TresSugar

Obama to Mayors: Don't Mess This Up!

CitizenSugar — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 12:30:02 -0800

President Obama met with America's mayors today, promising to "call them out" if they spend stimulus money in a wasteful way.

The president told the Conference of US Mayors that he needed unprecedented responsibility and accountability. He said:

If a federal agency proposes a project that will waste that money, I will not hesitate to call them out on it, and put a stop to it. But I want everyone here to be on notice that if a local government does the same - I will call them out on it as well, and use the full power of my office and our administration to stop it.

More than 60 of the nation's municipal leaders are in Washington right now, meeting with national leaders and White House economic advisers. Stimulus money will soon flood into local governments, so let's hope it finds it's way out of city halls and into the communities.

To see more photos of the mayors schmoozing in Washington, read more.

View 10 Photos ›

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Poll: Which Mayor Had Baddest Sexy Time?

LibertySugar — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 16:00:41 -0800

Illicit affairs by politicians, and everyday people for that matter, are nothing new. But as information travels fast and furiously over new technology more and more people know the steamy and unfortunate details of political sex-lives.

US Mayors seem to be the latest perpetrators. Here's a breakdown recent mayoral sexy-time:

14,000 text messages sent from Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick to his chief of staff showed that, contrary to Kilpatrick's sworn testimony in an ongoing police whistle-blower trial which cost the city $9 million, they were involved in a sexual affair. The mayor may face perjury charges.
LA's married mayor Antonio Villaraigosa had an affair with a local Spanish language-TV anchor 20 years his junior. When news broke that Villarigosa was splitting from his longtime wife, guess who reported it on air? His mistress! The whole affair part of the story wasn't out yet.
San Francisco's pretty mayor Gavin Newsom screwed around with his campaign manager’s wife. She subsequently entered rehab and, as required by Step Number 9, “made amends” by telling her husband about the affair. The campaign manager confronted the mayor at city hall and quit. Gavin quickly fessed up and apologized.

Which mayor gets your vote for the least forgivable affair?

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Should Public Officials Get Private Lives?

CitizenSugar — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 09:00:37 -0800

Arlington, OR, Mayor Carmen Kontur-Gronquist was recalled by voters who disapproved of her less-than-professional pictures posted on her MySpace profile. The pictures were snapped before she took office and she stands by her right to strictly draw a line between public and private life. She says she doesn't regret posting the photos, saying that essentially that, it's my. space. That's why they call it MySpace. She also said,

"My reaction is that the democratic process took place, and that is a good process that we have in the United States, and it's fair."

The situation does call to mind the Monica Lewinsky snafu. What if she'd had a Facebook page in 1998? No "pokes" jokes I promise.

And finally, here's a sample of headline jokesters:

Oregon Mayor Stripped Of Office After Posing In Underwear
MySpace Mayor: Kontur-Gronquist Loses Job After Losing Clothes
Busty Mayor Stripped of Office
Lingerie MySpace Mayor Recalled...

But the serious question remains: do voters have the right to consider the whole picture of a candidate, public and private life, when choosing a leader?

Thirsty For Change? US Mayors Tap Tap Water, Ban the Bottle

LibertySugar — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 12:15:18 -0700

The US Conference of Mayors, meeting in Miami, banned bottled water this week. The cities will no longer use municipal funds to purchase water bottles.

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, who proposed the resolution along with 17 other big-city mayors, said:

"Cities are sending the wrong message about the quality of public water when we spend taxpayer dollars on water in disposable containers from a private corporation."

But Newsom isn't exactly the first person on the tap-water train. Sixty American mayors have already canceled their hydration contracts, and some places in Canada have also banned the bottle.

Rejecting plastic water bottles is more environmentally and financially sustainable. Millions of bottles a day do not get recycled, and the plastic takes at least 1,000 years to biodegrade.

The American Beverage Association feels betrayed. In a statement, the association reminded those ready to turn on the bottle that private companies come to the rescue during emergencies that compromise public water systems. The statement also notes that plastic bottles are 100 percent recyclable.

