Bob Filner

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.

He later pleaded guilty to state charges of false imprisonment and battery.

He is a member of the Democratic Party.

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."

He refused to post bond for his release and remained incarcerated for two months.

He graduated from Cornell in 1963 with a degree in chemistry, and earned his doctorate in history of science from Cornell six years later.

While completing his PhD, he moved to San Diego, becoming a history professor at San Diego State University for more than 20 years.

Filner was long interested in politics.

He worked for U.S. Senator Hubert Humphrey of Minnesota in 1975 and for Minnesota Congressman Don Fraser in 1976.

His elective career began in 1979, when his opposition to the closing of a neighborhood school led him to run for the San Diego Unified School District Board of Education, defeating a longtime incumbent.

His "back to basics" approach to education won him wide praise, and his colleagues elected him president of the board in 1982.

He also worked for Congressman Jim Bates from the San Diego area in 1984.

He was elected to the San Diego City Council in 1987 and was reelected in 1991; his colleagues elected him Deputy Mayor of San Diego.

California gained seven seats after the 1990 census, and one of them was the 50th District in south San Diego (renumbered the 51st District after the 2000 census).

The district is one of the most ethnically diverse in the nation, including much of San Diego's southern section, the cities of Chula Vista and National City and all of Imperial County.

It includes most of California's border with Mexico, except for the city of Imperial Beach.

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

Another opponent was veteran state Senator Wadie Deddeh, who was term-limited.

Filner defeated Deddeh by a narrow margin, with Bates finishing third place in the primary.

In 1992, Filner ran in a five-way Democratic primary for the seat and won a narrow victory.

Filner was previously the U.S. representative for CA's 51st congressional district, and the 50th, serving from 1993 to 2012.

He ran unopposed in 1998.

The district was almost 40% Hispanic (redistricting in 2000 made it 53% Hispanic) and heavily Democratic, and his victory in November (with 57 percent of the vote) was a foregone conclusion.

He was reelected nine times with no substantive Republican opposition.

He was one of the 31 House Democrats who voted to not count the 20 electoral votes from Ohio in the 2004 presidential election, despite Republican President George Bush winning the state by 118,457 votes.

Filner served on the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs and ascended to the chairmanship when the Democrats took over the House of Representatives after the 2006 election.

He was chair of the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs from 2007 to 2011.

Filner was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood.

He is Jewish, the son of Sarah F. and Joseph H. Filner.

His father was a labor union organizer, U.S. Army veteran and later international metal trader.

He attended Cornell University, where he worked on the Cornell Daily Sun, a student newspaper, and took part in civil rights demonstrations.

In 2008, Filner sponsored a resolution, passed by the House of Representatives, in support of National Aviation Maintenance Technician Day.

While in congress, Filner was known for his combative personality, and for personally dealing with constituent issues.

He chose not to run for re-election to Congress in 2012, opting instead to run for Mayor of San Diego.

He resigned from the House of Representatives on December 3, 2012, in order to take office as Mayor of San Diego.

Filner had a bitter rivalry with Juan Vargas, another Democratic politician who ran against Filner in the Democratic primary three times.

Filner and Vargas accused each other of corruption.

However, in the 2012 mayoral race, Vargas endorsed Filner for Mayor of San Diego and Vargas was elected to Filner's seat in Congress.

Filner was a founding member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.

He was also a member of the Congressional Motorcycle Safety Caucus and International Conservation Caucus.