San Diego City Council asked to pay mayor's bills

SAN DIEGO (AP) -- A City Council that overwhelmingly wants Mayor Bob Filner to resign is being asked to pay the beleaguered leader's legal bills in a lawsuit filed by his former communications director that accuses him of asking her to work without panties, demanding kisses and telling her he wanted to see her naked.

The City Council was to consider the request late Tuesday as dueling efforts got underway to recall San Diego's first Democratic leader in 20 years.

Seven of nine City Council members have urged Filner to resign, ensuring stiff opposition to paying his legal expenses.

Ann Ravel, chairwoman of the California Fair Political Practices Commission, said an official cannot accept more than $440 a year in donated services. Campaign money can only be used to defend against alleged violations of the state's campaign finance law.

An official can, however, create a legal defense fund under state law, Ravel said, leaving a possible avenue if the City Council rebuffs Filner.

Seven women have offered detailed accounts of Filner's unwanted advances, including touching and slobbering kisses.

Filner, who is 70 and divorced, said Friday that he would enter two weeks of "intensive" therapy Aug. 5, defying calls from his own party leaders to resign. The former 10-term congressman is less than eight months into a four-year term as mayor.

Land-use surveyor Michael Pallamary published a newspaper notice Sunday to begin a recall bid, two days after gay rights activist and newspaper publisher Stampp Corbin did so. Pallamary accused Corbin of being a stealth supporter of the mayor and threatened to file a complaint with the San Diego County district attorney's office alleging election law violations.

Pallamary said Corbin would make little effort to collect the more than 100,000 signatures needed to get a recall measure on the ballot, setting it up to fail and preventing another recall drive for six months.

Corbin denied the accusation Tuesday, saying Pallamary or anyone else was welcome to join the recall drive. He said he wouldn't pay anyone to collect signatures — a common practice in California — but that anyone could visit his office to sign the petition or pick up blank forms to circulate.

Corbin, who was appointed chairman of a city commission under Filner, declined to say if he voted for Filner or how he would cast his ballot in a recall. He said his motive was to bring swift resolution to the controversy.

"What I'm saying is, let the people of San Diego decide," he said. "There's nothing going on in the city, in City Hall. Everyone is focused on this scandal. That is not good for this city."

Confusion over whether recall petitions can circulate concurrently isn't the only procedural flaw uncovered since the mayor came under pressure to resign. The city attorney's office says a rule that voters must cast a ballot on a recall to be eligible to pick a replacement should be repealed because a federal judge struck down a nearly identical law during the successful 2003 recall of California Gov. Gray Davis.

Tony Krvaric, chairman of the San Diego County Republican Party, said Friday that he didn't expect big GOP donors or business leaders to make significant donations to a recall.

"The Democrats made this mess and they have to fix it," he said.