| John Tyler Hammons | |
|---|---|
| 47th Mayor of Muskogee, Oklahoma | |
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office May 19, 2008 |
|
| Preceded by | Wren Stratton |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 4 September 1988 Muskogee, Oklahoma, USA |
| Nationality | American |
| Political party | Republican |
| Occupation | Mayor of Muskogee, Oklahoma |
| Religion | Southern Baptist |
| Website | Office of Mayor Hammons |
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, after winning 70% of the vote in a runoff election against 70-year-old, three-time former Muskogee mayor Herschel McBride.[1] Hammons was handily reelected as Mayor on April 6, 2010, in a four way race.[2]
First elected at the age of 19, Hammons is among the youngest mayors in United States history.
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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 Public Schools in the Class of 2007. Before beginning his senior year, Hammons was a delegate to the Oklahoma Boys State where he lost his campaign for Governor of Boys State to Austin Slaymaker. During his senior year, Hammons was MHS student body president and was president of both MHS Young Republicans and MHS Young Democrats.[3]
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.[4]
In 2010, Hammons enrolled at the University of Oklahoma-Tulsa.
Hammons publicly declared his intent to run for mayor of Muskogee on January 29 and officially filed for office on February 5.[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.[6]
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, though saying Hammons ran his "mayoral campaign as if it were a U.S. Senate race",[7] endorsed Hammons's opponent Herschel 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. Herschel 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.[8]
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.[9] 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 physicians 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, 2008, both Hammons and McBride spent the day trying to convince all undecided voters. By night's end, Hammons had captured 70% of the vote.[10] Hammons's election is memorable for other reasons in addition to his age. He was the first candidate to carry all precincts; he won the largest popular vote of any candidate in Muskogee history; and he was elected 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.[11]
At a press conference held on November 30, 2009, at the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame, Hammons announced that he would seek a second term as mayor of Muskogee.[12] Hammons drew three opponents: local businessman and cousin of sitting US Senator Tom Coburn Bob Coburn, local travel agent Chris James, and local volunteer Teresa Garris.
On election day, April 6, 2010, Hammons received just over 51% of the vote, defeating his nearest opponent by 20 percentage points, and was reelected to a second full two year term.[13][14] In the election, Hammons carried 17 of the City's 18 voting precincts.
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.[15] In response to Hammons call for Muskogee to join Sister Cities International, in June 2008, eleven Indonesian students representing the Association of Southeast Asian Nations traveled to Muskogee to visit Mayor Hammons.
The Mayor gave his first State of the City Address on September 25, 2008. The annual address was a joint-effort between the Mayor's Office and the Muskogee Chamber of Commerce. In the address, "A New Beginning", Hammons spoke of public safety, economic development and promoting 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 (particularly permanent funding for street and sewer improvements) and to pass a countywide enhanced 911 telephone system.[16] On election day, November 4, 2008, the voters of Muskogee County approved the two measures to necessary to establish the E911 system.[17] At a special election on June 9, 2009, Hammons successfully campaigned to have the voters of the City of Muskogee approve three sales tax propositions to provided permanent funding from road repairs and to allow the purchase of new capital equipment for City departments.[18]
Much of Hammons' first year in office was focused on improving the City's quality of life. In an 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?".[19] Hammons also established the Mayor's Taskforce on Public Health and charged it with finding ways to improve the public health of Muskogee.[20] 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.[21]
Fulfilling one of his campaign promises, in January 2009, Hammons proposed the "Muskogee Campaign Transparency Act", an ordinance which would have establish campaign finance rules for Muskogee.[22] 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.[23] 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 contributions to his campaign. However, the Act failed in the City Council in a 6-3 vote, with Hammons and only two other members of the council voting for it.[24]
In early February 2009, Hammons formed the Mayors' Veterans Affairs Committee to meet regularly with him and advise him on local issues of concern to the Muskogee veterans community and to the United States Department of Veterans Affairs in Muskogee, which has a substantial presence in Muskogee due to the Jack C. Montgomery VA Medical Center. The Committee is composed of local members of the American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars, and Military Order of the Purple Heart. Following the Committee's June 2009 meeting, Hammons held a town hall meeting with the American Legion to formally request the City Council authorize the display of the National League of Families POW/MIA flag at the Muskogee Civic Center.[25] The City Council was hesitant to display the POW flag over fears it constituted promoting a special interest group. After initially rejecting the proposal, the Council reversed itself and voted to fly the flag year-round.[26]
Hammons gave his second State of the City Address on October 1, 2009. The address, which was entitled "A Shining City on a Hill", called for the City to focus on more environmentally friendly policies, such as increased recycling and the purchase of vehicle that operate on alternative energy such as compressed natural gas. Hammons' set his two major goals for the remainder of his term as improving Muskogee's housing stock and promoting education. The Mayor called for the establishment of a program to assist renters in Muskogee with down payment costs to help them secure their own home. He also encouraged the City government to work with Muskogee County officials to establish a county-wide program to allow all county high school graduates to attend Connors State College or Indian Capital Technology Center tuition free.[27]
Hammons' second term began on April 12, 2010. In the days leading up to his inauguration, on April 10, Muskogee's Arrowhead Mall was the site of a violent shooting. The event resulted in one fatality and five injuries. In his inaugural address, Hammons called for increased funding for the Muskogee Police Department's crime prevention fund and for consolidating the City and Muskogee County Sheriff's Office's SWAT teams into a single joint City-County Special Operations Team.[28]
In an effort to deregulate the local taxicab industry and promote free market ideas, Hammons proposed that the City Council repeal the law establishing a barrier to entry for new taxicab companies. Under the existing law, new taxicab companies had to first receive approval from the City Council before beginning operations. Hammons proposal was unanimously approved by the City Council.[29]
Hammons delivered his third State of the City Address in October 2010. The Address, reusing his theme from the previous year, was entitled "Growing Our Shining City" and focused on Hammons proposals to grow the City's economy and create jobs. Hammons called on the City government to increases its tourism development and event marketing budget in order to attract more tourists to the City. He called on the City Council to reduce "burdensome" regulations on local businesses. Hammons also called for tougher sanctions against local businesses who fail to remit their taxes, particularly be increased enforcement and by denying tax delinquent businesses from bidding on City contracts.[30]
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Hammons endorsed former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani early in the 2008 Republican presidential primaries. When Giuliani withdrew from the race, Hammons endorsed Arizona Senator John McCain. Hammons was also Oklahoma's youngest at-large delegate to the 2008 Republican National Convention.[31] While at the RNC, on his 20th birthday and the final day of the RNC, Hammons had the opportunity to meet Giuliani.
In January 2009, Hammons attended the inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States in conjunction with the winter session of the United States Conference of Mayors.[32]
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Wren Stratton |
Mayor of Muskogee, Oklahoma May 19, 2008 |
Incumbent |
| United States order of precedence | ||
| Preceded by Mary Fallin Governor of Oklahoma |
United States order of precedence (while in Muskogee, Oklahoma) as of 2011 |
Succeeded by John Boehner Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives |