The attempt to recall Omaha Mayor Mike Fahey has failed as the committee collecting signatures said Tuesday afternoon it gathered only 8,202 of the nearly 22,000 signatures required to force a vote.

The deadline to turn in the petitions at the Douglas County Election Commissioners' office was 5 p.m. Organizers had hoped to collect 26,000 signatures.

"My concern is that with us having failed, that I hope it does not give government a green light to do what they want," says Greg Lyons of the Recall Fahey committee.

"I think 8,200 signatures is a big, bold statement by the citizens,” says committee chairman Ryan Chappelear.

Following news of the recall failure, the mayor's office released this statement:

“Omahans are supportive of the progress our city has made over the past seven years and have soundly rejected this attempt to move our city backwards. I will continue to do the work for which I was elected and I look forward to serving the great citizens of Omaha well into the future.”

Fahey's current term ends in 2009. He has not yet said publicly if he will seek re-election to a third term.

How did the recall committee explain the numbers since they believed losing Rosenblatt, Elkhorn's annexation and the police/fire contracts would drive 20,000 people to them?

Two things they said they'd do differently. Be better organized and get more petitioners. Of the 155, 30 didn't turn in any signatures at all.

Historically, it's not easy getting all those signatures in just 30 days. Mayor Mike Boyle was recalled in the 1980s, but two attempts to do the same to Hal Daub in 1998 failed.

The recall effort started with a Web site and a lot of unhappy citizens. Most were upset about not getting a say in the new downtown stadium issue.

In February, www.recallfahey.com creator Lyons told us he decided to do something about it. "It just seemed like it was time for someone to do something to let people make their voice heard in some way that someone will pay attention to."

In March, Lyons made the recall effort official. He filed the necessary paperwork with the Douglas County Election Commission.

At that point, Mayor Fahey had 20 days to respond before the petitions started going round for a 30-day time frame. His statement about being "instrumental in the growth and development of our city" was included on each petition and read to each person who signed it.

Lyons hopes the effort will still get Mayor Fahey out of office, although not soon. "Hopefully convince him not to try and run again. I personally don't think he'll run again because he's smart enough to know all these financial birds he's loosened during his administration are going to come back to roost.”

The Douglas County Election Commission will keep the signatures on file for a period of 22 months in the event anyone wishes to inspect them.