Lee Burdick Wrote It Down, So It Must Be True
Here’s the memo from Lee Burdick
By Doug Porter
A document from the Filner administration has surfaced via a public records act request that may be of interest to SD Free Press readers. It consists of notes taken by Filner chief of staff Lee Burdick during a July 20th staff meeting.
Next to the word “Communications” typed on the agenda are notes that include “Surrogate” alongside a list of names that includes myself, Don Harrison (of San Diego Jewish World) and John (sic) Elliot (broadcaster).
We became aware of this document via a comment posted at SDFP, one that I (and others) interpreted as an attempt to denigrate my credibility. The author of said comment denies this was his intent.
A little background is in order…
Earlier this week the SDFP posted a column from Norma Damashek looking back at the Filner era, entitled A Story About Sex…More or Less We love Norma around here; her time with the League of Women Voters and experiences in countless elections gives her exactly the kind of “voice” that we want to publish. She has insights and opinions and is fearless about voicing them.
As anybody who can read a stat counter knows, Bob Filner’s a hot property these days. Sex+Politics sells. (Or in our case, draws eyeballs.)
And people are passionate about any version of the last couple months of San Diego’s sordid saga that gets told.
Filner+Damashek draws reader comments. More than a hundred have already been posted on A Story About Sex as I’m writing this. For the most part, this is a good thing.
We editors have to spend a little extra time weeding out people who don’t want to play nice, but we’re always happy when somebody takes the time to engage with one of our posts.
So on Thursday evening along comes Cory Briggs, the attorney who stood before the press with Donna Frye and Marco Gonzalez and opened the can of worms that ultimately resulted in Mayor Bob Filner’s resignation, with this comment (he’d been debating with others earlier):
I’m curious: How would people who turn to this media outlet–which, for the record, I respect mucho–respond if they knew that Filner’s office was relying on this outlet as a communications “surrogate” back in July when his own media team was refusing to respond to ANY media inquiries? Would it lead you to question the objectivity of the media? Or would you think it’s good that there’s a media outlet willing to report from a progressive perspective?
I responded:
The suggestion that SDFP was serving as a surrogate for Filner’s office is simply untrue. We had no contact other than press releases with those folks–like everybody else in town we would have loved a little inside info. Nobody associated with the Mayor’s office has ever given us any feedback, pointed us in any direction or reached out to us in any way.
Our reporting was based on what we perceived to be the truth.
Frankly, I believe it’s time to move on. Filner’s gone. But I will say this: come back and look at what we were saying about the Mayor a year from now and compare it to other press accounts from the same time period. That will be the real test of who was fronting for whom in this town.
Cory Briggs responded (my emphasis):
I put “surrogate” in quotes because there is a document written by Lee Burdick in July, after Filner was called on to resign, in which she identifies Doug Porter and two others as “surrogates” in the communications category. (I now realize that the quotes were confusing because I used them to be facetious/sarcastic in a different post. My apologies; bad writing on my part.)
I am not saying that Doug agreed to be the surrogate, and I take him at his word. But even if SDFP did not agree to serve as a surrogate, it still raises some interesting (problematic?) questions for people of all political stripes about the trustworthiness of the media (no aspersions intended toward Doug or anyone else with this point).
One thing I noted in Doug’s post above is this comment: “Our reporting was based on what we perceived to be the truth.” I have no doubt that that’s an accurate statement–not only for the SDFP but for the majority of media outlets. So what makes SDFP’s perception of the truth more trustworthy to its readers than someone else’s perception? I get that people might distrust a source when the source’s credibility is in question. But what about when there’s no serious dispute about credibility? Whose perception do you believe, and why?
I’d never heard of any memo. I asked Briggs for a copy of the document.
Here’s the memo from Lee Burdick
Briggs says it was never his attention to cast aspersions on me. He was merely trying to (from an email) …
show the extent to which Filner was trying to play the public instead of being straight up.
It’s obvious to me that these are notes from a brainstorming meeting of Filner’s staff (July 20) where they were casting about for anything that would deflect the criticism they were getting following the Donna Frye, et al, pressers. They were trying to put together a program of positive actions by the Mayor to make him look like he was doing more than worrying about sexual harassment lawsuits. The same conclusion was drawn by others I’ve shown the document to.
This was crisis management, not unlike what any politician or entity in a bad situation would do. I wrote plenty of columns defending the Filner administration in the context of changing “business as usual” here in San Diego. So my name came up in a meeting. End of story, until it gets “revealed” in a document cited by a local attorney with a knack for getting his name in the press.
So if I accept what Briggs says, then he obviously never gave a thought to what this document will look like once it’s posted over at SDRostra or casually mentioned by City Attorney Jan Goldsmith (or other political figure) as a response to commentary I’ve written.
Briggs must be so naive as to not realize many are going to read the “surrogate” part and not the “I take him at his word.”
