She then escorted Filner to the next table. Once she’d turned, Fink said, Filner “took his hands, patted my posterior, laughed, and said: 'No, it’s still there!'"įor a moment, Fink said, she was in shock, “and it certainly gave the people at the table pause.” "As a staffer, I know it sounds silly to say that you just do it, but you just do it," Fink said. At one point, Fink said, an attendee singled her out for praise saying, "this girl has worked her ass off for you.”Īt that, Fink said, Filner told her to turn around. Her job was to escort Filner from table to table during the dinner. The Democratic congressman was making amends to the LGBT community, she said, for his “yes” vote years earlier on the highly controversial Defense of Marriage Act. I intend to defend myself vigorously and I know that justice will prevail.”įink said her troubling encounter with Filner happened when she was staffing him at a fundraising dinner. “I do not believe these claims are valid. I humbly ask that through this vicious storm of controversy, people take a moment and temper their rush to judgment. My dreams and plans for moving this City to new heights are continuing. “I remain committed to the people of San Diego and the work that needs to be done. Once due process is allowed to unfold, I am certain there will be a better understanding of this situation. “I am saddened by the charges that were leveled against me today. But in a written statement issued yesterday in response to the McCormack Jackson lawsuit, Filner said: The mayor did not respond to a request from KPBS for comment. McCormack Jackson’s allegations include being trapped in the “Filner Headlock,” in which she said he would grab her, try to kiss her, tell her he loved her and wanted to marry her and that they should “consummate their relationship.” On Monday, Filner’s former chief of communications, Irene McCormack Jackson, filed a lawsuit against the mayor and the city with the help of noted women’s rights attorney Gloria Allred.
She said she plans to report the harassment incident to the sheriff’s hotline established last week to handle such allegations.įink is the second woman to come forward in the past two days as the sexual-harassment scandal that has enveloped Filner and all of San Diego city government continues to expand. Though several people witnessed the incident, Fink-co-founder of Fink & Hernandez Consulting-said she did not go public about the encounter at the time because she “was trying to build a career in the political field … and Bob Filner has a reputation for swift retribution and for holding grudges.”įink, who provided KPBS with a copy of her email to Filner, said she worked for him from 2004 to 2006.
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