By Paul Broadway
I woke up this morning thinking about the Bob Dylan lyric, “you don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows”. This lyric is a good explanation about my view of the Mayor Filner issue that is being orchestrated by the rich, powerful, and connected in San Diego.
You see, I supported Carl DeMaio in the Mayoral election.
I should feel vindicated that Mayor Filner is proving that he was not the right choice for Mayor of America’s finest city. I should feel that way, but I don’t. From my point of view, I see something that scares me. I see a political machine that is using its power to force an elected official out of office.
I do not know what our Mayor did to earn the wrath of the rich and powerful, but it is clearly apparent he did something. The reason that I state this observation, is that most of the early allegations that have come to light occurred prior to his election.
If the Mayor committed all of these acts, why didn’t these allegations become part of the political dialog of the election? I am sure that Carl DeMaio would have loved this information.
I am sure that Mayor Filner would have never won the election if this information was common knowledge. Why were the all of victims silent? Was it because they were being coerced to keep it to themselves?
No person alleging misconduct on the Mayor’s part has stated this to be true. Was it because they believed that no one would believe them? I don’t think that this is the case.
We all remember when our Mayor (then a congressman) had a physical altercation with TSA agent.
I don’t think that the press outlets have any reason to keep the allegations quiet until now. The press loves any salacious story that will drive circulation, so I don’t think that the press would have kept such allegations quiet in an election season. So the timing of the allegations are suspect to me.
I am not stating that the behavior did not happen. I am saying timing of the allegations does not make sense to me.
Then there is the politicians response to the allegations. I am shocked how fast the entire established power structure turned against the mayor on this issue. You might say it looked rehearsed.
I have seen the Mayor and the City Council circle their wagons on issues that were much bigger than this issue.
I observed the city council vote in November of 2005 to pay the legal fees of former Councilman Jim Madaffer: $244,057.00, Former Mayor Murphy: $209,660.00, former Councilperson Toni Atkins: $206,689.00, former Councilman Brian Maienschein: $170,558.00, former Councilman Michael Zucchet: $2,555.00 and former Councilman Scott Peters: $131,497.00 for their involvement in the pension scandals. (Eds note: The original version of this story incorrectly stated they were linked to the Strippergate Scandal.)
Remember that former Councilman Zucchet was already convicted for his involvement in Strippergate when his fees were paid for by the City. There were redacted statements, closed door meetings, and various non transparent forms of misconduct routinely being committed in the star chamber of San Diego.
No one was up in arms over the misconduct. It hardly made a ripple in the San Diego conscience. A lot of those people on that list are now serving in office and critical of the Mayor’s request for the city to pay for his legal fees. This does not add up. Again, I have to ask myself, who did the Mayor anger to get this kind of treatment from the political elite who have been so generous to indicted peers in the past?
Indictment, that is the next part of this controversy that does not add up to me. The national media has reported the allegations against our Mayor. The issue has national attention. Why isn’t there a string of indictments lined up and scheduled for our Mayor to answer to?
By the news reporting, you would think that your wife, daughter, sister, and mother should stay inside, lock their doors, and watch out for a 70 year old serial groper loose on the streets of San Diego.
Finally, who will benefit if the Mayor is removed from office? Who has the Mayor shown favor to? Who has the Mayor been fighting with. I think that explains itself. If the Mayor is removed, then the Council President will take his place until an election is scheduled. What differences are there between the Council President and the Mayor? Well, there won’t be many attorneys ejected out of meetings under the Council President.
In the final analysis of Mayor Bob Filner’s innocence or guilt, we may never know. The only thing that we will know about the mayor is, that he is being run out of office. This may be deserved by the mayor, but the true reasons may never be known by the people who elected him in to office. I am a fan of our system’s ideal of someone being innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. I think that all involved in this scandal has given that concept a black eye. Stay classy San Diego.
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Many of the allegations don’t hold water. Is it sexual harassment to ask someone for a date? Some of those who have “come forward” think so. Were there any witnesses to their specific allegations. I don’t think so. Filner is being run out of town based on gossip and innuendo and making mountains out of molehills. However, he should have been challenged a long time ago about some of his questionable behavior. Evidently none of those who have “come forward” had the guts to do it.
Evidently you’re wrong. Some of the women immediately lodged verbal and written complaints. Some of the alleged incidents are recent. Yes there were witnesses. Read the accounts of the women. Try and keep up.
Paul:
Your points are well made, as is your final admonition. By and large, the media and elected officials, with a few sterling exceptions, have let reason and prudence take the hindmost. However, one hopes that San Diego in general can stay classy. Certainly Mayor Murphy feared they would not when he resigned after receiving similar treatment from the press and his colleagues, and he had no wedge of bad behavior to let them in the door. However, when Mayor Filner begins his defense, we shall see whether or not San Diego stand up for fair play. Thanks for your post.
Excuse me, in my post above, I omitted the word ‘will’ after ‘San Diego’ in my last sentence. Thanks.
Welcome to our ghetto, Paul Broadway. The air is cleaner down here on the ground.
I like and endorse your ideas and questions about what is really going on. No one who had a beneficial interaction with Mayor Filner would dare come forward now because of the poison in the well and in the air. But the piling on and lynching behavior is beneath all of us. Let’s get to court.
Susan: I wholeheartedly agree.
Note to La Playa Heritage: Thanks for passing on great SD Reader link; as always, quality due diligence!
Yes, thanks for the Reader weblogs link, I found it very interesting. And the comments’ cross conversation even more so. Especially this quote from Marmion:
“… 7 women came forward to us because they trusted our news outlet to report the story with integrity and without sensationalism.”
Not sure how ‘sensationalism’ is defined, but I found theKPBS reporting downright giddy in tone, and the Editors Roundtable that focussed solely on the issue wild with reports and speculation. Mark Sauer could barely moderate the talk among the 4 or 5 women present. The whole discussion left me with a dizzy feeling, and it ended with a prominent mention of that absurd “legal declaration” by an intern in which he said the mayor walked down a hallway of unoccupied offices with a woman and disappeared around a corner. That meant what, exactly? That woman was not one of the 12 or 13 offended women because no one has come forward to say that anything happened during that presumably private conversation.
I just read the San Diego Reader link provided by Thoughtfulbear. I believe that the author of that article answers some of the questions that I raised when I was writing. I never thought about the Irwin Jacobs connection. It is important that government works for everyone, not just the connected and powerful. It is also important that every accused person has a chance to represent himself and his action in court. I feel even more strongly that our Mayor deserves due process.
LPH, you’ve done it again! :-)