A man whose pet raccoon was confiscated by wildlife officials last year has announced he is running for governor. Mark "Coonrippy" Brown, 55, of Gallatin, issued a petition for the office on Friday with intentions to challenge incumbent Gov. Bill Haslam in the Republican primary in August.
YouTube link.
He has yet to create an official campaign website. "This is all about the raccoon," Brown said. Brown gained national attention in July following the seizure of his pet raccoon, Rebekah, by Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency officials. Brown claimed he was targeted by the agency after a video of him with another raccoon, Gunshow, went viral.
Brown said his letter to TWRA officials seeking a permit went unanswered and a petition to Haslam with over 60,000 signatures was returned unopened. "Gov. Haslam ignored the cries from the entire United States," he said. The Gallatin High School graduate said that by running for governor he hopes to "expose the people in office who are not for the people."
Mr Brown with Rebekah.
YouTube link.
"He can free prisoners, he can pardon people, but he refused the online petition and refused to accept the letter," he said. "All eyes were on Tennessee and it made us look bad. It made it look like we were under Caesar's law." The licensed firearms dealer and former city of Gallatin employee said he's not deterred by his lack of political experience and hopes to capitalise on his outsider status. "We've got to take this country back one state at a time," he said. "We live in the United States of the Offended - not the United States of America."
3 comments:
Give him back his pet.
I think he's going to give that governor a run for his money. Be interesting to watch.
It's sad that government "workers" have nothing better to do with their time than track down and seize the pets of people they see on the internet. Not unexpected, just sad.
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