Bob Filner, a progressive democrat who served two decades in Congress and then successful was running for the mayor of San Diego, promising to shake the City Council, but whose career implored in a few months in the middle of a storm of sexual arguments: he was 82 years old.
His family announced death. The announcement did not give a cause or said where he died, but San Diego Union-Tribuno reported that he died in an assisted life home in Costa Mesa, California.
Mr. Filner, known for his shameless and combative style, resigned as mayor under pressure in August 2013, after 18 women accused him of inappropriate sexual behavior in his time as mayor and killed his years in Congress.
The women included a retired Admiral from the Navy, a University Dean and the former Communications Director of Mr. Filner, who said Filner had told her that she wanted to see her naked and border to work without underwear.
He left the position denying any irregularity. But two months later, he declared himself guilty of a serious crime of false imprisonment and charges for battery wear that involved two other women. He was sentenced to three months of confinement at home and three years of probation.
“I never intended to be a mayor who came out like this,” he said.
His humiliating fall eclipsed a pulmonary record of liberal activism in which he represented the large and low -income, several racial districts of San Diego and the south of California, and a career as a progressive champion that drew his imprisonment.
He was the first elected Democratic mayor of San Diego in 20 years and entered the position with radical plans for a liberal agenda for the second largest city in California, which was more conservative than other large cities of the state. He fought against the commercial establishment of the city, including the conservative publishing page of Union Tribune, which in a cartoon compared it to the Joker in the “Batman” films.
Former University Professor at the State University of San Diego, Mr. Filner entered electoral policy in 1979 by winning a seat at the San Diego School Board, which led to a seat in the City Council of 1987.
He was chosen for Congress in 1992 of the newly raised district 50 of California, which included most of the State’s border with Mexico, with a large Hispanic population.
In the Chamber, Mr. Filner helped establish the progressive Caucus of Congress. On his 10 terms he rose to the president of the Veterans Affairs Committee of the House of Representatives. He defended labor, environmental and civil rights issues.
As a second year student in Cornell, he had volunteered in the summer of 1961 for trips for freedom, protests against segregated bus terminals in the deep south.
Upon arriving by bus in Jackson, Miss., Mr. Filner was arrested for charges of disturbing peace and inciting a riot. Instead of the bonus, the tactics agreed on the protesters followed and accepted a two -month prison term in the notorious penitentiary of the state of Mississippi, known as Parkman Farm.
“The trip in freedom changed my whole life personally and political,” said Filner later.
Robert Earl Filner was born on September 4, 1942 in Pittsburgh, son of Sarah and Joseph Filner. His father was a labor organizer who led a metal trade business series.
After fulfilling the prison in Mississippi, Mr. Filner returned to Cornell, where he obtained a chemistry title in 1963 and a Ph.D. In the history of science in 1969.
Then he moved to San Diego and taught university history there for 20 years.
His two brown, to Barbara Christy in 1966 and Jane Merrill in 1985, both ended in divorce.
He is survived by a son, Adam, and a daughter, Erin, of his first Mariaage; Two grandchildren; And a brother, Bernard.
In July 2013, only seven months after Mr. Filner’s four -year period as mayor, he was involved in a snowstorm or accusations of sexual harassment. A former member of the City Council who had worked once for Mr. Filner, Donna Frye, Hero, a press conference in which he declared that several women had accused the mayor of unwanted advances, including gropes and kisses.
“Bob Filner is tragic insecure for any woman who approaches,” said Frye, asking him to resign.
Mr. Filner apologized for any bad behavior he could have committed, calling himself a “very demonstrative person” and a “men and women’s clamp.” But he refused to give up.
In a matter of days, Irene McCormack Jackson, his former communications director, filed a lawsuit and said at a press conference that Mayor Woudd wrapped his neck and pulled her “as a rag doll, while he struggled sexual comments” in her.
More batteries were presented, including military veterans who said that Mr. Filner had used his position of authority to press them for dates or intimate contact.
The elected Democrats and the former political allies demanded that the mayor resign. The choir included Senator Barbara Boxer in California, who published an open letter that asked him to be aside. Hey, did it on August 23, but remained challenging, he suggested that he was expelled for “a mentality of the lynching mafia.”
He later declared himself guilty of a position for serious crime or restricted a woman and two positions of spontaneous abortion of kissing a woman against his will and touching the buttock of another woman. Kamala Harris arrived at the plea agreement, who processed the case as State Attorney General.
“This behavior was not only criminal, it was also an extreme abuse of power,” said Mrs. Harris, who was later the 2024 Democratic presidential candidate against Donald J. Trump. “No one is above the law.”