By Doug Porter
It’s day three of mediation between embattled Mayor Bob Filner and the representatives of officialdom seeking his removal from office. The count on women alleging sexual harassment increased to 18 today, and the local political scene continues to roil with the repercussions of what would seem to be the Mayor’s eminent demise.
One local report says that talks could drag on for weeks. And the Mayor could simply walk out, forcing a deeply flawed legal process to remove him to play out. He’s already demonstrated the imperiousness of the thick political hide he’s developed over the years.
Participants in the sessions going on in a downtown office building being run by retired judge Lawrence Irving are operating under a pledge not reveal the substance of negotiations. Rumors persist, however, that the obstacles to any settlement include limiting the city’s liability and the method by which the Mayor’s resignation will be announced.
Any potential deal will require approval of the City Council, which is not scheduled to meet again until August 28th.
The Dog Days of August
Is there anything other than Filnergate to talk about? Apparently not, if certain members of the White House press corps are to be believed.
Credit: WhiteHouse.gov
Here’s what’s passing for ‘news’ at KPBS (and elsewhere):
President Barack Obama has not “weighed in” on the controversy surrounding embattled San Diego Mayor Bob Filner, a White House spokesman said today.
While numerous local and national political figures have called for Filner to step down as mayor of the nation’s eighth-largest city, Obama has not commented on the issue.
When a reporter asked White House spokesman Josh Earnest for the president’s opinion, he replied: “The president hasn’t weighed in on this issue, and I haven’t talked with him about it.”
After further questioning from the reporter regarding Obama’s role as leader of the Democratic Party, Earnest said, “I haven’t spoken to the president about it.”
I don’t know how they could have missed the breathless excitement on Facebook about the nationwide effort to impeach the President, which according to reports in the right wing press started after police in San Diego shut down an anti-Obama overpass rally.
After all, a ‘recent poll’ says that 50.1% of Americans believe “Obama should be impeached for the trifecta of scandals now consuming Washington.” {NOT}
The Daily Fishwrap Gets Religion
After eight months of proselytizing, watchdogging and editorializing, the UT-San Diego editorial board has decided it’s time to come out of the closet and demand Mayor Bob Filner’s resignation.
I hope you didn’t just take a big swig of coffee:
We did not join the early flood of calls for his resignation because of the value we place on the electoral process. Like it or not, a majority of San Diego voters put him in office. Our first editorial on the sexual-harassment scandal, published July 12, argued that he deserved “due process.” We also believed that for us to join the chorus would have created an unnecessary distraction.
Yes, indeed San Diego, today we learned that the newspaper that ran rigged polls favoring GOP candidates and tried to pass them off as news; the newspaper that published a special front page editorial five months before the election, and the same newspaper that warned us about the end of civilization as we know it should a Black man be re-elected as president places a value on the electoral process.
What would that value be? Would it be the sum of the difference in ad rates offered to candidates favored by the publisher? Would it be the fines less likely to be imposed on ‘Papa’ Doug Manchester’s under-the-table development schemes?
Now that their sentiments are out in the open, it’s ‘anything goes’. Consider this gem from columnist Logan Jenkins today:
Filner, it’s fair to say, learned his liberal politics from the crib.
Before World War II, Joseph Filner worked in his parents’ Pittsburgh bakery, eventually becoming a union organizer. In the early ’40s, he was secretary of the local Communist Party, according to a newspaper report.
Recall News: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
Apparently the drive for signatures on recall Filner petitions is going so well that the 39 day limit for the initial round of collection may not be an issue. An assignment editor for local Fox news station is boosting a story that includes the line “Some think they will have the just under 102,000 signatures by the end of the week.”
That’s got to be good news for Allied Gardens resident Valorie Matthews, who told the local NBC news affiliate she was willing to go to jail to protect her right to display a sign at her petition table outside a chain grocery story. Officials with Albertson’s didn’t ask her to stop collecting signatures; they just thought her sign wasn’t appropriate:
“Save the women of S.D. Donate your new + gentley [sic] used sex toys to Filner.”
Of course it’s really too early to know for sure how the recall movement is going. Organizers are touting 4000 UPDATE: 11,000 signatures after 3 days. While there are undoubtedly petitions that have yet to be turned in, let’s take a quick look at just how tough it might be:
- With 39 days to collect nearly 102,000 signatures, the campaign will have to actually collect at least 140,000 names on petitions to meet the threshold, since many signers in these sorts of campaigns are not registered voters, fail to complete the form or sign more than once.
