San Diego Mayor Bob Filner expected to resign Friday after sexual harassment allegations

Beleaguered San Diego, CA Mayor Bob Filner (D) is expected to resign Friday after weeks of prompting by Democrats and Republicans in the wake of multiple charges of sexual harassment. According to the L.A. Times, a settlement has been reached between Filner and his office's former communications director, Irene McCormack Jackson, but the details have not been made public.

NBC San Diego reported on Thursday that Filner will make his resignation speech and leave office on Friday.

On Wednesday night, Filner was seen loading boxes into the back of an SUV at San Diego City Hall, a sign that he was cleaning out his office ahead of a formal resignation announcement.

After a Filner resignation, a special election will be held to fill the vacancy in the mayor's office. Filner joins the other three out of the last seven San Diego mayors who resigned mid-term.

An agreement was reached after three days of closed-door mediations between Filner, his team of three attorneys, City Attorney Jan Goldsmith and two members of the city council. A key provision in the negotiations was the possibility that Filner would resign on the agreement that the city would pay part of his legal fees and some of the damages awarded to Jackson, whose case is being handled by high-profile attorney Gloria Allred.

Even if Filner does not heed the unanimous request from all nine city council members that he resign, however, an official recall effort is underway. More than a dozen women have come forward to say that Filner was sexually inappropriate toward them, touching them in a sexual manner and making suggestive remarks.

Goldsmith announced last week that the city council is attempting to assemble an "exit plan" for Filner, who said weeks ago that he would take a two week leave of absence to attend intensive counseling, but quit the program after only a week.

Watch video about this story, embedded below via the L.A. Times:

Watch video of Filner loading boxes into his SUV at City Hall, embedded below via YouTube:

[image via Flickr Creative Commons]