San Diego Mayor Bob Filner, right, speaks alongside his then-fiancee Bronwyn Ingram, left, during a news conference at a park in San Diego in 2012.SAN DIEGO – The news release intended to project an air of normalcy: “Forward with City Business!” exclaimed the announcement Mayor Bob Filner put out last week with some upbeat photos showing the mayor reviewing plans for a new library, smiling at a gay pride parade and celebrating at an office birthday party.
But “normal” San Diego is not these days – not with talk of unwanted advances, groping and headlocks, and comparisons of Filner to Anthony Weiner, the ex-congressman who is resisting calls to quit New York’s mayoral race after revelations about new salacious online exchanges.
For the last two weeks, Filner, 70, has been mired in his own scandal over far more serious allegations that he sexually harassed women. The lurid claims have become the talk of the town – plunging California’s second-largest city into political turmoil amid demands for its first Democratic leader in decades to resign.
“I can’t go anywhere without it coming up – the Laundromat, the grocery store, a friend’s party, a restaurant,” said Todd Gloria, a Democrat who, as City Council president, would become interim mayor if Filner resigns. “It comes up everywhere I go, and no one is supportive of the mayor.”
Filner, like Weiner, shows no sign of quitting, fueling talk of a recall effort less than eight months into his four-year term. His office didn’t respond to an interview request.