Free Republic

Of course it was Hooters that got the national headlines for barring San Diego Mayor Bob Filner from its restaurants via a premade sign. Melissa Fry-Sagermark, director of marketing for HootWinc, the west coast Hooters franchise, told Slate: "The signs went up at our four locations in San Diego this morning. It's not a political move for us in any way, shape, or form. We're strictly taking a stand for the fair treatment of women. At our franchise alone, we employ 1100 beautiful, talented women." At the Oceanside Hooters, manager Lorenzo Soto told U-T San Diego reporter Mark Walker that...

Yuck. Is there a woman in his sights that pervy Democratic San Diego Mayor Bob Filner hasn't harassed, molested, insulted, propositioned, groped, headlocked or slobbered on while holding public office? In less than a month, the number of victims and witnesses coming forward has skyrocketed from three to 13. And the details have grown even more unbelievably sordid. This isn't a local "sex scandal." It's a nationwide predator scandal. When I last reported on this career creepster's case, his fiancee had broken up with him, his former spokeswoman had revealed that Filner told her to "work without her panties on,"...

City Attorney Jan Goldmith said Friday that Mayor Bob Filner is back a week earlier than expected from therapy triggered by sexual harassment allegations and that the locks to his office have been changed. The mayor's surprising return comes after he reportedly checked into a counseling clinic a week earlier than his announced Aug. 5 start of what he said would be two weeks of intensive therapy to address concerns about his interaction with women. It was not immediately clear who ordered the locks to the mayor's office changed or why.

San Diego Mayor Bob Filner’s endurance in the face of mounting sexual harassment accusations may be driven by his need to get out of an even bigger problem: a federal criminal investigation that has received little attention from the national media. The San Diego Creeper is the subject of an FBI probe of what looks like a quid-pro-quo arrangement with a local developer. In June local media obtained a voicemail Tom Story of Sunroad Centrum Partners left for various city council members regarding a $100,000 “gift” he made to two public projects Filner favored. At the time, Sunroad was looking...

He's cured! San Diego's serial sexual harrassing Mayor Bob Filner entered "therapy" a week early and will complete the two week program today, says his spokesman. Unfortunately for Filner, it may be too late. A source at city hall says that the locks to the doors of the mayor's office have been changed which could either be a subtle hint from his staff that he should take a permanent vacation, or Filner has already decided to step down but is waiting to announce it an an opportune time. San Diego Mayor Bob Filner's chief of staff confirmed to 10News that...

Here is Boxer's letter: Dear Bob, We’ve known each other for a long time, and have worked together on many issues that are important to the people of San Diego – from creating jobs to protecting the environment to helping our veterans. So I am speaking to you now on a personal and professional level, and asking you to step down as mayor and get the help you need as a private citizen. I have already said publicly that you should resign your office as mayor because of the shocking revelations by many women about your behavior toward them. But...

As Ariel Castro, the convicted kidnapper, rapist and baby killer, shuffled off in chains to the hoosegow, I thought why was there so little reportage or commentary about his idiotic statement made in an Ohio courtroom. Is it because the man himself is so repugnant? Is it because his transgressions against society are so repulsive? I think it is both and one thing more. Americans have heard all this claptrap before. We are familiar with the rumblings of a sociopath. A sociopath, in plain language unadorned by the psychiatrists' hocus-pocus, is a person who does not know right from wrong,...

Eight women from the National Women’s Veterans Association of America (NWVAA) have now stepped forward to allege that San Diego mayor Bob Filner has sexually harassed them, CNN reports. The NWVAA was formed as a safe haven for military sexual-assault victims, and almost all of the women who have now stepped forward were victims of such behavior while in the military. They allege that Filner used his position as a chairman of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee to gain access to victims of military sexual assault because they were less likely to complain.

SAN DIEGO - A nurse who takes care of an injured Marine came forward Tuesday with attorney Gloria Allred to say she had been sexually harassed by Mayor Bob Filner in his office. At a news conference Tuesday, Michelle Tyler said she arranged a meeting with the mayor, her Marine friend and a veterans representative who was not identified. Tyler said the purpose of the June 11, 2013, meeting was to try to get the mayor to help the Veterans Administration to give help to her friend. Once the meeting wrapped up, Tyler said the mayor asked everyone but her...

