The San Diego City Council voted 7-0 Friday to a deal that will lead to the resignation of embattled Mayor Bob Filner amid several sexual harassment charges. He will resign on Aug. 30.
After the council announced that it had approved the deal, Filner addressed the council and members of the community in the chamber.
“The city should not have been put through this and my own personal failures were responsible. And I apologize to the city,” Filner said.
“I have a lot of supporters out there,” he continued, drawing cheers. “I apologize to all of you. I think I let you down. We had a chance to do a progressive vision in this city for the first time in 50 years.”
Filner added, “To all the women I offended, I had no intetnition to be offensive, to violate any physical or emtional space. I was trying to establish personal relationships. But the combination of awkwardness and hubris led to behavior that many found offensive.”
But Filner then turned defiant, saying he was the victim of a “lynch mob.”
“Not one allegation has ever been independently verified or proven in court,” Filner said. “I have never sexually harassed anyone.”
He lamented “the removal of a democratically elected mayor purely through rumor and innuendo.”
