not by what they say, but by their actions. I agree, and I urge voters to judge her by her recent actions, because we cannot have a leader who is a cheater.”
KSAT requested an interview with Abelson on Friday.
In a statement sent via text message on Friday afternoon, Abelson told KSAT, “This is a clear attempt by the Pablos campaign to divert attention away from his poor performance at the debate. A debate where he refused to answer whether he supported turning San Antonio police officers into ICE officers, and refused to explain why he wants city funds to pay for 50% of the Spurs’ new arena. The truth is Greg Abbott appointed Rolando Pablos to the highest unelected office in the state, and now it’s time for Rolando to pay him back. We don’t need an Abbott puppet running San Antonio.”
KWEX moves up air date of mayoral debate
The debate was recorded partially in Spanish and partially in English, according to Hollis.
KWEX originally planned to post it in its entirety on YouTube on May 22 and broadcast it on television on May 25, records obtained by KSAT show.
The debate was instead broadcast and published online on Friday afternoon.
“Given the ongoing discourse about the debate recorded yesterday, and in the interest of transparency, we have decided to move the programming time to be aired on digital and television at 4 p.m. this afternoon (Friday),” states an email from a KWEX producer that was shared with KSAT.
Univision Vice President of News & Regional News Director Moana Ramirez declined comment when reached by KSAT on Friday and referred questions to the debate the station has since broadcast and posted online.
KSAT is scheduled to televise and stream a live debate between the two mayoral candidates from Trinity University at 7 p.m. on May 21.
Early voting for the June 7 mayoral runoff election is scheduled to begin on May 27.
Read more reporting on the KSAT Investigates page.
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