SAN DIEGO — As Mayor Bob Filner undergoes a reported second day of therapy and yet another woman comes forward to accuse him of sexual harassment, the countdown may have begun for ousting the 70-year-old former Democratic congressman. But forces hoping to recall Filner may be in for a tough battle.
Los Angeles attorney Gloria Allred held a press conference Tuesday with another accuser — this one a nurse who claims Filner tried to get affection from her in exchange for his help in getting treatment for a wounded former Marine. She is one of more than ten women who have come forward with accusations against Filner.
The path to removing Filner became more clear this week after the failure of an effort to undermine the recall campaign.
In what was widely seen as an attempt to monkey-wrench the recall process, Democratic gay activist (and Filner community board appointee) Stampp Corbin last week announced a separate recall campaign from the one being threatened by land-use consultant Michael Pallamary. Corbin strongly denied that he was trying to muddy the waters, however, and on Friday announced that he would combine his efforts with Pallamary — who had given Filner until yesterday to resign before launching his recall campaign.
The combined recall forces have announced the effort and are raising funds but have not yet begun gathering signatures. Filner will then have until August 11 to give a 300-word written response, which recall proponents are required to publish.
Once those procedural steps are completed, recall proponents can begin collecting signatures on Aug. 18.
But even though the latest poll — taken after Filner was mocked at length by cable-TV comics Stephen Colbert, Conan O’Brien and “Daily Show” interim host John Oliver — shows more than three-quarters of San Diegans want the mayor to resign, the nascent recall movement is far from a sure thing.
The recall effort is poorly organized, as seen in the dueling-recall confusion — though to be fair, mutually cancelling proposals have become a recurring event under “direct democracy” in California. The effort also appears to be poorly funded, and Pallamary refuses to say how much it has raised.
Recall proponents must collect 101,597 signatures from registered city voters within a 39-day period, with a 30-day extension allowed should the petition come up short.
Recall proponents now face two big, and related, questions.
The first is whether they can raise enough money from the business community — or from a rich, determined partisan, in the manner of Rep. Darrell Issa during the 2003 recall of California Gov. Gray Davis — to pay for signature-gatherers and campaign expenses.
Late last week, former Mayor Jerry Sanders, now president of San Diego’s regional Chamber of Commerce, and a group of city business leaders called on Filner to resign, saying his scandal was an embarrassment to the city and a threat to its economy. told The Daily Caller that raising the $1 million or so necessary for a recall would not be difficult, but business leaders speaking off the record weren’t nearly as optimistic.
Why not? Because of the second big question: whether potential funders trust Pallamary.
The business consultant may have overseen a successful 1991 City Council recall, but there is a not-ready-for-prime-time quality to his unfocused TV interviews. And his decision to bring up abuse-of-power allegations instead of focusing solely on the many accusations of sexual harassment could hamper the recall drive. The mayor’s claim that his alleged abuses of power involve standing up to business interests plays well with Democratic activists, who are frustrated that their voter-registration edge hasn’t translated into more power at City Hall.
But if recall supporters find the necessary funding and get their act together, there is little question that Filner will continue to face unflattering, unhelpful headlines in coming days, weeks and months. (Related: 9th woman accuses Bob Filner of sexual harassment)
Over the weekend, another woman came forward to describe inappropriate sexual advances by Filner. Related: 10th woman accuses Filner of harassment)
Allred’s client is the eleventh accuser so far.
Meanwhile, the FBI continues to look at Filner’s alleged interference with city permits, the City Council continues to oppose paying his legal fees and public-record requests continue to yield unflattering portraits of his administration. U-T San Diego editorial cartoonist Steve Breen, a two-time Pulitzer winner, gleefully hammers the mayor several times a week.
And in social media, the anger over the allegations of the mayor sticking his tongue down the throats of women he just met and imploring a staff member not to wear panties appears to have only intensified because of Filner’s claim that he wasn’t to blame because the city had failed to give him sexual-harassment training.
“I can only imagine how many days his dog ate his homework. This guy is not only a sorry excuse for a leader, he is a despicable human being,” wrote one commenter on the website of KPBS television, which broke the story of harassment allegations one month ago.
Reed is an editorial writer for the U-T San Diego newspaper, formerly the San Diego Union-Tribune.