Mayor’s accuser comes forward

Associated Press

SAN DIEGO

Mayor Bob Filner’s former communications director filed a sexual harassment lawsuit Monday against the leader of the nation’s eighth-largest city, alleging he asked her to work without panties, demanded kisses and dragged her around in a headlock while whispering sexual advances.

Irene McCormack Jackson offered lurid details in the lawsuit that made her the first person to publicly identify herself as a target of the mayor’s advances since some of Filner’s most prominent former supporters said nearly two weeks ago that he sexually harassed women and demanded that he resign.

McCormack, as she is known professionally, said at a news conference that she took a $50,000-a-year pay cut while accepting the job in January — two months after Filner was elected to a four-year term as the city’s first Democratic leader in 20 years after he spent 10 terms in Congress.

“I saw him place his hands where they did not belong on numerous women,” McCormack said alongside her attorney, Gloria Allred, one of the most widely known civil-rights attorneys in the country.

“He is not fit to be the mayor of our great city,” McCormack added.

The lawsuit filed in San Diego Superior Court says McCormack resigned after a heated exchange between the mayor and Allen Jones, his deputy chief of staff, at a meeting that she attended. Jones told his boss that he needed “extreme therapy.”