- This means the campaign needs to collect an average of 3590 a day in order to hope to qualify.
- That means they should have over 14,000 signatures as of yesterday.
Updates on the effort, organizers say, will be handed to the press on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
The Robo-Calling Begins
Republican and former Mayoral candidate Carl DeMaio, whose pledge to make San Diego the “Wisconsin of the West” is apparently no longer a concern, has jumped on the recall bandwagon, saying he wants to ‘save’ the city.
Last night the robo-calls started, announcing the Dark Lord’s presence as a recall signature collector at locations that just happen to be within the 52nd Congressional district. Should the recall fail, DeMaio has already loaded up with funding from the national GOP to take on Democrat Scott Peters. If it succeeds, he’s a likely candidate in the subsequent mayoral contest where victory will only require a plurality of the vote.
A resignation by Mayor Bob Filner will likely trigger both a primary and a run off situation, meaning that the eventual victor will require more than 50% of the vote.
There were people on Twitter yesterday saying they would no longer support the recall effort because of DeMaio’s involvement.
A Lone Voice Against the Maddening Crowd
via YouTube
I’ve certainly been critical of Voice of San Diego a lot lately, so it seems like it’s time to add a little balance to that equation. (Denunciation from commenter FZ coming in 3…2…1…)
Scott Lewis’ article about Bishop George McKinney of St. Stephens Cathedral was a real breakthrough for the local media, going easy on the implied condemnation and long on letting the man’s words speak for themselves. While McKinney’s stance on same sex marriages makes him no friend to progressives, he has been one of the Mayor’s most stalwart supporters, in a political climate where sneering and ridicule are commonplace.
From Voice of San Diego:
I wanted to talk to McKinney because he provides a window into why some residents, particularly in southeastern San Diego communities, are standing up for the mayor as he retreats from public view. McKinney’s perspective helps explain why Councilwomen Marti Emerald and Myrtle Cole held out so long before ultimately insisting the mayor should resign. It helps explain why those who rallied for Filner outside of City Hall Monday sang “We Shall Overcome” as they walked to the podium.
McKinney is one of Filner’s supporters who is not selling a conspiracy theory or denial. He’s arguing for redemption.
“In no way, form or fashion do we support behavior that is demeaning, ungodly or disrespectful. But we understand that we are all creatures with moral and spiritual failings and we always believe there is a possibility for forgiveness and redemption,” McKinney said.
PenisGate
If you missed 10News ‘coverage’ of Penisgate yesterday, you should check out my outrage here. To make a long story very short a GOP operative cajoled the mayor’s press secretary into getting her picture taken drinking from an X rated straw. In Las Vegas. On the weekend. At her bachelorette party.
This was duly passed on to the media, with KGTV and KOGO radio deciding it qualified as news, thanks to some serious mumbo jumbo contributed by Carl DeMaio’s former political advisor. Thankfully, most sane folks were outraged. Not at the young woman, but that this sort of garbage could be considered as news.
VOSD’s Sara Libby has stepped up to the plate today, admitting that she, too, might have done embarrassing things at her bachelorette party. OMG. (And now other folks around town are talking about getting in on the action to prove that they, too, are human.)
…taking silly photos with yours friends is what people do in Vegas.
I certainly did – and that doesn’t make me a slut, nor does it make me bad at my job. It just makes me lucky to have had a fun weekend with great friends.
A Chance to Change Business as Usual
While much of the city is focused on the #Filner scandal, some folks are continuing the long hard process of trying to move things forward.
The Center for Policy Initiatives(CPI) and other community partners are working hard on a program training residents of neglected neighborhoods that aims to bring new voices to community planning.
Tonight (Wednesday) they’re sponsoring a workshop (6-8pm) at the Logan Heights Library (567 South 28th Street) focusing on helping residents of historically neglected neighborhoods get more involved in community planning.
The City’s new planning chief Bill Fulton will speak, followed by a panel including Councilmember David Alvarez, Community Planners Committee Chair Joe LaCava and Georgette Gomez of the Environmental Health Coalition. They will explain how residents can participate in Community Planning Groups and other parts of the planning process, and what a difference each person can make.
