San Diego Mayors on Parade----part two

COUNCILMEMBER GLORIA BOUNDS TO THE RESCUE (2013--2014) 

According to the City Charter, the presiding officer of the city council has limited authority to act as mayor in the event of an unplanned vacancy in the mayor’s seat.  

With a wink and a nod from City Attorney Jan Goldsmith, Councilmember Todd Gloria put his feet up on the mayor’s desk and immediately got to work reorganizing city government in his own image.   

He hired an efficiency maven from Indiana, touted as an expert in privatizing city government (supplementing our in-house expert in  privatization matters--former councilmember Carl DeMaio).  Far exceeding his limited authority, Interim Mayor Gloria hired, fired, rearranged, undid, proclaimed, reversed, and erased all traces of ex-Mayor Filner's popular reforms and political direction, saddling the next “strong mayor” administration with his own hand-picked officials, appointees, directors, restructured lines of authority, policies, decisions, and hidden alliances.

(The city has resorted to temporary mayors in the past: Bill Cleator held the honor for 4 months... Ed Struiksma for 6 months... Mike Zucchet for 3 days (a whole other story)... Toni Atkins for 5 months.  None had abused the position as Todd Gloria did for 6 months.)  

🐘 Our parade of mayors resumes with Kevin Faulconer (2014-2020) 

Kevin Faulconer passed himself off as a moderate Republican.  As Mayor, he was one of the most airbrushed, remote-controlled officials our city has yet produced.

⇢ He was already on record--alongside Mayor Sanders, Carl DeMaio, the SD Taxpayers Association, and the Republican Lincoln Club--as a promoter of the shrink government ploy on the 2012 ballot to wipe out reliable retirements for incoming city employees (excluding police).

 

⇢ A few years later, Mayor Faulconer was on the speaker's list at the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) conference held in San Diego (reminder: ALEC is a Koch brothers/tobacco industry-funded/ conservative conglomerate of legislators and corporate lobbyists who create and promote model bills and resolutions that advance "free-enterprise" objectives like minimizing corporate regulation, reducing taxation, loosening environmental regulations, tightening voter ID rules, weakening labor unions, and promoting gun rights).  

 

⇢ Despite his sun-kissed smile and ingratiating persona (what a contrast to Bob Filner!), Mayor Faulconer managed to back away from nearly every municipal challenge that crossed his path and substitute wishes for action.

• as the city’s homelessness count worsened and complaints from downtown businesses and residents grew, he responded with a list of empty wishes--but no action 
• he wished that unhoused people would be dispersed from downtown.  Jagged rocks were installed beneath sheltering overpasses to discourage and disgorge them
• he wished for the deadly hepatitis A epidemic to magically disappear.  His unconscionable incompetence as a manager contributed to 20 deaths and over 400 hospitalizations as disease swept through downtown streets 
• he wished for voters to endorse an increase in hotel taxes (TOT) to finance his #1 priority --the expansion of the downtown Convention Center.  As a cynical campaign sales pitch, some funds for homeless services were tacked on to the proposal
• he wished for an overall plan for temporary housing and emergency shelter.  His newly-hired “senior advisor for housing solutions” resigned after a few months on the job... no explanation... no replacement... no plan forthcoming

But wait!  Though Mayor Faulconer’s inactions were bad enough, it got worse whenever he did take action: 

• in his early days in office, Mayor Faulconer created a charity called One San Diego to finance events and various furnishings inside the Mayor’s office.  He distributed some turkeys on Thanksgiving for impoverished residents in a few city neighborhoods 
• contributions to his charity (slush fund?) were solicited by Mayor Faulconer from individual and corporate donors, many of whom had business before the city.  The ins-and-outs of these “behested” payments to his charity-- reaching $1.6 million by the end of Faulconer’s term in office—teetered on the edge of corruption.  One San Diego was dissolved shortly after Mayor Faulconer left office
• Mayor Faulconer, as the city's chief executive officer, accepted an offer to purchase the former Sempra headquarters office building at 101 Ash Street  
• the deal was handled by Cisterra Development (a generous donor to Mayor Faulconer’s One San Diego charity) and involved an elaborately choreographed handoff 
• first, Cisterra arranged to purchase the abandoned building from owners Sandor Shapery and Doug Manchester
• then, in a creative arabesque, Cisterra sold the property to the city, erasing evidence that Mayor Faulconer and ex-council president Todd Gloria were engaged in doing business with Papa Doug Manchester (another generous benefactor of the Mayor's)
• Mayor Faulconer was the ultimate decision maker in the 101 Ash St. affair.  His brainless action--enabled by then-Councilmember Todd Gloria-- to purchase the building AS-IS, without first obtaining a building appraisal and assessment of its condition, planted a ticking time bomb in the bowels of City Hall.  The entire transaction was an unmitigated catastrophe for San Diegans