So thanks for nothing, Cory. This document’s gonna follow me for years. I’ve had my fair share of experiences and anybody really looking for the dirt on me should research the submissions of now-deceased right-wing nut job Congressman Larry McDonald in the Congressional Record.
That’s why I’m writing this story. By ‘outing’ myself now at least I can say I tried to beat the rap.
And no thanks to Lee Burdick for thinking I’m that kind of chump.
The least you could have done was invite me over for a cup of coffee to ask me first before listing me as a ‘surrogate’ on a city document subject to the Public Records Act.
Doug Porter
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The problem here is, like all of media coverage of Lee Burdick’s notes, no one knows what the notes actually mean. There is no context provided. They aren’t written in a linear fashion. Not even complete sentences. You have about as good a chance reading tea leaves as you do reading one person’s cryptic notes from a meeting.
For example, looking at these notes, it seems far more likely that the three reporter’s names relate to the information ABOVE them, not the word “surrogate” listed to the left of them. Thus it seems more likely that these names are item “2” of two numbered items under the heading “Legal Side:”, while the word surrogate appears to be related to the topic “communications” shown to its left.
I’m guessing that the communications discussion including a discussion of recruiting surrogates to speak for the administration, while the legal discussion included talk of sending Filner’s legal pleadings and recorded statements to these three journalists (who might not be on the normal mayoral press list).
This is one of at least three recent media reports suggesting “revealing information” found in Burdick’s handwritten notes. But I have no idea what the notes mean — and neither do you, or Cory, or anyone other than Lee Burdick (and she ain’t talking).
Ted:
Yours is a very cogent textual analysis. I particularly agree that nobody knows what the notes mean.
Doug: I am not going to apologize any more because it is clearly falling on deaf ears and blind eyes.
But I do have to ask: How does this document become dirt on you? What are you worried about? Your skin should be thicker than your comments suggest it is. Lee was trying to use you–everyone can see that–and you’ve set the record straight.
I also have to ask: What’s better for the public, knowing that Filner’s office was brainstorming ways to play the public by manipulating friendly media or the public not knowing it? I thought the media supports transparency in government, even when it appears at first blush to be bad for the media. Aren’t we better off seeing what Filner’s office was doing and getting your response than not knowing about it at all?
Two other things:
1) You’re absolutely correct that I did not give a moment’s thought to how that document would be abused by anyone. I simply do not care about how political foes might try to trash one another. I believe in transparency in government, and I believe in open discussions between political foes because good arguments like yours usually prevail.
2) This document was already floating around in the hands of folks you probably would prefer didn’t have it. I’m shocked that you think it wasn’t in Goldsmith’s hands before it landed in mine.
Doug, we take you at your word as well. No intention of doing a thing with it. Eds. Note: Larkin is with SDRostra
Greg:
Before people start laying into you for deigning to post on the “enemy’s” website–the quotes mean I do not consider SDRostra and SDFP enemies–I offer kudos to you for that decision. I think a lot of folks don’t realize that political foes could have stirred the pot much worse during the scandal but stood down because of common decency; a few were asked to back off, many didn’t have to be asked at all.
Now I’m not saying that political jabs weren’t flying at all. And I’m not even saying that there weren’t some low blows. I am saying that many opponents of progressives (of mine at least) were extremely civil and sensitive, which I appreciate. I think the dialogues we saw were far more organic in the sense that they came more from the constituents themselves than from political operatives.
Anyway, I appreciate your tone here.
My thin skin has nothing to do with the content of the memo.
It has to do with the complete and utter lack of common sense of YOU being the purveyor (along with a little dose of ‘just sayin’ spin) of this info. “Cory Briggs says so and so was a surrogate’ has a certain ring to it that Derrick Roach can never hope to match.
As I’ve learned over the past couple of days (for example, calling the President of the AFT as a ‘dipshit’ on Twitter) common sense doesn’t seem to be your strong suit. (And I agree with your sentiment!)
Your tone, as evidenced in the above comments speaks much louder, than the words contained therein. I consider it a lesson learned and urge others to draw their own conclusions.
Anyone who knows me that whatever I post I’d say to your face. It’s part of my baggage. The reality is that anyone who thinks Lorena had anything to do with what culminated in the Frye/MARCO Gonzalez/Briggs call for Filner’s resignation is a dipshit, the head of AFT included. She wasn’t there in person, by phone, by e-mail, by text, by smoke signal, by NSA eaves-dropping, or by any other way (direct or indirect). Roast Lorena for things she was involved in; if you know me, you know I’ve done so more than once. Until the resignations letters were submitted, however, she wasn’t involved at all. Wishing it were otherwise in order to dull the pain of losing Filner is delusional.
