In just one week, mayoral candidate Bob Filner reeled off so many outright lies and misstatements he is in jeopardy of giving our doddering Vice President Joe Biden some serious gaffe-envy.
It started at last week’s debate at the Institute of the Americas. Filner ignorantly called out Councilmember DeMaio for not having a diverse staff. Of course, out of a staff of seven, two are Hispanic and two are Asian-American. One of these individuals is his Chief of Staff. As someone who has been perpetually running for office since 1979, Filner knows the importance of the Chief of Staff position. As his zany buddy Joe Biden would say, it is a “big effing deal.”
For those of you who are not race-obsessed race-baiters like Filner, you might be interested in the other three staff members as well. One was born and raised in Italy, another served in the Navy. The third one is all-around good guy who rides a motorcycle. Enough with humanizing DeMaio’s staffers, back to Filner’s follies…
Then there was the crackpot criminal claim. Quick rehash: Filner accused DeMaio’s partner of “criminal actions” for helping organize the infamous water gun fight that destroyed Balboa Park’s lily pond. Of course, that’s an outright lie. He organized no such thing. The event was listed on a website he owns, as it was on several others, including the San Diego Reader. An event listing does not even reach the orbit of event organization. The U-T editorial page applied an appropriate ridicule of Filner’s “argument.” By Filner’s baffling logic, newspapers in the Aurora, Colo., area that carried the listings for the opening night of “The Dark Knight Rises” are responsible for the horrible carnage last month at a movie theater there.
Actually, my favorite part of the whole hub-bub was former Professor Filner’s barely literate press release. It included two misspellings and clunky prepositional phrases that made it nearly incomprehensible. I got the gist of it though: deMaio (sic) partner. Water fight. Criminal action. Lily Pond. Bad.
The best Filner falsehood of the week: Claiming four times, during Tuesday’s debate, that DeMaio was served a subpoena to appear at the Comprehensive Pension Reform initiative court hearing. Voice of San Diego’s Fact Check determined Filner’s statement is false: There’s no element of truth to the claim that DeMaio was subpoenaed, and Filner repeatedly used the inaccurate information to make an argument against his opponent. The claim is easily verifiable, too. We simply emailed the City Attorney’s Office to ask for a list of those subpoenaed. Filner’s campaign could have done the same, checked the court record or spoke with the city’s white-collar union, which filed the lawsuit. I have heard the expression “doubling down” on a lie, but quadrupling down is truly remarkable.
As if it had not already been a rough seven days for Filner, yesterday a group of 18 San Diego business leaders endorsed DeMaio. Most of these leaders had backed a different candidate during the primary, but are now supporting DeMaio. Nationally, Democrats openly fantasize about dumping Biden, Filner’s soulmate of blunder, from the Presidential ticket. It will not be long before local Democrats wistfully muse–in tones reserved for bad break-ups–about what could have been. If only their the mythical, thus unbeatable, local labor mayoral candidate hadn’t gotten away… whoever that may be. Sigh.
Comments 9
Darn it Ryan, I just made one of these arguments on the other Filner story posted – and I gave an example too – RIGHT ON MR. PURDY!!! Wish I would have read this first so I didn’t have to comment.
Great post, as always.
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Ms. Right-Great minds think alike!
Steve Rider-Thanks!
“Filner…managing to simultaneously come off
as clueless and classless in his bizarre, vicious response…”
Great line from the UT.
By Monday, please stop encouraging Lillygate stories. Enough.
http://www.kpbs.org/news/2012/aug/14/water-gun-fight-ripples-through-san-diego-mayors-r/#c15303
http://www.sdcitybeat.com/sandiego/imgs/media.images/9073/watergunfight1.widea.jpg
http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/news-ticker/2012/aug/15/survey-says-24-of-voters-switch-mayoral-allegiance/
http://www.sdcitybeat.com/sandiego/article-10848-balboa-park-water-fight-was-a-tragedy-of-the-commons.html
http://sandiegofreepress.org/2012/08/the-starting-line-san-diegos-mayoral-contest-it-was-a-bad-day-for-carl-demaio/#comments
http://sduptownnews.com/damaging-the-jewel-of-the-city/
http://sdgln.com/commentary/2012/08/16/bold-faced-lies-lgbt-weekly-and-bob-filner
http://lgbtweekly.com/2012/08/16/lilygate-playing-koi/
Lessons Learned on civic passion regarding Balboa Park. Let us move on to actual civic issues dealing with land use instead.
Doug Manchester has stated his plan for San Diego includes the Taxpayers selling off both Qualcomm Stadium and the Sports Arena to pay the public’s fair share cost for a new stand-alone NFL Stadium. Manchester’s NFL Stadium would be located on the Tenth Avenue Marine Terminal (TAMT), in a state-recognized Alquist-Priolo Earthquake Fault Zone. The Working Waterfront will be turned into Manchester’s dream for San Diego. Manchester’s plan for our Navy West Coast Headquarters on the Waterfront at the Navy Broadway Complex (NBC) has yet to confirm or deny active faulting under the location of high rise structures. All government agencies have failed to regulate normal public safety laws, and obliterated the Standard-of-Care on Seismic Safety Issues. Privatize Profits and Socialize Losses.
Back in 2006, Congressman Bob Filner backed our efforts and requested that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) confirm or deny our claims of corruptions and Honest Services Fraud for profit and greed. At the expense of our America’s Military force, and ultimately San Diego Taxpayers.
The true meaning of the Reform Agenda.
R E for M
Real .
Estate .
for .
Manchester .
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B_fHftxFXFhyNzVjOTJlZjAtYTQwZi00Nzg4LTk3M2QtNjNkNTM0ZDEyZTM2/edit
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B_fHftxFXFhyYTY0ODE5MjQtOTFiYy00ZGZjLWE4YmYtYzliNjI5MmQ5YzA0/edit
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Michael Schwartz: That is a great line.
La Playa Heritage: Filner started the whole Lilygate brouhaha with his barely literate press release accusing an innocent man of a crime. Now Filner totally lost control of the narrative. So now that his mendacious ad hominem attack has turned against him, you want the narrative to end? No. Thanks for the suggestion, but no. Filner is losing the fight he started. Suck it up Filner.
From managed competition to pension reform DeMaio has a long record of reform. He also has the guts to put a couple hundred more pages of reforms in writing. Filner, on the other hand, wants to strike down the will of the voters by “negotiating” away pension reform to the unions. He also wants to borrow more money. If that is “reform” to you, then we have vastly definitions of reform.
The head of the Taxpayer’s Association supports DeMaio? Well, that is a stunning development worthy of a press release!
With his so phoney/so ridiculous remarks Filner paints himself as a Bidenesque character. His remarks are just one of those gifts that keep on giving.
True meaning of Filner/Sheperd mouths in action:
LMLS
Lilygate
Makes
La Playa
Sweat
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Erik: Actually the San Diego County Taxpayers Association normally only endorses initiatives-not candidates-so it is a big deal, in fact. Also, it reinforces that DeMaio delivers on his brand of taxpayers advocate. Don’t worry though, I am sure the union front group “The Middle Class Taxpayers Association” will endorse Filner, affirming his brand–union shill.
Mole: yes, I am happy to see that the Shepard’s Lilygate attack is working out as disastrously for him as his “Shame on you” (on behalf of his now vanquished mayoral candidate) ad in the primary.