One year to the day after she filed a lawsuit accusing former San Diego Mayor Bob Filner of sexual harassment, Irene McCormack Jackson recalled that she began to see signs of strange behavior from him the moment he took office.
Interviewed on the KPBS radio “Midday Edition” program, Filner’s former communications director said he kissed her after he was sworn in as mayor, which was soon followed by other forms of misbehavior that would eventually cost him his job nine months later.
“I watched the way he treated the office staff, not just the women, but the men, as well – screaming and yelling at them, telling them they were incompetent, stupid,” McCormack Jackson said. “It was an office that people hated being in, but because it was the office of the mayor, everybody kept working really hard to make sure it worked, that it functioned, that things were getting done for the city. So I knew it was bad from the beginning.”
She said she had heard of Filner’s reputation as being difficult to work for, but didn’t realize that he would be such a bully.
McCormack Jackson said she declined to file a complaint with the city’s Human Resources Department, because Filner read such reports. She also feared looking for another job because she thought he would “torpedo” her efforts if he found out about them.
She decided to leave after two young women the same age as her daughters left separate encounters with Filner in May 2013 looking “surprised,” she said.
On July 22 last year, prominent Los Angeles attorney Gloria Allred filed a lawsuit on McCormack Jackson’s behalf, charging that Filner sexually harassed her.
According to the lawsuit, Filner told her she should work without her panties on, placed her in a headlock and led her around while making suggestive remarks, among other things.
The lawsuit was eventually settled for $250,000.
Filner, facing similar accusations by around 20 women and under investigation for alleged financial improprieties, resigned Aug. 30 last year. He is serving three years probation and spent three months confined to his home after pleading guilty to one felony count of false imprisonment and two misdemeanor counts of battery.
McCormack Jackson said she is doing “really well now” and is writing a book to help other women who find themselves in the same predicament.
– City News Service
