Teller County Regional Animal Shelter/APThe town of Divide's new mayor is a real dog. No, he's not sexting pics of his Weiner, Anthony or making out with married women. He's never smoked crack and he won't play reggae music in City Hall.
He's a real dog. Like, an actual canine.
In a neck-and-neck election, the Colorado town just elected a bloodhound named Pa Kettle to be their new mayor. The runner up, who will serve as Vice Mayor, is a wolf named Kenyi and a cat named Buster will serve as viceroy.
Pa's mayorship is technically an unofficial title—an online race benefiting a local no-kill rescue, the Teller County Regional Animal Shelter—but the town doesn't actually have a human mayor, so Pa kind of seems like the most legit leader they have...
Each vote raised $1.00 for the shelter and, with 2,378 votes, Pa beat out 10 other candidates, including a hedgehog and a donkey. Divide's mayoral race takes place every two years and this year's election raised a grand total of $12,091.
Buster the cat was the early favorite in the election, but a last-minute push by Pa Kettle's mom secured his victory. "She is the most competitive person I've ever met in my life," Nancy Adams, an election official, told The Gazette. "She works at the vet's office so she can talk to everyone coming in the door."
Janey Bennett, Pa's owner, sees it differently: "He is the only candidate that has a real job," she argued for Pa, who works as a search-and-rescue dog. "And he is the only candidate that has a last name and a verifiable birth certificate, which I don't think the others do."
"We're going to win the mayor's race first, and next be in the Guinness World Records for the longest dog ears," Bennett said during the race. Pa will be inaugurated on April 19 and his first order of business "will be to allow all dogs in Divide a chance for seconds, no questions asked."