Mayor Filner Flinched Before Congressman Weiner

The main political question this past week was “Who will withdraw first – Mayor Robert Filner, the serial sexual harassing Mayor of San Diego, or Anthony Weiner, the serial sexting winnable Mayor of New York City? Odds favored both hanging in since they are both strong-willed misogynist narcissists. The week got progressively worse for the two progressives. The Mayor was sued on Monday by Irene McCormack Jackson, former communications director for the Mayor. His first problem is the lawsuit. The second problem is that Ms. Jackson is represented by Gloria Allred. Allred v. Filner is no-contest. Four more women emerged Thursday, accusing him of sexual harassment. The victims include a Dean of San Diego State University and a Navy Rear Admiral. Bronwyn Ingram, the 70 year old’s fiancée cancelled the engagement earlier when she caught Filner making dates with other women. Mayor Filner was a ten term Congressman prior to winning the election last November for Mayor of San Diego. His conduct is a throwback to that of some Senators, such as JFK, LBJ, and Robert Packwood, from the 1950’s through the 1970’s. Anthony Weiner resigned from the House of Representatives two years ago because it was revealed that he was serially sexting women he never met in person. His missives were often as well received as those of Bret Favre. He announced his run for Mayor after receiving treatment. It was revealed last week that he continued sexting women, at least three, after treatment ended. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, who often looked the other way at Democratic defalcations when she was Speaker of the House, stated both should set aside. She said of Congressman Weiner his conduct was “reprehensible; it’s so disrespectful of women.” She’s obviously concerned that between Filner, Weiner, and Eliot Spitzer that the Democrats could be accused of waging a “War on Women.” The Democratic Central Committee of San Diego voted Thursday night that the Mayor should resign. The San Diego City Council voted 6-3 in calling for his resignation. A recall campaign is underway against the Mayor. The Mayor made a two minute announcement Friday, hoping to short circuit the campaign against him. He admitted the wrongful conduct, which included headlocks, groping, and sexist statements. He vowed to become “a better person.” He admitted “My failure to respect women and the intimidating conduct I engaged in at times is inexcusable. It has undermined what I have spent my whole professional life doing and working on, fighting for justice and equality of all people.” That’s echoes of Senator Ted Kennedy. No, he didn’t resign. Instead he announced that on August 5 he would enter two weeks of intensive therapy at a behavior counseling clinics, and that he would continue with the program upon his return to the Mayor’s Office. One hopes, if not assumes, that the two weeks will not involve hands-on therapy. He assumes, or hopes, that we will forget that counseling did not apparently help Anthony Weiner, the pedophile priests and their victims, Lindsay Lohan, and tragically Cory Monteith. He also pointed out that he would be briefed twice daily on San Diego developments while in counseling. How intensive can that be? The Mayor’s fiancée may have dumped him, but Anthony Weiner dragged out his wife Huma Abadin, to “Stand by her man” as her former employer Hillary Clinton famously did. The winnable Mayor proved once again last week that he is more interested in media face time than his family, much less New Yorkers. The question remains - "Will either drop out? Both are hoping their travails will disappear with the passage of time. The voters have the final say in a democracy. Clearly, New York and San Diego deserve better.