 But wait again…there were more real estate fiascos:

• Mayor Faulconer engineered the purchase of a Kearny Mesa operations yard used for maintaining the city’s fire trucks.  The costs of needed improvements to the property rose from an initial estimate of $6.5 million to an actual $14.8 million 
• Mayor Faulconer squandered millions of dollars above appraised values to acquire motel property for use as transitional housing for former drug offenders.  Here again, he skipped performing basic assessments of building conditions.  Improvement costs came in at $2 million more than the original estimate
• The Mayor engineered and fast-tracked a $7 million purchase--once more without a prior city appraisal--of a defunct indoor skydiving building for use as a one-stop homeless “navigation” center.  Mayor Faulconer ignored dissenting voices.  The voice he did heed was that of influential political financier and hustling dealmaker David Malcolm--whose personal finances were intertwined with the city’s purchase of the skydiving lead balloon 
• Mayor Faulconer paid out untold millions on a contract to outfit the city with “smart street lights.” Plagued by mismanagement, cost overruns, maintenance problems, and deceptive practices, the project had to be rescinded and completely overhauled
• Mayor Faulconer’s last ditch efforts at legacy projects still clog the city’s agenda: the Midway Sports Arena… loose construction deals with San Diego State University at Qualcomm Stadium… non-standard city parks…defective and deceptive zoning overhauls entitled Complete Communities  

🦄 Bringing up the rear in our parade of mayors is our current chief executive Todd Gloria (2020-??). 

Existing evidence reveals that Mayor Gloria is as ruinously incompetent at running and managing city government as was his immediate predecessor.  He is proving to be as devious... irresponsible... reckless... dishonest... over his head...and yes, corrupt as those who paraded behind him.   

This may sound peculiar, but--in a city like ours where truth is stranger than fiction--have you noticed that Mayor Gloria is really  a doppelgänger--a 21^st century reincarnation of former Mayor Susan Golding?  

He is (as she was) laser-focused on his personal political future.  He has (as she had) abused his contract with the San Diego public by prioritizing his personal welfare over and above the welfare of 1.4 million San Diegans.  And coming full circle, Todd Gloria’s unbridled political ambitions (coupled with defective judgement) are digging the city’s financial hole (first dynamited by Mayor Golding) wider and deeper than ever before, accelerating the city’s descent into financial crisis.  

To illustrate, let’s take an independent tour around our present-day mayor:

→ As of today, the city is over $5 billion in the red.  This is the gap between the city's projected infrastructure needs over the next five years and the funding available to pay for them.  Right now, the city is unable to pay for normal municipal services like paving the streets, upkeep of city parks, repairing streetlights, adequately staffing city departments, or creating alternatives for people who camp out on our sidewalks and alleys…unable to pay for crucial repairs to roads, flood prevention, bridges, upgrading our sewage system and storm drains…unable to provide new infrastructure needed to keep up with persistent demands to increase housing densities and construction….

→ Consider this: it was Todd Gloria as then-president of the city council, who promoted the most disastrous real estate deal in our city’s history: the acquisition of the derelict office building known as 101 Ash Street.   It’s still a puzzle--did he do it out of ignorance? stupidity? carelessness? or simply as a favor to some cronies?

⇢ And once he became Mayor, Todd Gloria compounded the fraud.  Amid lawsuits and general chaos over what to do with an unusable, abandoned, valueless, high-rent, 19-story office building across the street from City Hall, Mayor Gloria foisted a sleazy (possibly illegal) “settlement agreement” on San Diego taxpayers.  It’s called borrowing from Peter to pay Paul...at public expense.

