By Chris Reed

SAN DIEGO — To the surprise of no one who has dealt with him, first-year Mayor Bob Filner’s days in office could be numbered because of his personal recklessness. After two decades as a near-anonymous back-bencher in the U.S. House of Representatives, Filner’s bullying, obnoxious ways have backfired repeatedly in a job in which he has both vast executive power and a level of scrutiny that he never had in Washington, D.C.

Today, former San Diego Councilwoman Donna Frye — arguably city Democrats’ single favorite politician — and muckraking environmental attorney Marco Gonzalez — brother of Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, the most powerful force in San Diego labor — will hold a 10 a.m. press conference to discuss as-yet-undetailed allegations of sexual harassment against Filner that are so troubling that Frye has declared he must immediately resign. (Here’s her letter.) Another prominent attorney, Cory Briggs, will also join Frye and Gonzalez in calling for Filner to quit.

The former longtime congressman was already facing an FBI investigation because of what Filner all-but-acknowledged was a pay-for-play arrangement in which a city permit was only granted after the developer gave him $100,000 for two of his pet causes — in direct contradiction of Supreme Court rulings, including one just released last month.

But Filner can spin that away as his standing up to rich developers — especially the “downtown interests” whom Democrats routinely depict as the city’s shadow rulers. His decision to launch an ugly feud with City Attorney Jan Goldsmith, a Republican, also is easy to frame with the narrative of him standing up to “downtown.”

Bully Republicans — but not rank-and-file union workers

However, Filner’s habit of browbeating and berating anyone who somehow displeases him isn’t limited to political rivals, reporters and developers. Stories about his obnoxious behavior at City Hall began the week he took office, usually involving him mercilessly dissecting an aide in front of others — but also strange stories, such as the mayor walking through offices and screaming at people whose facial expressions he found unacceptable.

Ten staffers who had regular contact with Filner have already quit. He’s gone weeks without a press secretary, apparently unable to find someone willing to take the job.

That Filner’s behavior extends to alleged demeaning interactions with women is no surprise. His much-younger fiancee announced their relationship was over on Monday because of its “devolvement” after weeks of rumors about the mayor and other women. Many women in the political world swap stories of Filner’s offensive habits, such as his refusal to end a handshake because he is using his forced proximity to deliver a dressing-down.

It appears that when this abusive treatment extended to union members — or at least to enough union members —  some Democrats felt they could no longer take it.

“What we would not accept for our enemies, we cannot condone of our friends,” is how Gonzalez put it.

Democrats have great reason to want mayor gone

But is there also a political long game going on here? Maybe.

It has to have occurred to Frye, Gonzalez and Briggs that if Filner quits or is ousted, City Council President Todd Gloria would take over the duties of mayor, and set himself up as the strong favorite among Democrats in the special election that must be held within 90 days of a mayoral vacancy.

Gloria is a political natural — smart, funny and very likable. I met him in 2008 at a candidates’ forum. Afterwards, I accused the former congressional aide of being a ringer, he was so far superior to that year’s other City Council candidates. His polished public persona reminds me of the John Roberts who charmed many in his 2005 Senate confirmation hearing as chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.

Gloria is gay and of Native American, Filipino, Dutch and Puerto Rican ancestry. He is a progressive on social issues but is increasingly pragmatic about how San Diego functions and has been building ties with business groups. Initially skeptical, Gloria now supports a unique San Diego program in which private firms bid against groups of government employees for the right to provide city services. The “managed competition” process has already saved millions of dollars, and holds great promise to hold tens of millions of dollars more once city trash services go out to bid. That is something Filner has stalled.

It is not just Filner doubters but many Democratic insiders who have long expected him to implode. If these insiders knew there were bombshells to come, they surely thought the sooner the better — because who wants years more of horrible behavior from a Democratic mayor when they could have a fresh 35-year-old wunderkind replace Filner and bring immediate relief with his pleasant demeanor? That Gloria’s politics may as well have been concocted via supercomputer by Nate Silver to maximize his appeal to general election voters here doesn’t hurt either.

Will Rogers never met Bob Filner

So pay attention to San Diego and don’t necessarily buy surface narratives. Will Rogers never met Bob Filner. There are plenty of Democrats here who won’t think he’s worth fighting for — especially if the details to be revealed today are particularly repellent.

