(AP) The price could be steep to gather more than 100,000 signatures in time to recall Mayor Bob Filner amid sexual harassment allegations that have stunned San Diego.
Organizers behind dueling efforts are joining forces to beat a 39-day deadline for gathering petition signatures to get it done.
Land-use consultant Michael Pallamary asked business leaders, City Council members and others who have called for Filner's resignation to open their checkbooks and provide organizational muscle. They will have to gather at least 101,597 signatures - 15 percent of registered voters - to qualify for the ballot in time, though there is a possibility of a 30-day extension.
Pallamary acknowledged a need for paid signature-gatherers to succeed - an opinion echoed by California political operatives.
Rob Stutzman, communications director for former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger during the 2003 recall of Schwarzenegger's predecessor, Gray Davis, said signature-gathering firms told him the anti-Filner camp would need to raise up to $700,000 to beat the deadline.
"It's virtually impossible to do this without paid signatures, no matter how many volunteers or how intense the opposition to the mayor," said Stutzman, whose firm worked on the mayoral campaign of a Filner rival, Nathan Fletcher.
The heavy presence of tourists and other visitors in San Diego further complicates the job, Stutzman said. Direct mail is an effective, but expensive route.
Pallamary appeared at a news conference outside City Hall with gay rights activist and newspaper publisher Stampp Corbin, who was first to begin a recall drive and opposes paying anyone to gather signatures. The two men exchanged bitter words last week but said Friday they put their differences aside.
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