What Happened to the Recall?

By Paul Fremmelt

Whatever happened to that misguided attempt to usurp the will of the voters? You know; those citizens who cast their ballots in the election last year desiring change and a new direction for our community? What happened to all the touted success in gathering ‘hundreds and hundreds’ of signatures in their vain attempt to recall our Mayor and three town councilors?

The deadline has passed. For weeks, and months, we had heard of such wonderful progress and support for this effort, which officially began the second week of August. Even after Mayor Tom Morrissey challenged the results in court, we heard Stan Garner (head of the group) state “We are still gathering signatures.” and “they have collected 974 signatures….I couldn’t believe we got that many in just 17 days”. (and neither could we). And finally from Steve Smith, ” It is growing exponentially every day.” **the source referenced is The Payson Roundup.**

The deadline has passed, and most of the folks in town who follow real, factual news knew it was too much to ask. Many informed citizens who were involved in the gathering of signatures for Propositions 401 and 402, knew exactly how difficult gathering that many signatures was, and in such a short time!? And in the case of the propositions, the majority of voters were in favor of them, as they passed by a 2 to 1 margin.

This latest failed effort NEVER had the support of the majority of voters. The people voted for change, and an end to the crony tactics that have been the norm in Payson for decades.

The deadline has passed. And now, only silence from the cartel who set about the task to undo the will of the voters. Not a word from the fake profiles who attached themselves to social media groups and pages, attempting to spread their hatred and false narrative to those, desiring the truth. It will be interesting to see how the local news media and the others opposed to bringing truth to Payson “spin” this latest failure. They have already had to adjust their narrative and modify their agenda, after two separate defeats in court.

The deadline has passed. Only silence from them. but they have ‘Poked the Bear’ and the citizens of Payson are not to be silenced any longer. We are taking back our town!

What we have seen happening across the country for the past three years is now unfolding before very our eyes in our little community of Payson.  The far left radicals across our nation cannot come to grips with the fact they lost the election three years ago.  They disrupt, obstruct, investigate, block and make every attempt to prevent President Trump from 

accomplishing what he promised to do while campaigning.  

In the same way, a group of local malcontents still have not gotten over the fact that our former mayor was voted out.  On top of that, for the first time ever, a ‘write-in’ candidate was elected to the council.  Inconceivable!  But it happened.  

Now they want to negate a valid election with a recall and get a “do over!”  While many Payson citizens were unhappy with what Craig Swartwood did to us:  And there were many examples: We accepted the fact that he was, in fact, our mayor.  We waited our turn to vote him out.  And we did.  But the malcontents don’t want to wait!  They want a recall.

I admit I was not a Trump fan in the beginning.  He  

was crude, unpolished, and in my opinion, un-presidential.   He still is!  But I respect a man who keeps his promises (unlike Swartwood).  In much the same way, Mayor Morrissey may be considered “un-Mayoral.”   But I respect the fact that he has no ulterior motives and truly wants to fix what is broken in Payson.  He is not polished.  He is not an expert at Roberts Rules of Order.  And while I don’t always agree with his methods or those of the three council members who the malcontents wish to remove:  I do respect their attempts to end the cronyism that has held Payson back for decades.