{"id":283788,"date":"2025-10-07T10:43:25","date_gmt":"2025-10-07T10:43:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/283788\/"},"modified":"2025-10-07T10:43:25","modified_gmt":"2025-10-07T10:43:25","slug":"gop-ethics-complaint-against-jones-tossed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/283788\/","title":{"rendered":"GOP ethics complaint against Jones tossed"},"content":{"rendered":"

The city\u2019s Ethics Review Board dismissed a local GOP official\u2019s complaint alleging Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones broke the city\u2019s ethics rules by using official city letterhead to court the 2028 Democratic National Convention<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Jones did not attend the hearing, but filed a written response<\/a> on Sept. 30 asking for the board to dismiss the complaint. She said that \u201csecuring major conventions\u201d is a legitimate part of her role as mayor, and that she ran the letter by City Attorney Andy Segovia before it was sent.<\/p>\n

On Monday, she was represented by a former city attorney, Frank Garza, who said the convention application was actually initiated by the city\u2019s tourism nonprofit, Visit San Antonio, and that the \u201ccomplaint was filed to harass the mayor.\u201d<\/p>\n

He provided numerous emails between Jones, City Attorney Andy Segovia and City Manager Erik Walsh discussing the letter, ending with Walsh giving his approval on June 27: \u201cAndy reviewed. Letter is good to go.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the fourth time this year the Ethics Review Board has been asked to consider whether an elected official misused city resources this year \u2014 something each official argued was a stretch from the policy\u2019s intended purpose but was still sanctioned. With the exception of Jones, all were still sanctioned.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t want the Ethics Review Board to become a gotcha board,\u201d Chair Patrick Lang said. \u201cThat\u2019s not what we\u2019re for.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last month the board cited former Mayor Ron Nirenberg<\/a> for using city resources to create social media content, something Nirenberg\u2019s attorney contended was an attempt to \u201cmeet the people where they are.\u201d<\/p>\n

Councilman Marc Whyte (D10)<\/a> was fined for using photos with city officials in his campaign material, which critics said implied an endorsement from the police chief. Meanwhile, Councilwoman Sukh Kaur (D1) received a lesser punishment after her chief of staff addressed a neighborhood gathering on behalf of both the council office and her campaign \u2014 also classified as a misuse of city resources.<\/p>\n

\u2018Quid pro quo\u2019<\/p>\n

As with many of the board\u2019s recent cases, Jones\u2019 complaint came from<\/a> a political foe. \u00a0It was filed by Kyle Sinclair, a former vice chair of the Republican Party of Bexar County who recently resigned that role to launch a campaign in Texas\u2019 21st Congressional District<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sinclair told KSAT<\/a> last week that he\u2019d revoke the complaint if Jones also applied to host the 2028 Republican National Convention, not knowing that the Republicans had already made an unusually early decision to hold it in Houston<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Jones said in her response that Sinclair was in essence asking her to repeat the same action he\u2019d deemed unethical, and her attorney asked the board to sanction him for a frivolous complaint.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Sinclair\u2019s] willingness to drop the ethics complaint \u2014 upon my agreement to engage in the same conduct that he found problematic, but this time toward the Republican National Convention, clearly demonstrates this complaint is politically motivated and lacks merit,\u201d Jones wrote.<\/p>\n

The Ethics Review Board is made up of 11 members: 10 members appointed by their respective councilmembers and one appointed by the mayor.<\/p>\n

It takes complaints referred to it after an independent attorney helps determine whether the issue qualifies as a violation of city code. <\/p>\n

Once a complaint is filed, it can\u2019t be taken back. But District 8 appointee Jim Reidy said Sinclair\u2019s attempt to pressure Jones in exchange for rescinding the complaint was an alarming twist that shouldn\u2019t go unaddressed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sure somebody else might be thinking this too, but the quid pro quo aspect of Mr. Sinclair\u2019s request to take down this complaint in exchange for applying for the Republican National Convention troubles me a little bit,\u201d Reidy said.<\/p>\n

Garza asked the board to fine Sinclair for a frivolous complaint, but Lang said that would require Jones to file a separate complaint against him.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sinclair said afterward that complaints of harassment were unjustified. He hasn\u2019t spoken to the mayor, he told reporters, and Jones even blocked him on social media.<\/p>\n

\u201cI simply filed a complaint against her. That\u2019s not harassment. That is the legal way to do it,\u201d he said. \u201cI have absolutely no issue with what I did, how I did it, and I would do it again, even right now.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The city\u2019s Ethics Review Board dismissed a local GOP official\u2019s complaint alleging Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones broke the…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":283789,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5133],"tags":[5229,30360,61007,121754,7452,146243,146244,146245,7202,7203,358,7453,3187,7815,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,20705],"class_list":{"0":"post-283788","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-antonio","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-andy-segovia","10":"tag-dnc","11":"tag-ethics-review-board","12":"tag-gina-ortiz-jones","13":"tag-kyle-sinclair","14":"tag-official-city-letterhead","15":"tag-rnc","16":"tag-san-antonio","17":"tag-sanantonio","18":"tag-texas","19":"tag-top-story","20":"tag-tx","21":"tag-typedaily","22":"tag-united-states","23":"tag-united-states-of-america","24":"tag-unitedstates","25":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","26":"tag-us","27":"tag-usa","28":"tag-wc-750-1000"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115332474873333406","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283788","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=283788"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283788\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/283789"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=283788"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=283788"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=283788"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}