It’s in the homestretch.With less than a week to go in the Recall Gondek campaign, the final result is hardly in doubt. But the campaign has laid bare the gaps in the existing recall legislation as well as the emerging political divide in the city itself.Sometime on April 4, recall organizer Landon Johnston will trudge up the steps of city hall and deliver boxes of signed petitions to the city clerk’s office to be tabulated and counted. Exactly how many are in those boxes is yet to be determined, but there is little doubt it will fall far short of the 514,284 needed to force Jyoti Gondek from office.Nonetheless, city clerk Kate Martin confirmed Wednesday her office is hiring as many as 10 additional assistants to count and verify those that did put pen to paper and release the results sometime within the next six weeks or so.“The legislation is very prescriptive in terms of what the city clerk must be counting,” she said. “Things we’ll be looking for — does each page of the recall petition contain the notice of the recall, as set out in the act? Does the petition include names? Does it include an address? Is each signature witnessed? We’ll also be looking for an affidavit.”.As of last Friday, Johnston told media he had personally counted about 42,000 signatures and had a roughly equal number to go. Before they can be submitted each sheet has to be notarized and authenticated.At the end of the 45-day counting process, a special meeting will be held at City Hall after May 18 to post the results and determine next steps. If the threshold is met — and it most likely won’t — Gondek would be immediately replaced with the deputy mayor and a mayoral by-election would be held within 180 days.Ironically enough, Gondek would be eligible to run.Under the Alberta legislation as it is presently constituted, politicians can only face one recall attempt per four-year term.But that’s the least of the concerns with the law that critics say makes it too difficult to remove elected officials from office. There are also concerns about the role of third parties and advertisers.It comes amid a backdrop of opening the municipal system to political parties.Johnston — a humble HVAC technician — had no idea he was opening a proverbial can of worms when he filed the first notice of recall in the city’s history on February 5. Even as recently as last Friday, he portrayed it as a humble, grassroots driven campaign led by himself even as outsiders swooped in to take up the campaign..That role fell to Project YYC, a group of political insiders who were all too ready to intervene.In an interview with The Western Standard, PYYC director John Williams — a longtime UCP and Conservative Party of Canada fundraiser and outreach — confirmed they had been gearing up for a run at Gondek for months before they were caught flat footed by Johnston, who came out of the blue.They had volunteers, signs and all the elements in place and were waiting for warmer spring weather to pull the trigger as a dry run for the next municipal election knowing full well the half million vote threshold was almost impossible to reach. And though he admitted the group is looking to eventually field candidates as a formal party, he said they entered the recall vote “for all the right reasons.” Namely, Gondek implemented a ‘climate emergency’ she never ran on; introduced a 7% tax hike; committed to an arena deal; bungled the Green Line and refused to meet Jewish leaders at Hanukkah — the list goes on.And yes, he readily admitted to crashing Johnston’s parade, who he said is “about as green as it gets.”.“You know what?’ You can complain about that till the sky’s black. Nothing's gonna change now. Take your efforts and focus them on everything that's going to make the difference,”Project YYC organizer John Williams.For his part, the once idealistic Johnston admitted he’s become jaded and cynical by the process. When asked by a reporter if the recall campaign was a springboard for a future run at the mayor’s chair, Johnston was succinct: “No.”“I never realized how cutthroat politics is. I don’t want any part of it.”When asked if he had any advice for the likes of the disillusioned Johnston, Williams was equally blunt: it’s all about winning.“It's keep your eye on the prize. And the interesting thing is because he's all concerned about the process and how it's been legislated like, "you know what? You can complain about that till the sky’s black. Nothing's gonna change now. Take your efforts and focus them on everything that's going to make the difference,” he said.“Maybe we have a different thought process, but our goals are all the same.“
