The Deputy Sheriff’s Association of Bexar County firmly condemns racism and prejudice in all forms, as well as any tactics of harassment. We are a diverse organization with members of all races and backgrounds in our leadership and in our political action committee. Many of our members have therefore experienced racism and prejudice themselves throughout their lives, and we take any accusation that we could be held responsible for racially motivated harassment targeting a public official extremely seriously. This is the first we are hearing of any such incidents during this campaign, and we encourage the Commissioner to pursue all appropriate mechanisms of legal recourse at her disposal to ensure that justice is served.

Our campaign in support of Dr. Amanda Gonzalez was primarily one of fact-checking the Rebeca Clay-Flores campaign. We were forced to fact-check falsehoods disseminated by the Rebeca Clay-Flores Campaign about her public safety record and about an unfounded endorsement from another public official. At no point was any reference made to her ethnicity or racial makeup. 

We are however aware of incidents in which our own deputies and supporters of the Dr. Amanda Gonzalez campaign were verbally harassed and intimidated. We applaud Dr. Amanda Gonzalez for her poise and for cultivating a sense of solidarity that kept us all going in the face of these tactics. 

Upon receiving a favorable result tally at the end of an election night, most candidates choose to spend their time thanking their supporters and focusing on their vision for governance. We regret that the Commissioner instead chose to spend the near entirety of her speech accusing our association and our deputies of racism without giving one example of such an incident that our organization or any deputy was responsible for. When asked by a reporter at the end of her speech if she had any proof that the hateful calls she received came from our association, she admitted that she had none but that she “would be willing to bet that it was probably the deputy sheriffs.” This statement is reckless and repugnant but conforms with previous patterns of unfounded statements emanating from her campaign. 

We’re sorry that her supporters did not get the recognition they deserve for a campaign well fought. We congratulate the members of the Rebeca Clay-Flores Campaign on their victory and their hard work.