• here’s how Mayor Gloria’s "settlement" deal works: the city buys--with cash--the offending property for $132 million.  
• the cash comes from raiding public funds that have already been earmarked for street paving, flood control, and city parks (public projects) 
• after purchasing the property, the city goes to the Wall Street bond market and borrows around $175 million to backfill the budget and pay for designated on-hold public projects.
• of course, the city will pay interest on this borrowed money   
• this means that Mayor Gloria’s initial role in the AS-IS purchase of a building that was asbestos-ridden and electrical and plumbing-delinquent, when added to Mayor Gloria’s “settlement agreement,” will cost San Diegans $11.6 million each and every year for the next 30 years.  That’s $348 million of public money
• with leadership schemes like this, is it any surprise that the city’s existing funding gap has tripled in the past four years? 

⇢ The Mayor’s judgement was already suspect when he (alongside then-councilmember Kevin Faulconer) used his influence as Interim Mayor to award a flimsy sole-source contract to an inexperienced organization (Balboa Park Celebration Inc.) to organize what was to be a gala celebration of San Diego’s Centennial anniversary.  Through failed leadership and lack of oversight the venture collapsed, stiffing the public for $3 million in the bargain.

⇢ Years earlier, then-councilmember Gloria engineered the establishment of the Balboa Park Conservancy, whose mission was to raise funds to maintain and improve the park (Balboa Park was in his council district).  The Conservancy stumbled, sputtered, and languished under his negligent supervision.  Today, under Mayor Gloria’s indifferent eye, Balboa Park is on life support.

⇢ It was not the last time that San Diego taxpayers had to pick up the pieces following Todd Gloria’s ineptitude.  A jury found that councilmember Gloria improperly pressured city staff at the Planning Department to fudge a report about a disputed expansion of the Academy of our Lady of Peace, a private religious school in North Park.  The city was originally slapped with a $1.1 million fine for this unethical interference (but managed to settle the matter for half that amount).  

 

⇢  Unfortunately, Mayor Gloria’s judgement or devotion to the public welfare have not improved over the years.  His recent “settlement” of the 101 Ash Street scandal is--for him-- a crude but crafty get-out-of-jail card that sweeps under the rug the central role he played from the start.  And it lets off the hook his fellow-perps (past, present, and future campaign donors).  Apparently, the District Attorney can’t prosecute a politician for bad judgement ...or stupidity.

⇢ Then there's the Mayor’s curious decision to cherry-pick the ”Midway Rising” multi-billion dollar master plan proposal for massive redevelopment in San Diego’s Sports Arena community.  The business record of his anointed firm-- Zephyr Development-- is pockmarked with tax liens, breach of contract, lack of experience with large projects, civil complaints, partnership disputes, and more.  Yet, Mayor Gloria disregarded these red flags when he chose Zephyr over competitive bids.  

⇢ Surely, the Mayor's decision can’t be chalked up to bad judgement... or stupidity.  Is it possible that that Mayor Gloria was influenced by the $100,000 campaign check written by the company’s chief official to help get him elected mayor?  The city's Ethic Commission seems to be asleep at the wheel.

⇢ Also menacing for the San Diego public is the fact that Mayor Gloria is a consenting captive of a formidable pileup of San Diego’s entrenched power brokers whose mission is to drive and accelerate economic and residential growth and development in the region--with scant regard to issues of equity, justice, quality of life, or negative environmental impacts.  

Our home-grown "growth machine" members range from bankers, to big business owners, to consultants, to convention center purveyors, to developers, to financiers, to building trades unions, to hoteliers, to law firms, to lobbyists, to newspaper owners, to the real estate establishment, to land speculators.  

⇢ On any day of the week, you’ll find Mayor Gloria sitting at the feet of local lobbyist Colin Parent (regional avatar of San Diego’s YIMBY cult and opportunistic executive director of Circulate San Diego).  Colin Parent's land development mission is Mayor Gloria's mission.