(CNN) -- This is the day San Diego Mayor Bob Filner enters a behavior counseling clinic for two weeks of what he describes as intensive therapy. The 70-year-old is battling a tide of sexual harrassment allegations, and is hoping that voluntarily subjecting himself to the counseling will quell the mounting calls for his resignation. He has repeatedly said he'll not leave the office he was elected to barely eight months ago. San Diego's city charter does not require him to appoint an interim mayor during his temporary absence. His decision is unlikely to appease his opponents.

SAN DIEGO - A 10th woman has come forward to 10News to accuse San Diego Mayor Bob Filner of sexual harassment.

HAVE YOU EVER BEEN TREATED INAPPROPRIATELY BY BOB FILNER? *Yes. And I'll come forward if I have to. *Yes. But I don't want to go public. *No. *No. But my friend has. *No. But a friend of a friend has.

SAN DIEGO — Another woman is accusing San Diego Mayor Bob Filner of groping her, telling San Diego's Fox 5 television station that he slid his hand down her arm and grabbed her buttocks at a December fundraiser. The woman, Emily Gilbert, said the incident occurred during the evening event where she was hired to sing as a Marilyn Monroe impersonator. “He grabbed me a little too tight, then proceeded to slide his hand down my arm and then did a little grab on my derriere,” Gilbert told the station.

Doctor: Filner may possess sociopathic characteristics SAN DIEGO – Without knowing the mayor of San Diego personally, a local psychologist can only give her opinion, but believes Bob Filner is showing sociopathic characteristics. As Filner is expected to enter a behavioral facility for two weeks of treatment many San Diegans continue to call for his resignation. Still, the mayor refuses to resign. “Shame would’ve driven him to resign immediately,” said La Jolla psychologist Dr. Sage Breslin.“I certainly think his bravado indicates he doesn’t have empathy or compassion.” She focused on Filner’s apology and called it insincere. “He was smiling when...

You might think that the greatest hat trick artist of all time was Wayne Gretsky. You'd be talking hockey, and you'd be right. A hat trick, as many know, is 3 goals or more during a single game. This applies, as well, I believe with soccer. In this short piece, however, we wish to discuss the neo-hat trick of the Democratic Party. A neo-hat trick is scored by any of the democrat's beautiful frauleins who can make a simple claim: kissed by Filner, sexted by Weiner, and propositioned by Clinton. (We must point out that we mean, Bill...) How instructive...

Residents of San Diego appeared before the San Diego City Council on Tuesday evening to voice their opinions about Mayor Bob Filner's request that the city pay the legal fees for his defense against a sexual harassment suit filed against him by a female city employee. Filner's attorney has asked on his behalf that the city cover his legal costs, pursuant to California state law. One resident angrily called the idea "waste of money." Another, saying that Filner would likely face criminal prosecution, said nevertheless: "You have an absolute obligation to assist in his defense." City Attorney Jan Goldsmith took...

Embattled Mayor Bob Filner is asking San Diego taxpayers to cover the legal fees he'll incur from a sexual harassment lawsuit filed by a former staff member.

Regardless of how the Bob Filner mess eventually ends—and it will end, somehow—there are questions that need to be asked and answered. They are questions that should have been asked long ago, and should have been asked by those whose job it is to ask such questions: us. Who are “us”? “Us” are the San Diego news media reporters, editors, producers and writers who pretty much knew who and what Bob Filner is and has been. Yes, I’m including myself in that group. I’ve covered Bob Filner off and on since he was elected to the San Diego Unified School...

Francine Busby, Chair of that San Diego Democrat Party, told the New York Times that the party was giving Mayor Filner the "benefit of doubt" because they were so excited to have someone in office pushing a progressive agenda. "Democrats aren’t going to give him a pass, but may be willing to give him the benefit of the doubt because we’ve waited so long, nearly 20 years, for a mayor who could put forward a progressive agenda," she said. "But this doesn’t erase what he’s done," she said. "I don’t know if it’s enough at this point." (Translation: Close...

Someone awaking from a really long coma and forced to watch morning network and cable news shows might think the biggest story facing the civilized world today involves a wandering Weiner. The serial sexting of New York City mayoral candidate Anthony Weiner is not the biggest story in the world, but it is the favorite of journalists working in New York, the ones who decide what makes the cut on network and cable news shows. Politics and political reporting often fall under the spell of the Beltway Mentality, defined as an affliction suffered by people working in Washington, D.C. who...