As part of her campaign, Leslie meets with Councilman Pillner to discuss Pawnee’s park budget, which is on the verge of being slashed. Obviously – since she was the person who ran the entire Parks and Rec department before starting her campaign – Leslie tries to convince Pillner to keep the funding for the parks department going.
While April is filling in for Leslie, Chris tells Ron that he is being considered for the position of the next Assistant City Manager. Although Ron says that usually his goals for government consist of “[bringing] all of this [the government] crumbling to the ground,” he’s definitely glad that he’s being considered for a higher position. To see if he is right for the position, though, Chris tells Ron that he wants to “spiritually engage” with him, which, let’s be real, is probably the last thing Ron will ever do with anyone.
It seems Leslie does have some pull with the upper levels of government in Pawnee, as Councilman Pillner agrees to keep the parks budget what it is. Unfortunately, the funding will have to come from somewhere else, and Ben tells Leslie that Pillner decided to close down the Westside Animal Shelter – which is where Andy got Champion – to keep funding Pawnee’s parks. Obviously, this isn’t too great for Leslie’s campaign, as she is now being accused by Jennifer – Bobby Newport’s campaign manager – of being a puppy killer. So what does she do? Adopt all of the animals from the shelter, obviously.
At the meditation center, Chris tells Ron that they will “join breath.” Ron clearly does not want to engage in this sort of activity, and refuses to sit down. Instead, he stands the entire six hours while they’re there and comments, “There were no thoughts in my head.” Even though he didn’t actually meditate, it was pretty hilarious to see Ron Swanson – lover of guns, meat and alcohol – at a meditation center with Chris. It seems his six hours of non-meditation paid off, though, as Chris said he just wanted to see if Ron was a flexible person who would be willing to try things he’s clearly not interested in – and then tells Ron that he has the job.
April, with some great encouragement from Tom, comes up with an idea to help Leslie take care of all the dogs, cats and pigs she’s adopted: hold a pet adoption in a park. Ever the amazing ice queen that she is, April comments, “They [the animals] should be rewarded for not being people. I hate people.” At the park, the pet adoption seems to be going really well, and April really does want her plan to work as she’s clearly put a lot of effort into the whole thing. There’s actually a really cute moment when April encourages a young girl to adopt one of the dogs.
To fix the mess she’s made, Leslie convinces Pillner to keep the funding for both the parks and the animal shelter, and instead, fire several D1s (I actually have no idea what this stands for) in Pawnee’s government who have been getting paid for the past two years but who haven’t actually done any work. It seems like a good idea until Ann – a D1 who actually has been working for Pawnee – is about to get fired, too. Apparently Pillner’s idea is to fire all of the D1s and not only the lazy ones.
Chris is in for some bad news, too. Apparently, if Newport wins the election against Leslie, he plans to bring in his own people and appoint his own City Manager. This would mean that Ron wouldn’t get to have the job, and that Chris might be fired, too. This prompts Chris to have an existential crisis in Ron’s office. Ron then brings out a bottle of whiskey, which of course, is the answer to any and every existential crisis.
It seems like Leslie will be able to save the whole funding disaster, though. She and Ben meet with Jennifer, and tell Jennifer to get Newport to use his own money to fund the animal shelter. This would mean that none of the budgets would have to be cut, and Newport would look like a hero. In exchange, they ask for Jennifer to stop running the ads that feature Leslie as a puppy killer. When Jennifer asks why Leslie is willing to let Newport have a round of great campaign press, Leslie tells her that the reason is because at the upcoming debate, Newport will have to show up and open his mouth, which will show all of Pawnee just how dumb he really is.
Leslie’s great idea looks like it’s going to work, but April’s whole pet adoption plan kind of didn’t work out as well as she would have hoped (“that’s why it’s dumb to work hard”). Tom comes over to cheer her up, telling April that it’s because of her there’s a young girl in Pawnee today filled with so much happiness because of the dog she adopted. It’s a really great scene, because it emphasizes again just how central strong friendships are to this show.
In the end, Parks and Recreation, is about great relationships and getting each other through the hard times (like being accused of being a puppy killer).