Cat Acts as Mayor of Alaska Town for 15 Years

The mayor of Talkeetna, Alaska has been in office nearly all his life. The small town of nearly 900 residents elected their feline mayor 15 years ago, and now locals refer to him as "Mayor Stubbs".

The story goes that several of the town residents didn't like the candidates who were running for mayor at the time, and as a joke, they encouraged enough people to elect Stubbs the cat as a write-in candidate.

"He's good. He's probably the best we've ever had," said Lauri Stec, manager of Nagley's General Store, which doubles as the mayor's office. "He doesn't raise our taxes - we have no sales tax. He doesn't interfere with business. He's honest."

Because Talkeetna is a "historical district," the mayoral post is more symbolic than functional, said Andi Manning, president of the Talkeetna Chamber of Commerce. But the power, apparently, has gone to Stubbs' furry head.

"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."

In addition, the mayor will only drink water from a wine glass that has catnip in it, Stec added.

But most everyone is willing to put up with the mayor's high-maintenance lifestyle, especially because he's a big tourist attraction for the community.

 "Oh my gosh, we probably have 30 to 40 people a day come in who are tourists wanting to see him," Stec said.

Though the mayor generally receives positive reviews for his laissez-faire politics, he is guilty of frequently sleeping 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. "

Sources: CNN.com and KSDK.com
Image via Mayor Stubbs on Facebook