Bodyguards: Filner Took Women to Hotel; Investigators look at use of city funds
Federal, state and local investigators have been gathering information and building cases against San Diego Mayor Bob Filner beyond the sexual harassment accusations that have captured national attention.
The investigations have quietly moved forward amid near-daily revelations, from women making claims of lurid Filner behavior to the mayor ending his behavioral therapy early to locks being changed on the mayor’s office.
Key recent developments on the investigative front, according to sources and documents:
• Members of the mayor’s security detail provided information to investigators about Filner taking women to the downtown Westgate hotel, among other things.
• A subpoena has been issued to Lee Burdick, Filner’s chief of staff, to have her testify under oath and provide her notes about issues involving Sunroad Centrum Partners, a developer that paid $100,000 to the city at the behest of the Filner administration before approval its project was granted. The FBI has been inquiring about the transaction.
• As many as 30 City Hall employees, many who work in the mayor’s City Hall suite, have now been interviewed by investigators, mostly with the City Attorney’s Office, but also with the Sheriff’s Department and the FBI.
• Three members of the Sheriff’s Department have been assigned to handle phone calls from a hotline set up for Filner accusers to report possible criminal misconduct and conduct follow up interviews and investigations.
• In addition to agency investigations, City Council Audit Committee Chairman Kevin Faulconer is scheduled to announce Monday he will summon key city officials to testify before his committee September 9 about Filner’s June trip to Paris and the use of city-issued credit cards in connection with that trip.