18 AND HE'S MAYOR. (Only in America)

[Sky]

You have got to be kidding me! :confused:

 

18 & HE'S MAYOR

HIGH-SCHOOLER BEATS 51-YEAR-OLD INCUMBENT TO BECOME MAYOR OF US CITY OF 9,000. HIS REACTION? 'COOL!'

November 14, 2005

 

 

 

HE's too young to drink a toast to his victory.

And he'll have to clean up his bedroom to make space for a work desk.

 

Eighteen-year-old Michael Sessions became the youngest elected official in the US on Thursday when he was voted Mayor of Hillsdale, a town of 9,000 people in central Michigan, reported the Los Angeles Times newspaper.

 

The pre-university student plans to continue schooling - which in the US runs from 8am to 3pm - while in office and set aside time after 6pm for his homework.

 

 

But between 3pm and 6pm, he plans to take his civic duties seriously.

 

Mr Session's victory is even more remarkable given that he was too young to register when nominations for the position closed in August - he turned 18 only in September.

 

So, his supporters had to add his name to their ballot paper in pen if they wanted to vote for him.

 

But Mr Sessions had won over many voters by tirelessly knocking on doors every day after school and using the US$700 ($1,100) he earned from his holiday job selling candy at summer fun fairs to fund his campaign.

 

He beat the sitting mayor, local businessman Doug Ingles, 51, who had ridiculed him during the campaign, by two votes.

 

'It's amazing. It's cool. Obviously the people of Hillsdale took me seriously,' the teenager told The Times of London on Friday.

 

'I'm so excited, I think I'm going to be ill.

 

'A lot of older people really enjoyed talking to me. I looked them in the eye. Young people could relate to me.'

 

WENT DOOR-TO-DOOR

 

In the three weeks before the poll, Mr Session roped in classmates to help him organise public meetings and canvass neighbourhoods.

 

'Each day after school, he would pick an area and go door to door, telling people who he was and that he was running for mayor,' classmate Lauren Beck, 17, told the LA Times.

 

'He'd talk about why he should be mayor, and had a sample of the ballot so he could show people where they had to write in his name.'

 

At first, residents thought Mr Session's was campaigning as a joke, or to bolster his college application.

 

But soon, the mood shifted.

 

'A lot of people seemed impressed that he was working so hard,' classmate Brandon Thomas told the LA Times.

 

Ironically, when Mr Sessions ran for vice-president of his secondary school's student council last year, he lost.

 

Despite his determination not to let his grades slip in the run-up to his secondary school graduation in June, Mr Sessions skipped morning assembly on Thursday to conduct phone interviews with local radio stations.

 

He missed his afternoon classes because he was flown to New York to appear on the Late Show With David Letterman.

 

On the show, he read out Letterman's Top 10 Reasons Why It's Good To Be An 18-year-old Mayor.

 

They included: 'If my parents try to tell me what to do, I'll raise their taxes' and 'School bullies now have to deal with the feds (federal police).'

 

 

MEDIA FRENZY

 

 

Both his school and his parents are being swamped by phone calls from journalists around the world wanting to interview him, and from Hollywood producers keep to develop his story into a film.

 

But the world's media can't call him directly - he doesn't have a handphone.

 

Nor is he up to talking too much - his mother kept him home from school on Friday because he was sick.

 

'He's been coughing and getting over bronchitis,' said his mother, Mrs Lorri Sessions, 42. 'It's been overwhelming.'

 

Mrs Sessions said their son long had been interested in politics.

 

'He would watch the town meetings on TV every week,' she said.

 

''He'd try to get us (his family, including medical technician father Mr Scott Sessions, and his 13-year-old sister) to join him. He found the whole process fascinating.'

 

Mrs Sessions said her son began thinking of running for office when several local manufacturing plants closed down while he was in primary school, plunging the area into recession.

 

His ideas for turning the local economy around impressed local residents.

 

'Here's this kid talking about how there are grants to help towns like ours attract biotech companies,' said shop owner John Spiteri, 49.

 

'People here are hungry for anyone who can pump life back into this town.'

 

The post is mayor a largely ceremonial four-year position with a monthly stipend of US$250. City Manager Tim Vagle handles the town's day-to-day administration, while the mayor and the other eight council members make policy decisions and approve the budget.

 

Mr Sessions will be required to attend two council meetings a month.

 

Hillsdale High Principal Peter Beck said with a grin:

 

'I told him that if he wins, he'll still need to finish his homework - I'd hate to have to suspend a city official.'

[xiinfaniin]

Xiiniiya-cadde , very genius indeed.

[Baashi]

Only in America indeed :cool:

[hodman]

impressive! the more impossible something seems the more possible it gets when attempted!I guess they couldn't believe his nerve so they voted for him not expecting him to win..maybe there's hope for politics afterall!!

Way cool :cool:

[Zafir]

There is an old black folk observation that goes something along the line of:

 

If you’re white, you alright

If you’re brown, we’ll keep you around

If you’re black, stay back

 

Could this particular outcome turned out the way it has if this kid was black?

[Shirwac]

Inbreeding has its advantages, Every body in the city was somehow related to him.

[Khayr]

Originally posted by Shirwac:

Inbreeding has its advantages,

Every body in the city was somehow related to him.

[FatB]

|-)

[Muhammad]

Ironically, when Mr Sessions ran for vice-president of his secondary school's student council last year, he lost.

In America if you fail short, aim higher!

 

thats the Abe philosophy