⇢ You'll find the Mayor issuing directives to rewrite the city’s zoning codes, eliminate neighborhood voices, and reduce environmental standards.  With his gift of hyperactive happy talk, our Mayor delivers deceptive promises of “affordable housing” as a pretext for generously gifting his campaign donors free rein to overdevelop San Diego with high-rise apartment buildings and dense backyard units in residential areas throughout the city--without analyzing or evaluating long-term consequences.

It's not very different from the city purchase of property without appraisals or assessments--except for the massive scale differential and predictably devastating outcome.

⇢ And in an ominous throwback to his Interim-Mayor days when he hired an out-of-town “efficiency expert” who specialized in privatizing government services and selling city functions to the private sector, Mayor Gloria just signed contracts with two private companies to replace city staff and take over decision-making functions in our city's Planning /Development Services Departments.

⇢ And while Mayor Gloria announces almost daily: “Addressing homelessness is my top priority as your Mayor,” some may remember when Interim-Mayor Gloria reversed a program--previously funded by then-Mayor Filner-- to keep shelters open year-round.   Closing cold weather shelters eventually led to a deadly outbreak of Hepatitis A just a few years later.  You might think he had learned something from that tragedy.  

⇢ But the acts of addressing and accomplishing are not synonymous.   Mayor Gloria has been unable to accomplish even the limited task of providing and maintaining desperately needed public toilet facilities in downtown locations.  He shifts the blame for his inability to ameliorate the problem and sputters incoherent excuses: "I don’t have enough park maintenance people to keep this thing clean, right?  So just for God’s sake, if you see someone messing this up…this is getting crazy…. I think my staff’s gonna have a heart attack... be a decent human being for God’s sakes. And flush when you’re done if it’s not too much…”  This is our Mayor talking.

⇢ A couple of years ago there was an editorial headline published in the San Diego Union-Tribune that warned: "Keep Faulconer Away From City Real Estate."  It came too late.  

⇢ We're overdue for a follow-up warning from our daily newspaper: "Keep Gloria Away From City Real Estate... Away From the Planning Department... and Away From All Important City Business."  But it may already be too late.

******************************

Our Parade of Mayors leaves us with many questions.  We can start with this one: 

 what can explain the degree of incompetence, insubstantiality, indifference, shortsightedness, and inadequacy that has defined San Diego's political figures? 

Incidents of low level corruption are unavoidable but they're not necessarily fatal.   What is fatal to the public good is the lack of fervor, integrity, intelligent conviction, stability, and dedication to public-oriented service from the people we elect to city government.  The reasons aren't obvious but they're worth debating.

We need to ask ourselves: Are the people of San Diego better off since we switched to a “Strong Mayor” form of government?  Was it a wise decision for San Diego to throw out our City Manager system?  

To be more blunt: were we fu*ked over?  Are we being screwed?  Have we had it with political bullsh*t from unworthy city leaders?  

If so, let's unzip our collective lips-- not to fool around with language niceties... not to indulge in salacious gossip... not to be the most correct person in the room -- but to demand the initiation of a formal process to reevaluate the city's governance system and reform our City Charter.  This time, we must insist that neighborhood voices dominate the process.  It sounds mundane, but self-preservation and the future of our city are at stake.

The 2020 race for San Diego mayor: A Tragicomedy in Two Acts

ACT I: A Cautionary Tale About What a Mayor's Negligence, Lack of Independence, Inept Management, and Behind-the-Scenes Manipulation Can Do to a City

Scene One: Let's talk politics

We can start by noticing that "politics" is simply the exercise of power that determines who gets what, when, and how.

It means that on election day, either Barbara Bry or Todd Gloria will be handed the power to determine which beneficiaries will prosper (for decades to come) from the policies, decisions, contracts, agreements, awards, favors, negotiations, and other goodies originating in City Hall.   

So before we decide which candidate deserves the political power to determine who gets what, when, and how, we might want to know which one can be trusted to take the interests of the public seriously enough to place it ahead of all others.   

And of course we need to be sure about which candidate has the ability and integrity to successfully oversee and manage our deteriorating, problem-plagued city.

These are not frivolous questions.  Ever since San Diego traded in its flawed "city manager" form of government for an equally problematic "strong mayor" system, we've seen a steady decline in government oversight, services, maintenance, management, accountability, and problem-solving.

