Here's something you might be interested in.
Yesterday at 11:00am at City Hall in the world's most unprofessional press conference a last ditch aggressive effort was made to demand Mayor Filner resign citing fresh new evidence by Donna Frye, Marco Gonzalez and attorney Cory Briggs. If you have not seen it you MUST watch the whole press conference here.
I was at the press conference and it was quite honestly painful, laughable and reeked of desperation. But you may not have gleaned that from the media bytes which continue to edit images and sound bytes to make Filner sound like a reprehensible lecherous assailant that can not stay in office one more minute.
I am urging you, you MUST watch the press conference for yourself before you decide to convict Filner on these claims.
I was standing behind the speakers with a Due Process sign.
But they made sure to flank the speakers at the podium with their giant thugs to ensure no one really saw us. The thugs also kept turning around throughout the conference yelling at us:
"This is NOT YOUR press conference."
There was also another grey-haired thug that ran back and forth in front of us to shout demeaning insults and repeatedly did his best sheep impression to try and belittle us.
The bullying was epic. This was THEIR press conference. It was very clear who ran our government. We had no right to be heard.
Donna read some statements from alleged anonymous victims, but still no names, still NOTHING they could ever use in a court of law.....just a demand that Mayor Filner resign immediately with NO due process.
My favorite line from Donna Frye was: "Bob Filner is tragically unsafe for any women to approach," "Tragically unsafe"!!!! Good God!!
Ladies be warned!
This language alone should speak to the total lack of credibility of the claims. How can a man be "tragically unsafe", (and who would ever use that term in a press conference) yet NO ONE ever contacted police or even a supervisor!
Those of us calling for "due process" (and there were a lot more than '5 of us' LA Times) were reprimanded by Marco Gonzalez, who claimed we clearly were attacking the victims by demanding this "due process".
Donna Frye, who I have always admired and appreciated, was really out of character and out of sorts Monday morning. It was literally like an imposter had taken over her body. Donna has ALWAYS been the picture of poise and objectiveness, openness, and fairness so her demand to bypass due process really shocked me. She, of all people, should understand the importance of due process and the fact that there are no exceptions to this. If there were it would be meaningless and exceptions could always be applied to convict anyone based on allegations.
Marco regaled us with stories and laughable terms like "the Filner headlock" and "the Filner dance" which supposedly describe Filner's behavior of making unwanted advances. I spoke to many bystanders, men, mind you, who claim they had received the "Filner headlock" because Bob is playful and he is a hugger. God forbid we have a mayor who likes to hug!
One reporter asked "you said sexual harassment is illegal in California so if these are serious claims why did no one contact police?" Marco responded that his "goal" was to "not have to go there"....so your "goal" was to not have to go through due process and present ANY evidence. I'm sure it was Marco, I'm sure it was.
Briggs said they are trying to "balance the public's right to know and the women's right to privacy."
Hmmmmmm, so I guess from now on anyone can make anonymous claims and demand a politician step down and we have to accept it or else we don't care about victims, right?
The media asked a lot of poignant questions like this and Donna Frye, Marco Gonzalez and Cory Briggs got angrier and more defensive with each new question.
The news conference came just two hours after Filner said that he will not resign.
"I’m not going to resign, and here’s why," Filner said in a statement. "As your elected mayor, I fully expect to be accountable to the citizens of San Diego for all of my actions.
"But as a citizen of this country, I also expect -- and am entitled to -- due process, and the opportunity to respond in a fair and impartial venue to specific allegations. I do not believe I am guilty of sexual harassment, and I believe a full presentation of the facts will vindicate me."
It's one thing to make an anonymous allegation against someone. It's another to go on a record of any sort whether public or not and report those claims. No police reports or work complaints were EVER filed. I can NOT stress this enough. Those things would not compromise the identity of the victims......yet they did not bother to address their claims in a way that would support this narrative.
We are being bullied here and we must stand up to these thugs running our government who think this is a dictatorship and they get to demand politicians that don't serve them step down. They do not decide, WE do.
Please don't give up Bob! And be very careful who you trust. They are out for you and have been for some time because you actually work for us the people and the people want you to stay!
