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By Miriam Raftery
March 30, 2023 (San Diego) – Last night, San Diego County Supervisor Nathan Fletcher announced that he will resign his District 4 seat at the end of his medical leave for treatment of PTSD and alcohol abuse.
The announcement comes on the heels of a lawsuit filed March 28 against Fletcher and the Metropolitan Transit System (MTS) by an MTS worker who claims Fletcher harassed and sexually assaulted her on MTS property, and that she was fired by MTS as a result.
Fletcher has called the relationship “consensual’ and a “mistake” but denies harassing or assaulting the plaintiff, Grecia Figueroa, a former TV journalist and MTS spokesperson. Fletcher’s attorney, Danielle Hultenius Moore, alleges that Figueroa tried to extort Fletcher before filing a suit and that Fletcher’s team will be “pursuing our own legal response.
Fletcher’s Supervisorial office issued the following statement last night:
“The strain on my wife and family over this past week has been immense and unbearable. The combination of my personal mistakes plus false accusations has created a burden that my family shouldn’t have to bear. I will be resigning from the Board of Supervisors, effective at the end of my medical leave. I will focus solely on getting healthy and being a good husband, father and friend.” He also thanked his constituents and staff, adding that he is “proud of what we accomplished together. My decision today is solely based on what is best for my family.”
Fletcher, a decorated combat veteran, is reportedly at a facility out of state receiving treatment for Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome (PTSD) related to his military service and childhood trauma, as well as treatment for alcohol abuse, as he announced on Sunday.
Figueroa alleges that while serving as MTS chairman, Fletcher stalked her on social media, sought to have sex with her, but claims she rebuffed those advances. Figueroa claims Fletcher twice sexually assaulted her, including removing her blouse and groping her in a conference room at MTS after a board meeting had just concluded.
The suit alleges that she felt “pressured” and “intimidated” by Fletcher’s advances, believing that as chair of the MTS board and a politician, he had the power to “destroy her career at MTS and to potentially humiliate her publicity if she made him angry.”
Text messages and images included in the suit reveal that Fletcher invited her to share a beer in the stairwell of a hotel, and that she accepted the invitation. Figueroa texted a photo only to Fletcher of herself in a low-cut top. He texted of wanting to “feel good and fun” adding, “Just have the right setting. Like in a closet or something.”
According to the lawsuit, Figueroa was fired by MTS on the same date that Fletcher announced his run for State Senate, which Figueroa claims was retaliatory.
Fletcher has resigned as MTS chair, in addition to announcing he will resign as Supervisor and dropping his State Senate campaign. MTS has announced that San Diego City Councilman Steve Whitburn will serve as MTS interim Chair.
The situation is reminiscent of the scandal that drove former San Diego Mayor Bob Filner from office. In 2013, Filner resigned amid multiple charges of sexual harassment filed by women who worked for him at the city. Filner was criminally charged and accepted a plea bargain, pleading guilty to false imprisonment and battery. He was sentenced to three months house arrest, probation, and lost part of his mayoral pension.
The Fletcher scandal and resignation raise several key questions:
- Why did MTS fire Figueroa?
- Did Fletcher assault Figueroa, or was their relationship consensual?
- Who at MTS knew of the sexual misconduct allegations and when?
- How will the vacancy be filled on the Board of Supervisors after Fletcher’s resignation?
- Who will seek to fill the Supervisorial seat held by Fletcher, a Democrat? Republican Amy Reichart, who ran against Fletcher in 2022, has announced she will seek the office; it remains to be seen which Democrat(s) may pursue the seat, or whether any other Republicans or independents may opt to put their hats in the ring.
Civil rights leader Shane Harris had called on Fletcher to resign his positions shortly before Fletcher announced that he would do so. “Morally, he cheated on his wife who has supported him hands down. Legally, he is alleged of carrying out a relationship with a subordinate…Whether the relationship was `consensual’ or ‘non-consensual’ the moral and legal implications here speak for themselves and that is enough to truly step aside and let new leadership take the dais at both MTS and County District 4 in the interest of constituents. My prayer is that Nathan can spend as much needed time he originally stated he needed to repair what has been broken in his life and family. We all deserve that opportunity.”
Fletcher's family had undergone multiple stresses recently. HIs wife Lorena Gonzalez-Fletcher, recently underwent surgery for breast cancer. A fire at the family's home was found to have been set by an arsonist.
Gonzalez-Fletcher, Executive Secretary-Treasurer of the California Labor Federation and a former Assemblymember, urged her husband to resign. She posted on Twitter, “I love my husband. He has acknowledged his mistakes & I believe his name will be cleared of false accusations. Still, I asked him to resign to lessen the strain on our family. I’m relieved he is finally getting treatment he needs.”
Ernie Barrera at San DIego Labor Democrats posted on Facebook,"What a tragic and completely avoidable situation from someone with so much promise. But like Bob Filner a decade ago, the nature of tragedy is ... one can not escape one's demons, and can only confront them and try to free themselves.I wish Nathan Fletcher a successful treatment of his demons and I wish his wife Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher and their family grace and peace in their future."
Comments
I'm an old man! I don't understand.
She worked for him at MTS.
The MTS organizational chart shows that her department is under the MTS Chair (Fletcher, at the time). Thus this is different than if he'd had an affair with, say, someone he met at a party or bar, which would be a moral issue but not a legal one of concern to taxpayers,
The woman says the relationship was not consensual, that she did not sleep with him, though text messages make clear he was inviting her for beers and to find a"closet" where they could be together. Because she worked for him, any relationship, even if consensual, would be inapproriate and could lead to a lawsuit or workplace harassment claim. If he actually sexually assaulted her as she claims, that could even be a crime, as in the case of former Mayor Bob Filner and others.
And of course the county could be concerned there may be others during his tenure at the county. One other woman has stepped forward, who was an intern at UCSD when Fletcher taught there, claiming he made advances toward her when he was a professor there. If true, it would show a pattern of attempting to seduce women over whom he held power as their boss or instructor. In this day and age, men should know there can be serious consequences for that.