It’s about time that people start directing their disappointment/anger toward getting a progressive into the mayor’s office and stop trying to assuage their feelings with conspiracy theories. Everyone who supported Filner is BEYOND disappointed. Our opponents, meanwhile, are laughing their asses off.
“It’s about time that people start directing their disappointment/anger toward getting a progressive into the mayor’s office …”
Yup. Which means not supporting the chameleon Fletcher who is no progressive.
Doesn’t Lorena Gonzales support Fletcher, or am I wrong on this?
They way I remember it. it was the other way around.
Gentlemen, Need I remind you the common foe is about to take over San Diego again!
To DaveS: Exactly right.
To Doug: You’re good with us, man. Briggs was fishing – so obvious – and I believe there’s at least one word out there that can describe such: provocateur (sic).
thank you to those of you who reminded us the common foe is the inability of the dem. party to coalesce around a candidate who will continue the agenda that we voted for. Now that Lorena Gonzales has thrown us under the bus we sure as hell better get our shit together. Because with out a single winnable progressive candidate that we can rally around, the coups by the fat cats who run this town is complete. Oh yes, and Mr. Briggs along with Lorena Gonzales brother helped start this ball rolling. The fact that Filner created his own demise does not detract from the fact that all of these people suck at the tit of the corporate master & we the people are sick of all of you! In a city where you drive by a strip club with no Filner signs all over it, you can guess how sophisticated politically we are. If the public thinks Filner is too much of a misogynist to warrant a lap dance than this is the level of discussion we get. I sadly exposed myself to the press during the Filner saga and I’ll take SDFP any day over the vapid analysis of local commentators and the pathetic excuse for city leadership we got from Gloria and Faulkner.
To the San Diego Free Press, including Doug Porter, Norma and others:
Thank you for all that you have done to keep the public informed, to the degree that you could, regarding Filner, and other things going on in San Diego.
With Doug Manchester’s purchase of the UT, along with the North County Times, it has been difficult to get accurate information about many things and I am happy that you all seem up to the task.
Along with many other men and women, I am stunned by the public lynching of a man who rode on the Freedom Buses during the Civil Rights movement. If anyone has not seen the film “The Butler”, please do. You will understand how dangerous it was for Filner, and other white men, to ride those buses. He has helped set up laws protecting people that did not have even the right to vote. He has been a champion for the “common folk” and is certainly not in the 1% who have the money and power.
I don’t know what he did or didn’t do the women who have accused him, but I do know most of these women make at least $100,000 plus a year, and most of them are white, and well connected to the “power brokers” in San Diego.They have been in man’s world a long time, and I would bet most have been “hit on” by men, many, many times.
I know a few of these women. So, as I have already asked, “WHY NOW?” If the answer does not seem obvious to any of you, it does to me. Some of the things Bob Filner wanted to do were not what the “big money” in San Diego wanted. But they couldn’t stop Bob from winning, even with Carl DeMaio as their candidate.
However, it gets interesting when you add a rather “out of the blue” press conference one day, put on for the public, by Cory Briggs, Marco Gonzales, and Donna Frye. Then add in Labor Leader, and now Assembly woman, Lorena Gonzales (sister of Marco) who got elected by Labor, and labor was Filner’s friend, to the mix. Marco Gonzales lives and works in Encinitas. His name, until recently, has been associated helping save the oceans and our environment, which is progressive, at least in my opinion. I know both Marco and his sister.
So why did these women pick him to represent them? I don’t know Mr. Briggs, so I don’t have any idea of what field of law he has chosen. Perhaps it is labor law, but I have no desire to look into it. Maybe others can? Donna Frye, whom I have never met, was on the City Council until she was termed out, if my recollection is correct.
So, two of the original attack dogs, or watchdogs, if one prefers this, were men. Nice of them to help out these damsels in distress. However their goal to have Filner resign didn’t work. I wonder if they knew he was a fighter. So, they had to “up the ante”, as poker players would say. Marco calls Gloria Alred to the rescue. Ironically, the day, or close after the day, Alred appeared in public with Irene, I saw a train stopped on the tracks in Encinitas that had about 50 cars that said “Ringling Brothers, Barnum and Bailey Circus”. I am not kidding. I have no idea why this train was stopped, unless it was waiting for another train to pass, but it was amusing that Alred comes to town and a circus train is stopped on the tracks very close to Marco’s office. There IS so much more to this story.
I truly hope someone takes it to trial, so that both sides could be heard. I would be more than happy to testify, under oath, things I know, and cannot share because my profession, psychologist, has a lot to ethics dealing with confidentiality. Of course, a court order, overrides that, so I could say more. I am not saying FIlner is perfect, and that he hasn’t done some inappropriate things, but to publicly flog a man who has done more positive things in his lifetime, than most of the people involved have ever done, is not only wrong, it is hypocritical.
