Our country is full of corrupt officials and messy campaigns, yet one notable politician has stayed above it all. He has released no negative ads, he has yet to endorse any of our questionable candidates, and he has successfully stayed above the greed and corruption that has plagued our political system for years. Perhaps, it's because this particular politician is a cat, orit could be that Stubbs is our nation's best and wisest politician.

Stubbs was the mayor of Talkeetna, Alaska from 1997 until sadly retiring after an unsuccessful campaign for a senate seat last year. No human being has ever held the mayoral post for that long. Stubbs' incredible endurance in his political career is just one of the traits that make him great. He was a brave soul. Stubbs suffered an array of dangers during his long career as mayor, including attempted assassinations by way of BB gun and a vicious dog, an "accidental" kidnapping by a local garbage truck (like we would buy that story), and an accidental fall into a thankfully cool deep fryer. The towns people were always incredibly supportive of Stubbs in his times of trial, and this just proves how loved Stubbs was as mayor. If our politicians should aspire to be like anyone, it should be Stubbs.

Eighteen years is a long time for anyone to be in power, especially a cat. I wrote this as a tribute to Stubbs, celebrating a little over a year and a half since his retirement was announced in January of 2015. Stubbs has a rich history. He was only a kitten when he was elected mayor. In 1997, at less than a year old, Stubbs was elected to serve his first of many terms as mayor. His owner, Laurie, found Stubbs and many other kittens outside her shop, and chose the name Stubbs, because of his lack of a tail. Stubbs did not let anything deter him in his political journey. He continued his work in politics for an astounding amount of time, and he was quite popular among the townspeople. In case it wasn't obvious since they didn't actually elect a human being in 18 years.

In case you're wondering why I wrote this, Monday was national cats day, and I think Stubbs deserves a pretty big round of "appaws" for all he's done. He's been an honorable politician, a rare quality these days, and I can't imagine why anyone didn't want him in the Alaskan senate. I for one am sorry to see his long political career end, but good things can only last so long I suppose.