Морин О’Коннор: От мэра Сан-Диего до обвинений в отмывании денег.

Former mayor of San Diego

Maureen Frances O'Connor (born July 14, 1946) is an American Democratic politician from California. She was the youngest person ever to be elected to the San Diego City Council and the first woman to serve as mayor of San Diego from 1986 to 1992. In 2013, federal prosecutors charged her with money laundering, but deferred prosecution based on her agreement to pay back the funds involved. The charges were formally dismissed on February 24, 2015.

Maureen O'Connor was born in 1946 in San Diego, California. She was one of 13 children, including a twin named Mavourneen who later became her campaign manager. In 1961, one of her brothers was stabbed by an employee at the Campus Drive in movie theater in Rolando who was eventually convicted of involuntary manslaughter. The family unsuccessfully sued the Campus company and her father became locally famous as the president of the San Diego Court Watchers Association. O'Connor graduated from San Diego State University in 1970 with a Bachelor's degree in Psychology. After graduation, O'Connor was a physical education teacher and counselor for Rosary High School She became inspired to enter politics after seeing Indians being treated poorly at a bicentennial celebration for the city and a City Hall taxicab scandal. In 2000 she joined consumer activists in decrying the notoriously destructive effects of utility deregulation on California. "This is turning into a nightmare for San Diego," O'Connor said. "It [deregulation] didn't work, unfortunately. . Let's admit it, fix it and save San Diego." In 1987, she was the first Mayor of San Diego to march in the Gay Pride Parade alongside the mother of an AIDS patient. She was fulfilling a campaign promise to the LGBT community. She was cheered and booed. She said she was not condoning or condemning anyone, just showing support.

O'Connor met her future husband Robert O. Peterson,

In February 2013, O'Connor was charged in federal court with money laundering. Under an agreement with prosecutors, prosecution was deferred, contingent on her repaying $2 million which she allegedly took from a nonprofit foundation she managed, the R. P. Foundation, created by her late husband Robert O. Peterson. The fund is reported to be virtually defunct, its sole assets being $2 million owed to it by unspecified foundation insiders. Prosecutors said her gambling activity exceeded $1 billion over the period 2000–2008, with net losses of around $13 million, leaving her "destitute". O'Connor attributed a brain tumor, which she had surgery for in 2011, as the reason for her addiction to gambling.