If any of these women have a case that could be tried in a court of law, take it to a courtroom, and let a “real judge” and jury decide. Isn’t that what we usually do in a democracy? The tactics used, could have come out of a Karl Rove play book. And, to me, that is both frightening and sad. Please San Diego Free Press, keep the presses warmed up. There will be more to this story.
Amen.
You, Lorri, can expect a tongue-lashing from correspondent Sara who will revoke your “progressive credentials” for defending fallen Mayor Bob Filner and for saying the “d” word — “damsels.” You are insufficiently something or other, please don’t ask ME what, but it sure as hell isn’t politically correct. Or feminist. Maybe you are too old or too young, as Sara also has a thing about “ageism.” You think Filner gets a pass on his bad behavior because he’s “done more positive things in his lifetime than most of the people involved have ever done?” Well, WRONG again, Missy! He has to pay dearly, and it ain’t over yet.
Anyway, hello Stephanie. I couldn’t understand the comments about strip clubs with No Filner signs, misogyny and lap-dancing. But I definitely get your anger and disgust at the ambitious and ruthless four horsemen of the apocalypse — Gonzalez, Briggs, Frye & Gonzalez. We are indeed mighty sick of them. And we surely don’t need lectures from complicit chutzpah-central Cory Briggs about who is disappointed and who is laughing.
Frances:
I think Stepanie was referring to the publicity ploy by Hooters where they announced that Mayor Filner would not be welcome at thir establishment, and people then said certain strip clubs then jumped in with similar signs.
Frances and Lorri, you couldn’t have said it better. I hope the true facts come out on this “circus” perpetrated on San Diego and fanned to mass hysteria by powers and uninformed hypocrites both local and national!
Comment in the Reader on connecting the dots.
“HonestGovernment Sept. 8, 2013 @ 9:06 a.m.
Who knows?
This Rotary Club bulletin welcomes McCormack in 2009 and says she is married to someone named Gordon Davis. Who is that? The Deputy DA Gordon Davis who works in the Dumanis’ office? Just curious.”
Wowie Kazowie, Brad. Where have you been?
This one’s a keeper. A seminar on the tracing of networkers, techniques of trolls, use of surrogates and other updates on the misbehavior of medieval courtiers could start with what you did here.
Bring some more.
Let’s see if these people can stand the heat.
Thanks, Brad, for the details. I knew who Sara was when she was posting her harangues here. She needed to be ID’d and her relationships revealed. She earned it. What amuses me is how she would follow her comments here by jumping over to twitter to encourage her fans and followers in mutual outrage. She and her fellow travelers are funnier than hell, until they start ripping up people’s lives. Particularly funny is their shared outrage at what they call trolls (anon commenters), so I’m sure she will not mind at all that you outed her.
Brad, one more thing. If you ever learn why Sara and Troy T. Kent are co-defendants with the City, Civic San Diego = Redev Agency=CCDC, and Diego Rock Partners LLC in a lawsuit filed by Independent Bank (37-2013-00048628CU-OR-CTL), it’d be interesting.
Sara went on Twitter and talked all about the thread where she responded here. Doesn’t sound like she was working too hard to be anonymous.
Thank goodness there aren’t any rumored relationships on the other side of the local progressive community. Like one that would be ethically questionable if it exists and is undisclosed in print. Oh wait…
Why’d you opt not to leave your last name, Brad? I have chosen some level of anonymity on social media to protect my family, and only for that reason. Because, you know, crazy stalker people. I haven’t exactly been warmly received here. I don’t need to worry about you hiding in my bushes, do I?
I’m pretty sure Doug appreciates me directing Twitter traffic to SDFP, and quite frankly, it’s helpful for me and you to be exposed to differing perspectives. I was initially shown Norma’s piece on Twitter via Katherine Rhodes, and I felt compelled to weigh in. It’s otherwise become quite an echo chamber around here, and the personal attacks I’ve encountered by daring to dissent in my opinion only serve to prove it’s worth my attempts to engage. You all haaaaate my opinions and personal experiences that have led me to them throughout the Filner debacle. If nothing else, the experiences of the past couple of months have taught me to honor my “gut,” my own clear logic, and to continue to remain open to new information. Bitter missives are rather pot/kettle when you yell about Briggs’s tone, for instance, but I’m not willing to give up on the progressive ideals we share.
You probably should’ve dug around a little further on our website. This pic of me is much more flattering, although I probably still have a “wide smile” (did you just call me fat?):
Would you like for me to air all the sad personal details about my divorce from few couple years ago, and the resultant name change? I’m sure if I shared my entire life story, wrongs done to me, my own human mistakes made, small victories and joys, and all the stuff of life, you’d still be full of insults and personal judgment. I don’t owe you, nor anyone else, that. The desire to engage with others who are passionate about this city, civic matters, the environment, religion, and politics is as valuable if I choose to do so with limited personal information shared.
