Story #2—Winners and Losers: the San Diego Edition

Introduction

Stories #1 and #2 are connected by a common thread: the selective system that elevates, protects, and rewards San Diego's compliant players while throwing principled nonconformers to the wolves...

Story #1 revisited the 1984 San Ysidro massacre.  The loss and horror of that event are incalculable.  Yet those who were  responsible--directly (the shooter) or indirectly (certain city officials)--either cannot (the shooter is dead) or will never (the code of silence) answer for the depth of harm inflicted on the victims.  

Not many people think about this story anymore.


Story #2 revisits the Bob Filner story.  It's a third-rate operetta compared to the San Ysidro tragedy.   But sex sells and the Filner story has morphed into a national hit.  The secret of its success is that can serve a wide audience across the political spectrum—left, right, and center.  Like the proverbial gift, it keeps on giving.  

Given its popularity, the time seems right for an updated review of this story.  It needs a thorough airing, even though the dust it raises may irritate some readers.  It’s a small price to pay when good government, transparency, and--above all--accountability are the objectives.

Part I: The Official Story

Chapter 1

The latest resurrection of the Filner story was aimed at Senator Kamala Harris, a presidential candidate from California.  It's an attempt to discredit her for her 2013 failure to throw the accused mayor Bob Filner into prison when she was state Attorney General.  It’s an ironic twist, since Senator Harris had opportunistically jumped the gun and eagerly mounted the anti-Filner bandwagon, even though she had never laid eyes on the man or exchanged a single word with him.  

Damned if you do and damned if you don’t....
  

But Harris shouldn’t take the attack personally.  The Filter trope is an equal opportunity weapon across many battle arenas.   Check out how it's used against Nancy Pelosi and her "perv problem."  Or against gay rights activists and the Sex-Creep Club.  Or by trendy authors to advance their sociopath theories.  Or by #MeToo victims as grist for a movie plot or memoir.  

And see for yourself how effective the Filner trope is here at home with men like: 

* Labor Council’s Mickey Kasparian 

* County Supervisor Dave Roberts 

* Former councilmember Carl DeMaio

* School Board trustee Kevin Beiser, and recently

* Six male members of the District Attorney's office

Chapter 2

The official storyline goes something like this: Bob Filner, a transplant from the East Coast, spent a couple of decades at SDSU as a professor of history, having made his way to San Diego many years earlier.  He was elected to the board of the San Diego Unified School District.  

In 1987 he was elected and re-elected as a San Diego city council member.  In 1992 Filner won a seat in the United States Congress to represent the San Diego/Imperial County region adjacent to the Mexican border, one of the country's most ethnically diverse districts.

The official story continues: The liberal Democrat Bob Filner was among four main candidates running in the 2012 primary election for San Diego mayor.  The others were conservative Republican Carl DeMaio, moderate Republican Bonnie Dumanis, and Republican (almost-but-not-yet Independent) Nathan Fletcher.

Filner and DeMaio advanced to the November election.  Filner was elected mayor by a margin of 52.5% to 47.5%.  He was the first Democratic mayor to hold office since Maureen O'Connor.  (The city had elected a Democratic mayor in 1899, 1905, 1911, 1913, 1915, 1955, 1963, and 1985.)

Chapter 3

The official story goes on: Within weeks in office, what started as unofficial complaints from three women against the mayor rapidly snowballed into claims from over a dozen women of crude come-ons, intimidating sexual comments, and imprisoning headlocks. 

The official story takes a pivotal turn with an account of the

July 11, 2013 afternoon press conference, organized by three former supporters of the newly-elected mayor, to call for Filner’s immediate resignation.  Two accusers (Donna Frye and Marco Gonzalez) denounced the mayor for sexual abuses.  The third (Cory Briggs) denounced him with charges of corruption.

Chapter 4
The official story tells us that City Attorney Jan Goldsmith boasted about his decisive role in getting rid of the mayor.  

