According to Charlotte law, the new mayor of the Queen City.
By Warren Tidly-Timmid 2/29/2016
OTB, Charlotte, NC Area – Dan Clodfelter, the former Mayor of Charlotte and candidate for mayor, now self-identifies as a mayor. Clodfelter, a Democrat, lost to current mayor Jennifer Roberts in a heated primary election in 2015. Jennifer Roberts went on to win the general election against Republican Edwin Peacock.
Before a city council meeting to consider legislation regarding self-identifying mayors, several hundred people stood outside in a wind-driven rain to protest the proposal, holding signs with messages such as: “No Losers in Winner’s Offices” and “Don’t Confuse Our Civics Lessons.”
City council member and election winner James “Smuggie” Mitchell is sympathetic to Clodfelter’s plight. “Are we a city that panders to winners, to those who perpetuate the stigma of losing?” asked Mitchell. “I say to you, ‘Not on my watch.’ ” Mitchell lost to former Mayor Patrick Cannon in a primary and briefly experimented self-identifying as a mayor before fully transitioning to city councilman.
Jeff Jordan, a protester, stood on 4th St. before a City Council meeting. “I don’t want my kids having to even question, ‘Why is there this person in the mayor’s office? They didn’t even transition to the general election,” he said. “I don’t think they should even be faced with that question and that concern.”
North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory — a former mayor of Charlotte who has fully transitioned to and self-identifies as a governor — said in an email Sunday that changing policy regarding the use of the mayoral office and executing official mayoral duties could “create major public safety issues.”
“Also, this action of allowing a person with fewer votes, for example, to use a representative’s office or council chambers will most likely cause immediate State legislative intervention which I would support as governor,” he wrote in the email to two Council members.
At press time Councilman Ed Driggs (R) was stating that it was just “unnatural” for there to be anyone with a mustache in the mayor’s office.