My role with CERF is in a volunteer capacity. Additionally, my thoughts posted are my own, and I’m not censored nor directed by my employer in any way. Luckily for me I am, more often than not, ideologically aligned with theirs.
And for Dorothy Lee saying I “earned” my identity being shared: I’m not related to Troy (don’t even know the guy), but I do note your own tone of mockery. As for your insulting comments, Frances, Lorri is a personal friend. She and I have shared quite a few painful, loving discussions, and each of us knows where the other is coming from, though we still largely disagree.
In conclusion, yes, it bothers me to see my name in “print,” so congratulations for that. I’ve been stalked in the past. It’s scary. But screw you for trying to intimidate me and for potentially putting my family in danger. You disagree with my comments, fine. You can’t handle exchanging ideas without being personally insulting? That, and the entire post preceding my comments, point to your immaturity and irresponsibility.
I’ll use my full name, Brad, just for clarity’s sake. Kudos on revealing my true identity, but you don’t know the half of it! I actually grew up in Arlington, Virginia– just across the river from Washington DC. Also, my parents both worked for the federal government. I know a supersleuth like you has already guessed where this is going, but I want to complete my confession. After Bob Filner arrived in Congress in 1993, he and my parents worked in the SAME city for the SAME government… AT THE SAME TIME! What’s a boy to do, I mean c’mon.
Long story short, I’ve been planning this whole thing since I was 11 years old. Sixth grade just wasn’t all that interesting to me, so I decided to make it my life’s work to take out this freshman Congressman from across the country before he could someday protect the height limit on development near the beach in a city I’d never been to.
It was personal for me, Brad. DC has a height limit too, and I just hated it SO MUCH. Why? Because I hate democracy and America. The whole idea of the US Capitol (pfft) being the tallest building just made me so mad… You just can’t be properly above the people if you don’t even have buildings tall enough to look down on them; It’s just common sense. So I embarked on this two-decade journey of Filner destruction. I took Koch money. I took Soros money. I mixed their money together to breed unholy supermoney, and then I laundered it through the Manchester Grand to throw you off the scent, but it couldn’t last. “Nothing gold can stay,” Robert Frost wrote, and now we see that it’s so.
I left the Labor Council recently like you note, since my life’s work is complete and Bob Filner is the only reason people change jobs, so now I need a new project. That’s why your comment is so important Brad, and why I started the forces in motion years ago to guide you to this comment revealing my secret name, Twitter handle, and personal life at this exact point. It’s my springboard to a new life, and I knew the only way for it to work would be if Brad delivered the outing personally. It would lack the gravitas if I just did it myself. You may not feel the weight of the invisible hand on your shoulder, but it’s there for you to rely on for support.
It’s hard to know what to do now, I’ve never really lived this way. But I hope that whatever comes next, you’ll be there to reveal it. After all, this part is probably all a trick too.
Lorri, while I agree that Filner has an outstanding record of public service and political courage, and that he got the bum’s rush as mayor, I do not understand the relevance of his accusers’ race or income level. We all have to live in society together, and we all deserve fair treatment, even white women with a prosperous income. The question is whether his treatment of these accusing women constituted sexual harassment, which he denies, and whether he himself got fair treatment. To some who ridiculed and stormed at him, it was self-evident that he was guilty. To me, it was not at all evident, even if I accepted all their words at face value, that he came even near to committing sexual harassment. I too hope that rather than settling, the case gets heard. I think there is much more evidence that Filner did not get a fair hearing before he resigned. I think the evidence there is clear, regardless of any behind-the-scenes activity: we were all eye-witnesses to a trial by press. Where are the eye-witnessess Filner’s alleged harassment?
Whoops…please omit the extra ‘s’ on ‘witnesses’. Thanks.
And add a ‘to’…geez, hit that Send button way too soon.
Cynthia: The relevance, at least to me, of the race and socioeconomic relationships, is that all of these women must have had access to the Mayor for anything to occur. If you look at the women who have accused him of something, most of them have been in San Diego politics for some time, either through the Port District (Irene) or SDSU(Gatas). It is hard for many of us to feel sorry for a woman who decided to take a $50,000 pay cut to work for Filner. I am speaking of Irene, whose salary at the Port District was $170,000 according to the UT and Gatas, who is well known is San Diego politics, as well as Dean at SDSU. I don’t exactly know her salary, but I am pretty sure it is over $100,000. For the everyday common person, be they any color, that is a lot of money. As a psychologist, I don’t make anywhere near those figures. Most of these women hang with the “elites” of San Diego, perhaps with the exception of the Great Grandmother, who I actually feel sorry for. So, perhaps I should have left out race, but certainly not socioeconomic, as most people I know would love to have the salaries of most of these women.
Lorri:
Thanks for your clarification. Yes, most people I know would also accept that salary.
