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If Morning Report subscribers wanted to avoid the ongoing drama over the allegations for one day, we decided to put it all here, in a separate post.
• The San Diego Democratic Central Committee held a special meeting Thursday night to evaluate the allegations against Bob Filner. The committee was sharply divided. Francine Busby, the chair, decided to tie the vote on a resolution that would have asked the mayor to resign.
Here’s U-T San Diego, the Los Angeles Times, Politico and Fox News. I note Fox and Politico because it looks like national outlets are now following this as an ongoing narrative day to day.
• The Democrats, Friday, issued a contradictory press release. They said they condemned the mayor’s “alleged” behavior. But they apparently decided something he had done had gone beyond allegations to fact because they also wrote this: “The mayor has betrayed the trust of the people of San Diego.” It’s not clear how they think he did that.
• One longtime Filner supporter and staffer, Humberto Peraza, called for him to resign. “I don’t think I have ever in my life been more disappointed and angry,” Peraza said he would not have helped fundraise if knew Filner was going to hand city operations over to Walt Ekard, the former chief executive of the county.
Peraza is now the district chief of for Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, who is also Marco Gonzalez’s sister. Marco Gonzalez and former City Councilwoman Donna Frye started this whole row July 10, when their letters to the mayor asking him to resign went public on KPBS.
• Supporters of the mayor stood up for him at City Hall Thursday. Another group rallied for a recall.
• NPR says the scandal has cast a shadow on our city as it recovers from past problems. Comedian Stephen Colbert lampooned the mayor.
• The U-T’s Logan Jenkins looked into the origins of the mayor’s video apology July 11 (which I found incredible) and found Councilman David Alvarez. The words in that apology were enough for Run Women Run, a group that supports women candidates, to call for Filner’s resignation and help lead a rally for recall Friday.
• The district attorney announced that, in the event criminal investigations begin into Filner’s treatment of women, the sheriff would handle the investigation and the attorney general would handle any decision on prosecutions. The sheriff set up a hotline any victim can call.
• Walt Ekard, the city’s new chief operating officer sent a reassuring video message to the city’s employees.
• I discussed all of this for the whole half hour of KPBS’s Midday Roundtable.
• And we have competing op-eds. Ben Katz, who used to work for Filner, says it’s time for him to resign.
Enrique Morones says we need to step back. “Let’s get on with moving the city forward, no more circus acts. Let the judicial system deal with legal issues.”
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