Gift Portrait of Disgraced S.F. Official Prompts More Questions About Influence Peddling

The San Francisco Chronicle reports San Francisco Human Rights Commission Executive Director Sheryl Davis was presented with a large and vibrant portrait of herself that the nonprofit group Urban Ed Academy commissioned from a local artist as a gift to Davis.

Urban Ed at the time of the gift, was also seeking a $270,000 grant from the Commission.

John Pelissero, director of government ethics, said it would be hard for the public not to draw a connection between the gift and the nonprofit’s ensuing contract with the Human Rights Commission.

Pelissero was not persuaded by the defense that Davis posted on social media.

“It fails any kind of reasonable test that she didn’t accept the gift,” Pelissero said. “If she didn’t intend to accept it and it showed up at her office, she should have sent it away.”

John Pelissero, director, government ethics, quoted by the San Francisco Chronicle.