SAN ANTONIO – Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones will not be sanctioned for soliciting the Democratic National Convention to come to San Antonio after the city’s Ethics Review Board dismissed an ethics complaint the mayor called “politically motivated.”
A six-member panel of the council and mayor-appointed board voted unanimously at a Monday night hearing that there was not enough evidence Jones had violated the city ethics code when she sent a “letter of interest” to top Democratic Party officials in July, promoting San Antonio as a possible site for the 2028 Democratic National Convention.
The possible violation the panel was considering revolved around Jones’ use of public property or resources — namely, the city seal and letterhead — in a letter to attract what a local GOP official called in his ethics complaint “a partisan, political event.”
Jones was not present for the hearing but argued through her attorney and a letter sent beforehand that the city’s legal team had cleared her message and that she had a “legitimate role” in trying to bring big events to town.
A public spokesperson for Jones sent KSAT the following statement on Monday night:
“I appreciate the Ethics Review Board’s service and prompt handling of this matter. As I outlined in my letter, the Mayor plays a legitimate role in securing major conventions for our city, and my actions and communications were reviewed by the City Attorney and in accordance with all legal and ethical standards.
“This was a politically motivated complaint that lacked merit. I will continue representing all San Antonians by exploring opportunities that bring business to our city and showcase our culturally rich communities.”
Jones also said the Republican official’s comments to KSAT about dropping his complaint if she extended the same invitation to the Republican National Convention showed the complaint was “politically motivated.”
“We don’t want the Ethics Review Board to become a ‘gotcha’ board,” ERB Chairman Patrick Lang said after the board’s vote. “That’s not what it’s for.”
Lang later told reporters that he believed the complaint had been “frivolous” and that the board gets a lot of “petty things that really don’t hold water.”
“But then we waste taxpayer dollars and time by coming up here having to deal with it,“ Lang said. ”So if you look at some of the past complaints, a lot of them don’t tend to hold water. You know, ‘I saw this on somebody’s website. I took a picture of this. I drove by a yard. It had a sign in it,’ and it’s just — so it’s like, ‘Oh, just because you’re on one side of the aisle and they’re on the other.’ That’s what I feel sometimes when I see some of these complaints.”
However, when asked to which complaints he was referring, Lang said he didn’t have any specific ones “off the top of my head.”
Complaint
The hearing stemmed from a complaint by the now-former Republican Party of Bexar County Vice-Chairman Kyle Sinclair, who argued it was improper for the mayor to use her position and city resources to pursue a “partisan political event.”
Sinclair told reporters on Monday that he had resigned his position with the party last week because he is running for the Texas Congressional District 21.
In a Sep. 30 letter to the board, Jones said the mayor plays a “legitimate role in securing major conventions of that scope” and that the city attorney had confirmed the letter met legal and ethical standards.
She also pointed to a KSAT interview with Sinclair, in which he said his issue was that Jones had not also asked his party.
“Look, if she does both, that’s phenomenal. I will withdraw my entire thing,” Sinclair had told KSAT.
Though Sinclair later confirmed he hadn’t been aware at the time of the interview that Houston had already been selected as the 2028 Republican National Convention site, he said his offer still stood if the mayor were to extend the invitation for 2032.
“If my solicitation of the Democratic National Convention in his estimation was ‘unethical,’ then it defies logic that he would be fine with me engaging in similar ‘unethical’ conduct,” Jones wrote in her letter to the board.
Sinclair’s offer would not have worked anyway. A city staff liaison told board members on Monday that a person can not withdraw their complaint after it has been filed.
Jones was represented at the hearing by Frank Garza, a former San Antonio city attorney who now represents several smaller cities around Texas.
In addition to reiterating the points in Jones’ letter to the board, Garza argued that Jones did not initiate the letter.
Nadeen Abou-Hossa, an outside attorney retained by the city, laid out a timeline showing that the Democratic National Committee sent an invitation letter to the mayor on June 9 — after she was elected but before she had taken office.
On Jun. 24, according to the timeline, Jones asked City Manager Erik Walsh to draft a response letter, which Visit San Antonio president and CEO Mario Bass prepared.
After editing the draft, Jones asked for an additional legal review.
City Attorney Andy Segovia confirmed in an Oct. 2 letter to the board that “based on my own review of the content of the form Visit San Antonio letter, I concluded it served neither private nor political purposes and that it was consistent with the role of the Mayor to bring high profile events to the City.”
After the hearing, Sinclair maintained the mayor should have extended an invitation to the RNC as well.
“I have absolutely no issues — what I did, how I did it. And I would do it again even right now,” Sinclair said.
Though Garza also asked the board to consider sanctions against Sinclair for a “frivolous complaint.”
Although he agreed it had been “frivolous,” Lang told reporters that sanctions would only be possible if a separate complaint were filed against Sinclair.
Convention controversy
This is not the first time a political convention has stirred up debate in San Antonio.
There was pushback in 2018 when then-Mayor Ron Nirenberg didn’t want to pursue a bid for the 2020 Republican National Convention.
The former mayor has also provided a separate example of why the stakes were likely low for Jones in this case.
Nirenberg was accused of violating the same section of the Ethics Code by using city resources to create communications for a campaign-controlled Facebook page.
Though a panel of the Ethics Review Board decided during a Sept. 15 hearing that he had violated the code, the only punishment they handed him was a “letter of admonition.”
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