2nd Employee Says Planner Harassed Her

A former senior planner for the city of San Diego has told The Times that she was sexually harassed in 1988 by then-Planning Director Robert Spaulding--harassment that eventually led her to complain to her supervisor and quit her job.

The woman, who asked not to be named, said Spaulding began making sexual overtures toward her during a two-month period shortly after he took over the office in 1988.

Spaulding, the woman alleges, frequently called her into his office for weekly one-on-one, late-afternoon meetings during which he would pat her leg, stare at her chest, tell her his wife had not moved yet to San Diego from Arizona, and invite her out for drinks.

“It was sickening,” said the woman, who has been married 11 years and has children. “It made me miserable.”

The woman came forward after learning about the recent sex-and-hush-money scandal that centers on Spaulding and his affair with an employee, Associate Planner Susan M. Bray, 45. Bray was awarded a $100,000 disability settlement in March after alleging sexual harassment by Spaulding, payments that were concealed from the City Council.

Spaulding was unavailable for comment.

Meanwhile, the council Tuesday hired attorney Josiah Neeper as a special fact-finder to get to the bottom of the $100,000 disability settlement. Some members believe that an independent counsel is necessary because City Atty. John Witt was involved in approving the legal wording of the settlement with Bray.

Informed of the new allegation, Paul Downey, spokesman for Mayor Maureen O’Connor, said Neeper “will be taking a look at everything associated with this.”

The woman asked for anonymity because she wants to be spared personal embarrassment and “be able to work in San Diego again.”

Though this senior planner never filed a written claim, a former supervisor corroborated her complaint about Spaulding.

The supervisor acknowledged that he had never witnessed any sexual harassment. In a spring, 1988, meeting he attended with Spaulding and the woman, he recalled, Spaulding denied that he had made a pass at the woman, saying it was a misunderstanding.

“It was a very awkward situation--how do you tell the boss, ‘Lay off one of my staff members’ ?” asked the supervisor, who also requested anonymity and no longer works for the city.

Bray has claimed that she consented to a sexual relationship with Spaulding--an affair that lasted two years--because high turnover in the department under Spaulding made her fear she would lose her job, according to a complaint to a state fair employment agency. Bray has been unavailable for comment since reports of the controversy surfaced Saturday.

Former City Manager John Lockwood, who approved the $100,000 disability payment to Bray and deliberately tried to keep the settlement secret, and city Personnel Director Richard Snapper have said they are unaware of other sexual harassment complaints against Spaulding.

“I do not think I was protecting a bad, sexually harassing manager here,” Lockwood said Monday, reiterating his position that he wanted to protect Spaulding’s wife and four children.

The incident--as well as a number of city officials--will come under increased scrutiny Monday during a public fact-finding session at City Hall.

Spaulding, 44, offered to resign his $108,000-a-year post Friday after word spread that he had been romantically involved with Bray, who began working with the department April 26, 1985, and was responsible for planning in the Gaslamp Quarter.

Bray was earning $39,000 a year when she began a stress disability leave in January, 1990, at 70% pay. She returned to work part time between August and November, 1990, and filed her sexual harassment charge in December.

Since last week, the scandal has widened to include a number of public officials who were aware of the settlement but neglected to inform the council, which oversees the planning director.

On Monday, during a hastily called, 2 1/2-hour, closed council session, Spaulding offered details of his relationship, which he described as consensual. Council members accepted Spaulding’s resignation Monday.

During Spaulding’s four-year tenure, the department grew from 214 employees with a $10.5-million budget to its current 255 employees and $13-million budget.

But turnover has been high. In 1990, 17.1% of the department’s senior planners and 14.9% of the associate planners left, compared to a citywide turnover rate of 6.5%. In 1989, 25% of senior planners and 10.1% of associate planners departed.

Some disgruntled planners said Spaulding was to blame for the high turnover. When Spaulding arrived at City Hall, he began a wide-ranging management shake-up. Former employees have said he destroyed staff morale by accommodating developers.

“Morale has been getting better all the time--incrementally,” said Tom Story, deputy director of development and environmental planning. But in recent days, morale has--once again--plunged as word of a romance between Bray and her boss spread.

“I didn’t have a clue--it’s pretty shocking,” said Chuck Woolever, assistant to the planning director.

But not all who learned of the incident were surprised. The female senior planner who quit her job said she was very upset by the news because it reminded her of own encounters with Spaulding, who started work Jan. 4, 1988.

“I wanted to make sure he didn’t do this again to any other woman,” she said, explaining why she talked to The Times. “I just want this stopped.”

This woman said she was frequently summoned to Spaulding’s office, where he would sometimes ask her to stand by a drawing board and look at plans.

“He would lean over me. He would never look me in the face; he always looked at my chest,” she said. “I’d stand there and he would be a half-inch away. I’d back up and he would move closer. At one point, I backed up all the way to the door.”

Spaulding often told her that he was lonely and enjoyed talking with her, she said.

“What am I supposed to say when I get calls to go to the boss’ office? Say, ‘No, I don’t feel like it?’ . . . It was awful.”

After speaking with her husband, the woman said, she brought the matter to the attention of her supervisor. The sexual harassment stopped, but a campaign of petty harassment by Spaulding began, she said.

In a subsequent conversation, she said, Spaulding advised her that she could file a grievance but that it would be her word against his. And Spaulding told her that she had no proof, she said.

Because of that discussion, and fear about her professional future, the planner decided not to file a complaint and instead looked for work elsewhere, she said. Within a year of the overtures, she quit her job.

“I decided I didn’t have a grievance. I don’t think the city of San Diego did me wrong,” she said, “Spaulding did.”