It will include an overview of the City infrastructure planning process by Corinne Wilson of the Center on Policy Initiatives.
The workshop is hosted by the Community Budget Alliance, a coalition of more than 30 local organizations concerned with improving equity among neighborhoods in city infrastructure spending. The alliance, convened by CPI last year, won 11 community-focused projects in its first year and helped institutionalize an evening budget hearing for people who work during the day.
The workshop is open to the public, but space is limited. Residents can RSVP by contacting Trinh Le, tle@onlinecpi.org or 619-
On This Day: 1923 – In Kalamazoo, Michigan, an ordinance was passed forbidding dancers from gazing into the eyes of their partner. 1938 – The classic song “Ain’t Misbehavin'” was recorded by Fats Waller. 1959 – Hawaii became the 50th state. President Eisenhower also issued the order for the 50 star flag.
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Doug Porter
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I’m so disgusted with KPBS, all local network stations, the UT, national media, including MSNBC, as they continue to sing from the same page. No one source does any digging in to find where sources of information are coming from and what the intent might be. Do they really not care or are they all so afraid of losing their jobs if they dare stray into the corners of the story? I’ve turned them all off! These are perpetual dog days that have made me a “lone wolf” among my friends and acquaintances who are continually drinking the koolaide of indignity! Get a life, Filner detractors!
This is what David Roland (Editor of City Beat), Benjamin Katz and Carl DeMaio don’t want hard working volunteers to focus on: Carl DeMaio is heavily salivating thinking about the possibilities of being San Diego’s Mayor. However, Carl DeMaio does not want to excessively spend his own money doing so, but rather use the goodwill of others to do the job for him. This is much cheaper than a run against the second richest man in Congress for a congressional seat, moreover for Carl something he finds tantalizing- it’s called a god complex. If you need proof kindly follow the conversations of Carl DeMaio, Katz and Rolland on Twitter. It’s sickening and twisted folks. It’s analogous to the little devil on a shoulder of the unknowing, but in this case the devil or puppeteers at work are Carl DeMaio, Katz, Rolland and other vested business folk. The unknowing shoulder belongs to many of the Filner recall volunteers. Wake up San Diego. Yes Filner should go, but understand what is truly happening and who is holding the strings.
Katz maybe and DeMaio for sure. BUT I have to point you to City Beat this week as far as what Rolland is saying:
CityBeat supports the recall campaign only to the extent that it pressures Filner to resign. A recall election would be bad for two reasons: It will likely leave San Diego with a mayor for whom far less than half of the electorate voted, and it could leave San Diego with a mayor named Carl DeMaio. In a recall election, voters are asked two simultaneous questions: Do you want to recall Filner, and whom, among this list of candidates, would you prefer to have as mayor? If 50 percent of the electorate plus one voter favors a recall, the candidate with the most votes in the second question wins. There’s no runoff between the top two vote-getters. If DeMaio decides to switch from his run for Congress to another run for mayor, his high name recognition would put him in the fabled catbird seat. If anything’s as bad as Filner continuing to be mayor, it’s DeMaio becoming mayor.
A big part of what’s going on here is unrelenting social/peer pressure to be perceived as undeniably faithful to the dump Filner movement. Rather than get shamed online some are upping their bravado. So don’t take what you see on Twitter too seriously.
i am disheartened by these events..i plan to run again.. mr filner is a great leader with great ideas and vision..itried mybestto support him..the massmediaand kpbs are biased..mr filners shoes wil not be filled easily
I hope Logan Jenkins looks into Goldsmith’s learning from the crib, which was apparently to hate Communists. I guess that’s OK, perhaps because Goldsmith’s grandfather Jakob, an 1896 Jewish émigré from Russia/Poland, taught him so.
In an interview with Goldsmith in the April 1983 issue of Instauration, a racist, pro-Nazi magazine, Goldsmith spoke of the defense of his client, a Latvian policeman/prison guard, against deportation from La Jolla, USA, as a Nazi collaborator, because the prisoners his client beat and killed in Nazi-occupied Latvia were not only Jews, but also Communists. As the magazine put it, Goldsmith’s (non-Jewish) client collaborated with “the only allies available” [Nazi occupiers] against Communists. Goldsmith was quoted as saying, that his client “no longer is charged with being a persecutor of jews, but now he’s charged with being an anti-Communist.” The various trials of Goldsmith’s client had much testimony of Jews in the prison where Goldsmith’s client routinely beat and killed Jewish prisoners, stating that the Latvian guard was an equal opportunity persecutor, just like the Nazis were.
