As mentioned
previously, Toronto's mayoral candidates are almost farcical, with the most boring candidate caught in a
sex scandal, another candidate who has the world's worst case of
foot in mouth disease, and another who thought that presenting himself as a
Mafia Don was a good idea. Thankfully, there's still
Steve Murray. Because Toronto deserves
something. If only he hadn't missed the registration deadline.
[more inside]
posted by krunk
on Sep 30, 2010 -
16 comments
Though her nomination was a joke, instigated by a group of men hoping to inhibit the local activities of the Women's Christian Temperance Union by embarrassing female voters,
Susanna Madora "Dora" Kinsey Salter surprised the pranksters by winning two-thirds of the vote in the mayoral election of 1887 in tiny Argonia, Kansas, becoming not only America's first female mayor, but also earning the distinction of being the first woman elected to
any political office in the United States. Her official notice of election read:
Madam, You are hereby notified that at an election held in the city of Argonia on Monday April 4/87, for the purpose of electing city officers, you were duly elected to the office of Mayor of said city. You will take due notice thereof and govern yourself accordingly. Though she only served one term and had no further political ambitions, she became a hero of the early women's suffrage movement.
[more inside]
posted by amyms
on Sep 1, 2010 -
28 comments
Sam Adams, the recently elected openly gay mayor of Portland, Oregon, has come under fire for lying about a relationship he had with a teenage legislative intern in 2005 named Beau Breedlove.
When first asked about the relationship in 2007 during the election campaign, Sam (then 42) claimed he was being a mentor to the young man.
Sam recently cut short a trip to DC to return to Portland to publicly apologize and control damage over a
new article in which he admits to having a sexual relationship with Beau.
It's got the town divided over whether he should resign of if the whole thing is being blown out of proportion.
posted by strangeleftydoublethink
on Jan 22, 2009 -
116 comments
The United States Conference of
Mayors will take place from June 20th-24th in
Miami, FL. The
agenda (pdf)
includes rising energy costs, housing, water, transportation, street crime, public schools, gangs, health care quality and costs, secure airports and ports, illegal guns, drugs, and immigration with a special focus on
climate protection initiatives. Not to mention
speakers Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and Bill Clinton.
[more inside]
posted by lunit
on Jun 18, 2008 -
2 comments
He once stopped a school bus on a busy interstate because he “needed a hug” from the kids inside. He’s been known to strap weapons to his chest and leg that he has no authority to carry or conceal, then wear them in public. He once bulldozed an elderly woman’s house, promising to build her a better one. He then forgot to build it. He recruited a team of kids to torch a row of dilapidated shotgun houses, without clearance or first turning off the utilities.
Meet The Worst Mayor In America.
posted by stupidsexyFlanders
on Oct 23, 2007 -
81 comments
Public gatherings restricted? Check. Shutdown of independent businesses? Check. Lockdown on traffic and transportation in the area? You bet. Lawmakers in Baltimore trying to curb the city's homicide rate (already 108 this year) have come up with some
"desperate measures" of questionable constitutional legality, including heightening police presence in order to lockdown streets in "emergency areas." It has been called, "partial martial law" by some, and one has to wonder if the city of Baltimore may not do better to take a page from
The Wire's Hamsterdam for a solution to their inextricably linked drug and homicide issues.
posted by dead_
on May 17, 2007 -
60 comments
Teen Mayor! Eighteen year old Michael Sessions can't buy or drink alcohol but he has been elected the mayor of his hometown of Hillsdale, Michigan. He won the office by two votes, which he's credited to his parents for putting him over the top.
His reason for running? Eight races in his town were being run unopposed and he didn't think that was right so he tried to run but was underage at the time. So he ran as a write-in. And won, pending a recount.
It will certainly be an interesting senior year of high school for him.
posted by fenriq
on Nov 11, 2005 -
27 comments
They are feeding the public a line of bull, and they are spinning, and people are dying down here: A post with a link to MP3 of an explosive WWL radio interview in which New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin has a message for politicians: "
I don't want to see anybody do any more goddamned press conferences... put a moratorium on press conferences, don't do another press conference until the resources are in this city, and then come down to this city and stand with us... Don't tell me 40,000 people are coming here - they're not here; it's too doggoned late. Now get off your asses and let's do something..."
posted by taz
on Sep 2, 2005 -
560 comments
KXLY News 4 Mayor Jim West of Spokane Washington has been accused of sexual abuse of a male child. Mayor West announced in the local Spokesman Review newpaper that he plans on staying on as Mayor.
posted by Ignition
on May 7, 2005 -
43 comments
Lesser of two goods? (SanFranciscoFilter) SFWeekly's John Mecklin sums up the wild ride in San Francisco's mayoral race, from Matt Gonzalez's
late entry, to the baffling
Guardian endorsement, to the obvious Chronicle
Gavin Newsom endorsement, to the downright surreal
Alioto endorsement debacle. Oh, and then there's the Chron's not so coincidental
"Shame " series on homelessness, Newsom's defining issue, in the final days of the election.
