THE CITY OF SAN DIEGO December 7, 2017 Councilmember Scott Sherman VIA PERSONAL DELIVERY City Council, District 7 202 Street, 10th Floor San Diego, CA 92101 Subject: Ethics Commission Case No. 2017?37 Dear Councilmember Sherman: On December 6, 2017, the San Diego Ethics Commission received a complaint alleging that you violated the City?s Ethics Ordinance by participating in decisions concerning short term vacation rental regulations while having a prohibited ?nancial interest in such decisions. In support of this allegation, the complainant provided information regarding various properties and dwelling units purportedly owned by your father, George Sherman (through several trusts and business entities). The complainant did not provide any information indicating that you currently have a ?nancial interest in any of these properties, but did suggest that your father transferring a Grantville property to you in 2002 re?ects a ?propensity? for your father to transfer properties to you.1 As you know, the City?s Ethics Ordinance prohibits City Of?cials from in?uencing decisions that could ?nancially impact their personal economic interests, which include investments in real property. These con?ict of interest laws apply to current ?nancial interests, not to any potential or prospective ?nancial interests that a City Of?cial may obtain in the future. As mentioned above, the complainant has not provided any information suggesting that you currently have a ?nancial interest in the real property owned by your father. In other words, the complainant has not provided any information to support the allegation that you improperly in?uenced City decisions that involve your personal ?nancial interests. Instead, the complainant is essentially speculating that you will obtain a ?nancial interest in these properties at some point in the future. The Commission?s Investigative and Enforcement Procedures state that the Commission does not have jurisdiction over complaints based on speculation. San Diego Municipal Code 1 Although real property you currently own is not the focus of the complaint, it is relevant to note that there is a ?public generally? exception in the law that allows public of?cials who own real property to participate in municipal decisions that might ?nancially impact their property if the impact will be the same as that felt by a signi?cant number of other property owners. There are no facts before us suggesting that any property you own would be uniquely affected by a municipal decision addressing short term vacation rentals in the City of San Diego. Ethics Commission Second Avenue, Suite l530 . San Diego, CA 92l0l Tel 9) 533-3476 Fax (6l 9) 533-3448 Councilmember Sherman December 7, 2017 Page 2 In light of the foregoing, I have determined that the complaint does not contain suf?cient information to support the allegation that you violated the City?s ethics laws. As a result, I have concluded that the allegations in the complaint do not warrant a formal investigation, and that this matter is not appropriate for consideration by the Commission. Executive Director