Go for the connection from the crib, Jenkins! I suppose Goldsmith was destined to go after any communist-loving-from-the-crib Jew, Filner included.
Wow. I’ve thought throughout this that there are heavy shades of anti-Semitism in the coverage of Filner (particularly by Steve Breen), but this info makes me wonder how deep it goes.
In fact, gramma, reporters love a good story more than anything else. I’m sure my colleagues would love to debunk an accuser’s story.
But the fact that some of these women have connections to local “establishment” institutions (the U-T, Republicans, the port, etc.) doesn’t make their stories unbelievable.
There’s also the fact that many journalists know multiple accusers personally.
I know one woman who told me months ago about her sexual harassment at the hands of the mayor. She said it in passing. She is not involved in politics here in any way.
I know a man who worked for Filner and described his bullying and verbal abuse of staff.
I know a man whose adult daughter says she was recently sexually harassed by Filner.
I know a man who was slapped in the face, twice, by the mayor. There’s a witness to at least one of the incidents who publicly wrote about it at the time.
With the exception of the last person, none of these people have come forward to have their reputations smeared and their lives invaded.
I have known 3 of these people for 20+ years each. Three are political liberals, and I don’t know about the fourth. I have no doubts about their credibility nor about their motives.
I mention these people because their stories — none of which I sought to hear as a journalist or in any other role — have colored my perceptions. They reveal a pattern of behavior.
Randy, a number of folks here want to discount and/or turn a moral blind eye to Filner’s behavior because they support his political agenda (as do I). It’s one thing to question the veracity of third party accusers or vague innuendo, but the current and growing crop of first person accusations render the argument moot. And of course Bob Filner’s detractors are going to smell smell blood and pile on – this is politics after all. One thing I haven’t seen mentioned yet is whether or not Bob Filner may be mentally ill. Seriously. My mom died of Alzheimer’s over a period of 10 years and her behavior changed dramatically as the disease progressed. And folks who suffer from Frontotemporal Dementia also experience out of character behaviors. Sometimes a “normal” behavior such as being demonstrative or “a hugger” can morph into something akin to what Bob has been accused of. Unfortunately, many people who suffer from dementia are the last ones to believe they do – and that can be a real problem. I know this first hand.
the 2 conditions that can momick this type of behaviour are treatable hyperthyroidism in the elderly and occult hydrocephaleus.or diagnosed by thyroid function blood studies and bya mri of the brain
Yeah, I’m sure you reporters are tripping over each other to accuse an alleged sexual harassment victim of being a liar. I’m sure people were denigrating Filner since the day he stepped in to help San Diego (probably long before that). Some people resort to attacking others character when they feel a perceived threat(like the first democratic mayor in 20 years). People are afraid of the change and progress he represents. The behavior he is being accused of would pass for flirting, unless you hated the guy, then all of a sudden a few months later your recollection is of a foaming at the mouth rapist (who slaps his staff into submission). This behavior “pattern” that has been established by the powers that seek to unseat our fine mayor, has colored everyone’s perception. The true facts may never be known, and unfortunately, the shadowy downtown corporate welfare machine is getting ready to start it’s engine back up. Welcome my son,welcome to the machine.
“The behavior he is being accused of would pass for flirting…”
Not even in 1952, where you seem to live.
Your comment does nothing to advance your story, only to insult a reader who has expressed his own opinion – which he is entitled to do. I don’t know why you, as a writer for another publication, want to take to these opinion pages so often. I am also of the opinion that 25 years is a long time to hold a grudge, or even remember an alleged incident. Another writer to the SDFP has used the phrase “feigned outrage” and I think it is a good one. There’s been a lot of that recently. There are official channels to handle harassment (the current lawsuit is one of them) but what I see is a media frenzy and delight in sordid details. We Filner supporters are not looking the other way, but this process is not due process.
You wouldn’t remember a humiliating moment of your life for 25 years? That’s remarkable. Most people do not have that capacity to forgive AND forget. I certainly don’t.
As for due process: There’s a court system. Due process continues there. There’s a political system. Due process continues there.