The mayor of San Diego apologized on Thursday for failing to respect women who worked for him after a prominent former supporter accused him of sexual harassment and urged him to resign as leader of the nation’s eighth-largest city.
Mayor Bob Filner, a Democrat, said he needs help and pleaded for patience. Without detailing his actions, Filner, 70, called his behavior inappropriate and wrong and said he “diminished” the office.
“If my behavior doesn’t change, I cannot succeed in leading our city,” Filner said. “You have every right to be disappointed in me. I only ask that you give me an opportunity to prove I am capable of change, so that the vision I have for our city’s future can be realized.”
Donna Frye, a former councilwoman and once a key supporter of Filner, choked up earlier in the day as she called for Filner to step down, calling it one of the most difficult decisions she has made.
She said the allegations were based on firsthand accounts but refused to divulge specifics such as the nature of the abuse or whether it occurred while Filner was mayor.
Frye, who is embraced by Filner’s liberal base, said more than one woman told her about being harassed but she didn’t elaborate.
“I believe what they have told me, and they need to know that they are not alone,” she said at a news conference. “There are people who support and care about them.”
Filner, who is divorced, said he has started working with professionals to change his behavior and that he and his staff will participate in training regarding sexual harassment.
He said he will personally apologize to current and former employees over the next few days, including men and women.
“It’s a good thing that behavior that would have been tolerated in the past is being called out in this generation for what it is: inappropriate and wrong,” he said. “When a friend like Donna Frye is compelled to call for my resignation, I’m clearly doing something wrong.”
The scandal erupted during a bad stretch for Filner, who was elected to a four-year term in November after 10 terms in Congress. On Monday, his fiance, Bronwyn Ingram, announced in an email to her team of volunteers that she was breaking their engagement.
Two top Filner aides recently quit. Allen Jones, his deputy chief of staff, resigned at a staff meeting over what Filner called disagreements about how he was running the office. When Filner asked if anyone else in the room wanted out, Irene McCormack, his communications director, came forward.
Frye served as Filner’s director of open government for several months until resigning for a position at Californians Aware, a group that advocates for open government.
Frye lost a write-in bid for mayor in 2004 when several thousand voters who wrote her name on the ballot failed to darken the adjoining ovals. If those ballots were counted, she would have unseated Republican Dick Murphy, who later resigned amid a scandal over city finances.
Frye said Thursday she wouldn’t run if Filner resigned.
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