Take Back Toledo hands in thousands of signatures
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TOLEDO, OHIO -- Toledo Mayor Carty Finkbeiner's days in office may be numbered. At least that is what the community group Take Back Toledo hopes.
The group handed in over 40 thousand signatures Thursday for a recall vote.
This is a big step towards removing Finkbeiner from office but it is only the first step. Every single signature must be counted and verified before it is official the group got the signatures required.
40 thousand plus signatures means a lot of paper. In this case... six boxes full.
"Since January 12th our focus has been nothing but getting these signatures," said Brian Schwartz, Take Back Toledo Field Coordinator.
The group needs less than 20 thousand to get the recall on the ballot. The Board of Elections will work overtime to make the ballots are counted by April 20th.
"The seasonals alone for making sure the petitions are valid is going to cost between 10 and 15 thousand dollars," said Jeremy Demagall, Board of Elections Deputy Director.
After all their signing and collecting Take Back Toledo plans to take a week off. But they are not really resting.
"The big job of getting a good administration into office here in Toledo lies ahead of us," said Tom Schlachter, Take Back Toledo Chairman.
The group says they have a lot they are looking for in a new mayor.
"A mayor who understands business and understands that you simply will take the city into a death spiral if you continue to tax what is left," said Schwartz.
"It's time to get out, reach out and help the whole area," said Schlachter. "Rising tides will float all boats."
Take Back Toledo is confident they have enough signatures to get the recall on a ballot in September and the group believes that when it does, the recall will pass and Finkbeiner will be out of a job.
"I can only think of three or four instances out of the 45,000 signatures gathered where people expressed any sort of disapproval of what we were doing," said Schwartz.
Mayor Finkbeiner was in Cleveland Thursday, meeting with President Obama's auto adviser.
He says he is only concerned about two things: balancing the budget and stimulating the economy.