I second that amen. It’s sad, after all the damage that’s been done to the progressive movement in San Diego through a smear, innuendo, and guilt by association campaign; and the resultant rush to remove the mayor without legal or democratic process, that Mr. Briggs would continue to use such tactics against other progressives.
Yes, Lorri, it should have been done in a judicial way like the ones below–quietly and costing the city in 2013.
The City Council and the public (especially the 3 public defenders of women) must have their noses rubbed in it over who is costing the city for PROVEN VIOLENCE toward women. What about those responsible starting at the top of the chain, down, and going WAY back, before Mayor Filner?
If city officials gave a damn about protection of females, they’d have been doing the job the public pays them to do!
“City council to give woman $350,000 for injuries she suffered at the hands of police officers during a Chargers game.” Read more: http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/news-ticker/2013/sep/05/city-awards-350000-settlement-to-woman-who-was-bea/#ixzz2ePYug6YL
“SAN DIEGO — A federal lawsuit filed by a woman sexually assaulted by San Diego police Officer Anthony Arevalos contains new allegations and details that police supervisors knew about his misconduct toward female suspects by the late 1990s and repeatedly failed to take action against him.”
Thank you, Doug, and thank you, Stephanie. With Francine Busby and Lorena Gonzales pushing Nathan Fletcher, we have our work cut out for us. Thank you, Richard Barrera and the Labor Council for not selling out the people of San Diego.
Yes… THANK YOU Doug and Stephanie (& the SDFP).
Unfortunately labeling Lorena a “progressive” has always been a STRETCH! Lorena has her own agenda and always has!
Excuse me? When has Francine Busby been “pushing” Nathan Fletcher?
The San Diego Democratic Party won’t be endorsing in the special election until September 24th. As party chair, Ms. Busby hasn’t been promoting any candidate and won’t unless the party endorses one.
Democratic Party Chair Busby started pushing Fletcher the first chance she had at the
San Diego County Democratic Party’s 33rd Annual Roosevelt Dinner Gala held on May 4, 2013. Promotions for the Gala announced Fletcher as the Democratic Honoree. Special guest included candidate and Christine Forester. Busby failed to include Filner in the Gala, and instead made the night about Fletchers conversion.
http://www.sandiegopolitico.com/2013/05/democrats-to-welcome-nathan-fletcher-at.html
” Several surprises will greet the sellout crowd at the San Diego County Democratic Party’s 33rd Annual Roosevelt Dinner, themed “Painting the Town Blue,” at the Hilton San Diego Resort in Mission Bay tonight. The reception and silent auction begin at 6:00 p.m. and the program begins at 7:00.
Nathan Fletcher, a former Republican Assemblymember and San Diego mayoral candidate, will be welcomed by County Party Chair Francine Busby as a newly registered Democrat. He announced his registration change this morning on Facebook.”
Where have you been, Craig?
I engaged in a heated email exchange with Francine Busby over the Democratic Party’s overt snubbing of Filner, the city’s first liberal Democratic mayor in my 43 years in San Diego, at it’s annual gala Roosevelt Dinner in May.
The printed program/invitation featured special honors for Christine Forester, a rich La Jollan and big-money bundler for Obama, who was to give the main address, and not one word about Mayor Bob Filner.
At the time of Busby’s and my interchange, Fletcher had not yet had his conversion to the Democratic Party, but Busby actually expressed hope to me that he might join us under the big tent of Democratic diversity. Shortly thereafter, but before the actual dinner, Nathan jumped the broom. He attended the Democratic Party’s annual gala and was given a standing ovation. That was May.
When the Filner lynching started in earnest in early July, Francine Busby convened the Central Committee twice to “vote” on whether or not to ask the Mayor to step down. First time was a stalemate; the second round had a majority voting against the Mayor.
I suggested at the time that Francine Busby should resign from her position as chairman of the County Democratic Party, but she didn’t get back to me on that. Maybe you can arrange it. She is a disgrace.
An amusing and intelligent friend of mine has suggested watching for bodies left on the beach when when the tide washes out after the anti-Filner tsunami. I’ll be darned: look, there’s Cotton Mather — no, it’s Cory Briggs!
Bodies on the beach? Salem witch trials?
What, no quote marks, “Cory”?
Cory Briggs coughed up major clues in his comments to the Damashek column. He’s exposed the roots of the putsch whose fury has begun to turn on him and Marco Gonzalez while uncovering collusion between the major media and business interests of our community. (I leave it to our psychologist commenters to explain Mr Briggs’ ironic attempt to draw a similar relation between the mayor’s office and the marginal media.)
Where is Donna Frye? Reputations, good ones, are at stake. Hers may be the most valuable, after the mayor’s, at risk. She’s got some explaining to do.
What fury has turned on anyone? There are people who are unhappy–some very unhappy–about Filner’s resignation and how we got there, and people are having a (sometimes heated) conversation about the process and result. How does that amount to fury turning?
