Reports are surfacing that current Republican congressional candidate and potential San Diego Republican mayoral candidate Chris DeMaio has been repeatedly caught self-satisfying in public restrooms.
But there never has been a public accounting of how during 2009 DeMaio allegedly would leave the San Diego City Council dais during meetings to masturbate in a men’s room — events known by elected officials and suspected by members of the media.
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In the months before last November’s mayoral election, Ben Hueso, the City Council’s president in 2009, acknowledged to this reporter that he witnessed DeMaio engaging in the practice twice. Hueso, now a Democratic state senator, and others suspected DeMaio’s alleged inappropriate activity was more frequent.
Describing the scene that spring when he walked in on DeMaio, who was in front of a urinal with his pants down, Hueso said: “DeMaio was masturbating. He jumped, caught by surprise. He jumped to the sink … saying ‘I’m sorry, I’m sorry’ about six times. Then washed his hands, darted out.”
Hueso again confirmed this account last week.
San Diego City Councilwoman Marti Emerald confirmed Hueso’s account, saying she saw him in the hallway immediately after the encounter with DeMaio.
“Ben was in a state of shock, face red, eyes bulging,” recalled Emerald recently. “I said: ‘You look like you just saw the devil?’ He said: ‘DeMaio is masturbating in the middle of the room.’ ” Another witness to the aftermath supported Emerald’s account.
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San Diego officials say masturbation could be considered a fireable offense for municipal employee but not for elected officials.
The DeMaio campaign calls these allegations absurd, but after the Filner scandal the pervert alert is on high in San Diego.
Carl DeMaio is currently a Republican candidate for the House of Representatives against Democratic incumbent Rep. Jason Peters, and it is being widely speculated that he will run in the special election to replace Filner. DiMaio sells himself as a family values Republicans, but if true, masturbating in a public building in a public restroom would do grave damage to that image.
The reason why none of his city council colleagues wanted to file charges against the council president is obvious. Anyone who did come forward would have to worry about retribution from the powerful DeMaio, and quite honestly the story would bring embarrassment to the entire council. Even though the city council knew about it, and the media suspected it, everybody chose to look the other way and ignore DeMaio’s wacky whacking off behavior.
Public masturbation can be a symptom of sexual addiction and/or mental illness. Even if it is neither of these, it is a sign of poor impulse control and really poor judgment.
Sand Diego voters have been yanked around enough. Hopefully, these voters will resist being tugged into supporting a self-styled family values who may have a problem keeping his hands out of his own pants.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
