District 3 City Council candidate John Hartley was arrested March 27 after two women reported seeing him inside his truck urinating into a cup and masturbating.

Hartley was arrested around 4:15 p.m. on the 4600 block of Vista Street in Kensington. He spent the night in jail, posted a $27,000 bond and was released around 5:30 a.m. on March 28.

Hartley was scheduled to appear in court today, Thursday, April 3, and hopes to have the charges dismissed, or reduced from indecent exposure.

“This was an unfortunate misunderstanding,” said Larry Remer, his campaign consultant. “We hope we can clear it up and John can continue campaigning … He was reacting to a call of nature. Every guy I know has to take a leak.”

Remer said Hartley was walking precincts and had to urinate. He used a cup in his truck. Remer said Hartley was at someone’s door when police officers approached him. He was taken to a police station and later arrested.

Hartley, 65, hired attorney Mike Pancer, who represented former Mayor Roger Hedgecock in his second trial in 1985.

“Until we have resolved the legal issues, John’s not going to comment,” Remer said.

Pancer will appear for Hartley in court.

At press time, it wasn’t yet known what charges Hartley will face.

Hartley’s opponents, with the exception of ex-gay activist James Hartline, said they remain focused on their own campaigns.

“We need to let the legal system handle this situation,” said Todd Gloria, who is running against Hartley for the seat. “In the meantime, nothing has changed in my campaign. I still have thousands of District 3 residents to talk to between now and June 3, and that’s where my focus will continue to stay.”

Candidate Stephen Whitburn also avoided comment.

“The election is two months away. Our campaign has a lot of momentum, and we’re focusing on that,” Whitburn said.

Whitburn, however, did say to KNSD-TV that he was “surprised” by the incident. “I was surprised, and I think everyone was surprised by this,” he said. “We haven’t heard from John yet, and we all owe it to John to wait and hear from him before we say too much about it.”

Candidate James Hartline, an ex-gay Christian activist, did comment on his Web site about Hartley’s arrest, saying Hartley is “an advocate of public lewd acts.”

Hartley is a teacher who served one term as the District 3 council representative from 1989 to 1993. He is running against Gloria, Whitburn, Hartline, Robert Lee and Paul Broadway for Councilmember Toni Atkins’ seat, which Atkins will exit due to term limits in November.

Hartley opted not to run for re-election in 1993, allwoing his staff member, Christine Kehoe, to run and win. Kehoe served two terms.

Kehoe was the first openly lesbian official on the San Diego City Council. When Kehoe finished her last term, Atkins, one of her staff members, ran and was elected to two terms.