A Bexar County GOP operative has filed a formal complaint alleging Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones violated the city’s ethics code with her effort to attract the 2028 Democratic National Convention.
Jones sent a July letter to Democratic National Committee Chairman Ken Martin that encouraged him to consider the Alamo City for the 2028 convention. In a complaint filed with San Antonio’s City Ethics Board, Bexar County GOP Vice Chair Kyle Sinclair argued that Jones broke the rules by using official city letterhead in that memo.
“Since the Democratic National Convention is a partisan political event, using official resources to request hosting is a direct violation,” Sinclair said in the complaint, filed July 16.
San Antonio’s code of ethics restricts city officials from using their official position or city resources, such as the city seal and letterhead, for private or political purposes, Sinclair’s document alleges.
In a statement, a spokesperson maintained that Jones did nothing wrong.
“The mayor plays a legitimate role in bringing major conventions of that scope to the city and the letter to the DNC was reviewed by the city attorney and no legal issues were identified,” the spokesperson said.
Although Jones ran for Congress twice as a Democrat and served as the Biden White House’s Under Secretary of the Air Force, cities across the country regularly lobby both political parties to attract their national conventions. The efforts are largely motivated by the prospect of grabbing national media exposure and dollars from conventioneers.
For example, a study commissioned by Chicago’s tourism-promotion arm found that the 2024 Democratic National Convention yielded a $371.4 million economic impact for that city.
Even so, third-party attorney Nadeen Abou-Hossa, who reviewed Sinclair’s complaint for the Express-News, told the paper that if the allegations prove true, Jones could be in violation of the city’s ethics code.
The city informed Sinclair on Aug. 1 that his complaint would be forwarded to the Ethics Review Board for a ruling.
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