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Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas is being criticized for his pandemic response and budget priorities by voters who say he’s fallen short. On Wednesday evening, a group of Kansas Citians called for his recall during a rally at Berkley Riverfront Park, KCTV5 reported.
“This mayor has shown a complete disregard for small businesses, for business owners,” said Brad Sarver who started the “Recall Quinton Lucas” Facebook group. “Our big thing is that the mayor really isn’t working for everyone in the city. He seems to be run by a political, partisan thought process.”
Many say Lucas has been shielded from much of the criticism by the Kansas City Star and local television news departments. While Lucas still has support, KCTV5 News still had to go to extraordinary measures to find those supporters. In their broadcast they quoted several pro-lucas individuals.
- “It’s tough to be in a position like that to deal with demands of people, business and economics, and I think he’s doing a fine job,” Rico Dejoie said.
- “I think he’s doing a great job, and I really like his progressive tendencies,” Brian Morahan said.
But the recall group continues to grow. It now has almost 13,000 members on Facebook and has been organizing a petition to remove Lucas from office. It has until September 24 to get more than 13,000 certified signatures to force the mayor to resign. The mayor would then have five days to resign; if he refused, the city council would have to ask for a recall election. But the deadline has passed for the election board to add questions to the ballot, so it’s too late to hold a recall election in November.
READ: Physicians warn lockdown worse than pandemic
Many are upset with draconian shut-down measures instituted by the mayor. Lucas, without citing scientific reasoning, recently extended the partial lockdown of Kansas City until January 16, 2021. The move may result in thousands of more businesses closing and continued disruption of schools, churches, and the local economy.
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In response to the recall Lucas effort and his covid decisions, his office doubled down instead of acknowledging any mistakes.
“The mayor is proud of his office’s decisive response to COVID-19, which has saved lives and kept our community safer and healthier than other peer-sized cities,” the mayor’s office said in a statement last week. “As he has during his one year in office, Mayor Lucas will continue to work hard each day for all Kansas Citians, and will not be distracted by divisive anti-mask, partisan politics.”
–Alan Goforth | Metro Voice
