Bob Filner
Encyclopedia
Robert Earl Filner is the U.S. Representative
for , and previously the 50th, serving since 1993, and Chairman of the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs since 2007. He is a member of the Democratic Party
. 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.
, in Squirrel Hill. As a student at Cornell University
, he participated in the Freedom Rides of 1961, spending two months in a Mississippi
jail for his efforts. Also, as a student, he worked as a member of the Cornell Daily Sun, the student newspaper. He graduated from Cornell in 1963 with a degree in chemistry, and earned his doctorate in history of science from the same school six years later. Shortly after earning his PhD
, he moved to San Diego, becoming a history professor at San Diego State University
for more than 20 years. He resigned his position in 1992 to run for Congress.
Filner was long interested in politics, serving as a staffer for Senator Hubert Humphrey
of Minnesota
in 1975 and for Congressman Don Fraser
, also of Minnesota, in 1976. He also served as a staffer for Congressman Jim Bates from the San Diego area in 1984. Mr. Filner has a daughter, Erin Filner, who is a social studies teacher at The Fox Lane Middle School in Bedford, NY
. He also has a son, Adam Filner who is married and is the father of two young children.
At the time he was a student at Cornell University where he was studying engineering. In June 1961, after pulling into the bus station in Jackson, Mississippi, Filner was arrested along with his co-riders for "disturbing the peace and inciting a riot". It was there in Jackson, that Filner would stand up for what he believed in by not taking the easy road out. Filner refused to post bond in for his release and remained incarcerated in prison for two months.
His case was eventually overturned by the Supreme Court of the United States along with all the cases for other activists. It was when this happened, that they also overturned the laws for racial separation. This overturning of the case was nothing that Filner was pushing for though. Filner believes that what he did during that Freedom Ride is what he needed to do to have a say in what was happening. In Filner's own words he says "I've never been a passive person". "I've always felt that, if you think something should be changed, it's your responsibility to actively pursue that change."
Filner is a founding member of the Progressive Caucus
.
He is also a member of the Congressional Motorcycle Safety Caucus
and International Conservation Caucus
He was one of the 31 who voted in the House to not count the electoral votes from Ohio
in the 2004 presidential election
.
Filner easily won re-election in November 2006, defeating Republican Blake Miles and Libertarian Dan Litwin. Filner won about 67 percent of the vote cast in the district. Miles received about 31 percent and Litwin about 2 percent.
In 2008, Filner sponsored a resolution, passed by the House of Representatives, in support of National Aviation Maintenance Technician Day.
In February 2009, a bill was filed in the Philippine House of Representatives
by Rep. Antonio Diaz
seeking to confer honorary Filipino
citizenship on Filner, Senators Daniel Inouye
, Daniel Akaka
and Ted Stevens
, for their role in securing the passage of benefits for Filipino World War II veterans.
scandal in 1990 and whose home had been drawn into the district. Another opponent was veteran state Senator Wadie Deddah, who was term-limited. Filner defeated Deddah by a narrow margin, with Bates finishing third place in the primary. 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 has been reelected six times with no substantive Republican opposition. He ran unopposed in 1998.
Filner has a bitter rivalry with Juan Vargas
, another Democratic politician who has run against Filner in the Democratic primary three times. Filner won the latest Democratic primary, on June 6, 2006, with 51% of the vote, in a race against Vargas and two minor challengers, Danny Ramirez and Jesse Bresnihan. Filner and Vargas have accused each other of corruption.
for Mayor of San Diego California.
Employee at Dulles International Airport after he became upset that his baggage had not yet arrived on a baggage carousel. Filner entered the baggage claim office and became irritated when the employee was busy helping another customer and asked the congressman to wait his turn. It was at this point that it is alleged that Filner attempted to enter the employee only area of the office. He was asked to leave the area several times by airline employees but refused to do so until airport police were called in.
Filner was on his way to visit troops in Iraq at the time of the incident. He released a statement saying "suffice it to say now, that the story that has appeared in the press is factually incorrect and the charges are ridiculous". He was later charged with assault and battery. Filner entered a plea after prosecutors reduced the charge to trespassing. The House Ethics Committee began a probe into the event, but it was later dropped.