When Filner took office, Goldsmith hired private detectives to trail him and sniff out improprieties.  He deceived Filner with false information and threats of financial ruin, claiming that the city was not obligated to pay for his legal defense.  He had the locks changed to the mayor's office. Did he bug Filner’s office, as some staff members claimed?   

Chapter 5

The story progresses with a steady stream of graphic accounts of Filner's crude behavior. The San Diego County Sheriff’s Office launched a hotline so women could register sexual harassment allegations against the mayor.  

The local public news station assembled a phalanx of aggrieved women for explicit interviews.  The services of national celebrity lawyer Gloria Allred were employed.  A news agency on the political right ran this catchy headline: Mayor Filner Grabbed Breasts, A$$, "Shoved Tongue Down Her Throat."

Chapter 6

The official story relates that, effective August 30, 2013, Filner resigned.  On cue, city council president Todd Gloria took over the coveted mayor’s suite to assume the role of acting mayor.  Gloria retained a few of Filner's staffers (e.g., Irene McCormack--the first woman to file a sexual harassment lawsuit), terminated others, and set about reversing a slew of Filner’s executive decisions and policies. 

The official storyline climaxes a few months later when councilmember Kevin Faulconer (formerly a Democrat who turned Republican as an undergraduate at SDSU—any chance he sat in on one of Filner’s history classes??) was elected as San Diego’s new mayor.

Part II: The Unofficial Story

Chapter 7

The unofficial storyline of the rise and fall of Bob Filner reads like plagiarized lift from the movie Chinatown.

By recruiting Bob Filner to run for mayor in 2012, San Diego's Democratic establishment was able to kill two birds with one stone:  

1. Filner was a safe bet to defeat Carl DeMaio, the candidate Democrats (as well as the city's moderate Republicans) were most worried about; and 
2. A mayoral win by Filner would initiate a longed-for game of political dominoes.  South Bay politics would be secured as a Latino stronghold when Filner’s seat in the US Congress was freed up for Juan Vargas.  Then Vargas’s State Senate seat would become available for Ben Hueso.  Then Hueso’s State Assembly seat would fall into the lap of Lorena Gonzalez.  

And so it came to pass.

Chapter 8
The unofficial story is a reminder that plenty of people wanted Filner out--ASAP.  Too progressive and brash for Democratic operatives and too threatening for San Diego's Republicans and other business elites, Filner never stood a chance.

Once DeMaio was defeated and the Vargas/Hueso/Gonzalez deal was duly consummated, Filner's usefulness was gone.  Before long, a Recall Filner website was set up and ready to go.   He was a dead man walking.    

Filner had crossed swords with too many of the city's heavyweights.  For starters: the San Diego Chargers; downtown hoteliers; Lorena Gonzalez; Irwin Jacobs (in a harakiri moment, Filner dissed him in public); Todd Gloria; City Attorney Jan Goldsmith; Carl DeMaio; U-T's Doug Manchester...

The story says that interim mayor Todd Gloria played a key role in the Filner ouster, working hand-in-glove with City Attorney Jan Goldsmith.  Other schemers included Tom Story of Sunroad Enterprises, who hatched a plot with then-councilmember Faulconer to initiate bogus kickback accusations against him.  Yelling corruption! Cory Briggs hurled this fictitious bombshell at mayor Filner.
  

Chapter 9

The story plods on: Filner made himself an easy target.

While the personal pursuits of numerous city officials and bigwigs have always been discreetly tolerated, Filner’s pursuit of female company was fair game for exploitation.  The gentleman’s agreement in San Diego was selective.  Its rules would never apply to him.

The unofficial story does not minimize Filner's role in his brutal ouster.  He kidded around too much.  He flirted incessantly.  He lost his temper and berated city personnel.  He was demanding and insensitive to his office staff.  He was bad at delegating authority.  He ignored the warnings of friends and allies.  For an unusually smart man, Filner could be socially inept, retarded, and obtuse.

