Former Metropolitan Transit System employee, 34-year-old Grecia Figueroa, who has been at the center of the Nathan Fletcher scandal, wrote a blog post about the situation on Saturday and read it out loud in her blog, “This is My Take."
Figueroa claims she was wrongfully terminated the same day Nathan Fletcher announced his candidacy for state senate. In the lawsuit that was filed in late March, Figueroa claims that while Fletcher was chair of the MTS Board, he made advances at her through Instagram direct messaging which later escalated to him allegedly bringing her into a conference room at the MTS building and assaulting her.
A few days before the lawsuit was filed, Fletcher announced he was going into inpatient treatment for PTSD, trauma and alcohol abuse. The day the lawsuit was filed, Fletcher ultimately resigned from his position as chair of the MTS Board and then resigned from his job as San Diego County Supervisor effective May 15.
Nathan Fletcher Scandal
Get top local stories in San Diego delivered to you every morning. Sign up for NBC San Diego's News Headlines newsletter.
In her blog post titled “A Crumbling Façade” Figueroa writes: “It’s no wonder people feel they’ll be judged when speaking up about sexual harassment, if seeking vindication of one’s own rights leads them to be called a liar, a mistress, a gold digger, and far worse names. It’s no wonder 75% of sexual harassment cases in the workplace go unreported. Because even other women will label the situation a 'salacious scandal' before a single piece of evidence has hit the courtroom or an investigation has at least begun. That is an insult, and it’s no wonder women feel threatened to come forward.”
The blog post comes just two days before the San Diego County Board of Supervisors will meet to determine the future for the District 4 seat. The board can choose to call a special election, make an appointment, or make an appointment until there is a special election.
There are four other seats on the board, evenly split along party lines in Fletcher's absence. As of Monday, Supervisor Jim Desmond told NBC 7 that he was seeking an election to fill the seat; Supervisor Joel Anderson shared with NBC 7 that he was looking to fill the seat with an appointment, which Supervisor Terra Lawsom-Remer also said she preferred in an op-ed she penned. Supervisor Nora Vargas, however, has not publicly stated her preference.
To read Figueroa's blog post in its entirety click here.
