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 Miriam Raftery

August 20, 2013 (San Diego’s East County) – San Diego Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez has announced plans to introduce legislation to prevent payment for immigration reform services until federal immigration reform is enacted and to ensure that other consumer protections are provided to immigrants pursuing a pathway to U.S. citizenship under the federal immigration reform act pending in Congress.

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.

August 15, 2013 (San Diego’s East County) – Members of the national, California, and San Diego Leagues of Conservation Voters will deliver a climate change denier award to Rep. Darrell Issa in recognition of his extreme anti-science views, which put him at odds with 97 percent of scientists and a majority of the American people. The event is part of a “Day of Action” held nationally in coordination with Organizing for Action to hold climate change deniers accountable.

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.

By Janis Mork

 July 25, 2013 (El Cajon)- At the July 9 El Cajon City Council meeting, Council voted against putting sewer service charges on the property tax bill after 168 residents objected to the proposal.

Dennis Davies, Deputy Director of Public Works, informed Council of the proposal to take sewer bi-monthly bills (six times a year) and include those charges with the property tax bill.

By Miriam Raftery

July 25, 2013 (San Diego) –An amendment that sought to ban the National Security Agency from collecting phone and Internet records on Americans who are not under investigation failed to win passage in the House of Representatives today.  The Amash amendment, a bipartisan proposal to a spending bill,  was narrowly defeated 205-217.

 All five members of the San Diego Congressional delegation voted to defeat the measure including Republicans Duncan Hunter and Darrell Issa as well as Democrats Juan Vargas, Susan Davis, and Scott Peters.

Supporters of the amendment argued that the NSA overstepped its authority by conducting warrantless spying on citizens--activities never authorized by Congress and that some contend violates the Constitution.

By Nadin Abbott

Photos by Tom Abbott

July 23, 2013 (San Diego)—Two press conferences were held yesterday regarding the scandal in San Diego City Hall involving Mayor Bob Filner.

Prominent attorney Gloria Allred announced that she has filed a civil lawsuit against Mayor Filner on behalf of Irene McCormack-Jackson in Superior Court. McCormack-Jackson read a statement and her lawyer answered some questions from the media.

By Nadin Abbott

Photos Tom Abbott

July 18, 2013 (San Diego)—Supporters of San Diego Mayor Bob Filner held a rally today to urge that the Mayor be provided due process to allow claims of sexual harassment to be investigated before rushing to judgment.

David Vallalodid, a long-time activist, noted that allegations have “not been substantiated” and charges “have not been filed.”

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

By Nadin Abbott

Photos by Tom Abbott

July 5, 2013 (Lemon Grove)—On July 2, the Lemon Grove City Council decided to table a motion to support a Constitutional Amendment that would overturn the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Citizens v. Federal Elections Commission. 

The high court ruled in 2010 that corporations had a right to virtually unlimited campaign contributions.  Allowing companies to inject massive amounts of money into the political system has led to some of the most expensive elections in American history.

The effort was led by Councilmember George Gastil (photo). Before speakers from both Common Cause and Money out of Politics addressed the Council, Gastil went into some of the problems with the decision, which could ultimately impact municipalities such as Lemon Grove.

June 29, 2013 (Lemon Grove) – At the request of Council members George Gastil and Racquel Vasquez, Lemon Grove’s City Council on July 2 will consider a request from Money Out of Politics (MOP) to adopt a resolution to limit the influence of money in politics. Thirteen state legislatures and many cities, including San Diego and Los Angeles, have already adopted similar resolutions.

The resolution opposes the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in the Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission case. The high court found limits on corporate campaign contributions to be illegal, finding that corporations have rights similar to citizens. 

The MOP resolution calls on Congress to begin the process of amending the U.S. Constitution t to make clear that corporations are not people and thus are not entitled to the rights and protections of citizens.

"Discrimination at the ballot box is intolerable, and we must ensure that minorities don’t have their votes purged, packed, gerrymandered, and redistricted away.” -- Wade Henderson, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, commenting on the decision

By Miriam Raftery

June 25, 2013 (Washington D.C.) – By a 5-4 vote, the U.S. Supreme Court has struck down a requirement for states and communities with a history of discrimination against minority voters to obtain federal approval before changing their voting laws.  The Court did not find the Voting Rights requirement of preapproval itself unconstitutional, but ruled that Congress must act to assess which areas still have evidence of discrimination.

The action in the Shelby v. Holder case has triggered outraged reactions from civil rights leaders across the nation. 

“Communities of color, and young, women, elderly, and disables voters are at risk,” the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) warns.  The NAACP has launched a petition asking Congress to act to protect voting rights . (Petition: http://www.naacp.org/page/s/vra-no-voting-rights?subsource=strucklb)