Should thirsty city workers be subjected to tap water? First plastic bags, now plastic water bottles, whatever will we do?! Well, here are some great alternatives to the plastic water bottle.

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Mrs. Mayor? Critics Says Mayor's Wife Runs Kansas City

LibertySugar — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 13:30:59 -0800

Gloria Squitiro, the wife of Kansas City Mayor Mark Funkhouser says she volunteers 70 hours a week to help her husband fulfill his campaign promises, but critics say she's doing a job that she wasn't elected to do. After resigning, the mayor's former chief-of-staff said, "It was kind of like having your mother-in-law go along on your honeymoon."

Controversy has surrounded the duo for a while now. According to the Associated Press, when Ms. Squitiro set up a desk outside her husband's city hall office and proceeded to call a black aide "Mammy," the city council passed an anti-nepotism ordinance sending Squitiro back home. So what did Mr. Mayor do? He started working from home.

The mayor has stood up for his actions, saying: "The idea that once we won the prize, I was going to dump her and say, 'See you, honey, in four years. Go on back home and bake cookies, fold some laundry. I'll be there when I get there,' is absurd."

Should the mayor be allowed to have his wife advise him?

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Say What? Brad Pitt For Mayor!

TresSugar — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 11:00:00 -0700

"I'm running on the gay marriage, no religion, legalization and taxation of marijuana platform. I don't have a chance."

- Brad Pitt joked on the Today show this morning about running for mayor of the Louisiana town where he has been leading on Hurricane Katrina reconstruction efforts. Some locals are wearing t-shirts decorated with the "Brad Pitt For Mayor" image seen above. Do you think Brad has a winning platform?

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Front Page: Maine Voters Reject Gay Marriage

TresSugar — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 08:00:12 -0800

Voters in Maine voted to repeal legislature-approved gay marriage yesterday by 53 to 47 percent. - Politico
Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin will host the Oscars together this year. - BuzzSugar
Michael Bloomberg has won a third term as New York City's mayor, after spending a record $90 million on the campaign. - New York Times
Convicted rapist Anthony Sowell has been charged with five counts of aggravated murder, as investigators in Cleveland, OH, continue to search for bodies in his home. - CNN
Roman Polanski's defense team will argue for the dismissal of the director's sexual assault case during a hearing to be held in US court on Dec. 10. - LA Times
Judge who disapproved of interracial marriages resigns. - CNN

Source: Flickr User Hodgey

Aussie Mayor Asks Ugly Women to Move to His All-Male Town

LibertySugar — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 11:00:36 -0700

One Australian mayor thinks he came up with the perfect way to fix his town's glaring gender imbalance: invite all the country's ugly women to move in. John Moloney, the mayor of Mount Isa, has invited the "beauty-disadvantaged" to relocate to the outback mining town because it's the perfect place "for ugly ducklings to flourish into beautiful swans."

You would think the mayor's comments would offend women, but he also managed to upset his biggest constituency - men. Apparently implying that the men are desperate for some ugly women didn't go over too well. The town's city councilor criticized Mayor Moloney for "returning us to the Dark Ages and making the guys that live in this town seem like sex-hungry starved men that will pounce upon the first girl that they see walking down the street."

While unlucky-in-love women might want to tap a town full of eligible bachelors, implying that they come because they're ugly probably won't motivate a whole lot of ladies to make the move.

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Dumbass of the Day

GiggleSugar — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 12:00:00 -0800

Meet the mayor of Arlington, Ore.: Carmen Kontur-Gronquist. She may have a constituency of merely 500 citizens, but do they really need to know what she looks like in her bra, underwear, and spray tan? (Do I, come to think of it?) Although the pictures (this is but one) were uploaded to her MySpace page before she became mayor - and curiously, also the fire department's executive secretary - "she saw no reason to remove them from the internet after taking office." Oh, reeaaally? How about, cuz now you're holding a public office and this is beyond crass and undignified? Click here to read more about the Mayor Gone Wild.

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Briefing Book! SF Mayor Newsom Twitters Pregnancy News

LibertySugar — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 12:30:04 -0800