Furthermore, our recent strong mayors have used their upgraded status to replace scores of knowledgeable, professional city employees with unqualified political appointees.

But let's not jump to conclusions.  The devil doesn't necessarily dwell in the system but in the capabilities, integrity, and trustworthiness of the people we elect.  

Scene Two: Goodbye America's Finest City.  Hello Enron-by-the-Sea

A bit of history: The city's strong mayor system went into effect in 2004, the year Dick Murphy was reelected mayor.  San Diego was on the brink of bankruptcy as a result of a notorious scheme concocted a few years earlier to grossly underfund our municipal employee pension system (and simultaneously boost salaries and pension benefits).  To give the illusion of a balanced budget, city officials cooked the books.

  

Another historic note: this disastrous imbroglio was set in motion under the old city manager system.  It was designed and implemented with the blessings of San Diego's wizard city manager Jack McGrory... and christened by then-city attorney John Witt, and after him, Casey Gwinn.

Mayor Murphy resigned within a year of his reelection and was replaced in a special election by Jerry Sanders. 

Ex-police chief Sanders originally opposed the strong mayor option.  He characterized it as "a power grab by inside players who would drain public services…to subsidize powerful developers."  He predicted it "would reduce accountability of your elected officials."

But Jerry Sanders--a man of flexible principles--changed his tune once San Diego's "inside players" and "powerful developers" joined forces to make him mayor.  Mayor Sanders became the mouthpiece for retaining the strong mayor system, declaring it was the best way to bring accountability and checks and balances to city government and prevent future financial debacles. 

Scene Three: So long America's Finest City. So long Enron-by-the-Sea.  Hello YIMBY Paradise

History lesson is over.  The story resumes with Kevin Faulconer, past councilmember (2006-2014) and our city's fourth stong mayor.  

Despite his sterling credentials as a public relations professional, this mayor created a new image for San Diego--a poster child for bad planning and incompetent (... corrupt?) city governance.

Kevin Faulconer leaves a load of nasty baggage for his successor mayor to clean up, no matter which one it will be.  

Here's a sample of what it looks like:

·   ➽ Over the past decade more than $220 million of public funds were paid out for claims and lawsuits (over 20,000 of them) against the city due to broken sidewalks, water main breaks, police misconduct,  poorly trained employees using city vehicles… 

· ➽ Unspeakable incompetence in managing the hepatitis epidemic that swept through the city's homeless population, leaving over 400 hospitalized and 20 dead 

·  ➽  A city budget on the hook for an annual payment to the municipal employee pension plan of $365.5 million--up from $280 million the year Faulconer took over the city

· ➽  Untold millions squandered on failed attempts to offset budget deficits and deep cuts in city services by selling off city assets to for-profit developers 

· ➽  More untold millions squandered on botched attempts to acquire motel properties for drug rehab centers… a fire engine maintenance yard… a shuttered indoor skydiving facility for a homeless service center…

·  ➽ Greater untold millions paid out on a contract to outfit the city with  smart street lights , so plague-ridden by mismanagement, cost overruns, maintenance problems, and deceptive practices that it had to be rescinded and completely overhauled

·  ➽  Greatest untold millions wasted on shady dealing to purchase the now-notorious downtown Sempra Energy building at 101 Ash Street

·  ➽  Last ditch efforts by the mayor to cement his legacy via construction deals for Qualcomm Stadium, the Midway Sports Arena, non-standard city parks, Complete Communities zoning overhauls--despite a warning from the San Diego Union Tribune to "Keep Faulconer Away From City Real Estate" 

*****************************

As the curtain falls on Act I of this municipal tragicomedy, keep in mind that the outcome of a mayor's negligence, lack of independence, inept management, and behind-the-scenes manipulation is bad... very bad... for all of us.  

Will the next mayor we elect be smart and independent enough to break the mold?

The curtain goes up on Act II after a short intermission.

Mayor mayor on the wall, who's the fairest of them all?

I know what you’re thinking: we’ve got plenty of time to make up our minds about who to choose to be San Diego’s next mayor.  No rush, right? Wrong!