It wouldn't matter that he was getting good things done for his constituents; that he was a reformer and advocate for the environment, workers, neighborhoods, and cross-border cooperation; that he was making sound decisions on behalf of the public.  His record could not save him.

Chapter 10

The unofficial story gets a boost when foes came up with a surefire formula to get rid of Filner: a massive dose of unrelenting, no holds barred, prurient accusations.  The more bizarre, the more implausible the better.  As predicted, it proved as effective as a sledgehammer.

The unofficial story takes note that Nathan Fletcher—cognizant of the plan and fully confident that the mayor's seat was soon be vacated and could be his--switched his party affiliation for a second time in one year to prepare for another run for mayor, this time as a Democrat.  His political conversion was announced in May, 2013, three months before Filner stepped down.  

Denouement

Chapter 11

The unofficial story continues as Assemblymember Lorena Gonzalez, impatiently chafing at the bit,  organized a private meeting of a dozen Democratic politicians to speed up the process of a) getting rid of Filner and b) choosing his successor.

By July, a letter was circulated from a generous Democratic fundraiser (Christine Forester) that read "...we would like to be prepared to immediately call for Nathan Fletcher to run for the office ... to have a letter ready to send to Nathan... (It) would allow him to say that he has received a letter from a bi-partisan group of highly respected leaders in the community (including his current employer QUALCOMM) calling on him to declare as a candidate.” 

Filner resigned a month later.  

But it didn’t work out as planned for Fletcher (much less for the Democrats).  He came in third in the subsequent mayoral primary, behind Democrat David Alvarez.  Then Alvarez lost in the November election to Republican Kevin Faulconer.  And that is how San Diego got from there to here. 

Epilogue

Such is the story of a duly-elected mayor who was taken out—NOT because he was a monster, NOT because he was a fake, NOT because he failed to act in good faith on behalf of his constituents—but because he was not (and would never be) a member of San Diego’s selective gentleman’s club.  

Filner is gone but the game goes on.  With Nathan Fletcher ensconced as a County Supervisor, the city's anointed mayoral contender is now Todd Gloria.  He’s in the bag as San Diego’s latest go-along guy and dependable team player.

But let's step away from politics for a moment and do some soul-searching:

• Once, we tarred and feathered a mayor for his reprehensible, unacceptable, and obnoxious behavior toward a number of women. 
• Once, we elected and rewarded a mayor whose incompetence and hubris may well have contributed to the preventable deaths of many innocent San Diegans in San Ysidro. 
• Once, we elected and reelected a mayor whose incompetence and neglect may have precipitated the deaths of many homeless people on the streets of San Diego. 

The question is: why weren’t they ALL run out of town?

The bare facts

There are certain bare facts about our city that we ­– as informed San Diegans and curious citizens – would benefit from knowing more about.  

The intent of my upcoming commentaries is to shed light on the anatomy of hometown government while getting the bare facts out in the open. 

In anticipation of the July 4th weekend, why don't we start with some bare facts about flashy celebrations, San Diego style.  


You’re probably aware that the job of drumming up money and excellent ideas for a centennial celebration of the 1915 Balboa Park Panama-California exposition (Panama refers to the canal, not the hat or cigar) was wantonly messed up by an elite group of downtown insiders who apparently lacked the will, skill, vision, aptitude, frame of mind, and/or civic dedication that reputable public service demands.  

As you may know, the 1915 Panama-California Exposition was an historic extravaganza, ultimately responsible for the unique look of today's landmark Balboa Park.  One hundred years later it's well-worth an up-to-date commemoration.

Happy to report that planning for the centennial celebration has officially resumed, this time in the hands of city staff.  But things still look anemic.  So here’s a thought: how about re-creating a certain eye-catching theme from another great Balboa Park festivity, namely the 1935 Pacific International Exposition/World’s Fair?  Yes, I’m referring to the exhibit known as the Zoro Gardens nudist colony.