Articles
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
for , and previously the 50th, serving since 1993, and Chairman of the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs since 2007. He is a member of the Democratic Party
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
. 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
Chula Vista, California
Chula Vista is the second largest city in the San Diego metropolitan area, the seventh largest city in Southern California, the fourteenth largest city in the State of California, and the seventy seventh largest city in the U.S....
and National City
National City, California
National City is a city in San Diego County, California. The population was 58,582 at the 2010 census, up from 54,260 at the 2000 census. National City is the second oldest city in San Diego County and has a historic past.-History:...
and all of Imperial County
Imperial County, California
Imperial County is a county located in the Imperial Valley, in the far southeast of the U.S. state of California, bordering both Arizona and Mexico. It is part of the El Centro Metropolitan Area, which encompasses all of Imperial County. The population as of 2000 was 142,361. The county seat is the...
. It includes most of California's border with Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
, except for the city of Imperial Beach.
Early life, education and career
Filner was born in PittsburghPittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...
, in Squirrel Hill. As a student at Cornell University
Cornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
, he participated in the Freedom Rides of 1961, spending two months in a Mississippi
Mississippi
Mississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi...
jail for his efforts. Also, as a student, he worked as a member of the Cornell Daily Sun, the student newspaper. He graduated from Cornell in 1963 with a degree in chemistry, and earned his doctorate in history of science from the same school six years later. Shortly after earning his PhD
Doctor of Philosophy
Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated as Ph.D., PhD, D.Phil., or DPhil , in English-speaking countries, is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities...
, he moved to San Diego, becoming a history professor at San Diego State University
San Diego State University
San Diego State University , founded in 1897 as San Diego Normal School, is the largest and oldest higher education facility in the greater San Diego area , and is part of the California State University system...
for more than 20 years. He resigned his position in 1992 to run for Congress.
Filner was long interested in politics, serving as a staffer for Senator Hubert Humphrey
Hubert Humphrey
Hubert Horatio Humphrey, Jr. , served under President Lyndon B. Johnson as the 38th Vice President of the United States. Humphrey twice served as a United States Senator from Minnesota, and served as Democratic Majority Whip. He was a founder of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party and...
of Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
in 1975 and for Congressman Don Fraser
Donald M. Fraser
Donald MacKay Fraser is an American politician from Minneapolis, Minnesota.-Early life:Donald Fraser played a critical role in making human rights an important part of U.S. policy. Fraser was born on 20 February 1924 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to Everett and Lois Fraser. His parents were émigrés...
, also of Minnesota, in 1976. He also served as a staffer for Congressman Jim Bates from the San Diego area in 1984. Mr. Filner has a daughter, Erin Filner, who is a social studies teacher at The Fox Lane Middle School in Bedford, NY
Bedford (town), New York
Bedford is a town in Westchester County, New York, USA. The population was 17,335 at the 2010 census.The Town of Bedford is located in the northeastern part of Westchester County, and contains the three hamlets of Bedford Hills, Bedford Village, and Katonah...
. He also has a son, Adam Filner who is married and is the father of two young children.
Freedom Rides
Filner began his advocacy for civil rights at the age of 18 when he became one of the first people to set foot on a Greyhound bus that was headed into the deep south on what would become known as, the Freedom Rides.At the time he was a student at Cornell University where he was studying engineering. In June 1961, after pulling into the bus station in Jackson, Mississippi, Filner was arrested along with his co-riders for "disturbing the peace and inciting a riot". It was there in Jackson, that Filner would stand up for what he believed in by not taking the easy road out. Filner refused to post bond in for his release and remained incarcerated in prison for two months.
His case was eventually overturned by the Supreme Court of the United States along with all the cases for other activists. It was when this happened, that they also overturned the laws for racial separation. This overturning of the case was nothing that Filner was pushing for though. Filner believes that what he did during that Freedom Ride is what he needed to do to have a say in what was happening. In Filner's own words he says "I've never been a passive person". "I've always felt that, if you think something should be changed, it's your responsibility to actively pursue that change."