What would be good to understand from the psychologist commenters is why people are so extreme in their language. Lynchings? Bodies on the beach? The legitimate criticisms of the process and result of resignation are difficult to glean, much less understand, when embedded in diatribes covered in extremism.
“Cory,” you’re sounding like somebody losing his mojo.
What do you mean, “losing”? That presumes something was there to begin with. Don’t. Think. So.
“What would be good to understand from the psychologist commenters is why people are so extreme in their language.”
The most vulnerable in society are being wrung for everything that don’t even have anymore, our government and political systems are being played in broad daylight for the gain of the selfishly-connected.
Save your criticism for “why people are so extreme in their language” at SDFP. You had ample opportunity to post that comment in SDUT’s 5-daily Filner lynching articles that were bred by your careless, self-serving, finger-pointing show which you brought on with the other two and expected “esquire” to serve as your shield. I suggest you change your letterhead: Cory J. Briggs, “Esquire”
Oh, and add to that . . . our judicial system . . . you know that Briggs.
Here’s the thing, it isn’t meant to be a playground.
Holy smoke, an honest-to-god surrogate! NOT SDFP honest man Doug Porter who Cory Briggs tried to finger the other day — perhaps to distract attention from yet-to-be revealed details of his role in killing off Mayor Filner.
The real surrogate is voluble commenter Sara, who has been devious as well as politically correct and righteous — which is different from being correct and right.
You, Brad, have just realized the prediction of an amusing and intelligent friend: when the anti-Filner tsunami pulls back, the beach will be littered with bodies. I hope someone is keeping a tally of them and a chart of their relationships, A to B and both to C and so on.
To Frances: Hoky Smoke, Bullwinkle! Believe somebody did indeed reckon out a graph awhile back here, plotting A B C and whoever. LPH, think this was one of yours? Be worthwhile to everybody to see that chart again…
Help me out, thoughtful bear: who is LPH? Did someone try to make a chart of the complicit players? We’d all like to see it, assuming it is honest and true.
Hey, Frances, sorry about that. Shorthand for La Playa Heritage, who if my memory hasn’t gone all rusty, either compiled the chart or passed along link to someone else’s having done so. Pretty sure it was here…
Hi thoughfulbear. I do not have any type of chart. I do know that Mr. Filner was set up on lots of fronts including Sunroad easements, required police bodyguards during oversees vacation, Credit Card bills for lunches, etc.
I think Mr. Filner paid the outstanding $900 credit card bill in question. Including $200 for 40 box lunches for a noon meeting on the Homeless solutions with Police, community, lead by Ms. Ingram at the new Connections Housing Homeless Shelter.
Tomorrow at the City Council Audit Committee, Goldsmith and Faulconer will be discussing the initiation of a new Audit on the use of Credit Cards by former Mayor Filner.
http://docs.sandiego.gov/councilcomm_agendas_attach/2013/Audit_130909_2a.pdf
http://docs.sandiego.gov/councilcomm_agendas_attach/2013/Audit_130909_2.pdf
Instead of just killing his mayorship, the same cabal is still going after him. There has been no let up in the hatred, since the resignation.
.
First they came for Mayor Filner. Who is next?
Speaking only for myself, I have heard as much as I want to hear from Cory Briggs, Marco Gonzalez and Donna Frye. Reputations are destroyed, and Donna Frye’s is among them. Frye’s legacy of good works is one thing, but her reputation is ruined.
Earth to rheftmann: Donna Frye collaborated with lawyers Briggs and Gonzalez to hold TWO press conferences preceded by KPBS teasers to tune in to the live coverage. Frye publicly demanded that Mayor Filner resign immediately for having sexually harassed “unsafe” women in the workplace of City Hall. No evidence, no
accuser(s), no official complaint(s) or lawsuit(s) filed, no due process.
Enjoy the legacy. Forget the rest.
Right & that speaks for me too Fran. But, their voices will be muted the more they stick their feet in their mouths. Truth be told.