San Diego City Hall (circa 1874)

Let’s get the timing straight.  The primary election is coming up sooner than you think—the date is March 3, 2020.  Then the top two winners will face off in the November 3 general election.

Now, let’s get the candidates straight.  The frontrunners for mayor are Barbara Bry and Todd Gloria--both are Democrats.  Civic activist Tasha Williamson is also in the running–for some voters she represents a protest statement.  There’s also Republican candidate Scott Sherman—he's the disgruntled candidate who voices cynical disgust for city government from his seat on the City Council dais.  Additionally, there are several also-ran names to choose from.

Above all, let’s get this straight: the mayor of San Diego may not be a hot item on the national agenda, but here at home the position of mayor could be--no, SHOULD be--a very big deal. 

That’s why it boggles the mind that nearly every past San Diego mayor (present mayor included) can be described as a nondescript, mediocre, banal, unremarkable, complacent, fly-by-night, tunnel-visioned, utterly forgettable minor league political figure.

(To be fair, Mayor Pete Wilson brought some innovative touches to the office before he went on to greener, though more conservative, pastures.  


Mayor Roger Hedgecock seemed promising until he tripped over his own feet and skidded off the rails.  


Mayor Susan Golding had hints of verve until her overweening political ego practically bankrupted our city's finances.  

Mayor Bob Filner coulda been a contender, but it was not to be.  Did I miss anyone?)

For San Diego, the cumulative impact of settling for second-rate leaders is painfully clear.  Take a look at the persistent state of our bleeding financial budget, understaffed city departments, failing levels of performance, and zero accountability.  It's hard to miss the fact that current mayor Kevin Faulconer (just another pea in the pod) has proven himself incapable of taking care of basic city business, much less tackling San Diego's complex, ever-growing problems.  

Wouldn’t it be great if we could elect a competent, stable, independent, trustworthy, responsible, well-informed, honorable leader... a mayor with integrity and a dependable moral compass?  It could be a game changer.

We may be in luck this time.  There is ONE candidate who could fill the bill.  

Barbara Bry is the only candidate running for office who meets the criteria for competence✔ stability✔ independence✔ trustworthiness✔ responsibility✔ knowledgeability✔ honorability✔ integrity✔ and a dependable moral compass✔

Looks like a good start, doesn't it?

I've become convinced that for a fighting chance to wrest political control away from San Diego's business-as-usual power brokers and bend the benefits of good public policy toward the residents of our city, the odds for a good outcome lie with Barbara Bry.  The sum of her attributes is abundantly more vote-worthy than the scorecard for any of the other mayoral candidates.

Of course, nobody’s perfect.  Barbara Bry earns demerits when it comes to her public demeanor.  She scores low on the charisma scale.  She’s no smooth-talker.  She’s not fiery, not the cheerleader type.  She doesn't qualify for membership in San Diego’s entrenched good-old-boys club. 

What you see is what you’ll get: a down-to-earth, practical, realistic mayor with sharp business skills, lots of common sense, and no negative baggage… no hidden conflicts of interest… no secrets in her closet.  She understands that communities and neighborhoods must be the primary beneficiaries of city policies and decisions. 

Not long ago I made a practical suggestion: forget the fancy stuff... the bells and whistles... the silly-talk about sexy streets and world-class status.

With the right mayor in office--someone with integrity, strong management skills, and a nuts and bolts approach--we could see real progress toward meeting the needs of our neighborhoods and residents, along with securing a stable future for the city.  

Who can deliver? Not Todd Gloria--he's got a documented, reprehensible record of betraying his constituents and the public good.  

Not Scott Sherman--he has scant respect for city government and treats the public with contempt.  

Not Tasha Williamson--she speaks with authority on police abuse and overdue social reform but running the corporation called the city of San Diego takes a whole other bag of talents.

Way back last March I asked these questions: Is there time for Barbara Bry to grow? Spread her wings? Expand her scope? Be a risk taker by speaking truth to San Diego voters? Emerge as a multi-dimensional public-minded political leader?

Nine months later, my informed conclusion is that Barbara Bry is our best bet for San Diego's next mayor.

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?