The woman Mayor Gavin Newsom had an affair with was entitled to the $10,000 she collected in sick pay after working at City Hall, the city’s lawyer has concluded.
A request by Ruby Rippey-Tourk to participate in a program for city employees with life-threatening illnesses was approved by San Francisco’s public health director, according to a report released Wednesday by City Attorney Dennis Herrera.
“We found no evidence of undue influence by Mayor Newsom,” the report said.
Several city supervisors had questioned whether Rippey-Tourk got preferential treatment because of her relationship with the mayor.
Investigators said they could not say “whether other city officials treated her application more favorably” because Rippey-Tourk, the mayor’s former appointments secretary and the wife of his now-former campaign manager, refused to allow them to discuss the nature of her illness.
It was widely reported after Newsom acknowledged the affair on Feb. 1 that she applied for the pay while seeking treatment for substance abuse.
The investigation also showed that Rippey-Tourk was entitled to the more than 1,000 hours of paid leave she took during the nearly three years she served on Newsom’s staff.