Openly gay congressional candidate Carl DeMaio has been called "a new kind of Republican" by members of his party, but allegations leveled against the former San Diego councilman on Friday were all too familiar.

Former campaign aide Todd Bosnich claims DeMaio repeatedly subjected him to inappropriate touching and sexual harassment, telling CNN the candidate even masturbated in front of him.

"I came over to his office, door was open. And he was masturbating," Bosnich said. "I saw his hand, his penis in his hand and he had a smile on his face. And as soon as I came over he was looking at me."

After finally confronting DeMaio about this and other alleged incidents of unwelcome kissing and groping, the 29-year-old staffer says he was fired.

"It was the very next day, in the morning, that the campaign manager called me into his office and said that Carl lost his trust in me and that he'd terminated me," Bosnich said. "He offered me a position in the county Republican Party and also told me to sign a non-disclosure agreement in exchange for $50,000."

For his part, DeMaio completely denies harassing Bosnich, who he says was fired for "a well-documented plagiarism incident of taking a report from the National Journal and passing it off as his own work." Additionally, DeMaio said Bosnich is being investigated for a campaign office break-in, a claim CNN was unable to verify with the San Diego police.

After CNN's segment ran Friday afternoon, a law firm representing Bosnich released a four-page polygraph report they claim proves their client's truthfulness. Answering questions that included "Did you fabricate the story about Carl DeMaio masturbating in front of you?" and "Did you fabricate the story about Carl DeMaio touching your sexual parts?" (both "no"s) the polygraph examiner found "no deception indicated" by Bosnich's answers.

[Image via Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP]