San Diego Republican denies public masturbation story

The San Diego, CA congressional candidate whom a colleague accused of openly masturbating in a City Council men's room in 2009 is vehemently denying the story, calling it "disgusting, humiliating and nothing more than a character assassination attempt.”

Carl DeMaio told San Diego's NBC Channel 7 that the story is a canard made up by Democratic operatives who want to savage his political career.

DeMaio even presented Channel 7 reporters with a transcript of a polygraph test he reportedly took on August 26, in which the administrator of the test claimed that the former mayoral candidate and city councilor "was not attempting deception when he answered ‘no' to the above relevant questions.”

The test was administered by Paul Redden, a local expert in the field who has worked with law enforcement and court officials on multiple occasions.

The accusations against DeMaio surfaced last Thursday when the VoiceofOC.org blog published an account by Democratic state Senator and former San Diego City Council member Ben Hueso of walking in on DeMaio in the men's room and finding him openly masturbating at a urinal.

Hueso told the Voice of OC that he had been tipped off to DeMaio's behavior by then-Councilman Tony Young in 2009. Young issued a statement to NBC San Diego on Wednesday which read: "During my tenure with the city I never witnessed Mr. DeMaio do anything inappropriate as a member of the City Council."

“In politics, you see people make accusations all the time. And you know, I’ve had people criticize me before and I usually let it roll off my back,” DeMaio said to Channel 7. “But this one crosses the line. It’s so gross. It’s so false, that I have to speak out. I have to present the truth.”

Watch the video, embedded below via Channel 7: