Keep Community From Going to Dogs : Novelty of canine as honorary mayor of Sunland-Tujunga would not justify starting trend

In Sunland-Tujunga, a dog, yes a dog, has been nominated for honorary mayor. Doubtless, he is now the favorite among three candidates by virtue of worldwide publicity.

This is providing many people with chuckles. In their minds it would be an amusing novelty if the pooch were to win this particular low-level office, the duties being easy, the pay nil and true political power nonexistent.

But any drift toward canine control even at the municipal level would be a nasty business. For many reasons, dogs should not be elected to public office except in very limited circumstances--i.e., to ceremonial positions.

There is the matter of age. Even dogs well beyond their active years are typically far below the legal office-holding or voting age. A dog could not be president of the United States for this reason alone; here the founders were wiser than they knew. The common conversion of “dog years” to human in multiples of seven is unproven as to denoting ability to govern. The fact that dogs reach physical maturity at age 1 or so is no argument in their favor. Decision-making skill and the ability to produce puppies are distinctly separate matters.

The potential for undue influence over dogs holding office is large. Bear in mind that the most education one can hope for in these panting politicos is graduation from obedience school. The dog is not known as man’s best friend because it thinks for itself.

Think of patronage, not an issue in Sunland-Tujunga, but remember we are warning against a trend. Unemployed human beings deserve precedence over dogs for jobs in the public sector. Also, telephoning a city office is frustrating already. Think of encountering, instead of a human voice, a dog or, worse, a recording of one.

Meanwhile, the standard campaign press release has been ruined forever. Where’s the dignity in this: “The candidate spent the day chasing baseballs and licking babies.”