BY KEVIN SAWYER – The tiny town of Cormorant, Minnesota has, once again, declared that politicians are, for the most part, useless creatures as they, for the third straight time, elected a dog as their mayor. He is a Great Pyrenees named Duke and he even has his own Facebook page. Duke’s owner said it was a landslide with only Duke’s girlfriend getting one vote.
Duke, 9, was first elected mayor of this town of one thousand people back in 2014. It was a contest held by the town in which a potential voter had to pay $1 to vote for their mayor. Duke won with twelve write in votes. Apparently, he has been doing such a great job, the town has elected him to a third straight term.
The organizer of the election, Tammy Odegaard, said that it took five hours at the pet groomer for Duke to look his best and that, “We’ll have him put his little paw on the Bible, going to have him have the little oath. Of course, he’s not going to repeat it. It would be awesome if he could bark, but who knows? He’s a country dog so he’s not use to performing on cue.”
The inauguration ceremony took a whole two minutes and Duke, after being sworn in, was asked to either pant or bark if he accepted the responsibilities. Duke panted his agreement.
Resident Karen Nelson said that, “I don’t know who would run against him because he’s done such a great thing for the community.”
Duke has been featured in advertising and billboards touting the community. Duke’s salary is a free one year supply of dog food graciously offered by the local pet supply store.
If there is one thing that seems to be true coming out of Cormorant, it may be this: a dog can run a community and not have it descend into chaos. Of course, there are humans behind the throne there but it does underline the fact that people don’t need to be micromanaged. They don’t need to be ruled with a sociopathic energy that has them living in fear and confusion all of the time.
PHOTO CREDITS: Detroit Lakes Tribune / YouTube