Dear Mr. Briggs:
I will say I am a psychologist. I do not know if any other psychologist is commenting on this story. I only became interested because I was one of those people who fought for civil rights back when MLK was alive. I also campaigned for Bobby Kennedy, and was in LA there night he was killed. So, my history of activism goes way back to those days, Vietnam, etc. So, yes, I am invoking ageism, in its most fundamental way. I also have a cousin in the Calif. State Assembly, so politics has been in my blood a long time. You ask why such extreme language? The language is nothing extreme compared to what has been done, in the name of democracy. You, Marco and Donna, for whatever your own personal reason(s) might have been, denigrated a man who has worked for the people all of his life. Martin Luther King was a womanizer, yet no one did that to him. John F. Kennedy, as well as his brothers Bobby and Ted, also were womanizers. As far back as I can remember, which was the Eisenhower administration, most Presidents have been womanizers, but some of them were also great men. You don’t think Hillary Clinton went through her own hell, yet it did not stop her from becoming Secretary of State. And, I admire her for moving past her husbands affair (s). Women cannot have it both ways. It is still a mans world, and just go to Saudi Arabia if you are not convinced. If women want equal rights as men, we have to move past whatever primal forces drive men to denigrate women. Women have to move on and show men we are capable of doing as good of a job as men, if not better. We cannot cry out that a man put his hand on my leg a little too long and then expect to be treated as an equal. Perhaps Marco realized this when he called in Gloria Alred? I cannot imagine Alred, at the beginning of her career, calling on the legal system to help her when she was harassed by men. Instead she fought. Her way is a little too extreme for me, and I would have preferred a more polished woman, nevertheless, she has been effective. I once worked for Squibb Pharmaceuticals as a sales representative. In fact, I was the first woman they had ever hired. I experienced some true sexual harassment, such as a boss almost raping me, a staff person showing me his erection and asking me if I would like to have sex before making our calls, and on and on. If I had said anything, I would have been fired. So, along with a lot of other men and women we fought for the laws, you are now using to defend women if there is true sexual harassment in the workplace. And you and Marco are now using those same laws in a trite manner. Yes, I am angry. I am angry that white, upper socioeconomic women, are using us to cry HELP. And you and Marco are playing right in to it. This was never about sexual harassment or sexual intimidation. This was a power play by the rich and powerful and you and Marco went along for the ride. To be perfectly honest, it not only angers me, but it disgusts me. Many women were hurt in this power play. Women who may be single mothers, making a low wage are of no consequence to you. They did not even have access to the mayor, so they could not have been harassed. Lorena Gonzales was supported by labor . And when she proudly jumped in, I lost all respect for her. Labor took a big “hit” in this. And a lot of women will be hurt because of it. Filner was a friend to labor, not DeMaio or most Republicans. I’ll stop now and go enjoy my Sunday, knowing that I spoke out for the side of every woman who has ever really been sexually harassed and thinks this is nothing but “smoke and mirrors”. You will have to live with yourself.
I have only the utmost respect for so many in this chain of commenters, particularly you, Lorri, whose remarks I’ve noticed before. I’m glad to see you and Brad chasing the fools who think they can work both sides of the aisle and rise through the local money game.
I think we’re finding out that there a lot of people who’ve lived in San Diego long enough to know how arrogant the putative leaders are, and how easily they misjudge the intelligence of the people they’re attempting to screw.
On KUSI on August 26, 2013, City Attorney Goldsmith stated that he hired a psychologist and mental health expert to analyze Filner. The expert may have been hired as early as January 2013. See Video Time 2:15.
An interesting connection might be that between Jan Goldsmith and the recall movement, which started back in, I believe, February, seven months ago. Goldsmith, himself, doesn’t look real stable to me on that August 26 video you posted, LaPlaya, as he seems intent on continuing the pursuit of the already resigned mayor, emphasizing how stressful it was for himself, the barrister.
Thank you for posting this video, la playa heritage, it is one of my favorites.
In it City Attorney Goldsmith reveals that he hired a consulting psychologist in January 2013 to observe the Mayor. He uses the word “strategy” four times in the interview — as in, Goldsmith’s office had a “strategy” for “dealing with” the Mayor, perhaps also dating from the first days of the Mayor’s term in office. (I seem to recall provocative charges from an African-American attorney from Goldsmith’s staff that Freedom Rider Mayor Filner was discriminating against him.)
Offhandedly, Goldsmith also criticizes the City Charter that is so strict in its rules for recalling a mayor of San Diego — perhaps because the establishment that Goldsmith represents never expected to have a liberal Democrat in that job. Finally, Goldsmith himself uses the word “coup d’etat,”dismissively saying there is no such thing. Presumably because his “strategy” worked.
This all fits with the female news anchor on KUSI, on the night the Mayor’s resignation took effect, (August 30th I think) opening with the lead ” This ends the 270 days of turmoil in the Mayor’s office.”
A timeline was put out by the San Diego Reader in either July or August. I am not good at doing computer links, as I am soooooo old, so someone might want to take a look at the Reader during those 2 months. There is a lot there, including how all of this went down.
Believe I saw that link posted on the SDFP’s Freeps & Friends feature…
AAAAND I’m gonna exercise my right as editor du jour to close off the comments at this point. I think we’ve beat this to death anyway. I think the personal crap has gotten just a little too petty.
As I said originally: Frankly, I believe it’s time to move on. Filner’s gone.
Now y’all need to get to work. We’ve got anew mayor to elect. We have to be yelling at the top of our lungs every time a good idea gets buried in the “Filner destroyed the City meme.”
And all the right wingers have been sitting on the sidelines enjoying this circular firing squad for too long.