McNabb No Longer El Paso City Attorney

A career quietly came to a close early this month as City Attorney Charlie McNabb retired on Dec. 3, 2011. Laura Gordon, who worked in McNabb?s office, is currently serving as the interim city attorney while Mayor John Cook says he believes he will have a proposal for who he would appoint by Dec. 20th.

McNabb, who began a second stint working with the city in 2005, had been planning his retirement for several months, according to Cook.

?I knew about six months ago that he would be leaving before the end of the year,? said Cook.

Not everyone agrees that McNabb?s exit was so well planned. Theresa Caballero, who is currently representing several police officers who resigned this year, says she believes it was a grievance that she tells ABC-7 she filed in November that led to McNabb?s decision to leave the city. The grievance, which Caballero posted on her website, asks the State Bar of Texas to look into whether McNabb, Assistant City Attorney Kenneth Krohn and Jaime Esparza violated the Texas Code of Professional Conduct. The letter explains that defense attorneys were not notified that officers involved in a case Caballero was trying had resigned amid allegations of misconduct.

Caballero says that the timing of McNabb?s retirement draws into question whether it was due to the complaint she filed with the State Bar of Texas.

?It?s on pretty good authority that Charlie McNabb resigned from the position of the attorney for the city of El Paso a few days after we filed our complaints against him,? said Caballero.

Mayor John Cook contends that the grievance had nothing to do with the retirement. He says McNabb originally accepted the position of city attorney with the intentions of working only two years, Cook boasts that he was lucky to get six years from McNabb instead. Cook says he?s known about the retirement plans for six weeks, which would be the end of October a few weeks before the grievance was filed.

McNabb was called to comment on the allegations that he was retiring due to a grievance but didn?t comment. McNabb simply acknowledged he was retired, and referred all questions to the City.

Meanwhile, the State Bar of Texas would not comment on whether they had yet received the grievance Caballero says she filed. According to a member of the State Bar, grievances are confidential until there is a ruling or a trial in court. Representatives from both Esparza and Krohn?s offices said they have not yet heard anything official from the State Bar of Texas office that would imply they are being reviewed.