The man who stood up to Calgary city hall, where so many others did not, knows he’s nowhere near getting the impossible number of signatures needed to punt Mayor Jyoti Gondek out of office.
Landon Johnston started in February by himself, had some volunteers join the fight and now he’s counted 51,000 petition signatures with more expected to be turned in by Thursday when the Dump Gondek petition drive crosses the finish line.
“Every signature was a little tiny story of somebody going out of their way to come and sign this petition knowing it wouldn’t do anything.”
Johnston is not making excuses but for every person who signed the petition to show Gondek the door there were two other individuals who didn’t pick up the pen because they figured it would do no good.
Will Gondek claim a win because she survived the petition drive where the number of signatures needed to remove her as mayor was about three times higher than the votes the mayor received in the last election?
“It validates everything she’s done up to this point. That’s the truth. We didn’t get enough signatures. She can use this as a win. Her supporters can use this a win.”
Johnston does add, recall or no recall, Gondek is the most unpopular mayor in Calgary’s history.
The Dump Gondek point man also says if Premier Danielle Smith does rejig the rules around recall, as she is expected to do by making it easier to oust a city politician, the fight continues.
“If they lower that threshold I’m going to take out Peter Demong,” says Johnston.
Demong, who pretends he’s a conservative, is Johnston’s councillor.
“Trust me, it’s just going to take one domino for the rest of these people to see the writing on the wall. I’m putting them on notice.”
Yes, so often the mayor’s supporters say she is only one vote on council.
“She’s just one vote on council when things aren’t going well but then she’s suddenly the mayor when she thinks things are going well. I’m just so tired of that excuse,” says Johnston.
“So that’s fine we’ll go after the other votes as well. That will be a whole lot easier.”
What does Johnston think of the recall effort?
“First off, the mayor knows my name. Now my voice has been heard.
“Anybody can do this, not just me.
“Any normal person if they scream loud enough people will hear them.”
Johnston started his petition drive solo and scored 50 signatures the first day.
In the first 10 days he went to hundreds of homes in his neighbourhood of Midnapore and a good portion of people didn’t know who the mayor was or they asked him what she’d done.
This past Sunday he went to a hundred homes and “either they slammed the door in my face because they disagree with me or they gave me a hug and invited me into their house.”
He says every single person knew why he was there.
So the man who says he almost got stabbed once downtown getting signatures and was spat on four times by those accusing him of attacking democracy mentions the “amazing volunteers” who helped him and put in hours and days and weeks of effort.
Johnston insists he can only speak for himself in saying this recall was all about firing Gondek or getting her to resign.
While others are accused of using the petition for their own gain the man behind the recall says he’s focused on signatures, signatures, signatures.
Have to ask Johnston about fans booing Gondek at the hockey game.
“Did she not think that would happen? She’s the least popular mayor in the history of Calgary,” he says.
“I think it’s just how pissed off people are.”
Johnston tells me he installed air conditioning for one of the other individuals on the ice with Gondek for the ceremonial puck drop.
The petitioner says he will “fight tooth and nail” for a better recall law and hopes to meet with the premier.
Ever the optimist, Johnston also predicts in the next city election in the fall of next year we will see one of the highest turnouts of Calgary voters ever.
“We’re in this predicament because people stayed home.”
rbell@postmedia.com
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