Cat Is Mayor Of Small Town In Alaska: A Purrrect Politician?
The tiny town of Talkeetna, Alaska boasts of something no other town in America has — a cat for a mayor.
Stubbs, a laid-back feline who is part Manx, was first elected by the town 15 years ago while he was still a kitten thanks to a write-in campaign, reports CNN.
Alaska Cat Mayor A Purrrect Politician?
“He was in a box full of kittens in the front of the store, and (the owners) were giving them away,” said Lauri Stec, manager of Nagley’s General Store, which doubles as the mayor’s office.. She picked “Stubbs” because he had no tail.
He spends most of his day at the local general store rather than at City Hall and he enjoys dozens of visitors on a daily basis who ask to be introduced to America’s only cat mayor.
“He doesn’t raise our taxes — we have no sales tax. He doesn’t interfere with business. He’s honest,” said Stec.
Many citizens consider him a good luck charm for the town and don’t miss having a human politician in the mayoral office one bit.
“All throughout the day I have to take care of the mayor. He’s very demanding,” said Skye Farrar, a clerk at Nagley’s. “He meowed and meowed and meowed and demanded to be picked up and put on the counter. And he demanded to be taken away from the tourists. Then he had his long, afternoon nap.”
Farrar says the mayor will only drink water out of a wine glass with catnip in the bottom.
Though most people have no complaints about their laid-back mayor, he does sometimes sleep on the job.
“His biggest political rivals would be other local businesses that would hate that he comes over and takes a nap and leaves fur everywhere. They aren’t big fans of him,” Farrar said. “We usually say, ‘You have to deal with it. He runs the town.’”