In all, Mecklin concludes we're pretty damn lucky to have the fortune in this day and age to choose between two candidates that both have the capacity to do a decent job. Is this relevant to non-San Franciscans? Well, if
Matt wins (and the odds are even), that puts a Green at the helm of a fairly important US city and may help counter the effect of Arnie.
posted by badstone
on Dec 4, 2003 -
33 comments
New York man gets ticket for sitting on a milk crate. Not, of course, that i take the NY Daily News all that seriously, but still... This is beyond ridiculous (much like a lot of things taking place in New York these days). Makes me ill that I have to wait until 2006 to vote this ridiculous mayor out of office.
posted by cadence
on May 20, 2003 -
22 comments
Buddy, we hardly knew ye. Vincent A. Cianci, Jr., mayor of Providence, R.I., heads off to jail on conspiracy charges, thus ending one of the most
colorful relationships between a mayor and his city since Daley's Chicago. Whether revered for his astounding
reconstruction of an embattled downtown, chastised for a career of
shady dealings with shady people (and one unfortunate incident involving a fireplace, a lit cigarette, and his wife's lover), or turned into a
cult figure by artsy college students, one thing is certain: Providence is a more interesting place because Buddy was a part of it.
posted by PrinceValium
on Sep 6, 2002 -
11 comments
Koleen Brooks, in getting elected mayor of Georgetown, CO, was hardly the first to successfully transition from the stage to politics. But what makes her story unlike the high-profile successes of Ronald Reagan (and perhaps more akin to the that of Gov. Ventura both in notoriety and for their "independent" political affiliation) is that her
stage had a metal pole and
lots of nudity (NSFW). In a
recent interview, Koleen Brooks discusses her political forays cut short for now by a recall election last month.
There is certainly nothing new about controversial celebrity characters being elected to office, especially local office, and as the mayor of Inglis, FL has demonstrated with her
anti-Satan proclamation, it is easy to obtain national notoriety while remaining well within the bounds of "traditional conservative values". Nevertheless, might Brooks's successful candidacy be the beginning of a more significant trend within American politics as the sons and daughters of the Sexual Revolution bring their sexual dilettantism into the dominant elderly voting bloc?
posted by tiny pea
on May 8, 2002 -
9 comments
Remember that Florida Mayor who banned Satan from town? Well, after she got done talking to mass-media syncophants like Dan Rather, her utterly misguided publicist apparently let her talk to the keen and incisive sleuths from
Satanosphere, who, as usual, got down to the really important stuff. Like:
matt: ...The one question everybody has for you is this: Are you planning on banning any other major deities or demons? Like Skeletor?
So, will
Skeletor be banned forever from Inglis, Florida? Will the ACLU extend
Skeletor the same legal protection as it graciously offered Satan? And perhaps most important of all, what about
Wil Wheaton?
posted by rusty
on Mar 21, 2002 -
13 comments
Weatherman faces up to six months. Rio de Janeiro Mayor Cesar Maya has asked prosecutors to seek charges against Luiz Carlos Austin, claiming his weather forecast was irresponsible. The city's acting chief prosecutor, said he would likely charge Austin with sounding a false alarm, which is punishable by up to six months in prison.
Was it really irresponsible to report that the storm could hit?
And who listens to weathermen anyway? I say if you want to find out what the weathers going to be like, stick your head out the window. Major storm warnings are the only things I
want to hear about.
posted by mikhail
on Jan 5, 2002 -
5 comments
Sources say that Giuliani will seek to extend his term. It was unclear whether the mayor would try to amend those laws so voters could elect him for a third term or whether he would try to extend his current term. Do these circumstances warrant a term extension? Or should Giuliani retire at the end of the year and head up the clean-up efforts?
posted by phooey
on Sep 24, 2001 -
22 comments
