The Bob Filner fiasco certainly has local media scared. I noticed it in the special Mayoral election when they asked Faulconer and Alvarez the silliest of interview questions. The media are worried they might not properly vet candidates, so rumor, innuendo, and accusations get reported first and investigated later.
Mike Slater thought differently when he refused to air an accusation by a former Carl DeMaio aide last June. That aide told a story which was part Ben Hueso and part Bob Filner. That story, released days prior to the June primary election, couldn’t be verified so Slater passed. Months later, the accuser brought the story to CNN and local media jumped on it. The San Diego Police investigated the claim and passed it on to the District Attorney — it was dismissed because, like Mike Slater decided in June, it lacked evidence.
Yesterday, just days before a very tight race in the 52nd Congressional District, another unsubstantiated accusation was levied at Carl DeMaio by a former staffer. This one is different though because it appears the first accuser and Scott Peters’ campaign manager, MaryAnne Pintar, coordinated the attack. Predictably, local media have swarmed like bees to honey and are broadcasting the claim loudly. The local media are missing something though; DeMaio’s first accuser and Peters’ campaign manager were in cahoots.
It is reported that the accuser, an insurance salesman and Navy veteran, was upset that DeMaio’s original accuser “outed” him on Twitter last week after Pintar forwarded his name along. He’s out of politics and lives thousands of miles from San Diego today.
The damage is probably already done. This close to an election, it is virtually impossible to verify the credibility of the attack. But the media, nervous as they are about blowing a big story, might press Pintar a little harder today. DeMaio’s opponent and first accuser have played them like a fiddle thus far.