8th Woman Accuses Filner of Unwanted Sexual Advances

By Amita Sharma, KPBS

SAN DIEGO, CA -- A San Diego woman told KPBS News in an exclusive interview that Mayor Bob Filner tried to kiss her after a business meeting in 2011 when he was a congressman.

Lisa Curtin, who is director of government and military education at San Diego City College, is the eighth woman to accuse Filner of unwanted sexual advances.

She said that in 2011, former Congressman Jim Bates set up a meeting between her and then- Congressman Filner to discuss potential uses for property near the old Naval Training Center. 

Curtin said that after the meeting, Filner asked to meet with her in private. She said once alone, Filner grabbed her left hand, twirled her wedding band and asked if it was real. Curtin said she responded with, “It’s about 25 years worth of wedding band.”

“He then asked me if it could come off while I was in D.C. and if I would go out with him,” Curtin said. “I said I really didn’t think so. And at that point, he pulled my hand closer to him and he reached over to kiss me. I turned my head at that moment and on the side of my face, I got a very wet, saliva-filled kiss including feeling his tongue on my cheek.”

Curtin said she quickly left Filner’s office to meet her staff outside and told them what happened. She said she told them she’d never meet with him alone again.

Curtin said at the time, neither she nor her staffers reported the incident to authorities because of shock and fear.

“Filner made it very clear how powerful he thought he was,” Curtin said. “He discussed that in the meeting; The kind of authority he had, that he had been pulling strings all over San Diego for many years.”

But Curtin said she reported the incident to the San Diego County Sheriff's Departmenthotline established to take calls from victims of Filner's alleged misconduct.

Filner’s office did not respond to a request for comment.

Curtin’s story comes one week after seven women accused Filner of unwanted touching, kissing and derogatory comments.

The women are: Filner’s former communications director Irene McCormack Jackson; political consultant Laura Fink; San Diego Unified School District psychologist Morgan Rose; retired Rear Admiral Ronne Froman; businesswoman Patti Roscoe; San Diego State University Dean Joyce Gattas; and Sharon Bernie-Cloward, president of the San Diego Port Tenants Association.

Read the Backstory

All of the accusations, statements and apologies from the key players in the developing story about allegations of sexual harassment in Mayor Bob Filner's office and calls from former mayoral supporters for his resignation.