The Recall that Never Was

The farce posing as a recall is nearly over, although it may extended if Chris Olps manages to figure out how to properly plead his case.  

The minimal effort shown by Chris Olps and the the core Recall leadership clearly shows that this effort was never meant to succeed in the stated goal of recalling the Mayor.  Olps spent many a lonely two Saturday hours per week sitting under a pop up canopy at Old Poway Park, waiting for people to.... come to him.  

Only near the end, did they even try to get their message out by standing on a street corner, waving their signs.  In the process somehow managing to violate the majority of the sign ordinances in the City.  Sneaking around at night to mark unearned territory.  Never a real attempt to follow through on their stated message.

What was it all for?

Donors.  

The real effort here was to collect the names, phone numbers, physical and electronic addresses of good people who lack the time and effort to see through the half truths and bamboozling data dumps of loosely collected minutiae.  Getting the names and addresses of people who, whether they know it or not, have been farmed and cultivated into loose supporters, by Olps' various social media doomsday personalities.  All to convert those signatures into monetary donations.

It's been known for decades that one of the most powerful ways to influence people and get them to change their minds is to have them sign their name on the dotted line.  Get them to sign their name and, following the psychological principle of consistency, they will fall over themselves to believe and support whatever it is they have just attested to.  Even if it starts out small and seemingly insignificant. 

From North Korea to Vietnam to General Mills, sign your name to a form and you'll twist your world view to spy for another country, to turn on your own, or even to change your choice in which brand of oatmeal you prefer in the morning. 

Why?

Two simple reasons.

1. Money for political campaigns for Mayor (2022) and District 4 (2024)
2. To drive away other qualified candidates in District 4.

Chris Olps will run in 2022 for the Mayor of Poway.  He will not run to win.  He will run to keep his name in the paper.  In his social media sphere.  To make sure that people remember to continue donating money for his true goal in 2024.  But, perhaps most importantly, he will run to create political environment toxic enough to drive away residents who are actually qualified.

How many signatures has the recall group collected? / Will we ever know?

The question people are really asking is "how many valid signatures has the recall group collected?"  Versions of this question have been asked to the Recall leadership on multiple occasions by multiple groups, only to be clumsily deflected with claims of lack of time, with vague handwaving numbers, and claims of lack of coherent organization. 

To summarize: The Recall campaign defects these questions with variations on claims of their own incompetence.

In truth, the Recall campaign likely does not know, nor does it really care, how many legally valid signatures they have in their possession.  The detail of if the signature meets the legally required criteria of being submissible in a electoral petition are irrelevant when you simply want to know where you need to mail the campaign donor slips.

The most educated estimates place the total number of collections at around 1500.  This is about 1/5th the number needed to actually effect a recall, but an enormous expansion of Olps' base of donors.  And the smartest thing he did was to get other people to collect the signatures for him.

In the end, the list of signatures will never be turned in to the City.

The final act in this charade, or "Exit Strategy" as some have called it, requires that the supporters be bolstered in their feelings of self righteousness.  And the clearest path there is through persecution and the sacrifice of someone else for the cause.

Enter, the "Noble Sacrifice"

(There are other terms, but this one seems to be popping up online recently and is the most likely choice)

The Recall effort will claim they are withholding the submission of their signatures to the City because, even though they "know" there are far more than enough, they wish to save the City of Poway, and its abused and put upon residents, the costly burden of a special election.  For while the will of the voters is strong and clear, the goal was not met in a timely manner because of (Pick one or more) ->external forces that be/entrenched interests/mainstream media/something other than our own gross technical incompetence/definitely avoid "lack of actual political support")

For those of you who feel you’ve been duped into signing your name over to be a donor for Chris Olps’ Mayoral or District 4 political ambitions, feel free to detail your concerns to powayvotes@gmail.com and they will be addressed where possible.

In the end, Chris Olps was right when he said his critics were wrong about this effort costing Poway $1M in a special election.  The purpose was never to get an election at all.  The cost to the City of Poway will be $0.  The cost to those who have signed their identity away to him will be much, much  higher.