UPDATE: I spoke to Mendenhall today. Here are the basics: Throughout the Issue 9 campaign - he was involved in this along with Issue 8 - the hundreds of volunteers constantly heard from people who wanted to do something to change Akron leadership. The "special place in hell" comment was a last push to really get this effort going. Mendenhall and the other volunteers decided they could not run a successful recall campaign unless a couple of hundred people would work to collect signatures and campaign for change, and Mendenhall volunteered to create the website to determine if there is enough community interest to make this a possibility. That remains to be seen. He said that this was a group decision.
Joe Finley supports the recall effort and will probably be on the ballot in 2009 for one of the at-large council seats, Mendenhall said. He added that the numbers in the 2007 Democratic primary, and numbers from a recent poll show (I don't know anything about this or who it was conducted for) Democrats essentially split 50/50 on whether or not they would vote for Plusquellic. The poll did show that those who think Plusquellic has done a good job still dislike many of his personal qualities and that his positives are relatively weak. Additonally, about 150 Republicans contained within the sample of the poll. He said they were "100% opposed to Issue 8." (end update)
Local bombshell, Ohio.com: A local attorney who has been a constant adversary of Akron Mayor Don Plusquellic plans to launch an effort to have the mayor recalled.
Warner Mendenhall will start a Web site — www.changeakronnow.com — Tuesday morning to recruit volunteers for the recall effort. He wants to enlist about 200 people to gather the 3,000 signatures needed to put the recall on the ballot.
And also a PD Quote: "Half the city doesn't like him," Mendenhall said Monday. "We think it's essentially time to have a referendum to decide whether or not the people of Akron want him to continue to be mayor."
The group will have to collect just under 3200 signatures to force a special election. My guess is that it will get done….with lots and lots and lots of close scrutiny on every single name that appears from those who do the checking. If Mendenhall and Co. get enough valid signatures, there will be a simple up or down vote in a special election where turnout will be key and results hard to predict. As an FYI for those that don't know, Mendenhall was one of the leaders against the "Sewers for Scholarships" ballot issue that went up in flames on November 4. Oh, and estimated cost for the special election is around $160,000 for the always needing more money Summit County BOE. Fully expect that to be a major reason to try and convince people not to sign anything. The county wastes money everyday on dumb things and pet projects and is already massively in debt, so $160,000 isn't the end of the world. Anyhow, we just spent millions to update the state voting system to help elect and inexperienced socialist as President of the United States. But back to the topic at hand.
Shaming FDR and Mike Bloomberg, Plusquellic won reelection for his seemingly 3,481th consecutive term (actually first elected in 1987) last September, defeating Joe Finley in the Democratic primary 53-47%. 11% of eligible voters turned out. Akron pride! The narrow win was not considered a surprise, that would be an understatement - it was shockingly close. The general was then a mere formality, as the local Republicans decided it would be best to not run a candidate. Always a good strategy to win elections, guys! Don got just under 16,000 of the approx. 20,000 voters (quick math from the BOE site, someone may want to check that, it is late) who could have checked his name, even though no one was against him on the ballot. That is not very good. When Plusquellic won the primary, I wrote: The race was supposed to be a blowout by all accounts. Finley was massively outspent and faced constant ridicule in local media (including but not limited to the ABJ), including the blogs. He had almost no name recognition outside the ward he used to represent. Finley by most accounts did not run a good campaign, though I can not speak to that directly. Most analysts said Finley performed at an abysmal level in his head to head debates with Plusquellic. Yet he still got 47%. The majority of that 47% wasn't pro-Joe Finley. It was anti-The Don.
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For my final post at Politics.Ohio.com, I wanted to give our readers a few blogs for you to check out that I believe do an excellent job here in Akron. Let me preface these references by saying these are a few of my personal favorites. Time is a finite resource and I don't read every blog. I know there are lots of other good sites out there as the Akron blogosphere continues to build its reputation.
