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John Tyler Hammons
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John Tyler Hammons (born September 4, 1988) is the 47th and current Mayor of Muskogee, a city of about 40,000 people in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. He was elected on May 13, 2008, as a 19-year old freshman at the University of Oklahoma and was sworn in on May 19, 2008. Hammons was elected after winning 70% of the vote in a runoff election against 70-year-old, three-time former Muskogee mayor Hershel McBride. Hammons replaced outgoing mayor Wren Stratton, who decided to not seek re-election after one term.
At the age of 20, Hammons is among the youngest mayors in United States history.
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Encyclopedia
John Tyler Hammons (born September 4, 1988) is the 47th and current Mayor of Muskogee, a city of about 40,000 people in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. He was elected on May 13, 2008, as a 19-year old freshman at the University of Oklahoma and was sworn in on May 19, 2008. Hammons was elected after winning 70% of the vote in a runoff election against 70-year-old, three-time former Muskogee mayor Hershel McBride. Hammons replaced outgoing mayor Wren Stratton, who decided to not seek re-election after one term.
At the age of 20, Hammons is among the youngest mayors in United States history. Hammons was also Oklahoma's youngest at-large delegate to the 2008 Republican National Convention. Hammons attended the inaugration of Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States in conjunction with the winter session of the United States Conference of Mayors.
Early life and education
Hammons is a fourth generation Oklahoman and a member of the Cherokee Nation. Born and raised in Muskogee, Oklahoma, he attended public schools and graduated from Muskogee High School in the Class of 2007. Before beginning his senior year, Hammons was a delegate to the Oklahoma Boys State where he would campaign to serve as Governor of Boys State. During his senior year, Hammons was MHS student body president and was president of both MHS Young Republicans and MHS Young Democrats.
After graduating, Hammons attended the University of Oklahoma for his freshman year of college. While there, he selected to major in political science and public administration. He transferred to Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, Oklahoma in the fall of 2008.
Mayoral campaign, 2008
Hammons publicly declared his intent to run for mayor of Muskogee on January 29 and officially filed for office on February 5. By the end of the filing date, Hammons was one of six candidates vying to be mayor, including a former Muskogee mayor and a former Muskogee city councilor. Hammons was the first mayoral candidate to challenge his opponents to public debates.
During the campaign and throughout the debates, Hammons cited more government accountability and transparency and an open dialogue between city leaders and citizens as his top priorities. The local newspaper in Muskogee, the Muskogee Phoenix, endorsed Hammons's opponent Hershel McBride, a three-term former Muskogee mayor and twenty-year city councilor, in the mayoral race.
On election night on April 1, Hammons won the popular vote by coming in first place with 42% of the vote. Hershel McBride came in second place with 38% of the vote. The remaining 20% was divided among the four other candidates. With the general election failing to deliver a candidate with an absolute majority, the Muskogee City Charter required Hammons and McBride to face one another in a run-off election to determine who would serve as mayor. Vote tallies showed Hammons carried the east side of Muskogee while McBride carried the west side.
Hammons and McBride would debate each other three more times before the May 13 run-off election. McBride stressed his experience while Hammons campaigned on his ability to generate change for Muskogee. Two matters that began major campaign issues was how each candidate saw the role of the mayor in the Muskogee city government and each candidate's willingness to disclose their campaign finances. Of the fifteen candidates seeking office for the 2008 election cycle, Hammons was the only one to disclose who his donors were. Such disclosure was not required under Muskogee law, and was completely voluntary. Through the disclosure, it was revealed that Hammons's chief backers were doctors and teachers. The Muskogee Phoenix again endorsed McBride over Hammons in the run-off election.
On the day of the run-off election, May 13, both Hammons and McBride spent the day trying to convince all undecided voters. By night's end, Hammons had captured 70% of the vote. Hammons's election is memorable for more reason other than his age: he is the first candidate to carry all precincts, he won the largest popular vote of any candidate in Muskogee history, and won by the largest margin of victory in Muskogee County history. In other races, only one incumbent retained his seat with three new city councilors also winning their races. Former Muskogee City Manager Clay Harrell said he hadn't seen such a shakeup in the city government since 1952.
During the campaign, Hammons was assisted by a political campaign staff of both young and old, with 70-year old Jack Harrison, a Muskogee businessman and veteran educator, as his campaign chairman and Jordan Stevens, the (then) 27-year old mayor of Oktaha, as his campaign manager. Volunteer staffers were mainly Hammons' friends from Muskogee High School.
Mayoralty
On May 19, 2008, Hammons was officially sworn in as 47th (and youngest) Mayor of the City of Muskogee. Mayor Hammons first official act was to sponsor a successful resolution expressing the City's desire to join Sister Cities International. In respond to Hammons call for Muskogee to join Sister Cities International, in June of 2008, eleven Indonesian students representing the Association of Southeast Asian Nations traveled to Muskogee to visit Mayor Hammons.
One of the budgetary goals Hammons has called for is to establish permanent funding for economic development instead of doing so by a yearly appropriation.
