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We first saw Jones break ranks with Filner on July 18. The NWVAA had planned to give Filner a lifetime achievement award for his service to women veterans and survivors of military sexual assault. But after Filner admitted that he had failed to “fully respect” women who worked for him, Jones said Filner would no longer receive the award. At that time, Jones still wanted Filner to speak at the event, just not to receive the award.

“He has admitted to having inappropriate behavior, we just don’t know to what extent that behavior is,” Jones told NBC San Diego. “We just don’t have enough facts.”

At a July 24 press conference, two days after Filner’s former communications director leveled the first public accusations of sexual harassment against Filner, Jones took another step. She said that Filner would no longer be the gala’s keynote speaker because it would undermine the event’s principle theme: ending sexual harassment and violence against women.

Jones said this week that when the scandal first broke, she felt she shouldn’t question Filner’s commitment to women veterans. Filner had been a longtime NWVAA supporter. He had attended and spoken at NWVAA events, echoing Jones’ own messages about the scourge of sexual assault. Jones and the NWVAA had even endorsed Filner for mayor in the 2012 election cycle.

“We always try to walk a neutral road on these things,” Jones told reporters Wednesday. She said she still believes in due process, but the overwhelming number of allegations against Filner, including those that surfaced after NWVAA conducted an “internal investigation,” persuaded her that Filner must resign.

Nonetheless, Jones said the NWVAA wants to hold Filner accountable at the gala. “He’s not a keynote speaker, but that event on the 30th is all about him,” Jones said Wednesday. “Everyone who will be attending that event is encouraged to get their T-shirts, the Please Resign [shirts]. That whole event will be about Please Resign.” http://voiceofsandiego.org/2013/08/09/women-vets-group-has-a-peculiar-
recurring-role-in-the-filner-saga/

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