The mayor of Farmers Branch is being accused of “political interference” after his talks with sponsors led to them briefly backing out of a local National Night Out event.
Organizer Loretta Almanza said Mayor Terry Lynne told sponsors the event was endorsing a city council candidate who was featured as a special guest on a promotional flyer. She said he used his “position in the city to have them back out from our event.”
Almanza told KERA News she does support the candidate, Lupe Gonzalez for District 1, but didn’t intend for the event to be political.
“I had a special guest named on [the flyer], but it was just that,” she said during a recent council meeting. "Not a political event, not a meet and greet, not a campaign sponsor. It was just that — a special guest.”
Lynne said Almanza should have either invited both Gonzalez and her opponent, Lilia Martinez, to the event or not listed either one on the flyer.
“When you only invite one and specifically exclude the other, and then you promote it as a political event, that presents a problem,” Lynne said.
The mayor also alleged Almanza had told a sponsor there was only one candidate for District 1. Almanza denied telling any sponsor that.
Lynne said he received messages from people upset about the flyer, prompting him to reach out to the event’s sponsors, which included sports teams, restaurants and some nonprofits. Lynne – who also works as the president of Time-Out Sports, a sports marketing agency – said he's done business with some of the sponsors before.
“I have relationships with all these people,” he said. “And they do not get involved in political elections.”
He added that the decision by the sponsors to pull out was entirely their own.
Almanza said after she spoke out at a Sept. 16 council meeting and changed the flyer, the sponsors have since come back.
“I don't want him to sabotage my event again,” she said. “I don't want my event canceled for the second time.”
Her National Night Out event is from at 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Oct. 7 at Squire Park. More than a dozen other National Night Out events will be happening across Farmers Branch the same day.
Dylan Duke is KERA's Fall news intern. Got a tip? Email Dylan Duke at dduke@kera.org.
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