San Diego Mayor Filner Set to Resign Friday: Reports
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Scott J. Ferrell/Congressional Quarterly/Getty Images(SAN DIEGO) — Embattled San Diego Mayor Bob Filner is prepared to resign Friday if the City Council accepts a proposed deal that came out of this week’s mediation, according to ABC 10 News and other media reports.
In a closed session at 1 p.m., members of the Council are expected to vote on a deal to settle a sexual harassment lawsuit filed by his former employee Irene McCormack Jackson.
Filner’s lawyer said Thursday that an announcement would be made following the session, ABC 10 News reported.
The 70-year-old Democrat has been under fire for the past six weeks as at least 17 women have come forward to accuse him of sexually harassing them or making sexual advances. He entered intensive therapy on Aug. 2, but has so far refused to resign.
Jackson’s lawyer Gloria Allred said Thursday that she and her client do not know the details of the deal and therefore have not approved it.
Flanked by Filner’s former fiance, Bronwyn Ingram, Allred said Filner should resign unconditionally and that the deal should not include any payments to him from taxpayers, noting that it would be “morally wrong and hypocritical” of the city to do that.
But she said she thinks the city will pay off Filner.
“Why would there be a meeting if there weren’t payments?” she told reporters. “The mayor does not need City Council approval to resign.”
Following Allred’s announcement, Ingram also called for her former fiance’s unconditional resignation, saying the city needed to heal.
Ingram has called off her wedding with Filner. Irene McCormack Jackson did not appear at the conference.
The Democratic National Committee has called for Filner’s resignation, as well as the San Diego County Democrats and California Senators Barbara Boxer and Diane Feinstein. A recall effort is also underway to garner signatures for an election to remove him, and the DNC recently announced it will vote on a resolution calling on him to resign.
Filner was seen Wednesday loading boxes into his car.
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