Recall group Citizens Against Independence Township Waste (CAITW) is hoping to have enough signatures by the end of this week in order to file petitions.
‘We have a 180 day window from the time we got the petition language approved from the time we have to actually submit,? said CAITW member Joel DeLong. ‘When we got the language approved on Jan. 23 we opted to go forward for 90 days and the intent was as long as we stayed within that 90 days and the signatures were verified and approved by the Oakland County elections, it would go on the August primary.?
Within the 180 day period, DeLong said they get ‘to pick what 90 days they want,? meaning they can subtract weeks in the beginning of their campaign in order to gain more signatures now.
‘The 90 day window is ours to choose. The problem you have is, as you keep dropping off weeks in the front, you’re either going to lose those signatures or continue to ask those people to resign,? he said. ‘Then you can go ahead and take that next week, the end of April, beginning of May and go out and get 150, 500, 1000 signatures, whatever you can garner in that week.?
DeLong noted ‘the middle of winter? was not the best time to start the campaign because many people were either gone on vacation or wouldn’t answer their doors.
‘The first week we started Jan 23 we had 78 signatures the entire week,? he said. ‘We’ve had as many as 150-200 turned in a day now.?
DeLong said they need 25 percent of last governor election in 2006.
With somewhere between 3,400 and 3,500 signatures as of April 23, the group is aiming for over 4,000.