And especially if Filner’s Democratic successor would have a way better chance to hold the mayor’s seat in 2016 than the poster boy for anger mismanagement.

By Chris Reed

What happens when a veteran congressman with a history of anger management issues and an apparent disinterest in understanding how city government works becomes mayor of California’s second-largest city?

San Diegans are finding out as they deal with their city’s own “Anger Management” show provided for nearly three months by impulsive, confrontational 20-year veteran House Democrat Bob Filner.

Filner’s narrow November victory over Republican City Councilman Carl DeMaio was a huge disappointment to reformers both locally and nationally, who had watched DeMaio work with more traditional Republicans to help turn San Diego into a laboratory for libertarian-minded efforts to change some of the basics of local government. DeMaio was the major sponsor of Proposition B, the pension reform measure city voters passed in June 2012.

As expected, Filner has tried to reverse course. He’s blocking efforts to further privatize or downsize city departments through a “managed competition” in which groups of government workers bid against private firms for the right to provide specific city services. Filner also offers no complaints about a rogue state agency’s efforts to prevent San Diego from implementing Measure B’s radical changes in retirement benefits for city workers.

Anger mismanagement

But Filner’s behavior — far more than his policy changes — has dominated the headlines for months. At age 70, he is a perfect example of the adage that a leopard can’t change his spots. And so the same politician who menaced a Dulles Airport worker and taunted an Immigration and Naturalization Service guard while a congressman has kept in character — first as a bizarrely abrasive mayoral candidate and now as mayor.

Jan. 8 showed Filner at his worst. At a City Council meeting that afternoon, the mayor tangled with Todd Gloria, the council chairman and a fellow liberal Democrat, over appointments to a regional planning board, the San Diego Association of Governments. A matter that could have been handled with a prior phone call turned into a theater of anger, as Filner said Gloria couldn’t get his facts straight and mocked both SANDAG and the office of City Attorney Jan Goldsmith, a Republican.

That night, Filner remained in bully mode. At a meeting with medical marijuana advocates upset with a city crackdown on dispensaries, Filner called Goldsmith “a little guy” whom he would “intimidate” to get to end the “persecution” of dispensaries.

But as Goldsmith explained the next day, Filner had the unilateral power to stop tough code enforcement efforts. The mayor didn’t need to “intimidate” the city attorney. He just had to tell code compliance officers and police to change their priorities. Filner did so without apologizing to Goldsmith for his shrill broadsides.

Bob Filner makes like Kanye West

This week saw the mayor at his most Filnerian, with the issue the City Council’s 2012 approval of a de facto room tax that city hotels impose on guests to pay for national marketing campaigns trumpeting tourism in San Diego. Filner wants to renegotiate the deal and has refused to release the funds the “fee” has generated, and hoteliers are pursuing legal action. The mayor says the deal is bad for the city — and also that hotels should pay more and provide better benefits with a “living wage” policy. Instead of consulting with Goldsmith, Filner has relied on the advice of a lawyer he hired for his staff.

On Wednesday, Goldsmith held a press conference to give his views on the dispute and the potential fallout for the city. Filner crashed the event and took the podium to give his own press conference — in Goldsmith’s office — in which Filner repeatedly denounced the city attorney for daring to believe the mayor’s tactics were flawed.

“It would have been nice, Mr. Goldsmith, to have a memo,” Filner said. “It would have been nice to have advice. I am your client. That’s privileged communication. You not only have been unprofessional but unethical in this press conference. And I resent it greatly that you’re giving your advice through the press.”

Goldsmith’s response: “I hope in the future we’ll know about these issues and get consulted in advance, but if I read them in the newspaper and they’re wrong, I have to comment on them.”

This incensed Filner: “I have no obligation to inform you of any policy decisions I make. You have the obligation as my attorney to give me private and privileged communication. I do not have to advise you on my policy considerations, but you have the right, you have the obligation to defend me in any court action and to give me advice in a privileged fashion, not to announce your own policy on your own.”

But Goldsmith is not Filner’s attorney. Goldsmith is the attorney for the city of San Diego, obligated to look out for its interests, and someone who is so well-regarded that he was re-elected in 2012 without opposition.

Filner’s stunt led the local news. It also triggered a torrent of comment on social media, with one Twitter commenter comparing it to the moment when Kanye West interrupted Taylor Swift when she was given the best female video award at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards.