Reporters and cameras converged on downtown yesterday for a flurry of activity in the Filner mess. The mayor appeared to be meeting for hours with two City Council members, the city attorney and attorney Gloria Allred, who confirmed a mediation discussion led by former federal judge J. Lawrence Irving. The U-T has details. Or you can go to CNN. National media is now following every move.
Meanwhile, Filner’s supporters held a rally at the Civic Center. The New York Times recapped the scene downtown.
Who are the mayor’s remaining trusted confidants? Well, he has a management guru, a La Jolla consultant who snagged a $25,000 city contract to assist Filner for as long as a year.
So what’s Justin Gittelman about? We took a look at “Whole Mind Thinking,” his recent self-published 60-page book, to gain insight into his approach.
The book offers a lot of New Age theory with recommendations like “Say out loud what you want in the future, three times a day,” a think-positive message that stretches from the 19th century to “The Secret.” It also highlights ways to move the brain into the “Alpha” stage.
The Rest of the Day in Filner
• “Over a dozen female employees have accused Filner of unwanted sexual advances but now it seems his misdeeds may not have stopped there,” the interim host of Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show” declared the other day in yet another late-night attack on San Diego’s mayor.
But a Fact Check finds the claim is false. As of yesterday afternoon, 17 women have accused the mayor of advances, ranging from gropes, unwanted kisses and other physical contact to requests for dates. Only a few have ever been his employee.
The post also includes details about how it will be difficult or impossible for some of the women to sue.
• VOSD Radio examines the challenges facing the recall effort and wades into the mandatory-tip debate (don’t get me started) with its Hero of the Week award.
Quick News Hits
• The Atlantic Cities blog examines how California regions — including San Diego — are working to reduce greenhouse gases.
• “Mello-Roos taxes, paid by homeowners in new developments, are a virtual ATM for the Poway Unified School District,” KPBS reports. “The district has accumulated so much surplus in these special taxes it spends some of the money in neighborhoods that pay no Mello-Roos at all.”
• Local bird watchers are divided over the presence of a convicted child molester in their ranks, the U-T reports. Should they forgive? Should they forget?
• How can the San Diego Airport expand? There have been some wild ideas like plopping it out in Imperial County and sending people via high-speed train back here. Here’s another one, offered by Sacramento Bee columnist Dan Walters: “115 miles to the north via Interstate 15 lies an airport that is large, modern and withering for lack of passenger traffic.” Why not a merger with a high-speed train along I-15?
Um, OK. Does anybody know of an airport that’s 115 miles from the city it serves?
• Meanwhile, Kansas City wants to follow our airport’s lead.
• A headline on KPBS’s website yesterday was quite the grabber: “Local Sociopath Writes a Memoir.”
You have my attention, KPBS. Do go on. Turns out an anonymous local woman is the author of a new book that’s making waves nationally: “Confessions Of A Sociopath: A Life Spent Hiding In Plain Sight.” She says she’s a law professor and an attorney.
Forbes has a helpful post that defines sociopaths — “though they can be charming and high-functioning, they lack empathy and conscience” — and offers recommendations about how to avoid hiring them.
One tip: “Be cautious when you see a candidate with overwhelming charm.” I’m guessing that works for all kinds of candidates.
Randy Dotinga is a freelance contributor to Voice of San Diego and vice president of the American Society of Journalists & Authors. Please contact him directly at randydotinga@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter: twitter.com/rdotinga.
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