SAN DIEGO — The resignation speech given by San Diego Mayor Bob Filner reflected the same fiery, defiant tone that launched the political career of the former congressman and 1960s civil rights activist.
But Friday, Filner was giving his response after agreeing to step down as leader of the nation’s eighth-largest city amid a flurry of sexual harassment allegations.
“Obviously, this is the toughest decision of my life. You all know me to be a fighter,” he said. “Unfortunately, on my own — and you all helped cut off any support for that — I can’t afford to continue this battle even though I know, if given due process, I would be vindicated.”
Filner apologized to the city and his accusers but also said his demise as San Diego’s first Democratic mayor in decades was the result of “lynch-mob mentality” and denied his actions amounted to harassment.
Filner spoke after the City Council voted 7-0 on a deal that ended a political stalemate after 17 women publicly accused him of acting inappropriately from patting bottoms to forcible kissing.
The agreement stipulated that Filner leave office by Aug. 30 in return for the city paying legal expenses related to a sexual harassment lawsuit brought by his former aide.
Filner blamed his downfall on his own shortcomings but also said those failures were used as “ammo” to stop a leader willing to shake up the city’s power base.
Filner evoked memories of his young adulthood, when he joined the Freedom Riders in their campaign against a segregated South and spent two months in a Mississippi jail for inciting a riot after he and others confronted an angry mob at a bus station.
“You know I started my career facing lynch mobs, and I think we have just faced one here in San Diego, and you’re going to have to deal with that,” he said.
He said not one allegation has been proved independently or by a court, adding “I have never sexually harassed anyone.”
