Local San Diego Dems Demand Kevin Beiser to Step Down From School Board

Kevin Beiser

By Doug Porter / Words&Deeds / March 20, 2019

The Union-Tribune reported yesterday on a lawsuit alleging sexual assault and ongoing harassment filed by a political consultant against San Diego Unified School Board Trustee Kevin Beiser. Later in the day, Voice of San Diego dropped a story based on weeks of investigation concerning three more accusations of sexual harassment.

I believe Beiser’s fall from grace has a silver lining for San Diego Democrats. Last night, the party proved it’s moved past the era of providing cover for malfeasance on the part of elected officials who happen to have a “D” beside their name, calling on Beiser to step down from his elected office.

I know it’s a low bar, but considering the alternative these days, namely mouthing allegiance to a predator-in-chief with two dozen or so credible allegations of sexual misconduct, it’s a good start. And let’s not forget the local Dem party’s reluctance to act when similar situations have arisen in the past.

Beiser, who last year was president of the SDUSD Board, was first elected in 2010 and re-elected in November. He was widely expected to run for City Council next year.

The details in the published accounts present a tawdry and consistent pattern of actions by a well-connected political figure seeking to exploit up and coming activists for his personal pleasure.

From the VOSD account:

…I didn’t find it to be rape, because whenever I think of that word, I think it’s more violent,” he said. “So I just feel like I was violated. Raped? No, I don’t think I was raped. I don’t know how anyone wants to term that, but it wasn’t something I wanted to consent to. (It was) something I wanted to get out of, wanted to forget. I think I’m fortunate enough to say I’m not scarred for life. There are plenty of people who have it far worse after living their life after a traumatic situation.”

Beiser denied all the allegations in a statement released after both stories were published.

“We were first made aware of these allegations less than 24 hours ago.
There is no truth to these allegations.
We believe they are politically motivated and we intend to vigorously defend ourselves.”

But even the statement denying the charges raised more questions.

…All of the men who spoke to Voice of San Diego were deeply involved in local politics at the time of their encounters with Beiser – two have themselves run for office in recent years. None has run against Beiser or could be considered his political competition. Many of their interactions with Beiser took place in social settings that were related to the political world…

…Voice of San Diego conducted follow-up interviews with the four men individually, and has corroborated their accounts with others with knowledge of the events, such as friends and family members they told at the time.

What’s not in either story is the effort behind the scenes to avoid a repeat of the failure of the city’s largest political organization in dealing with substantive evidence of bad behavior among elected officials. That’s code for “not screwing up like we did with Filner.”

For a while, though, it seemed as though the past would repeat itself.

For the balance of this article, please go here.