Early political career
His elective career began in 1979, when his opposition to the closing of a neighborhood school led him to run for the San Diego Board of Education, where he defeated a longtime incumbent. Even though he was the only Democrat on the board, his "back to basics" approach to education won him wide praise, and his colleagues elected him president of the board in 1982. For part of his tenure on the board, he served alongside Susan Davis, who now represents most of the other side of San Diego in the House. He was elected to the San Diego City Council in 1987. He was handily reelected in 1991, and his colleagues elected him Deputy Mayor of San Diego. His main interest was in economic expansion.Community Involvement
Over the years, Representative Filner has held many local offices in his area of San Diego, California especially in the areas of education. For 20 years, he was a professor of history at San Diego State University. He was also on the San Diego Board of Education for 5 years following his teaching career.Committee assignments
- Committee on Transportation and InfrastructureUnited States House Committee on Transportation and InfrastructureThe U.S. House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure is a standing committee of the United States House of Representatives. John Mica currently chairs the committee.-History:...
- Subcommittee on AviationUnited States House Transportation Subcommittee on AviationThe Subcommittee on Aviation is a subcommittee within the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. The Subcommittee has jurisdiction over civil aviation, including most aspects of the Federal Aviation Administration , the Transportation Security Administration, and the National...
- Subcommittee on Highways and TransitUnited States House Transportation Subcommittee on Highways and TransitThe House Transportation Subcommittee on Highways and Transit is a subcommittee within the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. The subcommittee oversees highway, transit, and highway safety programs in the United States, as well as policy governing how highway and transit projects...
- Subcommittee on Water Resources and EnvironmentUnited States House Transportation Subcommittee on Water Resources and EnvironmentThe Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment is a subcommittee within the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. The subcommittee has jurisdiction over water conservation, pollution control, infrastructure, and hazardous waste cleanup, the civil works programs of the U.S. Army...
- Subcommittee on Aviation
- Committee on Veterans' AffairsUnited States House Committee on Veterans' AffairsThe standing Committee on Veterans' Affairs in the United States House of Representatives oversees agencies, reviews current legislation, and recommends new bills or amendments concerning veterans. Jurisdiction includes retiring and disability pensions, life insurance, education , vocational...
(Ranking Member)
Filner is a founding member of the Progressive Caucus
Progressive caucus
The term Progressive caucus is used to describe American left-liberal caucuses within either the Democratic Party or the Democratic caucus in various legislatures:* Congressional Progressive Caucus* Arizona Progressive Democrats...
.
He is also a member of the Congressional Motorcycle Safety Caucus
Congressional Motorcycle Safety Caucus
The Congressional Motorcycle Safety Caucus is a bipartisan caucus of the United States House of Representatives.-Founding and Members:The caucus founders and co-chairs are Representatives Michael Burgess and Gabrielle Giffords...
and International Conservation Caucus
United States Congressional International Conservation Caucus
The U.S. Congressional International Conservation Caucus is a bipartisan congressional organization that was founded in September 2003 with the conviction that “the United States of America has the opportunity, the obligation and the interests to advance the conservation of natural resources for...
He was one of the 31 who voted in the House to not count the electoral votes from Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
in the 2004 presidential election
United States presidential election, 2004
The United States presidential election of 2004 was the United States' 55th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on Tuesday, November 2, 2004. Republican Party candidate and incumbent President George W. Bush defeated Democratic Party candidate John Kerry, the then-junior U.S. Senator...
.
Filner easily won re-election in November 2006, defeating Republican Blake Miles and Libertarian Dan Litwin. Filner won about 67 percent of the vote cast in the district. Miles received about 31 percent and Litwin about 2 percent.
In 2008, Filner sponsored a resolution, passed by the House of Representatives, in support of National Aviation Maintenance Technician Day.
In February 2009, a bill was filed in the Philippine House of Representatives
House of Representatives of the Philippines
The House of Representatives of the Philippines is the lower chamber of the...
by Rep. Antonio Diaz
Antonio Diaz
Antonio Magsaysay-Diaz was a Congressman of Zambales, the Philippines. He was a nephew of former President Ramon Magsaysay.-Early life:Diaz, a member of the Magsaysay political clan of Zambales, served the province variously as vice governor and representative since the 1960s.A lawyer, he was one...
seeking to confer honorary Filipino
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
citizenship on Filner, Senators Daniel Inouye
Daniel Inouye
Daniel Ken "Dan" Inouye is the senior United States Senator from Hawaii, a member of the Democratic Party, and the President pro tempore of the United States Senate making him the highest-ranking Asian American politician in American history. Inouye is the chairman of the United States Senate...
