Mayor resigns after one month in office, via Facebook

In the end, his term only lasted 37 days.

Dan McQueen, the embattled mayor of Corpus Christi, Tex., resigned abruptly from his post Wednesday via a Facebook status, after questions about his educational history began to cast his resume into doubt and several social media posts that had soured his relationship with fellow political and business leaders in the city.

“Consider this my resignation,” he wrote in a Facebook post Wednesday afternoon. “I resign immediately. The city can no longer deal with such differing views and divisiveness. I step down from my position as Mayor, in order to allow the council and city to regain focus on success.”

“Sorry, they are now into my ex-wives and kids,” he added. “Nothing good will come from that mess.”

McQueen then appeared to delete his Twitter account Wednesday. He also submitted his resignation letter in writing to the city secretary, according to the Corpus Christi Caller-Times.

City Councilwoman Carolyn Vaughn told the Caller-Times that she “appreciated” McQueen’s resignation.

“It’s for the better of the city that he did that,” she told the paper. “I believe it’s the best for the city that we move on. You can’t come back from something like that when you criticize the staff, the media and the city.

“You can’t lead like that,” she added. “I know I wasn’t going to follow.”

McQueen had run for mayor in 2014 but lost to Nelda Martinez gathering less than 14 percent of the vote. He then ousted Martinez in an election last November and was sworn in the following month promising to “fix” the city.

But McQueen also took to Facebook to criticize the media for asking questions about his education, and to rail against fellow council members who he said were uneducated and only had high school degrees. Several have gone to college.

Hours before he resigned, he faced off in an interview with 3News in which he defended his education and his comments about his fellow council members.

Vaughn will lead the council as mayor pro tem until an interim mayor is named, likely Tuesday.

This story was originally published January 19, 2017 at 8:42 AM with the headline "Mayor resigns after one month in office, via Facebook."