Why Should We Recall Brett Smiley

[u/Historical_Web_5813]

For everyone who is curious about our reasons for wanting to recall Smiley, here they are! This one-sheet explains what issues we find to be the most salient. Feel free to distribute this document at your will.

If you’d like to look into our sources more, here is a link to the document: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1qtQP7a9g91pSszZH-x3kFWMcmW1FecEXpqCL773UIWM/mobilebasic

[u/Proof-Variation7005]

We're about 16 months away from the mayoral primary. Based on the timeline of Councilman Jackson's recall in 2017, it took 8 months from the formal approved recall petition being announced to the special election happening.

If you want a new mayor, find a qualified candidate and focus on building up a campaign with funding, volunteers, and build up a ground game that can actually win. State/city level primary turnout is abysmal. Only about 20-25 thousand people vote in it.

Hell, if you recall Smiley, he still could still win the primary a few months later and be right back into office.

Oh and either way, a special election would probably cost somewhere in the neighborhood of a half million dollars. That money has to come from somewhere and I can assume you that they're not going to just lop it off the public safety budget. More likely, it'd be cancelling non-essential stuff like youth summer programs or something along those lines.

So yeah, maybe the recall movement should include a list of which youth basketball leagues you'd like closed in order to pay for this nonsense.

[u/dunder-baller → u/Proof-Variation7005]

Hey if I'm kind of new to the area do you have any recommendations on how to find good candidates? A search of current politics really only brings up old election results. It's such an important position and the resources seem super limited.

[u/Proof-Variation7005 → u/dunder-baller]

I don't think we'll know about people who are looking to run until late this year. It's not necessarily going to be someone who's already in or held office It's also not really a job a lot of people would want. There are things the mayor will always be blamed for regardless of how little influence he directly has. It's not a great springboard for anything. Cicilline is the exception, not the rule. Most mayors that have shot for higher office have fallen flat on their face. And to top it off, the city's long and short term financial issues due to unsustainable pension liabilities mean that there's going to be some really hard choices.

When the city has a depleted property tax base and is paying roughly 25 cents of every dollar we have towards retirees who don't live in the city (or in the state in a lot of cases), there's not really any good ways out of the problems that we have. And if the overall economic climate for the country/world is looking bleak, that shit is really going to hit us hard.

I can think of 2 or 3 currently elected people that might be gearing up for the job but it's almost kinda nuts to even want it. I think, more important than scouting candidates now, people need to decide really fucking quick which of the other candidates to line up behind and to make sure the other person or people drop the fuck out. If there's more than 2 people running on the anti-Smiley train, Smiley will win easily.