The Peoples' Mayor

Last Saturday an aide to Mayor Mattie Bower approached me and asked if I would be able to "walk" her through Twist's 15 th anniversary party. To me this was wondrous, as we had initiated the gay part of her uphill battle for mayor at last year's anniversary and, we all had so much fun. The aide remarked that they were surprised I never stopped by or called; I had to emphasize that--to me--her campaign was a battle between good and evil. Once we accomplished the win, my involvement was complete. I turned down an appointment to her first mayoral advisory board and certainly never entertained the thought to "stopping by". But taking her by the arm to Twist's momentous party was right up our alley and, once again, the crowd adored her, pressing to get near the endearing grandmother, The Peoples' Mayor. Here are some of the photos of last night:

Of one thing I am certain: without the political genius of her advisor, Mike Burke, she would not be in these pictures. I will never forget that lunch at David's Cafe during which we plotted the campaign. "Get the woman vote and the gay vote and it doesn't matter how much money that slimeball, Simon, has; it's a done deal." And the developer lobby, and the Jewish lobby, and the Cuban lobby, and the slime lobby couldn't stop her; her win by ten percentage points shocked a usually unshockable town. It didn't mean that politics changed or corruption ended or code enforcement was tamed, but it meant a lot to people like me, and we love her. Last year at this time I embarked on a mission to get her the gay vote and met Leopoldo the same week. Sometimes you hit the jackpot.