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What if they proposed a recall and nobody showed up

The recall campaign against Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon ended with a whimper.

After a lot of public bluster and criticism of Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon, the recall campaign against him ended with a whimper.

Anna Gaines and other leaders of a group called American Citizens United had instigated the recall in response to Gordon’s moderate positions on immigration law enforcement in Phoenix.

Another impetus was Mayor Gordon’s verbal confrontation with Sheriff Joe Arpaio over the county lawman’s “crime suppression” sweeps.

Gordon accused the sheriff of racial profiling tactics, and that brought out ACU to announce they were mounting a recall campaign.

  Some elected officials and citizens in the city – many Latinos among them – took the threat seriously enough to organize a show of support for the mayor and their own, pro-Gordon public relations campaign.

But as the Aug. 28, 5 p.m. deadline for filing voter signatures loomed, no one showed up to submit petitions.

Nada. Zip. Zilch.

Seems the whole campaign was all talk. But its organizers put on a good show.

Gaines was even arrested by Phoenix police for trespassing at Borders during an Arpaio book signing when she tried to collect signatures.

The Phoenix mayor sent out a comment on the failed recall, but what was more interesting were comments by Bob Harlen, an ACU founder who fled once he realized the recall wagon had no horses to pull it.

“A group of what can only be described as, loose cannons of the immigration enforcement movement, had four months to turn in 23,751 good signatures from registered Phoenix voters,” the statement said.

 “The deadline came at 5 p.m. Thursday and the deadline went with no one from the group, American Citizens United, showing up to turn in the required signatures or to take responsibility for not having them.

“Anna Gaines and a few others, unknown to me, decided to go behind my back and try to re-call the mayor of Phoenix without any research, plan, preparation and, without even notifying the president of the organization whose name they were using, of what they were doing. The project was destined to fail from the onset and should have never been attempted in the first place.

“The American Citizens United mission was to bridge the divide between Anglos and Hispanics, instead this ill advised re-call effort did the opposite and only helped to further divide the Phoenix community.”