In the movie “Deep Blue Sea,” a philosophizing chef played by LL Cool J offers this explanation of Einstein’s Theory of Relativity: “Put your hand on a hot stove, and a minute can feel like an hour. Put your hand on a hot woman, and an hour can feel like a minute.”

The first month of Take Back Toledo’s effort to recall Toledo Mayor Carty Finkbeiner has melted away, but it is unlikely the group’s organizers feel like they’ve been on a hot date. After an initial round of nasty mayoral back-and-forth, Finkbeiner has publicly ignored the effort, and the signature-collection drive has been slow. Take Back Toledo’s Ed Nagle said the group has about 2,700 unvalidated petition signatures with a goal of 30,000 to meet the mandated 19,937. With an April 12 deadline, that would require collecting more than 500 signatures every day for the next 56 days — a daunting task.

One of the goals of the recall effort was to discourage Finkbeiner from running for mayor this year, but that may have backfired; insiders are saying Finkbeiner, spurred by the audacious challenge to his authority and legacy, will jump in the race in July.

If so, this much needs to be made clear, in the same hyperbolic language Finkbeiner uses when describing neighboring counties as “poachers” and threatening “World War III” in Columbus when Columbia Gas says it needs to move its headquarters: A Finkbeiner declaration of candidacy is tantamount to an act of political and economic terrorism against Toledo, its residents and the region.

Finkbeiner has nothing to contribute to this area’s progress and future. As a leader, visionary and civic force, he is as priapic as a month-old banana. If Finkbeiner tries to hold onto his diminishing and irrelevant power, he is placing his ego and self-interest above the lives and fortunes of Toledo and its people. Those who endorse, support or fund a Finkbeiner run for mayor should be held publicly suspect for devoting resources to a man with zero ability to build the economic development relationships we desperately need.

The clock is ticking, but there are some strategies Take Back Toledo can still adopt in its effort to thwart a single extra day of Finkbeiner “leadership.”

• Take Back Toledo promised early on that its supporters would reveal themselves as the campaign progressed, but there have not been any major revelations since the mid-January kickoff. The group may not convince any of the Andersons, Stranahans or Savages to step forward, but a steady stream of prominent voices joining the chorus would be a major boost. Testimonials from past and present public servants and private businesspeople would go a long way toward further legitimizing the cause and keeping it in the public spotlight. A wider range of voices also defangs the mayor’s main defense against the recall — that he is being targeted by a personal vendetta. That argument collapses once a dozen voices become a score, then a hundred.
• The group originally planned to hire a professional company to come to Toledo, organize the petition drive and train volunteers to collect the needed signatures. That’s expensive, reportedly as much as $50,000, but with Take Back Toledo’s internal effort not setting the world on fire, that commitment, or lack of one, is a litmus test for just how serious the group is. Can its members contribute or raise the funds to hire an outside group? If not, just how committed are they?
• There needs to be a concerted effort to reach out to the black and Latino communities. There is a huge, untapped pool of voters that may not feel welcomed to the recall party. No prominent black leader stands with Take Back Toledo’s organizers, and insiders say a reported attempt to reach out to the black community with City Councilman Mike Ashford’s help did not bear fruit. With Finkbeiner’s litany of race-relations controversies as the backdrop, respectfully garnering the black and Latino vote should be feasible.
• The main voice for Take Back Toledo has been WSPD, primarily through morning host Fred LeFebvre and afternoon host Brian Wilson. WSPD has no Toledo competitor for talk radio, so the platform is priceless to the cause. But the nature of its approach, especially through Wilson, is colored by a coarseness that is antithetical to the business intellect Take Back Toledo most needs to reach. “Pantload” and “S for brains” may be colorful — and accurate — nicknames for Finkbeiner, but the conservative Toledo business mindset is not eager to align itself with such a perceived personal attack. When all is said and done, there will still be business to conduct with people associated with Finkbeiner, and many people who privately support the recall will not come forward in an arena of name calling or what they perceive as disrespect. For them, the recall really is a business move, not a personal one. There’s no easy, immediate way for Wilson to dial back — at this point, any hint of softening rhetoric will be touted by Finkbeiner as a sign of the endgame — but one suggestion is to share the WSPD megaphone. The editorials by Clear Channel General Manager Andy Stuart could be emulated by other business people, through taped comments or live appearances.
• Take Back Toledo hired Brian Schwartz to organize its campaign, and I have no insight into what kind of time or resources he has, but where are the public rallies? The yard signs? The bus placards? The hot air balloons and blimps? Cold weather is a lousy excuse; Take Back Toledo needs to practice guerilla marketing to get its cause in every shopping center, public gathering and door-to-door. Toledoans are notoriously slow to march to new music, so expecting 27,000 people to come to Take Back Toledo events is optimistic to the point of being a detriment. This campaign needs to be taken to the people on a scale that shakes the city.

The clock is ticking. Take Back Toledo declared war; it’s time to get out the big guns and charge the hill or be prepared to see Finkbeiner’s smug mug all over the TV in July, when he lifts a defiant middle finger at Take Back Toledo, Toledo itself and everyone with a stake in Toledo’s future.

Michael S. Miller is editor in chief of Toledo Free Press. Contact him at mmiller@toledofreepress.com.

Postscript: I had a chance encounter with Schwartz on Feb. 11, and admonished him that if Toledo Free Press can deliver 120,000 papers to most doors in two days, his group should be able to canvass what he needs with nine weeks left. Schwartz’s answer: “People don’t have to be home for you to deliver the paper, and if they are home, they don’t have to agree with your politics.”

Point taken, Brian.

This entry was posted on Friday, February 13th, 2009 at 1:41 am and is filed under Lighting The Fuse, Opinion.
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