Robert Earl Filner (born September 4, 1942) is an American former politician who was the 35th mayor of San Diego from December 2012 through August 2013, when he resigned amid multiple allegations of sexual harassment.

In June 1961, after pulling into the bus station in Jackson, Mississippi, as a Freedom Rider, Filner was arrested for "disturbing the peace and inciting a riot."

One of his primary opponents was his former boss, Jim Bates, who had lost his seat in a sexual harassment scandal in 1990[10] and whose home had been drawn into the district.

Filner's accomplishments included legislation allowing Filipino veterans to maintain a small stipend from the government if they moved back to the Philippines, burial benefits, and access to VA clinics.

In 2009 Filner brokered a deal securing $198 million in pension benefits for Filipino veterans who had served for the United States in World War II in the form of a $15,000 lump sum payment as part of the 2009 stimulus bill.

[22] In February 2009, Rep. Antonio Diaz filed a bill in the Philippine House of Representatives seeking to confer honorary Filipino citizenship on Filner and U.S.

Filner entered the baggage claim office and became irritated when the employee was busy helping another customer and asked the congressman to wait his turn.

[28] Filner, along with several senior United States officials, argued that the People's Mujahedin of Iran, also known as the MEK, should have its designation as a terrorist group removed.

Filner considered the MEK, a major member of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, an ally against the current Iranian regime.

In 2012, the San Diego City Council agreed to renew the District for 39 1/2 years, but outgoing mayor Jerry Sanders did not sign the agreement before leaving office.

The District subsequently filed suit against the Mayor to enforce the agreement, but Judge Timothy Taylor ruled that Filner had the discretion not to sign.

However, in late May 2013 Filner temporarily withheld payments to the District until it agreed to provide upfront funding for a centennial celebration for Balboa Park.

KPBS-FM said that it had been investigating reports of sexual harassment of female staff members for several months, and that the complaints included "inappropriate comments, kissing and groping".

[46] The next day Filner told reporters that he had treated women poorly and sometimes intimidated them, but insisted that a "fair and independent investigation" would clear him of sexual harassment charges.

[48] On July 15, the same three former supporters held another press conference, describing in more detail charges by women who said they had been forcibly kissed, groped, and subjected to sexually suggestive comments by Filner; the alleged but unidentified victims include a mayoral staffer, a campaign volunteer and a constituent.

On July 22, 2013, attorney Gloria Allred announced at a press conference that her firm had filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against Filner on behalf of the mayor's former communications director.

[50] By August 26, 19 women[51] had publicly claimed that Filner had sexually harassed them, including a retired admiral,[52] a Marilyn Monroe impersonator who appeared at one of his fundraisers,[53] a 67-year-old great-grandmother who worked for the city,[54] a nurse who said Filner demanded a date in exchange for helping a Marine who had suffered a brain injury and PTSD during service in Iraq,[55] and several female members of the U.S. armed forces who had been raped during their service.

[56] In the last two instances, Filner's contact with the women stemmed from his position at the time as ranking member of the House Veterans' Affairs Committee.

In the ensuing weeks, calls for Filner's resignation came from Democratic U.S. senators Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, representatives Susan Davis and Scott Peters, DNC chairwoman and U.S Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz,[57] California State Assembly members Toni Atkins and Lorena Gonzalez,[58] Nancy Pelosi,[59] and all nine members of the City Council.

[63] On July 29, 2013, Filner asked the city of San Diego to pay his legal fees for a sexual harassment lawsuit regarding his former communications director.

[67] One matter involved a trip he took to Paris with his then-fiancée in June 2013; questions had been raised about the nonprofit group that paid his expenses and the use of city credit cards to pay for his accompanying security detail.

The recall organizers wound down the effort, called for all petitions to be turned in so they could be counted and destroyed, and worked on preparing a final financial accounting.

[83] On November 20, 2017, Representative Diana DeGette (D-Colorado) alleged during an interview on MSNBC's Meet the Press Daily that Filner tried to force himself on her in an elevator.

At his first news conference after his election as mayor in 2012, Filner introduced his fiancée, Bronwyn Ingram, a disability analyst who worked for the Social Security Administration.