Filner resignation: San Diego council to vote on harassment settlement
SAN DIEGO -- The San Diego City Council entered closed session Friday afternoon to vote on a proposed settlement that would lead to the resignation of Mayor Bob Filner, who has been accused of sexual harassment by nearly 20 women.
A series of speakers addressed the City Council before it entered closed session about 2 p.m.
Joan Raymond, a retired garbage truck driver, expressed support for Filner and urged the council to let San Diego voters decide his fate, calling fears of civic paralysis overblown.
“It’s the city workers in the field that make the city run 24/7. Our water is still being delivered. Our toilets are still flushing. Our trash is still being picked up despite this political hysteria,” Raymond said.
Laura Fink, one of Filner’s accusers, pressed for his ouster, telling council members: “Today I stand shoulder to shoulder with the other women that have come forward asking for the mayor to resign .… Without the mayor’s resignation, our city will continue to be paralyzed with this scandal, progress will be arrested, and our focus will continue to be monopolized by this dark chapter in our history.”
David Ross, a San Diego resident who has known Filner for 15 years, argued that the city should allow the recall process to take place.
“This individual allegedly has done some things that are reprehensible in his representation of this city,” Ross said of Filner. “Now it has yet to be proven in court. In the meantime, you don’t pay someone on the way out with a golden parachute …. So do the right thing and let’s wait for this recall to talk for the people.”
Migrant rights activist Enrique Morones defended the mayor in stark terms.
“When my children ask me where were you when the public lynching of Mayor Filner took place, I will tell them I was not an accessory,” Morones said. “I stood at the side of a man, Bob Filner, who stood on the side of us for 40 years. He has dedicated his lifetime to serving the oppressed.”
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