Gloria Allred calls Filner’s reported resignation deal a ‘handout’
Attorney Gloria Allred urged embattled San Diego Mayor Bob Filner to resign his office without asking the city to pay any of his legal fees.
She was referring to a mediated deal between the Filner and the city that sources told The Times on Thursday had been reached in a sexual harassment lawsuit naming him and the city as defendants.
At a news conference in her firm’s Los Angeles office Thursday afternoon, Allred said the majority of San Diego residents agree that Filner must go.
“However, his leaving the city should not leave a permanent stain on the city’s reputation by the City Council facilitating the mayor’s leaving by entering into a callous and unholy agreement with him,” she said.
Allred is representing Filner’s former communications director, Irene McCormack Jackson, in the sexual harassment lawsuit -- the only one filed since allegations of inappropriate behavior by the mayor began to surface.
Allred said that although mediation was ongoing, the only details she knew of the resignation deal were ones that had been reported by the media, including that he had agreed to step down in exchange for the city footing at least part of his legal bill.
“It would be a slap in the face to the mayor’s many victims to get anything from the city of San Diego,” she said. “His parting gift should be ‘good riddance,’ instead of a handout.”
She said that a closed San Diego City Council session on the matter, scheduled for Friday, should be open to the public.
Regardless of the outcome of tomorrow’s meeting, though, Allred said she and her client would see the lawsuit through.
Filner’s former fiancee, Bronwyn Ingram, also made a short statement at the news conference.
“I am hopeful that the settlement agreement between Bob and the city of San Diego will include resignation and begin to bring closure to this painful chapter for all those involved,” she said.
Like several of the women who have stepped forward with allegations, Allred said Ingram is her client but has not filed a lawsuit on her behalf.
Asked whether she planned to do so in the future, Allred did not comment, although Ingram shook her head no, her lips pursed.
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Twitter: @jillcowan
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