Mayor Stubbs is celebrating his 15th year in office and the 900 residents of Talkeetna, Alaska couldn’t be happier with his performance but out-of-towners are given pause when they meet him.
That’s because Stubbs is a stubby-tailed cat that was elected as a write-in candidate. As honorary mayor Stubbs has a mostly hands-off approach to government that locals love.
“He doesn’t raise our taxes — we have no sales tax. He doesn’t interfere with business. He’s honest,” said Manager Lauri Stec of Nagley’s General Store.
Nagley’s doubles as the mayor’s office but he doesn’t serve the people, they serve him. This fancy cat is treated to a complimentary wine glass filled with water and catnip. The store get dozens of tourists, who come just to meet the Mayor.
“Their tour guides will trick them,” said Skye Farrar, who also works at Nagley’s. “They’ll tell them to go to Nagley’s and ask for the mayor.”
Mayor Stubbs has been featured in Alaska Magazine but is now getting national attention. He currently has over 22,000 subscribers on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/mayorstubbs