How SF taxpayers ended up funding Sheryl Davis' $11k passion project—a podcast
San Francisco's now-infamous Dream Keeper Initiative looked the other way when contracted nonprofits bought first-class flights, luxury meals, and (yep) concert tickets on the City's dime. Today, SF Chron dives into the initiative's former leader Sheryl Davis—who paid herself $11,000 to produce an interview podcast linking to her personal website (which advertised her children's book).
Sheryl Davis, who resigned last month as head of San Francisco’s landmark Dream Keeper Initiative amid reports of misspending and lax oversight, repeatedly used city resources to promote herself and a self-published children’s book, a Chronicle investigation found.
Davis, who led the social equity program as director of the city’s Human Rights Commission, approved $11,000 in payments by her department to produce an interview podcast she launched in late 2022, according to city emails and financial records. The payments were made to a talent agency that booked guests who appeared on her show, which she named “Sunday Candy” after her fond childhood memories of church elders giving her sweets.
On her podcast, Davis told listeners that the show was sponsored by her department and the Dream Keeper Initiative, a major effort she oversaw to invest tens of millions into the city’s Black community. But she also directed listeners to visit her personal website, which has prominently featured a link to buy her children’s book, “Free to Sing,” since early 2023.
Davis earned between $10,000 and $100,000 in book sales last year, and another $1,000 to $10,000 from book sales this year before her resignation, according to ethics filings she submitted to the city. A former kindergarten teacher and singer, she wrote “Free to Sing” to encourage kids to share how they’re feeling or support social equity through singing.
The podcast payments and referral to her personal website raise questions about whether Davis improperly used city resources, illustrating the often blurred lines separating her career as a public official from her private life and ambitions as an author and public speaker.
Kathleen Clark, a law professor focused on government ethics at Washington University in St. Louis, said she had concerns with Davis plugging her personal website on the podcast. “If the podcast really is a governmental activity, then it’s not great that she is promoting her personal website on it,” Clark said. “She is using the podcast to promote her personal brand.”
Tony Brass, Davis’ attorney, said his client was not paid for her work on the podcast and that she started the show to promote and connect Dream Keeper with a national audience. …
State law bars officials from making decisions that impact their financial interests and from approving contracts that may benefit them. City rules bar Human Rights Commission officials from using city resources for personal purposes.
Laurie Levenson, a professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles and former federal prosecutor, said she could not determine based on the facts described by the Chronicle whether Davis did anything improper, but said there appeared to be a basis for concern and investigation.
“This could be a type of self-dealing, but we need to know more,” Levenson said. “She may be the head of a department, but that doesn’t mean she has a blank check to do what she wants.”
Read the whole thing here.
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