Yesterday at 11:00am at City Hall in the world's most unprofessional press conference a last ditch aggressive effort was made to demand Mayor Filner resign citing fresh new evidence by Donna Frye, Marco Gonzalez and attorney Cory Briggs. If you have not seen it you MUST watch the whole press conference here.
I was at the press conference and it was quite honestly painful, laughable and reeked of desperation. But you may not have gleaned that from the media bytes which continue to edit images and sound bytes to make Filner sound like a reprehensible lecherous assailant that can not stay in office one more minute.
I am urging you, you MUST watch the press conference for yourself before you decide to convict Filner on these claims.
I was standing behind the speakers with a Due Process sign.
But they made sure to flank the speakers at the podium with their giant thugs to ensure no one really saw us. The thugs also kept turning around throughout the conference yelling at us:
"This is NOT YOUR press conference."
There was also another grey-haired thug that ran back and forth in front of us to shout demeaning insults and repeatedly did his best sheep impression to try and belittle us.
The bullying was epic. This was THEIR press conference. It was very clear who ran our government. We had no right to be heard.
Donna read some statements from alleged anonymous victims, but still no names, still NOTHING they could ever use in a court of law.....just a demand that Mayor Filner resign immediately with NO due process.
My favorite line from Donna Frye was: "Bob Filner is tragically unsafe for any women to approach," "Tragically unsafe"!!!! Good God!!
Ladies be warned!
This language alone should speak to the total lack of credibility of the claims. How can a man be "tragically unsafe", (and who would ever use that term in a press conference) yet NO ONE ever contacted police or even a supervisor!
Those of us calling for "due process" (and there were a lot more than '5 of us' LA Times) were reprimanded by Marco Gonzalez, who claimed we clearly were attacking the victims by demanding this "due process".
Donna Frye, who I have always admired and appreciated, was really out of character and out of sorts Monday morning. It was literally like an imposter had taken over her body. Donna has ALWAYS been the picture of poise and objectiveness, openness, and fairness so her demand to bypass due process really shocked me. She, of all people, should understand the importance of due process and the fact that there are no exceptions to this. If there were it would be meaningless and exceptions could always be applied to convict anyone based on allegations.
Marco regaled us with stories and laughable terms like "the Filner headlock" and "the Filner dance" which supposedly describe Filner's behavior of making unwanted advances. I spoke to many bystanders, men, mind you, who claim they had received the "Filner headlock" because Bob is playful and he is a hugger. God forbid we have a mayor who likes to hug!
One reporter asked "you said sexual harassment is illegal in California so if these are serious claims why did no one contact police?" Marco responded that his "goal" was to "not have to go there"....so your "goal" was to not have to go through due process and present ANY evidence. I'm sure it was Marco, I'm sure it was.
Briggs said they are trying to "balance the public's right to know and the women's right to privacy."
Hmmmmmm, so I guess from now on anyone can make anonymous claims and demand a politician step down and we have to accept it or else we don't care about victims, right?
The media asked a lot of poignant questions like this and Donna Frye, Marco Gonzalez and Cory Briggs got angrier and more defensive with each new question.
The news conference came just two hours after Filner said that he will not resign.
"I’m not going to resign, and here’s why," Filner said in a statement. "As your elected mayor, I fully expect to be accountable to the citizens of San Diego for all of my actions.
"But as a citizen of this country, I also expect -- and am entitled to -- due process, and the opportunity to respond in a fair and impartial venue to specific allegations. I do not believe I am guilty of sexual harassment, and I believe a full presentation of the facts will vindicate me."
It's one thing to make an anonymous allegation against someone. It's another to go on a record of any sort whether public or not and report those claims. No police reports or work complaints were EVER filed. I can NOT stress this enough. Those things would not compromise the identity of the victims......yet they did not bother to address their claims in a way that would support this narrative.
We are being bullied here and we must stand up to these thugs running our government who think this is a dictatorship and they get to demand politicians that don't serve them step down. They do not decide, WE do.
Please don't give up Bob! And be very careful who you trust. They are out for you and have been for some time because you actually work for us the people and the people want you to stay!