20-Pound Carp Campaigns For Ann Arbor City Council
By Marisa Fusinski, WWJ Webmaster
ANN ARBOR (CBS Detroit) - "I was a little melancholy to give up my position as a private citizen but such is the obligation of a democracy, yo."
That's the word from a 20-pound carp who is running what has been described as a "fishy campaign" for city council in Ann Arbor.
The weighty fish, who launched an unofficial write-in campaign via Twitter (@TwentyPoundCarp), touts itself as a "grass roots Ann Arbor local politician" and a "bottom feeder."
Why would a carp seek political office?
"Nobody should be consigned to the sad fate of facing election unopposed," Twenty Pound Carp said, in an email to CBS Detroit. "Where is the sport in that?"
Since the tweets began appearing. so have some legit-looking campaign materials around town.
As of Monday afternoon, the cold-blooded, aquatic vertebrate had amassed 278 followers — which it's fair to say is a respectable number for a fish.
Twenty Pound Carp has been concentrating its efforts on the 4th Ward, where only Democrat Jack Eaton will appear on the ballot. Eaton, in an interview with The Ann Arbor News, said he welcomes the competition from the 20-pound carp in Tuesday's election.
"I'm amused," said Eaton, who, in the August Primary, unseated 14-year incumbent Marcia Higgins. "I have a sense of humor and I think it's funny. I consider a 20-pound carp to be a substantial opponent and I wish him the best."
As far as a platform, Twenty Pound Carp tweets that it wants to launch "high-rise developer reeducation camps," and "bring back the tanneries."
The carp, it seems, dreams of a simpler time, hoping, "To drag us back into Ann Arbor's Golden Age, sometime shortly after the election of Van Buren and prior to the Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition, before we had slid into our present postlapsarian state."
Also among its priorities, the carp has promised to give residents more talking time at the table.
Twenty Pound Carp also has a stance on immigration.
According to MLive, workers from the city's Natural Areas Preservation program removed a 20-pound carp from the small pond in West Park last year because it was destroying the ecosystem.
How does Twenty Pound Carp feel about its chances?
"I will sleep tonight with the placid brow of a fish who has done his best," the carp said. "I suspect I will dream pleasant dreams of sustainable, pedestrian-friendly commercial and residential development."
It should be noted that Twenty Pound Carp has not filed paperwork with the clerk's office.
