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San Diego Mayor Bob Filner continued today to hang on to the last remaining threads of his all-but-dead political life, announcing at a press conference that he will take two weeks off in August for "intensive behavior counseling" at a clinic. Filner acknowledged that "the behavior I have engaged in is wrong" and apologized to his staff and constituents, but he again did not admit that he sexually harassed women. “I must become a better person,” Filner said. At least seven women, including his former communications chief and a campaign manager, have come forward to allege Filner engaged in repeated acts of unwanted and in some cases hands-on sexual advances. After Friday's media op by Filner, one of the women said it's not enough. “You don’t rehab these kinds of people,” said school psychologist Morgan Rose.
Filner's self-immolation so early in his mayoral tenure is especially disappointing to Democrats in San Diego, since he's the city's first Democratic mayor in 20 years and came in promising to shake up the established cliques. But even the San Diego County Democratic Central Committee voted last night to ask Filner to resign.
From the Voice of San Diego website, in a story headlined Filner Accusers Now Include Region’s Most Powerful Women:
The daily drumbeat this week of women publicly accusing San Diego Mayor Bob Filner has shown that his alleged sexual misconduct knows no bounds.
Thursday evening, four of the most powerful and accomplished women in the region each told KPBS stories of Filner’s sexually crude behavior toward them in numerous incidents going back years. The quartet included San Diego’s former Navy mayor and a dean at San Diego State University.“I was really rattled,” said retired Navy Rear Adm. Ronne Froman after alleging that Filner ran his finger up her cheek and asked her if she was single following a meeting in his congressional office a couple years ago. “I got in the car with the two guys I was working with and I told them never to leave me alone in a room with Bob Filner again.”
The allegations give a sense of ubiquity about Filner’s alleged behavior: No matter how powerful or low-ranking you are, if you come into contact with the mayor for any reason you’re at risk of him harassing you.
From Tony Perry in the LAT's San Diego bureau:
Francine Busby, chairwoman of the party's San Diego County central committee, said Filner's resignation would be in the best interests of the city and would give him time to seek the professional help he needs for his behavioral problems.
The committee, at a hastily called meeting after Filner's accusers became public, voted 34-6 to ask for his resignation. A week earlier, when the accusations against the mayor were still being made anonymously, the committee had declined to join with those urging Filner to resign."There is no place in the Democratic Party for those who harass, intimidate or do not fully respect women," City Council President Todd Gloria, a Democrat, said after Thursday night's vote....
Friday morning, the chairwoman of the national Democratic National Committee, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, called for his resignation “for the good of the city of San Diego.”
All seven of his accusers have called for him to resign. Six of nine members of the City Council have done the same, as have several prominent San Diego Democrats, including Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez and Reps. Scott Peters and Susan Davis.
Under the San Diego city charter, the only way Filner can be removed from office is by recall election or conviction of a felony. Thus the pressure from Democrats to persuade Filner to resign. On Friday, a key Filner supporter, LGBT Weekly publisher Stampp Corbin, took the first step to organize a recall campaign.
Follner photo by Jamie Scott Lytle/Voice of San Diego
