War on Women: Democrats Covered Up For Filner For Years, Permitting Him Fresh Victims, and Now They're Doing It Again

First, the covering up for years part. You've probably seen this already, but the national media apparently hasn't.

The local Democratic Party has known for a long time about sexual harassment allegations against Bob Filner, a former Democratic assemblywoman said in a Thursday interview.

“I blew the whistle on this two years ago to the Democratic Party leadership,” former Assemblywoman Lori Saldaña said.

Saldaña said that in summer 2011 six prominent women in local politics, business and education told her that Filner had physically or verbally harassed them. Saldaña had been exploring what turned out to be an unsuccessful bid for Congress and the conversations came in the context of the 2012 elections.

Saldaña said she contacted former party Chairman Jess Durfee with the allegations and Durfee was among a group of Democratic leaders who met with Filner to discuss them that summer. She said nothing happened.

“As disgraceful as Bob’s behavior has been, it’s been tolerated by our Democratic Party leadership,” she said.

And yet she supported him for mayor. Why? Because she was threatened with being politically blackballed if she didn't:

Party leaders, she said, made it clear that if people didn’t support Filner they wouldn’t receive their support again.

So that's the prior cover-up. Now here's the current one.

Now, a recall drive has been initiated. This requires some 101,000 signatures. The law here is sketchy -- what happens if someone "files for a petition to recall" but actually doesn't bother seeking the signatures because he's actually an ally of Filner's and doesn't want the recall to happen at all?

Does his fake, political-sabotage "petition for recall" effort blockade legitimate efforts to collect signatures?

It looks like we're confronted with that situation:

Stampp Corbin, a close Filner ally and publisher of the LGBT weekly in San Diego, has filed a recall notice to recall Mayor Filthy Filner. Corbin was the first to mount a recall effort when he published a notice in the San Diego Union Tribune on Friday.

Publishing a notice for a recall starts a 60 day clock for the process...

San Diego Gay and Lesbian News reports:

By triggering the recall process on July 25, and without much fanfare, Corbin appears to be taking time away from organizers to mount a proper campaign. And it calls into question whether another recall effort led by land-use consultant Michael Pallamary, who has given Filner until today, July 29, to resign or face a recall petition, can now go forward.

Corbin has also stated he will not run a paid campaign with staff to collect signatures. If the effort fails, the recall effort would be set back as the rules dictate that there is a six month waiting period if a petition has failed.

But is there any proof that's his intent? I mean, apart from not bothering to hire staff to collect 101,000+ signatures?

Indeed there is -- a witness says he stated, explicitly, that it occurred to him that his effort would "derail the other group," that is, the real group really seeking a recall. That's at the link.

Now, this appears to be a coordinated Democratic effort, by the local party and now by this local Filner ally, to cover-up for Fingers Filner and help him escape the people's judgment about his actions. Nevermind creating a target-rich environment for him, lots of victims and a political machine determined to make sure they remain victimized and silent about it.

The national media completely refuses to report on this angle. As I've said one thousand times, the media template for a Republican scandal is "Culture of X enables Y crime," but the template for a Democratic scandal is always, "It's just One Man's Failing (TM)."

The dog will not fucking hunt. The local Democratic Party, the State Party, and Nancy Pelosi's California caucus in DC all knew or must have known about this and chose to cover it up. Even now Democrats seem to be scheming to help Filner, while they supposedly call for his resignation publicly.

George Will noted that if Filner and Weiner were a Republican the media would be lecturing us on the "somber sociological" roots of the GOP's War on Women.

Yet here's an actual war on women -- with a Democratic city councilwoman serving a chief witness -- and they, as usual, embargo the story, just like the did with Kermit Gosnell.

posted by Ace at 02:29 PM

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