In a story that seems straight out of Ron Burgundy’s time, San Diego mayor Bob Filner is being asked for his resignation amid sexual harassment allegations not even one year into his term. According to the Associated Press, former Councilwoman Donna Frye, a one-time Filner supporter and herself a former mayoral candidate, along with lawyers Marco Gonzalez and Cory Briggs, each hand-delivered letters to Filner earlier today requesting his immediate resignation. Frye told local station KPBS that she has it on good authority that multiple women have complained about the mayor’s inappropriateness in the workplace. Though she insists she herself has never been harassed by the 70-year-old Filner, Frye insists that she is now coming forward so the women in question “won’t be victimized twice” (the second time is by the media).
What’s more, Filner’s fiance Bronwyn Ingram — whom he had introduced to the city as the “The First Lady of San Diego” and who herself headed a campaign out of the mayor’s office to improve conditions for the city’s homeless according to KPBS — announced just two days ago that she has broken off the engagement with Filner saying: “I am extremely disappointed and heartbroken, both for what Team First Lady could have accomplished, and for me, personally; however, this is the only action I can take given the devolvement of our personal relationship.”
The story will only continue tomorrow morning when letter-writers Frye, Gonzalez, and Briggs hold a press conference to answer questions about their sexual harassment allegations at 10 a.m.. No doubt, there’s a “call your office” joke to be made, but it’s not likely the mayor’s phone call would even get through; though his camp has been inundated with media requests, the AP and KPBS reported that his office could not be reached for comment.
