It’s not easy running for City Council while you’re being investigated by the FBI.

That may or may not be the case for District 7 Councilman Cris Medina — and that’s exactly his problem. Medina was the subject of an FBI probe six months ago, but no one, not even Medina, knows whether he’s still under investigation, a state of affairs that gives potential supporters the jitters.

Only two things are certain: Medina is paranoid, and someone is definitely out to get him.

Last summer, an anonymous email purported to blow the whistle on the councilman. It listed a litany of allegations, including the illegal use of campaign funds.

“As a female staff member to Councilman Cris Medina,” it began, “I feel it my duty to release information that confirms shadows of impropriety that plague Medina’s tenure.”

The email was sent from an address masquerading as Medina’s.

“The allegations were just so despicable,” Medina told me Friday. “What I was concerned about was being impersonated online.”

It’s unclear how Medina, a male councilman, could be “impersonated” by someone claiming to be a female staff member. Nonetheless, he took his concern to William McManus, then the city’s police chief.

At that point, Medina made a tactical error: He yelled at the police chief.

“Cris called McManus and questioned him, 'Why are you not investigating it?’” said Colin Strother, the councilman’s former communications adviser. “Cris said, 'I want it investigated.’ Cris raised his voice, and McManus said, 'Let’s just consider this an open investigation,’ and hung up the phone.”

McManus pursued an investigation, just not the sort Medina was hoping for. Two months later, McManus told San Antonio Express-News Staff Writer Josh Baugh that Medina himself was the subject of an ongoing joint investigation by the FBI and the Police Department over “allegations of public corruption.”

The FBI would not confirm or deny a probe, nor would it reveal this week whether Medina remains under investigation. That’s the FBI’s policy to avoid impugning an innocent person’s reputation — a policy that ensures Medina’s reputation remains impugned.

“The chief, essentially — I don’t know if he broke protocol, but he told Josh Baugh,” Medina said.

Now senior director of security for CPS Energy, McManus on Thursday declined to say why he had leaked the FBI investigation to Baugh. But Medina has his own paranoid suspicions.

“We know that the chief reports to (City Manager) Sheryl (Sculley),” he said, “and we’ve had our disagreements.”

Two days before the anonymous email was blasted to local media, Medina appeared on television criticizing Sculley’s approach to collective bargaining with the police union.

“It’s really, really curious timing,” Medina told me. “I think the timing is suspect.”

Now facing three challengers in the May 9 election, Medina can’t shake the news of the FBI investigation.

“You can’t put something like that back into a box,” said state Rep. Justin Rodriguez, D-San Antonio. “There’s no way there will be a finale to that before the election, or maybe ever.”

When Rodriguez served as councilman in District 7, Medina worked as his council aide. Rodriguez supported his mentee in the last election. But this time around, the nebulous FBI probe gave Rodriguez pause.

Last fall, Medina asked Rodriguez for his continued support.

“I said I’m really concerned about what’s going on with these investigations,” Rodriguez told me. “It was all hinging on what was going on with his personal situation, the investigation.”

Rodriguez never offered Medina a definitive endorsement. Medina listed Rodriguez’s name anyway as a member of a “host committee” for a “re-election kickoff reception” Wednesday at Augie’s Alamo City BBQ.

Rodriguez didn’t even know about the event.

“I like to have those conversations in person before I start publicizing them,” Rodriguez said.

Medina, it seems, respects “protocol” as much as the former police chief.

bchasnoff@express-news.net