DeMaio says Peters has some questions to answer

SAN DIEGO (KUSI) – The race for the 52nd Congressional District is over. After a nasty campaign and close contest, Carl DeMaio conceded to Congressman Scott Peters over the weekend. On Monday, DeMaio spoke out for the first time following his concession, and said the race was “hijacked” by a burglary at his office and accusations of sexual harassment, both of which were tied to a former campaign staffer.

The prime suspect in the burglary, Todd Bosnich, was a DeMaio campaign staffer who was fired for plagiarizing an article that DeMaio signed off on. Bosnich also accused DeMaio of sexual misconduct.

Police began an investigation that ended with no charges being filed, but the investigators believe Bosnich committed the burglary.

The Peters campaign was quick to point out the burglary investigation was ongoing, and made the sexual harassment allegation a central part of their campaign.

“We hit October and Mr. Peters, my opponent, dragged this campaign into the mud with false personal smears,” DeMaio said. “As a result I think we lost a lot of support just because of how nasty the race became in the remaining days.”

DeMaio says the misconduct allegations were pivotal to the outcome of this race.

“There are a lot of questions that Mr. Peters has to account for,” he said. “Unfortunately, those questions were not resolved before San Diegans cast their votes.”

The DeMaio campaign playbook was taken in the May 27th burglary, and ended up in the campaign office of Peters, who was asked in a live debate whether he took possession of the stolen property.

“He said he did,” DeMaio said. “He said he only had it for 24 hours and he didn’t look at it. But now what we learned from the court is that they not only had it for days without telling the police, but they took copies of it. They kept copies of it. Mr. Peters’ own wife was given a copy of it, and that does not match up with what Mr. Peters said to San Diegans during the election.”

There are also questions about Bosnich’s involvement in the burglary, the sex allegation, and his firing from the campaign. His statements are riddled with inconsistencies.

“It was very difficult, it was painful. I never expected Mr. Peters and my opponents to go to the depths that they went to in terms of false personal smears. But sometimes your opponents can’t argue with your ideas, so they’ve had to go nasty, negative and personal.”

So DeMaio has lost two consecutive major races, for mayor and for congress. Right now, he’s reluctant to say if there’s another campaign in his future. But he will not sit on the sidelines.

“I’m as passionate and committed to advancing government reform as I’ve always been. It’s been my life’s work. I just won’t be able to do it from the position as a member of congress for San Diego.”

The other interesting thing about this is Peters campaign manager Mary Ann Pintar was the one who told police of the sexual misconduct allegation, not Bosnich, who only mentioned it after repeated contacts with police.