A recapitulation of this old-fashioned pastime would – guaranteed – pull in the crowds and perk up our city’s image.  And who knows? resurrecting the exuberant simplicity of this quaint moment in city history could wipe away repugnant recent memories of half-clad hedonists desecrating the Balboa Park lily pond.  Or of flirtatious techniques practiced by our defenestrated mayor.  Or of naughty tales about our wildly ambitious former council member, an also-ran for mayor who is now beating the congressional bushes to unseat first-term congressman Scott Peters.

Just for the record, my urgent recommendation is to emphatically reject the attempted third coming of Carl DeMaio.  Also, if you happen to live in San Diego’s District 6, you’ll be doing yourself and the future of the entire city a big favor by supporting Carol Kim for city council this November.)

Of course, bare facts come in many shapes and sizes.   We’ll be tackling the basics first.  Then we can work our way upward, sideways, and underneath the political mechanisms, bewildering acronyms, and intersecting systems that were (presumably) created to benefit the San Diego public.  Join me in letting it all hang out.

The birds, the bees, and the wolf pack, Part II

Did Bob Filner jump? did he fall? was he pushed?

Forget you, Nancy Drew.  You’re being replaced by Perry Mason, super-sleuth defense attorney from old TV days.  Every week at the zero hour this guy would laboriously rise up in the middle of the courtroom and pull a rabbit out of a hat.  First he'd say something enigmatic to the judge, then to the jury.  Soon he’d turn to the seated onlookers and dramatically finger the real culprit… swindler… murderer… for a histrionic wrap-up to another solved case.

Problem is, the case against Bob Filner doesn't lend itself to cheap theatrics.  The complexity and political fallout of Bob Filner's ouster bring his political demise closer to classic tragedy than pulp fiction -- not merely for him personally but for the future of our city.  

So let's stick with the diligent approach of Ms Drew to arrive at some answers to this mayoral mystery: did Bob Filner jump? fall? or get pushed? and when the curtains are drawn back will we find a master manipulator slinking around in the shadows? 

A quick recap: The overblown Bob Filner pseudo-sex-saga (are you married... I’d like to kiss you... come to dinner with me) elicited an outpouring of righteous indignation from all corners of the city -- from Democrats and Republicans, males and females, reporters and readers, heavyweight professionals and the up-and-coming.

And a bevy of hometown political strivers got into the act -- the Jan Goldsmiths, Kevin Faulconers, Todd Glorias, Sheriff Gores, Nathan Fletchers, Carl DeMaios – decrying the former-mayor’s “disrespect” for women and shedding crocodile tears for the rainbow of plaintiffs who were hand-delivered on schedule to local reporters, TV anchors, and the national media to bare their mortification and shame to the viewing public. 

After hounding the mayor out of office our Republican city council members and Democratic council president glommed onto a megaphone provided by the local news media to broadcast their litany of coded slogans: Heal our city! End the civic nightmare! Get San Diego back on track!   

Translated that means: Turn the clock back to the Jerry Sanders era of business-as usual!  Purge all traces of Bob Filner’s political, economic, environmental, and social agenda from the political record!  And from public memory!

On the surface, ex-mayor Filner’s agenda seemed benign.  He promised voters he would: 1) bring new faces to the table; and 2) use the tools of government to benefit the public at large, not just the financial interests of the private sector.  Yet the evidence is clear that from the day he stepped into his 11th floor office, efforts were underway outside and inside City Hall to abort his term as mayor... to get rid of him ASAP.  

Within a week the City Council President (a fellow Democrat) began undercutting the mayor's agenda.  Within a two weeks the City Attorney began commenting publicly about the mayor's temper and other "behavior issues," an approach he recently acknowledged was part of an overall "strategy."  Within a month Filner was being caricatured in the U-T and on-line press as the outsider… the other.  By summertime he was being painted by nationwide commentators as the pervert.  Through concerted efforts he was methodically quartered and drawn... demonized.  It was an ugly process.

