From bad to gross?

A potential candidate to succeed disgraced San Diego mayor Bob Filner has been caught openly masturbating in restrooms on multiple occasions, according to investigative site VoiceOfOC.org.

When Carl DeMaio, one of the leading Republican candidates to replace alleged serial sexual harasser Filner, was in the City Council, he would allegedly leave the dais during meetings to masturbate in a men’s room, former City Council president Ben Hueso said.

Hueso, now a Democratic state senator, said he witnessed DeMaio in the act twice, but others suspect his inappropriate activity was more frequent. The politician said he walked into the restroom some time in 2009 and saw his colleague standing at a urinal with his pants around his ankles.

“DeMaio was masturbating,” Hueso told the website. “He jumped, caught by surprise. He jumped to the sink … saying ‘I’m sorry, I’m sorry’ about six times. Then washed his hands, darted out.”

Marti Emerald, a City Councilwoman, confirmed the account, saying she saw Hueso right after the alleged incident.

“Ben was in a state of shock, face red, eyes bulging,” Emerald said. “I said: ‘You look like you just saw the devil?’ He said: ‘DeMaio is masturbating in the middle of the room.’”

DeMaio spokesman Dave McCulloch calls the accusations “absurd and ludicrous” and noted a well-funded effort to discredit DeMaio when he ran against Filner for the mayoral seat in 2012.

DeMaio, who is openly gay, is currently running for Congress, but his name has also been mentioned as a possible successor to Filner. McCulloch said before Filner’s resignation that DeMaio is only running for the House seat and had no further comment on his future plans. Filner made his stepping down official Friday.

Emerald said in 2009 that she wanted to report DeMaio’s alleged lewd act to police, but did not witness it herself. Hueso said didn’t chose not to file a complaint because of DeMaio’s clout as a powerful councilman.

DeMaio’s accused shenanigans became a running joke at City Hall, sources told VoiceOfOC.org, and Emerald said “everyone” knew about it.

“A whole lot of money was spent to paint Carl in a bad light,” McCulloch said. “If this allegation was at all serious, or actually true, this would have been exposed.”

San Diego officials said masturbation could be a fireable offense for a municipal employee, but not necessarily for an elected official. Such an activity could have criminal implications, according to director of the city’s personnel department Hadi Dehghani, with the city attorney’s office making that decision.

Filner, a former 10-term congressman, quit this week admid allegations that he groped, kissed and made salacious comments toward 16 women, including a 67-year-old great-grandmother.