Reports: Bob Filner to resign as San Diego mayor

Catalina Camia | USA TODAY

San Diego Mayor Bob Filner reportedly will resign as part of a deal to settle a sexual harassment lawsuit, according to news media reports

The Los Angeles Times, NBC News 7 and ABC in San Diego quoted unnamed sources saying the embattled mayor will step down after the proposed settlement is discussed at a closed-door City Council session Friday. The sources were granted anonymity by the news outlets because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

An attorney for Filner, James Payne, released a statement acknowledging a tentative agreement with the city but said he could not comment or disclose details.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed by City Attorney Jan Goldsmith, who said the City Council has to review and vote on the details.

In exchange for Filner's resignation, the city will reportedly pay "some, if not all" of Filner's share of damages awarded in the lawsuit, according to the Los Angeles Times story. The article cites unnamed sources who spoke on condition of anonymity.

At least 18 women have come forward to accuse the mayor, a Democrat and former member of Congress, of inappropriate behavior such as groping and unwanted kissing. He has apologized for his behavior and recently went through two weeks of therapy.

Attorney Gloria Allred, who represents Filner accuser Irene McCormack Jackson in the lawsuit, said Thursday that she and her client have not signed off on any details agreed to between the mayor and the city of San Diego.

Allred stressed that taxpayer money should not be used to help Filner pay any current or future legal bills or for "any payment to him whatsoever."

"I would like to see a resignation without conditions and without taxpayers being forced to make a gift of public funds to him in order for him to resign," Allred said at a news conference, adding that if the deal between Filner and the city involved only his resignation there would be no need for the council to approve the terms.

Steve Erie, University of California-San Diego political science professor who participated in writing the city's charter, said any agreement that gets the mayor to resign would likely involve covering his legal costs. He said the city already does that in cases of misconduct by other municipal workers including police.

He called Allred's latest comments "grandstanding'' and said such objections to an agreement with Filner could prolong efforts to get him to leave office. Erie said the city's only real leverage in getting the mayor to leave voluntarily is financial.

"He doesn't have deep pockets," Erie said. "Plus if he hasn't resigned by now, you have to remove the financial risk to get him to resign. Anything that makes that harder, like Allred's statement, I find deeply troubling.''

The council agreed last month not to pay Filner's legal bills and voted to sue him to recover any costs the city incurs as a result of the sexual harassment lawsuit.

Council member Kevin Faulconer, who was part of the mediation talks, said he was trying to balance protecting taxpayers with ending the drama over the embattled mayor.

"I joined these mediation discussions to ensure the city gets the best deal possible for taxpayers,'' he said. "We must put this civic dysfunction behind us and return to providing city services to San Diegans."

Allred and her client, along with representatives of the city, took part in the first of three days of mediation presided over by a retired federal judge this week. Filner, his attorneys, representatives of the city and two council members also participated in the mediation.

A petition drive to recall the mayor began recently, and organizers have vowed they will not stop collecting signatures unless Filner, elected in November, leaves office. Filner has rebuffed repeated calls to step aside from his colleagues on the City Council as well as from top Democrats, such as national party chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and both of California's U.S. senators.

Dianne York, a San Diego businesswoman, became the 18th woman to accuse Filner when she came forward this week. She said the mayor put his hands on her buttocks during a photo opportunity this year.

McCormack Jackson, Filner's former communication director, filed her lawsuit in July accusing Filner of inappropriate behavior. In the court documents, she described being drawn into a virtual "head lock" with the mayor as he suggested they have sex.

Filner, 70, served in Congress for 10 terms until he became the first Democrat elected to lead San Diego in 20 years.

Contributing: William M. Welch in Los Angeles.

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