Topic A on Newsmakers TV this week is Josh Molina’s scoop about a bombshell lawsuit filed by a City Hall budget executive, alleging a history of sexual harassment by her former boss — and a pattern of enabling indifference to it by City Administrator Paul Casey.
The suit, filed by Jennifer Tomaszewski, the city’s finance and treasury manager, details years of alleged misconduct towards her and other women by former Finance Director Bob Samario, who abruptly retired last year, further charging that she was not promoted to his job after he left in retaliation for speaking out.
In a special Mansplaining Edition of the show, Josh and Nick Welsh join the host in breaking down the unanswered questions, implications and impacts of the explosive litigation — most significantly Casey’s in the matter.
After a year in which he has been forced to fend off a series of policy and political attacks over his leadership on a host of issues, from the tangled planning and permit bureaucracy to the Police Department, the new lawsuit represents the most serious peril to his position to date.
The gang also digs into the smackdown between Supervisors Gregg Hart and Das Williams and Sheriff Bill Brown, who accused the liberal duo of wanting to “defund the police” amid a county budget dispute — a conflict over which the Angry Poodle and Mr. Cranky Pants get pretty chippy with each other on the show, echoing the current national debate over rising crime rates, law enforcement practices and criminal justice philosophy.
Then it’s a lightning round about other top local news stories and fresh political gossip — including the surprising revelation that Planning Commissioner Barrett Reed has hired longtime Democratic Party operative Tyler Gibson to manage his still-undeclared campaign against District 4 council member Kristen Sneddon; an update on the demand for $500,000 for a Black community center; and all you need to know about the discovery of human remains near the Riven Rock Road digs of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.
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— Jerry Roberts is a veteran news reporter, editor, columnist, commentator and author, and spent nearly 25 years at the San Francisco Chronicle in senior newsroom and executive positions. The author of Dianne Feinstein: Never Let Them See You Cry, a biography of California’s senior senator, Dianne Feinstein, Roberts is co-founder of the Calbuzz politics website and a political analyst for KEYT News and KCRW. The documentary Citizen McCaw, chronicles his fight for ethical journalism. The opinions expressed are his own.
