Hear our radio interview with term limits advocates Craig Maxwell and La Mesa Vice Mayor Kristine Alessio: http://kiwi6.com/file/257ktyze5y

By Miriam Raftery

April 12, 2014 (La Mesa) – An ad sent in a mailer to La Mesa residents by the La Mesa Term Limits Committee is sparking controversy.  The ad, topped by a no career politicians message, has two photos of convicted former San Diego Mayor Bob Filner – one in 1979, labeled “idealistic, committed, zeal of a new recruit” and the second in 2013 labeled “corrupt, drunk on power, self serving.”  The ad then admonishes voters to “keep all our reps honest with term limits.”

“How could the innuendo in this not be profoundly offensive to the current La Mesa City Council?” asks Anthony McIvor, a La Mesa resident, who calls the mailer a “regrettable smear” piece.

Plea agreement ends his political career

By Miriam Raftery; photo courtesy ECM news partner 10 News

October 15, 2013 (San Diego) – Just hours after California Attorney General filed charges against Mayor Bob Filner, the former mayor pled guilty to felony false imprisonment and two misdemeanor counts of battery. Under a plea agreement, Filner will never seek public office again.

The victims were not named, identified only as “Jane Does.”  The felony case entailed Filner kissing a woman against her will and using the “Filner headlock” to restrain her.  Prosecutor Melissa Mandel  stated that the midsdemeanors  included kissing a woman on the lips without consent at a “Meet the Mayor” event and fondling another woman’s buttocks while having a photo taken at a rally.

By Mike Bullock

I was sent this link to an article about Friday’s events:  http://www.eastcountymagazine.org/node/13831. It seems to me that the article is more balanced that the UT coverage. The article has a link to the audio of both the Filner and the Gloria speech.

Bob was an elected mayor, stepping down to avoid losing all of his personal savings and wealth to legal fees and settlements. His message to his constituents deserved to be printed in the UT as a complete transcript. (I would have liked to have been able to cut and paste from the transcript, which I assumed would be published.) But I forget. The UT is no more a newspaper than Fox News is a news channel. The UT’s purpose is not to inform but to persuade. There are parts of Bob’s speech which the UT does NOT want you, or others, to hear.

By Nadin Abbott

Photos by Tom Abbott

“The hysteria ended up playing into the hands of those who wanted a political coup--the removal of a democratically elected Mayor, purely by rumor and innuendo.” – Mayor Bob Filner

"I have never felt prouder of the people of San Diego." -- Michael Pallamary, leader of the recall effort

"It is time for San Diego to come together. It is time to heal." -- Todd Gloria, who will serve as Interim Mayor until a special election

August 24, 2013—Mayor Bob Filner will step down from office effective at 5 p.m. on Friday August 30, under a deal that will have the City pay limited legal fees to defend Filner against sexual harassment allegations.  Councilman Todd Gloria will serve as interim Mayor and a special election will be held 90 days after the mayoral seat is vacated to fill the seat.

The Mayor apologized for his “personal failings” and to those who have been hurt, but insisted that he believes he will be ultimately cleared of legal wrongdoing and further, contended that he is being forced from office by the city’s power brokers in a “political coup”  based on unproven allegations.  Hear his full resignation speech.

By Nadin Abbott

Photos by Nadin and Tom Abbott

August 19, 2013 (San Diego)—Hundreds of people came to the Civic Center Plaza yesterday for a “Freedom from Filner” rally.  Michael Pallamary, organizer of an effort to recall the Mayor, spoke about the drive to get 102,000 valid signatures on a recall petition over the next 39 days. 

“We started to gather the signatures at midnight at the Gaslamp,” he said. “The recall will not be involved with any candidate or political party” during the next mayoral race, he added.

An ECM special report finds Bob Filner had good cause to know  the seriousness of sexual harassment claims—long before he was the target of complaints

By Nadin and Tom Abbott

August 2, 2013 (San Diego)— Amid mounting sexual harassment accusations against Mayor Bob Filner, including a civil lawsuit, on Wednesday Filner’s lawyer tried to place all the blame on the City of San Diego. In a letter to the City, attorney Harvey C. Berger wrote, “The City has a legal obligation to provide sexual harassment training to all management level employees within six months of hire.”

He also claimed in the letter that the “trainer for the City unilaterally cancelled and never rescheduled such training for the Mayor.”  http://media.10news.com/image/Harvey_Berger_letter.pdf

But later, Voice of San Diego revealed, “Former city Chief Operating Officer Jay Goldstone said Filner’s office canceled several training sessions, which would have covered payroll, benefits and other employee and management roles and responsibilities, because the mayor’s office said it didn’t have time for them.” http://voiceofsandiego.org/2013/07/31/sources-mayors-office-canceled-harassment-related-training-sessions/

So we decided to look a little deeper, and what we found was highly problematic.

By Nadin Abbott

July 27, 2013 (San Diego)—One day after the County Democratic Party voted overwhelmingly to call for his resignation, Mayor Bob Filner announced today that he is not stepping down.

Instead Filner announced that he will enter therapy on starting on August 5.

July 24, 2013 (San Diego) – Mayor Bob Filner has promoted Lee Burdick to serve as his Chief of Staff. Burdick most recently served as Deputy Chief of Staff and was initially hired as the Mayor’s Director of Legal Affairs. She previously represented the City as a Commissioner on the Board of the Port of San Diego.

By Mark Gabrish Conlan

July 19, 2013 (San Diego) – Just when you thought the current sex scandal involving San Diego Mayor Bob Filner couldn’t get any weirder, it did. On July 17 KGTV Channel 10 broke the news that Filner had been booked to be the keynote speaker at the National Military Women Veterans’ Association of America’s gala event in San Diego August 30-31. They had originally planned to give him a “Lifetime of Leadership” award honoring his work on behalf of veterans in general and military veterans in particular. But with allegations that Filner routinely harassed women, including his staff members, in the workplace and at community events, the group decided to rescind the award but keep him on as a speaker. “He is now the keynote speaker for these injustices,” said the group’s official statement.

By Miriam Raftery

San Diegans are speaking out on the anonymous sexual harassment allegations against Mayor Bob Filner--and their opinions are as diverse as the city's population. While some have called for the mayor's resignation or a recall election, others are urging him to stand his ground pending outcome of any investigaiton--and object to anonyous allegations being leveraged to try and force the mayor from office.

A rift has also occurred within the Democratic Party, with some prominent former supporters and multiple members of the City Council now calling for his resignation. But others say the Mayor is entitled to due process and that demands for his resignation are inappropriate absent proof of  illegal actions. In addition, the party is divided over who should replace Mayor Filner should he step down or be forced from office.

July 16, 2013 (San Diego) – Mayor Bob Filner yesterday announced appointments intended to significantly strengthen City management.  Filner prefaced the announcement with a statement addressing recent calls for his resignation:

“I’m not going to resign, and here’s why,” said Filner.  “As your elected mayor, I fully expect to be accountable to the citizens of San Diego for all of my actions.  But as a citizen of this country, I also expect – and am entitled to – due process, and the opportunity to respond in a fair and impartial venue to specific allegations.  I do not believe I am guilty of sexual harassment, and I believe a full presentation of the facts will vindicate me,” said Filner.

Photo: Filner and Frye earlier this year joined in presenting open government award to Terry Francke at Californians Aware, an organization Frye now heads after leaving the Filner administration.

By Nadin Abbott

Miriam Raftery also contributed to this story

July 11, 2013 (San Diego) – At a press conference today, three former supporters of Mayor Bob Filner called for his resignation, claiming to have credible evidence of sexual harassment involving multiple women.  They declined to provide any details on the alleged acts of harassment, nor have any of the women been publicly identified. However, Mayor Filner has acknowledged failing to respect women in his workplace and admitted to needing help.

Donna Frye, formerly Filner’s Director of Open Government as well as a past Council member and former mayoral candidate, joined with attorneys Cory Briggs and Marco Gonzalez in asking the Mayor to step down.   Hear audio of today's press conference from KNSJ 89.1 FM news:  https://soundcloud.com/mikehancock/frye

Funds also approved to increase library hours, improve fire and police services, make neighborhoods safer and keep city’s homeless shelters open

June 11, 2013 (San Diego) -- Mayor Bob Filner’s balanced budget and financial priorities were adopted by the San Diego City Council on June 10. A 7-2 majority of the Council sided with the Mayor and made a commitment to fiscal responsibility and enhanced city services for the coming year.

In a separate action, the Council approved the Mayor’s five-year labor deal with City workers that will save more than $108 million over the term of the agreement by reducing the amount that the City has to pay into the employee retirement system. The labor deal will provide the City with much needed stability and predictability continuing its path toward recovery, the Mayor’s office indicated.

May 8,2013 (San Diego) – Mayor Bob Filner met with former Governor Mitt Romney on Monday evening to discuss the City of San Diego’s Olympic bid for the 2024 Summer Games.

Mayor Filner announced last month that the cities of San Diego and Tijuana will submit a bi-national bid for the 2024 Summer Olympics. The Mayor invited Romney to his office to ask if the former Presidential candidate, who formerly headed up Salt Lake City’s Olympic organizing committee, would lend his advice to the effort. Romney said yes.