Many are asking whether US Attorney Laura Duffy should resign amid allegations of a conflict of interest. The answer is a resounding yes. Duffy, reputedly a lesbian, organized an event for the Jewish community that had mayoral candidates Bob Filner and Carl DeMaio debating. Duffy not only organized the event, she established the parameters and was the apparent sole arbiter to ensure that each candidate played by the rules.
Congressman Bob Filner complained about the apparent partisanship showed by Duffy during the debate when she allowed DeMaio to ask direct questions to him that were beyond the level of civil discourse expected in mayoral campaigns.
Subsequently, Duffy sent an email to the DeMaio campaign apologizing for Filner’s behavior. Really? If this is not partisanship that is beyond
the pale for a US Attorney, I don’t know what is.
While Duffy has not technically violated any law, she clearly has stepped on the spirit of the Hatch Act. The Hatch Act is a United States federal law whose main provision is to prohibit employees (civil servants) in the executive branch of the federal government, except the President, Vice-President, and certain designated high-level officials of the executive branch, from engaging in partisan political activity.
Duffy has not violated the Hatch Act because mayoral elections in San Diego are non-partisan. As a US Attorney, Duffy should not be about the letter of the law but should always be about the spirit of the law. She knows her behavior is unconscionable.
Duffy should have revealed to the Filner campaign that she was a contributor to DeMaio. Somehow, the Duffy email to the DeMaio campaign
complaining about Filner’s behavior at the debate was leaked to the press. Interesting how it fit so nicely into the DeMaio campaign’s narrative about Filner. Coincidence? Doubtful.
All this comes on the heels of Johnathan Hale, DeMaio’s partner, voting to direct a Hillcrest Business Association bid to a large DeMaio donor. It is so disappointing to have LGBT folks be as corrupt as the broader community.
Duffy, do your community a favor, resign ASAP.
Once again, Stampp Corbin is showing our community why he and his paper cannot be counted on to provide journalism equal to what our community deserves. I am certainly not a DeMaio supporter and will gladly vote for Filner in the upcoming mayoral election. But I am shocked at SDLGBT Weekly’s seeming inability to break news on an election of such importance to our community and the whole of San Diego. While CityBeat managed to inform us of DeMaio’s connection to Charles LiMandri, the anti-gay lawyer spearheading the defense of Proposition 8, and attempts at muzzling USD’s LGBT student group; SDLGBT Weekly was blathering on about whether DeMaio’s partner may have been in the same room as folders marked confidential, and having his picture taken by a staffer who may have been on tax payer’s time. When KPBS was exposing DeMaio’s connections to “Papa” Doug Manchester, and the potential that DeMaio, as mayor might role out the red carpet for Manchester’s multi-million dollar plans, SDLBT Weekly was “Koi-ly” suggesting that DeMaio’s partner may have been bathing in the lily pond at Balboa Park. Now, SDLGBT Weekly is providing us with yet another Barney Fife moment as it details this supposed scandal. Sadly, SDLGBT Weekly has provided us with little more than supposition, and a borderline attempt at gay baiting. By conflagrating US Attorney Laura Duffy’s status as a “reputed lesbian” with a weak case of potential conflict of interest, Corbin has shown us more about his own ethical failings than those of DeMaio. Mayoral candidate Carl DeMaio has betrayed our community and is showing us time and again what lengths he is willing to go to attain the mayor’s office. And at this crucial moment, when our community stands to be saddled with mayor that will make the phrase “Enron by the sea” seem like a compliment, SDLGBT Weekly is showing us how utterly inept and lacking in journalistic gravitas it can be. Thank you Stampp, for pretty much nothing.
Publisher’s Note: Tim Holmberg was released from his contract with LGBT Weekly in the first year of the publication. I think our readers should know. Further, LGBT Weekly broke the story concerning several of DeMaio’s relationships with anti-LGBT forces.
BTW, LGBT Weekly just won 10 awards for Excellence in Journalism from the San Diego Press Club. We were the only LGBT publication honored.
@ Stampp – Not withstanding your publication’s awards, my criticism stands. Major developments in exposing Carl DeMaio to the voters in our community have not come from where they should. In 2010, when I sought to bring to light the cosy relationship that DeMaio had with homophobes, you were the one who quashed the story. I am not naive enough to believe the story would have changed the state of play in this race, but it would have shown a pattern of betraying the LGBT community for the sake of political advancement. The conversation we had back then was heated, and I do not intend to continue it via this forum, but I do think it bears consideration.
Though I do thank you for ensuring that your readers know I am not affiliated with your publication, I think in the interest of full disclusure you should mention that I was released from my association (there was no contract) at my request. I do, however, congratulate you, and most of all your writers, on your recent accomplishments. A community publication of any stripe is composed of a backbone of writers and staff that toil well beyond the financial rewards to serve their readers and advertisers. Though we have disagreed, I hope you understand that I have nothing in common with the diminishment of our community by the loss of any forum that serves them. I am merely inviting you to strive for improvement, and that is something that any forum should embrace.