Recall Fever Targets the Nation's Mayors

Voters haven’t exactly been thanking mayors for the tough budget decisions they’ve had to make in the wake of the financial crisis. Instead, there’s been an unprecedented wave of recall drives across the country, USA Today reports. Last year, 57 mayors faced recall attempts, up from 23 the year before. And this year’s seen 15 already. The uptick is a product of viral campaigns, which have made it easier than ever to collect the requisite signatures.

The vast majority of recalls fail, but the trend has spooked the US Conference of Mayors enough that it today released a documentary called Recall Fever: Stop the Madness, warning mayors to prepare themselves. “Any person who’s coming in to serve needs to understand this is happening,” says the head of the group. “If they don’t have a website, if they don’t have a blogger, they better, by God, get one.” (More mayor stories.)