Letter From the Editor: Too Little, Too Late, Mayor Filner

On July 11, attorney Marco Gonzalez, joined by San Diego City Councilmember Donna Frye, announced he represented several women who are alleging they were sexually harassed by Filner. Frye did him one better by asking for Filner’s resignation.

Filner replied later in the day by releasing a mea culpa DVD that all at once disgusted and incensed me as a woman and as a person who works in San Diego.

“When a friend like Donna Frye is compelled to call for my resignation, I’m clearly doing something wrong,” said Filner, who continued by claiming he reached into his “heart and soul” and realized he “must and will” change his behavior.

Filner further said he’s spent a lifetime fighting for equality for all people and he’s embarrassed to admit he “failed to respect” women who’ve worked for him and that at times he’s “intimidated” them.

“It’s a good thing that behavior that would have been tolerated in the past is being called out in this generation for what it is – inappropriate and wrong,” he said.

Was there a time machine that pulled Filner from the ‘60s and plopped him into 2013? In fact, I have female colleagues in the law who have been raging against sexual harassment since the ‘50s.

Worse, I’d think that Filner, who once taught history, of all things, at San Diego State University, would be aware that women have been fighting for equality since before the National Women’s Rights Convention in 1850.

Moreover, the term “sexual harassment” has been around since the early 1970s, which gave Filner more than four decades to get over “behavior that would have been tolerated in the past.”

Filner admits he needs help and is working with professionals to address his behavior. Oh, goody. So, in addition to trying to run San Diego and address the many matters with which he’s been grappling since his election, he’s going to sit with professionals who tell him it’s not OK to objectify women. That it’s not OK to mistreat them. And that he needs to respect female staffers.

This is something that should have either been ingrained in him from the start, or at the very least, from the time he first learned of a woman named Gloria Steinem. It is disgusting to think a city leader didn’t know in this millennium that women need, nay, deserve, to be respected and treated equally to men.

“If my behavior doesn’t change, I cannot succeed in leading our city,” he said.

Filner has turned San Diego into a national civic embarrassment. From the New York Times to the Washington Post to cable news channels, no one has condoned Filner and his alleged lurid activities. In addition to being yet another humiliating chapter in local history, Filner now serves as a distraction from issues that really deserve attention. One such example was the $20 million loss caused by Filner’s non-attendance of the Retirement Board hearing, where he may have been able to persuade board members to vote, saving the City of San Diego millions of dollars this fiscal year.

And how about his fight with the San Diego Tourism Authority earlier this year? Because of his needless bullying of the Tourism Authority, it is only receiving $3.6 million for marketing San Diego, compared to last year’s $19.6 million, according to projections prepared by the marketing district.

How much time is Filner going to redirect to his “professional help”? Will he have the time to address library hour reduction, cancellation of the funding for Mission Trails Regional Park’s campgrounds, and street repairs?

And what about his Paris trip? Filner told the public the trip was at no cost to the taxpayers, but we now know, based on published reports from numerous sources, his security detail alone cost $22,000. More importantly, why and how did his trip to Paris benefit the City of San Diego? In a recent article, the U-T reported sending officials increased two City charge card limits to $30,000 each in advance Filner’s Paris jaunt.

Then there’s that questionable $100,000 the City received from Sunroad Enterprises for an Ocean Beach veterans memorial and a summer biking event. Despite a unanimous City Council vote approving Sunroad’s request for an easement on a park it had to build in Kearny Mesa as part of a residential development, Filner vetoed the decision. Coincidentally, after a $100,000 gift from Sunroad to the City, the mayor’s chief of staff Vince Hall appeared before the City Council to say the mayor wanted them to override his veto. Filner said later, on June 28, he returned the money after learning of a memo between his former deputy chief of staff Allen Jones and Sunroad executive Tom Story, confirming the connection between the donation and Filner’s changed position on the project, according to a July 10 Voice of San Diego article.

Who knows – if Filner doesn’t resign soon, he may not have a choice if federal charges are brought against him for what could be a possible Hobbs Act violation. The Hobbs Act allows the U.S. government to criminally charge public officials who agree to take official action in exchange for payment as opportunities arise to do so.

Many question whether Filner can govern. While he asks for due process, the reality is this: People don’t want to be with him and women are afraid of him. The political reality is no one will work for him long term as long as these sexual harassment allegations loom over his office.

Reports indicate women will soon be filing claims and lawsuits for his unwanted advances. Attorney Gloria Allred has joined the fight against Filner, taking on one of his alleged victim’s cases. Allred, a well-known name in cases involving victimized women, is very bad news for any hope Filner had that this debacle would just go away, allowing him to burrow in his mayoral office until it’s safe to show his grin again.

Is Filner the kind of person we want as mayor for the second largest city in California and the eighth largest city in the United States? Are we really going to get anything done with this circus sideshow? What about raising the millions we need for the 2015 Balboa Park celebration?

Filner completed his remarks in his earlier DVD statement by saying he will be announcing “fundamental changes” in the mayor’s office. I have a good one for him: His resignation.