By Jeff Jazmierski, Copy Editor
In early November, during a final week of unexpectedly pleasant weather before the start of that special hell Nebraskans call “winter,” the Mayor Suttle Recall Committee brought its efforts to UNO.
Though they did bring the requisite local volunteer workers, the effort on campus also included a questionable element – professional signature gatherers from out of state, hired to do the committee’s dirty work. Apparently, there weren’t enough actual Omahans interested in recalling the mayor, or at least interested enough to take time away from their regular jobs to stand out in the elements and do it for free.
Sure, the recall committee could’ve done it the right way, with local volunteers giving their own time and resources to promote a cause they genuinely believed in. But that wasn’t going well enough for them, and the clock was ticking. In an effort to pull in signatures at the last minute, the committee brought in mercenaries. This unwelcome element had no real personal interest in the outcome of the recall election and wouldn’t be here to witness the effects if it had been successful. They were just in it for the money. Not that they ever admitted it – one said he was doing it “for the Constitution.”
Balderdash. The Constitution wasn’t under threat and never had been.
At any rate, we can all take comfort that the recall effort, misguided and wasteful as it was, ultimately failed. The cost to the city was estimated recently at nearly $350,000. That’s roughly the salary of 10 full-time school teachers, firefighters or police officers.
What a waste.
