A variety of responses have followed since KPBS published a story Sunday afternoon that a second former staffer for Republican candidate Carl DeMaio has accused him of sexual harassment.
Navy veteran Justin Harper, 25, worked for the DeMaio campaign until he said he quit after DeMaio exposed himself to Harper in a restroom. In mid-October, allegations of sexual harassment made by former DeMaio staffer Todd Bosnich went public in a report on CNN. DeMaio's campaign denies all of the allegations.
DeMaio is in a tight race to unseat first-term Democratic Rep. Scott Peters in the 52nd Congressional District.
Here's a roundup of what's happened since Harper's story went online at kpbs.org at 1:45 p.m.:
• DeMaio campaign manager Tommy Knepper sent an email Sunday night to supporters, according to Talking Points Memo. Knepper picked up on reporting in the KPBS story that MaryAnne Pintar, Peters' campaign manager, forwarded an email from Harper to Bosnich. Pintar told KPBS she did it because she thought Harper needed someone to talk to.
Here's, in part, what Knepper wrote:
"With only 36 hours left until election day, we just learned today that the Scott Peters' campaign is admitting that they’ve been deeply involved with the smear campaign against Carl.
"Today two media outlets are reporting that Scott Peters' campaign manager MaryAnne Pintar has been in communication with and advising those advancing these disgusting lies against Carl.
"MaryAnne Pintar is the same person who Scott Peters had to admit took possession of our DeMaio campaign strategy book that was stolen during the May break-in of our office. She took possession of stolen property, and kept it a secret for four months!"
"Peters' campaign manager MaryAnn [sic] Pintar has now been caught coordinating with these individuals to advance this disgusting false smear that the District Attorney dismissed weeks ago."
The San Diego County District Attorney's Office has not dismissed Harper's claim. Harper said he has not reported what he says happened to the police. Two weeks ago, District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis' office said it does not have enough evidence to file criminal charges involving the sexual misconduct allegations made by Bosnich, not Harper.
• In a news conference Monday morning, DeMaio said Peters is responsible for orchestrating the "desperate, despicable" smear campaign against him. Here's, in part, what he said:
"At every turn, Scott Peters has been caught promoting, orchestrating
and coordinating this nasty, false despicable smears against me."
"It is a false and egregious lie to suggest our campaign is to blame for the Filner-esque mess Mr. DeMaio has created. Both of DeMaio's accusers worked for his campaign, both are loyal Republicans. These are serious charges and there are victims. Carl needs to stop placing blame on others and take responsibility for his actions."
• At a news conference Monday morning, Peters said that DeMaio should “come clean” with the voters and “tell the truth” regarding the allegations. But he wouldn’t say why his campaign manager would facilitate communication between one DeMaio accuser the other. Peters said:
"No one on my staff has made these accusations. These are accusations made by two members of Mr. DeMaio's staff who are loyal Republicans and used to consider him a hero. These are answers for Mr. DeMaio to respond to. He's got to answer these questions."
• The DeMaio campaign sent Voice of San Diego a copy of a police report taken after a break-in at DeMaio campaign headquarters in late May. It includes several new pieces of information, including:
- Bosnich was fired on May 22, according to a statement from Alex Melendez, a DeMaio deputy campaign manager. Bosnich has said he was fired May 19 after telling DeMaio to stop sexually harassing him. Since the allegations aired, DeMaio has said Bosnich was fired for a plagiarized report that was published on May 12, but there are a few indications Bosnich was still working for the campaign after the report came out.
- Melendez said he suspects Bosnich and Alison Rentschler, another DeMaio staffer who was fired, might be behind the break-in. Rentschler is also the former girlfriend of Harper. Melendez's statement said Rentschler was fired May 16.
- The person or people who allegedly broke into DeMaio's campaign office entered through a door that connected the campaign office to a vacant office suite, according to the police report. A refrigerator in the DeMaio campaign office that had been blocking the door was pushed aside. Melendez told police the campaign did not know the door behind the refrigerator did not have a lock. The property manager told Melendez the vacant office suite had been left unlocked.
- Melendez told police that a code is required to enter the building's lobby and parking garage.
- There were security cameras in the parking garage of the office complex that houses DeMaio's campaign office, but Melendez told police the cameras weren't working.
When the District Attorney's Office announced there was not enough evidence to bring charges against DeMaio based on Bosnich's sexual harassment allegations, the office said evidence was lacking to bring charges in the burglary.
