Openly homosexual Republican congressional candidate Carl DeMaio has once again been accused of fondling himself in the presence of a coworker. DeMaio’s former policy director, Todd Bosnich, told CNN that his ex-boss made repeated unwanted sexual advances toward him and once summoned him into his office to witness him pleasuring himself.
The DeMaio campaign has dismissed Bosnich’s allegations as the rantings of a disgruntled ex-employee.
Bosnich, who is gay, told CNN that when he complained to fellow staffers about DeMaio’s inappropriate behavior his concerns were dismissed.
Bosnich said DeMaio’s campaign manager Tommy Knepper told him, “That's just the way Carl is, and that if I really felt that uncomfortable I shouldn't have let him know that I'm a gay man. … He was implying that it's my fault, that it's incumbent on me to stop Carl DeMaio from these behaviors, and I was really offended.”
The “behaviors” in question include an alleged incident that occurred in DeMaio’s car when the candidate drove Bosnich back to his own vehicle after an employee get-together at a local bar.
“We were making small talk on the way back,” Bosnich said. “And when he pulled up to my car, he reached over into my lap and grabbed my crotch. And I flipped out. And I pushed his hand away.”
“I just was shocked because I'd never had anyone do something like that to me, especially in a position of authority and trust,” added Bosnich. “And, at the time, I just figured, well, maybe he was drunk and blew it off. But he progressively and progressively, the inappropriate touching incidents continued from there.”
After several months of alleged harassment, Bosnich says he finally confronted DeMaio directly, telling the candidate to either keep his hands to himself or withdraw from the race. The very next day, Knepper called him into his office and fired him, Bosnich told CNN, explaining that DeMaio had “lost his trust” in him.
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Bosnich says Knepper offered him $50,000 and a job with the San Diego County Republican Party in exchange for signing a non-disclosure agreement – a deal Bosnich turned down, calling it “an attempt to bribe me to keep my silence.”
The DeMaio campaign has claimd that Bosnich was fired not for confronting DeMaio about his inappropriate behavior, but for plagiarism.
“This is an individual that was let go by our campaign manager for plagiarism,” DeMaio told CNN, “a well-documented plagiarism incident of taking a report from the National Journal and passing it off as his own work. He was terminated. He admitted that he plagiarized. He apologized for plagiarizing and when we told him he was no longer welcome in the staff and in the campaign office, even as a volunteer, he left. Days later, he broke in.”
CNN reports that the San Diego Police Department has been investigating a break-in that occurred at the campaign headquarters four months ago; however, Bosnich has not been charged as a suspect in the case. The network also says the DeMaio campaign has been evasive regarding Bosnich’s allegations, refusing to comment on specifics other than to issue a statement declaring the accusations “categorically false.”
Meanwhile, Bosnich says it was DeMaio, not Bosnich who was responsible for the plagiarism incident. “Carl authored the report, and I offered input on it,” Bosnich told CNN. “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.”
This is not the first time DeMaio has faced accusations of inappropriate sexual behavior by colleagues. During the 2013 San Diego mayoral race, rumors surfaced that as a city council member, he was well known among his colleagues for his habit of frequently leaving council chambers to go pleasure himself in the men’s restroom.
Former council president Ben Hueso told the Voice of OC newspaper that he personally caught DeMaio in the act twice during 2009.
Fellow councilwoman Marti Emerald corroborated Hueso’s claim, telling Voice of OC that it was common knowledge around City Hall that DeMaio regularly used the bathroom for self-gratification.
DeMaio has dismissed the claims as “gross” and “false.”
Regardless of the scandals, the national GOP is standing behind the candidate they named as one of their top “Young Guns” as they seek to improve their popularity among homosexuals.
Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH) bucked calls from pro-family groups to drop his support for DeMaio, appearing at a fundraising event for DeMaio just after the scandal broke. The event was held at a private home, so media were blocked from entering, but FOX 5 reported that the Speaker did his best to hide from reporters and cameras upon his arrival and departure. Meanwhile, a group of six Democratic protesters picketed the event, carrying signs that read “Dirty DeMaio” and “I stand with Todd [Bosnich].”
Andrea Bozek, communications director of the National Republican Congressional Committee told Roll Call that her organization is standing behind DeMaio. Said Bozek, “We fully support Carl DeMaio, and we don’t make decisions based on unsubstantiated claims.”