On a recent visit to the lovely mountain town of Idyllwild, CA, I came to a delightful discovery about the identity of the town’s mayor. He was identified in a flyer as the friendly sounding Mayor Max.
Turns out the mayor is a dog, and his glorious full name is Maximus Mighty-Dog Mueller II. Max and his chiefs of staff, Mitzi and Mikey, have been re-elected several times by the town’s enthusiastic populace, and by the looks of the town they’re doing a fine job.
As a non-incorporated town, Idyllwild had no official mayor position until in 2012 Max was elected out of a group of animal candidates selected by the Animal Rescue Friends charity. The original Max died in office about a year later having served honorably, and was replaced by the current mayor Maximus II.
Mayor Max, dressed in his office best.
Max isn’t the only animal politician around either. Here are some of our our favorites.
Pigasus the Immortal – Candidate for U.S President in 1968 (very briefly)
A protest candidate for the presidential nomination announced at the 1968 Democratic convention, Pigasus caused quite the ruckus at his announcement (as if there wasn’t enough of a ruckus in the area already). The pig was brought into town by several Youth International Party members, or Yippies. He was promptly arrested along with seven Yippies at his unveiling after just a single line of his announcement speech was read. Later in jail, a police officer allegedly told the Yippies that they’d spend the rest of their lives in jail, as Pigasus had “squealed” on them.
This was untrue, Pigasus would never do such a thing.
The people behind the campaign justified their selection of a pig with this undying logic :
“if we can’t have him in the White House, we can have him for breakfast.”
A fine moment in the lives of these officers.
Stubbs the cat – current mayor of Talkeetna, Alaska.
Stubbs was elected mayor of the small Alaska town of Talkeetna in 1997, and continues to serve to this day. He allegedly got the name Stubbs because upon his discovery in an empty parking lot it was noted that he had no tail.
Spending most of his days at the local general store, Stubbs has become a tourist attraction, attracting many strange people who would travel to the most distant corner of the country just to see a cat. It’s a great world.
Stubbs, monitoring any illegal gambling activity in town.
Murt “Murtle the Turtle” Kennard
Murt was a popular president of the New Zealand regional “republic” of Whangamomona. The republic was born after residents protested to a redrawing of the country’s regions in 1989, and decided to break off and declare independence.
They promptly elected a man as president who had no idea he was on the ballot, and after his 10-year term selected Billy Gumboot, a goat who reportedly won by eating all the other contestant’s ballots.
The most recent animal president was Murt the turtle, who died earlier this year, and was then replaced by the local pub owner.
I hereby declare a mandatory supply of laser pointers and mackerel must be kept in each house from this day on!
Finally, the current presidential election in the United States has attracted a few interesting candidates, including Louisiana’s Crawfish B. Crawfish. Mr. Crawfish is – unsurprisingly – a crawfish. His campaign started as an attempt to prove that even a crawfish could get more support for a presidential campaign than state governor Bobby Jindal. His current poll numbers are unavailable.
On the democratic ticket, Kentucky cat Limberbutt McCubbins is hoping to score the nomination and become the first cat to officially dominate all of America. Limberbutt is running with the topical “Meow is the time” slogan. Best of luck to both Mr. Crawfish and Limberbutt.
The Blog of Funny Names 
“. . . Doggone! . . .”
“. . . A howlingly good post! . . .”
“. . . Arto’s barking up the right tree with mayoral pets . . .”
“. . . Arto’s latest is the cat’s meow! . . .”
“. . . a snapping crawdaddy of a post . . .”
“. . . Arto goes hog wild with the roundup on political pigs . . .”
“. . . we’d give Arto’s post two thumbs up, if only we could think of any turtle jokes . . .”
Political pigs is a topic ripe for analysis.
Blurb generator seems to be running great these days!
Well played with the political pets, Arto. From cats to crawfish and a pig who doesn’t squeal, you got the turtle by the tail.
Well played with the animal turns of phrase there yourself!
I have certainly learned quite a bit of political animal info today. I can understand how Max would be a good mayor; dogs generally have the best interest of humans at heart, and they like to serve and protect. But cats? Cats are self-serving, arrogant, prideful–wait, I guess Stubbs could be a politician after all. They probably communicate just as effectively. A lobbyist could submit a proposal, and Stubbs could just poop on it and then scatter kitty litter across it.
So tell me, Arto, did Pigasus get eaten? Did he outlive Yippie leader Abby Hoffman? Why would you name your son Abby? Should I write Dear Abby? What’s the diff betwixt a yippie and a hippie? Is one a radical activist and one a longhaired bead-wearing pothead? Too many questions have been raised! And what about Mr. Ed?? He could have at least given a good speech!
I have to agree on all counts here. Dog/cat analysis included.
I’m told by an unreliable source (ok it’s Wikipedia) that Pigasus was returned to a farm somewhere outside the city where he lived until probably being eaten. That’s kind of what happens to pigs.
Is Dear Abby’s Abby a boy Abby or girl Abby? That’s a lot of Abby.
Re : yippies vs. hippies – I believe the answer is yes.
Mr. Ed for President.
I think the answer is yes for just about everything kerbey posts. I really do. She even got a “betwixt” in there.
For the record, I read Jerry Rubin’s Do It! and Abbie Hoffman’s Steal This Book! (a borrowed not stolen copy, though it may have been stolen for all I know).
Why do they have to yell their titles! Viva la revolucion!
Right arm!
i much prefer these candidates to most of those who are now actively campaigning.
You can even buy some McCubbins pins online to proudly support your chosen cat-didate.
Hahaha, cat-didate. I love it!
Re: Stubbs…. you gotta love a place that is so self-sufficient that they can trust a cat to be their mayor. That’s pretty cool! Let’s hope they have a harmonious city council
I think city hall is probably just a cardboard box and an old tuna can. Should be calm enough.
Arto, I view your pun-making so highly that I actually made up a pun and thought you’d come up with it. I seriously read that as “Paw-erful friends” the first time I looked at it… and maybe the second… I swear I’m normal. My mom had me tested.
Tell her to have you tested again.
Hmmm, perhaps I should edit that. Do turtles have paws?
Haha, no they don’t. But they oughta!
Barnyard humor is scraping the bottom of the barrel (please scrape off your shoes while you’re at it). Blog of Funny Names is to be commended for raising its standards. Speaking of scraping off your shoe, didn’t Trump start as a dark horse candidate?
Woohoo, we’ve finally made it into the barrel! It’s a great day for the blog.
If Trump started as a dark horse, he’s certainly been elevated to the fast hamster position by now.
I think a turtle would make an excellent mayor. He could stay in office for years, managing to avoid other predatory politicians by just retreating into his shell. The painfully slow bureaucratic processes of city hall wouldn’t frustrate him. If he fell asleep while listening to his constituents+ who would notice? Scandals? Forget about it. Lettuce? You bet your tootin’!
This is a good point. My only concern would be possible corruption allegations regarding the Shell corporation. But I guess a clever tortoise could just very very slowly walk away from his or her accusers.
I have to say, after Mayor Rob Ford we did sort of elect the next best thing to a turtle. We all are feeling much better here, out of the news but calm.
It must be calm, I had not heard a peep about your current mayor. I can certainly understand the desire for a more…discreet leader at this time.