San Diego County Supervisor Dave Roberts wants to keep his job, and he believes voters will focus on the issues and not on the scandal he was embroiled in last year.
On Wednesday, Roberts was surrounded by his husband and four of their adopted children, who carried campaign signs as he entered the Registrar of Voters building and went upstairs to file his official nomination papers.
He was all smiles, and continued smiling even as reporters asked him about the three former staffers who claimed he forced them to spend time working on his political campaign, that he had an inappropriate relationship with his driver and even offered one of his staffers a bribe to keep quiet.
Roberts was asked why voters would choose him after all of the drama that swirled around him last year.
"I have a tremendous history and track record of success as a county supervisor," he said. "I had employee issues. I took responsibility for those issues. I quickly brought on employees that were doing the job now. They've been with us over a year, again, tremendous successes, and I believe that this election will be focused on the issues."
Roberts admitted mistakes were made and lessons learned.
"Last year was a great lesson for me in that we have to put the strictest ethical standards in place, and that's really what we've done to make sure that we and everybody that's involved in my office follows those rules," Roberts said.
Roberts did not support the decision of his fellow supervisors to pay $300,000 to settle the claims filed against him.
Roberts is the first to file for his seat, but Encinitas Mayor Kristin Gaspar and Escondido Mayor Sam Abed have both announced they plan to run.
