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On July 1, a campaign to recall Mayor Ted Wheeler filed its petition with the City Auditor’s Office. Total Recall PDX, the political action committee behind the effort, will start collecting signatures July 9. WW obtained the pitch to recall Wheeler that the campaign filed with the city. The 200-word rationale, published on wweek.com, claims Wheeler has tarnished Portland’s reputation and failed to provide adequate leadership during a turbulent year. “Portlanders have lost confidence that their government will be there in times of need,” reads the filing. Here’s what our readers had to say:
Sophlady, via wweek.com: “The lack of specificity in the recall campaign’s statement is bizarre. If someone has done something so bad a recall is necessary, one would expect it to be easy to say what.”
V S, via wweek.com: “Wow, that is a crappy campaign statement! He should be recalled because he got a plurality is really bizarre to include. It seems pretty clear that this campaign did not choose to poll test their messaging. I hope the rest of the campaign is similarly poorly organized.”
L Banes, via wweek.com: “Just word salad. There is no substance to the recall statement and most importantly, what’s the alternative? No thanks, not signing this nonsense.”
Tim Llennodo, via Facebook: “[Wheeler] failed to meet any expectations. I voted for him in the general thinking consistency may have been helpful in the turmoil. It was not.”
@Enbionic, via Twitter: “And to think @WWeek endorsed dark money Wheeler, who abandons this city any time there’s an emergency and we need a leader. Your hands are bloody over the 42 people who died this weekend with hyperthermia, WWeek. We deserve better than Wheeler and those who endorse him.”
MarySue Healy, via wweek.com: “Are there any betting sites taking this on? If so, I’d like to place a $500 wager that the recall effort flops. If it dies and I win, I’ll donate the money to a homeless charity. Then at least all the recall campaign’s time, money, resources, energy will have yielded something beneficial at least, and not just a bunch of angry, no-solutions hot air.”
Gymrat, via wweek.com: “A Wheeler recall is one of those places where the far left and the far right meet. For the far left, Wheeler didn’t abolish the police department, spoke out against violence by extreme left-wing rioters, and didn’t turn Portland into a Marxist state. For the far right, Wheeler didn’t label peaceful BLM protesters as terrorists, didn’t ship all the homeless out of town or put them all in jail, and actually attended a BLM protest. The rest of us understand that Wheeler is working with a no-win situation in which many will be unhappy with him and doing his best with complex issues.”
Maria Corban, via Facebook: “Here’s the pitch for the reason it’s going nowhere, in five words: ‘The likely alternatives are worse.’ Which sounds a lot like the reason he was just reelected.”
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Submit to: 2220 NW Quimby St., Portland, OR 97210.
Email: mzusman@wweek.com