Can a public official be found to have a personal interest in a contract?

Plaintiff quotes Terry v. Bender (1956) 143 Cal.App.2d 198, 206-207, 300 P.2d 119, in which the court wrote: "A public office is a public trust created in the interest and for the benefit of the people. Public officers are obligated, virtute officii , to discharge their responsibilities with integrity and fidelity. Since the officers of a governmental body are trustees of the public weal, they may not exploit or prostitute their official position for their private benefits. When public officials are influenced in the performance of their public duties by base and improper considerations of personal advantage, they violate their oath of office and vitiate the trust reposed in them, and the public is injured by being deprived of their loyal and honest services. It is therefore the general policy of this state that public officers shall not have a personal interest in any contract made in their official capacity.... A transaction in which the prohibited interest of a public officer appears is held void both as repugnant to the public policy expressed in the statutes and because the interest of the

[218 Cal.Rptr.3d 747]