According to reports filed with the Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission, the anti-tunnel referendum campaign, Protect Seattle Now, spent more than $42,000 collecting 16,500 valid signatures to qualify a referendum that would overturn three agreements between the city and state on the deep-bore tunnel for a citywide ballot.

That works out to a little more than $2.50 per valid signature---less than the $3.50 Tim Eyman spent for each valid signature to get his anti-tax Initiative 1053 on the ballot last year, but arguably a high price for a measure that may be overturned if city attorney Pete Holmes prevails in his lawsuit to avert a vote on the agreements.

Most of that money went to an Auburn-based paid signature gathering firm called Petition Management Services, which received $28,200 from the anti-tunnel campaign.