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Failed mayoral candidate Carl DeMaio seems determined to show he’s the man who can save San Diego from its woes in the wake of accusations that Mayor Bob Filner sexually harassed multiple women.
DeMaio, now a congressional candidate challenging Rep. Scott Peters in 2014, first weighed in with a chipper tweet just before noon Wednesday as word spread of environmental attorney Cory Briggs’ vague request that Filner resign.
Indeed. RT @SarahGrieco: Somewhere in San Diego, Carl DeMaio is grinning.
— Carl DeMaio (@carldemaio) July 10, 2013
By late Wednesday afternoon, DeMaio had emailed a statement to supporters and posted it on his Facebook page:
As much as the outcome of the November election disappointed me, I had hoped that Bob would have been a good Mayor – and urged my supporters to give him time and be open to supporting and helping him.
Sadly, the evidence is mounting that Bob Filner is simply incapable of leading our city.
Bob Filner has bought such strife and turmoil to City Hall that we are seeing important issues that matter most to San Diegans being pushed to the side. This is no way to govern a city – San Diego deserves better.
I appreciate the emails and calls! I want you to know I’m listening!
I’m discussing several ideas with supporters and civic leaders on how we can best help stabilize the situation and help our city move past this chaos. As soon as we have a plan of action, I’ll re-connect with you.
– Carl
Note that second-to-last sentence. DeMaio made it clear that he’s rushing in to help. That Facebook post later disappeared, only to be replaced by an identical one at about 7:30 a.m. Thursday.
My statement on the chaos created by Bob Filner at City Hall. http://t.co/D4EgwjJcXR — Carl DeMaio (@carldemaio) July 11, 2013
About an hour later, DeMaio showed up to an event at the U.S.S. Midway Museum, where the mayor had initially been billed as a speaker. Filner never showed. DeMaio wasn’t listed as a speaker for the Midway event, but a spokesman said he’d planned to attend for weeks.
DeMaio laughed when I asked whether he was considering another mayoral bid.
“I’m waiting to see what this press conference at 10 is all about and kind of how we can deal with the situation in the most productive way for San Diego. Let’s put San Diego’s interests first,” DeMaio said. “I put a statement out yesterday. I really don’t have too much more to say until we learn some more information.”
Clarification: This post has been updated to reflect DeMaio had planned to attend the U.S.S. Midway event long before the Filner news broke.
Clarification II: A sentence about him seeming “happy” to talk to a reporter about new political prospects was also removed. DeMaio has declined all media requests.
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