, Daniel Akaka
Daniel Akaka
Daniel Kahikina Akaka is the junior U.S. Senator from Hawaii and a member of the Democratic Party. He is the first U.S. Senator of Native Hawaiian ancestry and is currently the only member of the Senate who has Chinese ancestry....
and Ted Stevens
Ted Stevens
Theodore Fulton "Ted" Stevens, Sr. was a United States Senator from Alaska, serving from December 24, 1968, until January 3, 2009, and thus the longest-serving Republican senator in history...
, for their role in securing the passage of benefits for Filipino World War II veterans.
Political campaigns
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). In 1992, Filner ran in a five-way Democratic primary for the seat and won a narrow victory. One of his primary opponents was his former boss, Jim Bates, who had lost his seat in a sexual harassmentSexual harassment
Sexual harassment, is intimidation, bullying or coercion of a sexual nature, or the unwelcome or inappropriate promise of rewards in exchange for sexual favors. In some contexts or circumstances, sexual harassment is illegal. It includes a range of behavior from seemingly mild transgressions and...
scandal in 1990 and whose home had been drawn into the district. Another opponent was veteran state Senator Wadie Deddah, who was term-limited. Filner defeated Deddah by a narrow margin, with Bates finishing third place in the primary. The district was almost 40% Hispanic (redistricting in 2000 made it 53% Hispanic
Hispanic
Hispanic is a term that originally denoted a relationship to Hispania, which is to say the Iberian Peninsula: Andorra, Gibraltar, Portugal and Spain. During the Modern Era, Hispanic sometimes takes on a more limited meaning, particularly in the United States, where the term means a person of ...
) and heavily Democratic, and his victory in November (with 57 percent of the vote) was a foregone conclusion. He has been reelected six times with no substantive Republican opposition. He ran unopposed in 1998.
Filner has a bitter rivalry with Juan Vargas
Juan Vargas
Juan C. Vargas is a Senator in the State of California, 40th District. He is a Democrat and former member of the California State Assembly, San Diego City Council, and Order of the Jesuits, having fought for the poor, aged, and infirmed....
, another Democratic politician who has run against Filner in the Democratic primary three times. Filner won the latest Democratic primary, on June 6, 2006, with 51% of the vote, in a race against Vargas and two minor challengers, Danny Ramirez and Jesse Bresnihan. Filner and Vargas have accused each other of corruption.
Campaign for Mayor
Filner announced on June, 8 2011 that he is a candidateSan Diego mayoral election, 2012
The 2012 San Diego mayoral election will be held on Tuesday, November 6, 2012, to elect the mayor for San Diego. Incumbent mayor Jerry Sanders is ineligible due to term limits....
for Mayor of San Diego California.
Assault on an Airline Worker
On August 20, 2007, Filner was involved in an altercation with a United AirlinesUnited Airlines
United Air Lines, Inc., is the world's largest airline with 86,852 employees United Air Lines, Inc., is the world's largest airline with 86,852 employees United Air Lines, Inc., is the world's largest airline with 86,852 employees (which includes the entire holding company United Continental...
Employee at Dulles International Airport after he became upset that his baggage had not yet arrived on a baggage carousel. Filner entered the baggage claim office and became irritated when the employee was busy helping another customer and asked the congressman to wait his turn. It was at this point that it is alleged that Filner attempted to enter the employee only area of the office. He was asked to leave the area several times by airline employees but refused to do so until airport police were called in.
Filner was on his way to visit troops in Iraq at the time of the incident. He released a statement saying "suffice it to say now, that the story that has appeared in the press is factually incorrect and the charges are ridiculous". He was later charged with assault and battery. Filner entered a plea after prosecutors reduced the charge to trespassing. The House Ethics Committee began a probe into the event, but it was later dropped.
External links
- U.S. Representative Bob Filner official U.S. House site
- Bob Filner for U.S. Congress official campaign site
Articles
- Bigamy, bribery, other allegations plague California congressional race Miriam Raftery, Raw Story, June 5, 2006
- Rep. Filner beats Democratic rival in latest rematch Philip J. LaVelle and Dani Dodge, San Diego Union-Tribune, June 7, 2006
- CA 51: Slim Margin Gives Way to Safety for Filner This Fall CQ Politics, June 7, 2006