Recall targeting Barrett falls short

Organizers were unable to gather needed signatures

The recall targeting Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett has failed.

Organizers said Tuesday that they did not get the signatures needed to trigger a recall election targeting the four-term mayor.

“It became obvious that I overestimated the demand for changing the direction of the political leadership of Milwaukee,” wrote Allen Jansen, who led the “Save Our City. Milwaukeeans Can’t Wait” group.

“With the successes of downtown growth, there seems to be a lack of appetite for change,” he wrote.

Tuesday was the deadline to file recall signatures. It’s unclear how many petition signatures the group gathered, but the attempt clearly fell short of the 51,000 that would have been needed to force a recall.

“I accept responsibility for the failure of this recall attempt and apologize to the mayor for the annoyance it may have caused,” Jansen wrote in a letter filed Tuesday with the City of Milwaukee Election Commission. “I hope that the political leaders of our community will be successful and ask that even the persons who supported my efforts support the City of Milwaukee.”

Patrick Guarasci, Barrett’s campaign adviser, said the mayor knows work needs to be done to improve the city.

“Mayor Barrett loves this city and he loves this job,” he said. “Under his leadership, Milwaukee has tremendous momentum, but that doesn’t mean the mayor is blind to our challenges. That’s why he is focused on the creation of more familysupporting jobs in all Milwaukee neighborhoods.”

Guarasci added that the mayor is eager to work with anyone who wants to help.

“Even the recall organizers had to admit that city residents appreciate the work he has done,” he said. “We need all hands on deck to meet Milwaukee’s challenges and opportunities. The mayor welcomes anyone who would like to join him in meeting them.”

The group filed a notice in July announcing its recall attempt against Barrett.

Reasons given for the recall included the Milwaukee Streetcar project and concerns about lead exposure from water pipes. The group also accused Barrett of dereliction of duty, saying the mayor had “not fulfilled his obligation to sufficiently protect the residents of the City of Milwaukee from crime.”

In his Tuesday letter, Jansen wrote that he still believes “the city is not performing to its potential.”

“The dangers posed to its citizens exist and the proposed budget cuts to police, fire, education and health will have negative effect on any attempt to get the entire city to rise to that potential,” he wrote.

Barrett says the city may be forced to cut 84 police officer positions and 75 firefighter positions in the 2018 budget.

The Milwaukee Professional Fire Fighters made copies of the recall petition available to its members and the public. Jansen is one of a group of former city firefighters on duty disability who filed a claim with the city in an effort to boost their disability pay.

Patrick Curley, chief of staff to Barrett, has suggested that the firefighters union and Jansen had ulterior motives for their roles in the recall drive. But union officials and Jansen both denied this was the case.

The group’s treasurer was Darryl Farmer, who’s known as “King Rick” and leads the Original Black Panthers of Milwaukee.

Barrett easily won reelection last year, beating south side Ald. Bob Donovan 70% to 30% in April 2016.