What made Bob Filner so intolerable to the city’s traditional power brokers and political rivals to justify a crusade so wildly disproportionate to the low-level harassment accusations leveled against him?  His behavior toward women was foolish and puerile but the threats he posed to the San Diego wolfpack must have loomed large… he-man sized.  The threat of new faces? new voices? the plan to benefit the public?

It’s still too early for definitive identification of all the faces behind the ouster of Bob Filner (the upcoming mayor’s race and ensuing battles for control will fill in many of the blanks) but we’ve got plenty of clues to start us off. 

So here’s the plan: all suspects in what has been labeled a political coup will be herded into one big room and sorted out. Players from outside the mayor’s office will be directed to the left side.  Players from inside the mayor’s office will keep to the right.  A path down the middle will be kept clear for surreptitious comings and goings by people straddling the fence.

Here's who gets sent to the left:

Hanging on... letting go

I took a mindful walk through downtown La Jolla this morning.  It was my version of a meditative exercise that’s supposed to smooth your soul and clear your mind.  Here’s how it’s done: you put one foot in front of the other in the usual way of walking while you notice what's around you. 

First you notice.  And then you let it go.

Notice…and let it go. 

These are some of the things I noticed on my mindful walk:

    •    marred and scarred sidewalks; cracked and fissured streets (the touted La Jolla Village patina?)

    •    cheerful tourists snapping photos of one another and guessing the name of those lavender-blooming trees (jacaranda)

    •    scores of cormorants, pelicans, and raucous sea lions lolling, diving, swimming, and engaged in uninhibited large-bowel activity on the LJ Cove bluffs, in flip-off contempt of microbial scrubdown experiments

    •    June gloom

    •    signage announcing a new-to-the-neighborhood Goodwill resale shop just a few storefronts down from Roche Bobois

    •    a surge of remodels and dense multi-family construction

    •    dozens of homeless men and women, some on benches, some hauling loaded carts in the direction of the Vons recycling depot

 I also noticed that the noticing part of a mindful walk is easy.  The letting go part is another story.  And I’ve noticed that it’s not just me who has trouble letting go.

Take the U-T San Diego, for example.  I’ve noticed that since Bob Filner became mayor the people at the U-T started acting act like crazed dogs, compulsively gnawing at old bones and obsessing about the mayor’s personality quirks.  They publish half-stories that omit core information a reader needs to get a full picture.  Their editor tears his hair out

Spare us from our good boys

You’ve already read my take on bad boys. Now it’s time to flip the coin and ponder San Diego’s good boys. 

Lately, good boys have been coming out of the woodwork.  You can spot them a mile away by their gee-whiz grins and GQ grooming.  Their toothy, soulful smiles can break your heart.  Of course they’re super-civil and never raise their voices in public.  You wouldn’t hesitate to bring these dewy-eyed boys home to meet your momma. 

Don’t do it!  What you see is NOT what you get from these two-dimensional paper dolls… Stepford wives in drag.  Who are these people, you ask?  

Let’s start with the godfather of them all:

Devouring Bob Filner

Predictions of doomsday have officially fizzled.  This past November voters elected the liberal Democrat Bob Filner as mayor of the city of San Diego and -- happy to report -- the world (as we know it) remains intact. 

In fact, our city seems pretty much the same as ever.  For example: 

• Our downtown heavyweights still scurry around in perpetual motion, determined to infiltrate and control the mayorhood
• Our elected officials still get that faraway look in their eyes as they prime their pumps for higher office or a lucrative move to the private sector
• Our local news media (daily newspaper, weeklies, online deliverers) still cling to their fixation on one-upping the new mayor with snarky, sneaky, snippy, snaky, sneering, snarly, and snide political coverage – unable to set aside overblown egos and get down to delivering responsible, informed, mature journalism
• Our failed mayoral candidate Carl DeMaio still pursues his obsessive compulsion to privatize government functions in the city of San Diego -- a dry run for his dream of privatizing state and federal government