In its third week of gathering signatures, the recall committee indicates it is halfway to reaching its mark of 936 signatures to ask the governor to issue a new election for the mayor’s seat in Oakdale.
Organizers are sharing the numbers of its chairman Bridget Benoit Perkins (678-326-0176) and co-chairman, Aaron Lindsay (337-532-6565), in an attempt to give all residents the opportunity to consider signing the petition to recall Mayor Gene Paul.
Perkins said they have been using Facebook™ to receive private messages from those wishing to sign the petition and referrals from voters in the city but not everyone uses Facebook, so they are asking interested persons to contact them.
With a 180-day timeline to gather one-third of the registered voters in the area, organizers are hoping to do this quickly so they can move forward for Oakdale’s future. Perkins said the group may host a public signing event at the end, but right now word-of-mouth and neighborhood campaigns are working for the group despite many residents being harassed. However, Mayor Gene Paul has denied any harassment of members of the community, but Perkins said it is occurring. She said his intimidation and bullying tactics are not going to work citing he made someone leave city property and even reported a volunteer accusing him of utilizing school facilities. (None of these accusations have been validated despite some people calling to identify residents who were reportedly affected by the mayor’s actions.)
She reminded everyone the petition will not be shared with anyone in the community. It will be turned over to the state for verification. If the organizers do not reach their goal in signatures, Perkins said those lists will be destroyed.
Perkins said the recall was organized because of broken campaign promises and missing money from city hall (approximately $897,818). “He says the people need someone to blame. We don’t need someone to blame because there is someone to blame and it’s him. We need to take care of that. Why did she (former City Clerk Melissa Schaefer) think she could take that money while working under him. Something made her believe she could do that and get away with it. It’s his job as mayor to supervise employees, and he didn’t.”
