There are six days left for opponents of San Diego's minimum wage increase to gather signatures to force the issue onto the ballot.
Jason Roe, spokesman for the business group opposing the minimum wage increase, wouldn't say how many signatures they have now. The San Diego Small Business Coalition, backed by trade groups and the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce, needs to turn in at least 33,866 signatures to the San Diego City Clerk by Sept. 17. If they're successful, an incremental minimum wage increase to $11.50 an hour by 2017 would be postponed until after voters weigh in, likely in June 2016.
A group called Raise Up San Diego was organized by the Center on Policy Initiatives to oppose their efforts. They've hired workers and recruited volunteers to stand next to signature gatherers and tell people not to sign their petitions. They also have their own petitions that are meant to act as pledges to not sign the official petition.
As expected, the 30-day petition process has been nasty, with accusations of aggression and lying on both sides.
Some signature gatherers have been filmed telling lies, including a man filmed outside Trader Joe's in Hillcrest saying the petition is to raise the minimum wage.
I also overheard a signature gatherer who approached employees of Big Front Door in University Heights on Saturday afternoon saying he was collecting signatures to put the minimum wage increase into effect.
"Didn't that already happen?" an employee asked.
The man, who declined to give his name, said, "No, the mayor vetoed it, so we need to get signatures to get them to pass it."
The employees both said they didn't want to sign, and the man left.
Roe said any signature gatherers found making such inaccurate pitches will be fired. He said the man outside Trader Joe's was identified and let go, and he said he was working to identify the man I observed.
Janelle Riella, the president of Presidio Public Affairs Group who is working with the San Diego Small Business Coalition, recorded two videosTuesday of a woman yelling at signature gatherers at Target on Sports Arena Boulevard.
"Why don't you work at the minimum wage?" the woman shouts at the signature gatherer, then swears at him and walks away.
Crystal Page, a spokeswoman for Raise Up San Diego, said the woman is not affiliated with her group. Page said Raise Up San Diego has a mix of paid workers and volunteers, but did not know how many of each. She said paid workers are earning the living wage, which in San Diego is above $14 an hour.
Because signature gatherers are encountering opposition outside grocery stores, Roe said they are also visiting voters at their homes. A KPBS editor was visited at his Del Cerro home on Saturday by a signature gatherer who said accurately that he was collecting signatures to put the minimum wage increase on the ballot.
The San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce also released a radio ad with its CEO, former Mayor Jerry Sanders, telling people to sign the petition.
"San Diego unions want a 44 percent wage increase," Sanders says in the ad. "A 44 percent increase will harm hundreds of small businesses and our local economy."
Meanwhile, City Council President Todd Gloria, who drafted the original minimum wage hike, recorded robocalls urging people not to be "deceived by lying out-of-town petitioners." At the end of the call, a voice says it was paid for by "Hardworking San Diegans for Earned Sick Days and Minimum Wage, a coalition off nonprofits, employee organizations, local businesses, faith-based organizations and Council President Todd Gloria. Major funding by United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 135 Political Action Committee and American Federation of Teachers Guild Local 1931 San Diego and Grossmont Cuyamaca Community Colleges Committee on Political Education."
On Thursday, the three Republican City Council members who oppose the minimum wage hike helped with a final push to get signatures.
City Councilman Scott Sherman stood outside Albertsons on Waring Road in Allied Gardens and asked people to sign.
One woman, her hair still in curlers, said she heard on The Mike Slater Show that the petition drive was nearing its end and that signature gatherers would be at Albertsons. So she rushed out of the house to sign.
Sherman said he is supporting the effort because people should earn their raises.
"I believe everybody has something inside them that is worth more than minimum wage," he said. "Take your minimum wage job, figure out what that is and move your way up the ladder."
Two Raise Up San Diego volunteers stood near Sherman and the signature gatherers and asked people signing if they were sure they wanted to sign.
"Seventy nine cents does not hurt small businesses," the Raise Up volunteer said.
"It will hurt me," a woman signing replied. "I own a small business. I know."
Sherman said he's heard the San Diego Small Business Coalition is on schedule to have enough signatures to turn in next week.
