Carl DeMaio’s response to mounting questions about serious sexual harassment allegations regarding a former campaign staffer is only raising more concerns. So for 5 days, as San Diegans continue to grapple with another Bob Filner-esque scandal, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is highlighting the top 5 questions Carl DeMaio has left unanswered.
Today’s Question: If DeMaio’s accuser was fired for plagiarism, why was he in staff meetings a week later?
Records show that DeMaio did not, as claimed, fire Bosnich for the plagiarism incident, but actually fired him a week later, the day after Bosnich complained to the campaign manager about DeMaio’s sexual harassment.
In case you missed it, here is the 1st question still unanswered by Carl DeMaio’s campaign
From Tyrone Gayle, DCCC: “Over the years, San Diegans have become quite familiar with Carl DeMaio’s well-constructed web of lies, but his inconsistencies about these serious accusations only continue to raise questions.”
BACKGROUND:
October 2013: Bosnich Began Working for the DeMaio Campaign. SLATER: How long you been working back in San Diego for the political cause? BOSNICH: So I moved back here in October. I was born and raised in San Diego, but, after graduating from college, I moved to DC. SLATER: How did you meet Carl and get involved in his campaign? BOSNICH: I had read about it from afar and just knew about him and had corresponded with him in October and that’s when I decided to move back to San Diego to work on the campaign, and I’ve been employed as the Policy Director until May 19. [Bosnich interview, KFMB Radio with Michael Slater, 1:30, 6/02/14]
May 12, 2014: National Journal Accused DeMaio of Plagiarizing Pension Report. “DeMaio has claimed to have authored a ‘report’ finding that 102 members of Congress are drawing a government pension atop their congressional salaries. He leaked an advanced copy to The Wall Street Journal on Monday and is following up with an event in San Diego this morning to induct some lawmakers, most notably his opponent, Rep. Scott Peters, D-Calif., into a ‘Hall of Shame.’ But his ‘report”’ looks like little more than a copied-and-pasted version of a National Journal database that accompanied a cover story last June on congressional double-dipping.” [National Journal, 5/12/14]
Bosnich: “Carl Authored the Report.” “Carl authored the report. And I offered input on it. But in terms of the final draft, in terms of the, even the composition of it, that was from Carl, as he admitted to the National Journal,” he said. [CNN, 10/10/14]
DeMaio Later Apologized for Plagiarized Report, Blaming “Staff” for Copying without Attribution. “UPDATE: Carl DeMaio called late Monday to say he was ‘mortified’ by the situation and that National Journal should have been credited as the original source of his report on congressional pensions. ‘I’m terribly sorry,’ he said. DeMaio said his staff had produced the pensions report at his direction but he did not know the full extent to which its contents had been lifted from National Journal until Monday morning. Still, he took full responsibility. ‘I don’t throw my staff under the bus,’ he said.” [National Journal, 5/12/14]
U-T San Diego Reporter: DeMaio would not Identify Plagiarist After Repeated Requests. “@andy_keatts @lemonverbena_ Also worth noting that we asked repeatedly who the plagiarist was after that happened and got no specific resp.” [Joel Hoffman Twitter, 10/09/14]
May 15, 2014: Bosnich Wrote a LTE Praising DeMaio’s Efforts on Pensions. On May 15, 2014, the U-T San Diegopublished a letter to the editor from Bosnich praising DeMaio’s efforts on pensions. Bosnich said he was “thrilled” that DeMaio would take that effort to Congress and attacked Peters, as the sixth-richest Member of Congress, for making a list of members who took salaries and pensions simultaneously. [U-T San Diego, Todd Bosnich LTE, 5/15/14]
May 18, 2014: Bosnich Told DeMaio in his Campaign Office that he Needed to Stop the Harassment or Quit the Race. “Bosnich, who was 28 at the time of the radio interview, said he approached DeMaio on May 18 and told him he needed to quit the race or stop his behavior.” [POLITICO, 10/08/14; Bosnich interview, KFMB Radio with Michael Slater, 18:43, 6/02/14]
May 19, 2014: Bosnich was Expected to Participate in a Morning Conference Call, which was Verified by CityBeat. “DeMaio described Bosnich to CNN as ‘troubled,’ and said the 29-year-old was fired for plagiarism. On May 12, the National Journal called out DeMaio for copying its report on Congress members who currently receive a pension in addition to a salary. DeMaio initially blamed his staff for plagiarizing and then last week singled out Bosnich, telling CNN: ‘He was terminated. He admitted that he plagiarized.’ Bosnich, however, told CNN that his involvement in that report was limited to offering input. And, he showed CityBeat an email proving he was still on DeMaio’s staff on May 19, scheduled to participate in a morning campaign-strategy conference call. May 19, a full week after the National Journal story ran, is the day he was offered the GOP job and the $50,000, he told Slater.” [San Diego CityBeat, 10/13/14]
Bosnich Stopped Working for Campaign the Same Day After Refusing $50,000 Nondisclosure Agreement. “The next day, Bosnich said, the campaign manager called him into his office and told him that DeMaio had lost his trust in him. He also said he was offered him $50,000 to sign a nondisclosure agreement. He said he rejected the offer.” [POLITICO, 10/08/14; Bosnich interview, KFMB Radio with Michael Slater, 3:00, 6/02/14]
October 8, 2014: Almost Five Months After Plagiarism Incident, DeMaio Spokesman Identifies Bosnich as Culprit for First Time. “Dave McCulloch, a DeMaio spokesman, declined to answer specific questions about Bosnich’s accusations. But he said that Bosnich had been fired because he had plagiarized while working on the campaign. In May, shortly before Bosnich’s tenure on the campaign came to an end, National Journal published a report asserting that DeMaio had released a study on pension reform that had lifted language from one of the publication’s earlier articles.” [POLITICO, 10/08/14]