In July of 2008, Hammons asked the City Council to establish a committee to review potential changes to the Muskogee City Charter, the chief legal document of the City. Approved by the citizens of Muskogee in 1972, the City Charter had not receive a single comprehensive review in its nearly 40-year lifespan. In October, after months of determing the make-up and scope of the Committee, the City Council finally acted on Hammons proposal and establish an eight member Charter Review Committee to review the City Charter. The Committee is scheduled to make is final report and recommendation to the City Council by May 1, 2009.
The Mayor gave his first State of the City Address on September 25, 2008. The annual address, a joint-effort between the Mayor's Office and the Muskogee Chamber of Commerce, produced the largest turnout for any mayoral address in Muskogee history. In the address, entitled "A New Beginning", Hammons identified ensuring the public safety, supporting economic development and promoting local tourism as the major goals of his first year in office. Hammons described the state of the city as "strong" and "hopeful" and laid out plans to establish a capital improvement plan to address Muskogee’s infrastructural needs (particullary street and sewer improvements) and to pass a countywide enhanced 911 telephone system. On election day, November 4, 2008, the voters of Muskogee County approved the two measures to necessary to establish the E911 system.
In a effort to promote and expand literacy, Hammons, by working with the Muskogee Public Library and Muskogee Public Schools, issued the Mayor's Reading Challenge by asking Muskogee residents "Are You as Well Read as a High Schooler?". The Mayor used a book list provided by Muskogee Public Schools as potential books for Muskogee resident to read over the year. Included books are To Kill a Mockingbird, Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, The Tortilla Curtain, 1984 and The Giver. Hammons and the Public Library hopes the book list will get Muskogee readers to talk to each other about what they read. The challenge will conclude with an event at the Public Library in May 2009.
In cooperation with the Muskogee County Health Department, Hammons established the Mayor's Taskforce on Public Health and charged it with finding ways to improve the public health of Muskogee. Hammons appointed Dr. James H. Baker, a local physcian, as the chair of the Taskforce. In response, the Taskforce launched the Muskogee Wellness Initiative, a program of the Mayor's Office designed to partner with governmental health agencies and the private medical community to improve nutrition, promote physical exercise and reduce tobacco use throughout the City. The Initiative was kickoff on October 16, 2008, at an event that established Muskogee's health goals in the coming year, which included improving food in public schools, establishing a community garden, and encouraging businesses to offer incintives to employees for joining fitness clubs. Mayor Hammons and Chairman Baker are scheduled to give the first annual State of City Health Address in October 2009.
Hoping to focus the City of Muskogee on environmental and energy sustainability, Hammons partnered with several local and state officials to establish the Green Country Alternative Energy Expo. The Expo, located in Muskogee (which is located in the heart of Green Country), was focused on encouraging ideas and solutions to effectively address the future energy needs of the Muskogee community. Participating officials in the 1st annual Expo, which occurred from October 1 throught October 4, were Lieutenant Governor of Oklahoma Jari Askins and Oklahoma Secretary of Energy David Fleischaker. Participating businesses included Oklahoma Gas & Electric, Chesapeake Energy and Oklahoma Natural Gas. Visitors to the Expo browsed numerous exhibits featuring wind energy, compressed natural gas, electric and hybrid vehicles, and biofuels.
In December of 2008, the staff of the Muskogee Phoenix voted the election of Mayor Hammons as the #1 local story for Muskogee in 2008.
Fulfilling one of his camapaign promises, in January, 2009, Hammons proposed the "Muskogee Campaign Transparency Act", an ordinance which would have establish campaign finance rules for Muskogee. Hammons’ proposal would have required all candidates for city offices to file disclosures with the city clerk reporting any campaign contributions of $200 or more beginning with the 2010 general City election. Muskogee adopted campaign finance laws in 2001 but those laws were repealed in 2003. Since then, any disclosure of campaign contributions and expenditures has been completely voluntary. During his 2008 mayoral campaign, Hammons voluntarily disclosed to contributions to his campaign. The Act was denied by the City Council in a 6-3 vote, with only Mayor Hammons and two other Councilmembers voting for it.
Election history
Summary of the April 1, 2008 Muskogee mayoral election results | Candidates | Party | Votes | % |
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| John Tyler Hammons | Nonpartisan | 1,849 | 42.38% | | Herchsel McBride | Nonpartisan | 1,697 | 38.90% | | Ron Ventors, Sr. | Nonpartisan | 553 | 12.67% | | Glyenda Oliver | Nonpartisan | 132 | 3.03% | | Barney Taylor | Nonpartisan | 80 | 1.83% | | Robert Thomas | Nonpartisan | 52 | 1.19% | | Total | 4,363 | 100.0% | | Source: |
Summary of the May 13, 2008 Muskogee mayoral election results | Candidates | Party | Votes | % |
|---|
| John Tyler Hammons | Nonpartisan | 3,703 | 69.62% | | Herschel McBride | Nonpartisan | 1,616 | 30.38% | | Total | 5,319 | 100.0% | | Source: |
Other Appearances
Hammons appeared on FOX TV's Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader on October 24, 2008, winning $25,000 for his charity after missing the question "What's the name of the first American woman to travel to outer space?". Unsure of the correct answer, he "copied" the 5th grader's answer, which was wrong.
See also
- List of the youngest mayors in the United States
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