{"id":283548,"date":"2025-10-07T08:11:11","date_gmt":"2025-10-07T08:11:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/283548\/"},"modified":"2025-10-07T08:11:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-07T08:11:11","slug":"ethics-board-tosses-frivolous-complaint-against-mayor-gina-ortiz-jones-for-soliciting-2028-dnc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/283548\/","title":{"rendered":"Ethics board tosses \u2018frivolous\u2019 complaint against Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones for soliciting 2028 DNC"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAN ANTONIO<\/strong> \u2013 Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones will not be sanctioned for soliciting the Democratic National Convention to come to San Antonio after the city\u2019s Ethics Review Board dismissed an ethics complaint the mayor called \u201cpolitically motivated.\u201d<\/p>\n

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 \u201cletter of interest\u201d to top Democratic Party officials in July<\/a>, promoting San Antonio as a possible site for the 2028 Democratic National Convention.<\/p>\n

The possible violation the panel was considering revolved around Jones\u2019 use of public property or resources \u2014 namely, the city seal and letterhead \u2014 in a letter to attract what a local GOP official called in his ethics complaint \u201ca partisan, political event.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jones was not present for the hearing but argued through her attorney and a letter sent beforehand that the city\u2019s legal team had cleared her message and that she had a \u201clegitimate role\u201d in trying to bring big events to town.<\/p>\n

A public spokesperson for Jones sent KSAT the following statement on Monday night: <\/p>\n

\u201cI appreciate the Ethics Review Board\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jones also said the Republican official\u2019s comments to KSAT<\/a> about dropping his complaint if she extended the same invitation to the Republican National Convention showed the complaint was \u201cpolitically motivated.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t want the Ethics Review Board to become a \u2018gotcha\u2019 board,\u201d ERB Chairman Patrick Lang said after the board\u2019s vote. \u201cThat\u2019s not what it\u2019s for.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lang later told reporters that he believed the complaint had been \u201cfrivolous\u201d and that the board gets a lot of \u201cpetty things that really don\u2019t hold water.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut then we waste taxpayer dollars and time by coming up here having to deal with it,\u201c Lang said. \u201dSo if you look at some of the past complaints, a lot of them don\u2019t tend to hold water. You know, \u2018I saw this on somebody\u2019s website. I took a picture of this. I drove by a yard. It had a sign in it,\u2019 and it\u2019s just \u2014 so it\u2019s like, \u2018Oh, just because you\u2019re on one side of the aisle and they\u2019re on the other.\u2019 That\u2019s what I feel sometimes when I see some of these complaints.”<\/p>\n

However, when asked to which complaints he was referring, Lang said he didn\u2019t have any specific ones \u201coff the top of my head.\u201d<\/p>\n

Complaint<\/b><\/p>\n

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 \u201cpartisan political event.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

In a Sep. 30 letter to the board, Jones said the mayor plays a \u201clegitimate role in securing major conventions of that scope\u201d and that the city attorney had confirmed the letter met legal and ethical standards.<\/p>\n

She also pointed to a KSAT interview with Sinclair<\/a>, in which he said his issue was that Jones had not also asked his party.<\/p>\n

\u201cLook, if she does both, that\u2019s phenomenal. I will withdraw my entire thing,\u201d Sinclair had told KSAT.<\/p>\n

Though Sinclair later confirmed he hadn\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf my solicitation of the Democratic National Convention in his estimation was \u2018unethical,\u2019 then it defies logic that he would be fine with me engaging in similar \u2018unethical\u2019 conduct,\u201d Jones wrote in her letter to the board.<\/p>\n

Sinclair\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

Jones was represented at the hearing by Frank Garza, a former San Antonio city attorney who now represents several smaller cities around Texas.<\/p>\n

In addition to reiterating the points in Jones\u2019 letter to the board, Garza argued that Jones did not initiate the letter.<\/p>\n

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 \u2014 after she was elected<\/a> but before she had taken office<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

After editing the draft, Jones asked for an additional legal review.<\/p>\n

City Attorney Andy Segovia confirmed in an Oct. 2 letter to the board that \u201cbased 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

After the hearing, Sinclair maintained the mayor should have extended an invitation to the RNC as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have absolutely no issues \u2014 what I did, how I did it. And I would do it again even right now,\u201d Sinclair said.<\/p>\n

Though Garza also asked the board to consider sanctions against Sinclair for a \u201cfrivolous complaint.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although he agreed it had been \u201cfrivolous,\u201d Lang told reporters that sanctions would only be possible if a separate complaint were filed against Sinclair.<\/p>\n

Convention controversy<\/b><\/p>\n

This is not the first time a political convention has stirred up debate in San Antonio.<\/p>\n

There was pushback in 2018 when then-Mayor Ron Nirenberg didn\u2019t want to pursue a bid for the 2020 Republican National Convention.<\/p>\n

The former mayor has also provided a separate example of why the stakes were likely low for Jones in this case.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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 \u201cletter of admonition.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read also: <\/b><\/p>\n