Jesse Campbell said:Look, I’m with you. Just get it moving. It’s always easiest to say "we should do this."
What do you mean, "get it moving"? It’s pretty obvious that a single person can't just pull this off. You need someone with the actual capacity, the existing organizational structure, and—most importantly—the sheer motivation and interest to see the whole thing through if there's any actual will to do it. To just handle the signature collection alone, you need an entire infrastructure. You need people, coordinators to manage those people, shifts, and everything else. Then there's the money: paper, supplies, other overhead, plus whatever advertising we need beyond just social media, so donations are going to be essential.
A supporter group, a fan association, ZZD, club members, or similar outfits already have the hierarchy, the manpower, and the ability to actually execute an operation like this.
In Chicago, there are 686,646 registered voters. Under current laws, we'd need to collect just under 138,000 signatures. That shouldn't be an impossible mountain to climb, given how universally disliked this corrupt individual and everything he stands for is. Of course, that assumes we have a solid network of signing locations, access to the public, and questions that are clearly phrased and legally sound. It’s also vital that the referendum is scheduled alongside some other election. We don't want the cost of a standalone referendum—or the headache of holding yet another expensive vote—to be the reason people refuse to sign. Plus, it helps with voter turnout. Honestly, I’d even include the date of the referendum as one of the questions during the signing process itself.
I’m not writing this to pass the buck or dodge responsibility. This is about presenting a simple, functional way to efficiently and quickly resolve the issues and power dynamics within the club. It’s becoming painfully clear that the government and local authorities are doing everything in their power to protect the criminal elements in this organization rather than rooting them out and removing those responsible.
And let’s not forget: simply having a plan to call a referendum and starting the initial momentum acts as massive pressure on those in charge. It might actually force them to change things before they're forced to.