I'm jumping on the bandwagon: Sting for Mayor

No. Say it isn’t so.
I haven’t been so excited about a political newcomer since Jesse Ventura threw his hat into the ring and became governor of the state of Minnesota.
I’m distraught, just days after taking out petitions to run against incumbent Republican Tony Iriti to become Findlay’s next mayor, Jeff Gatchell returned the petitions unsigned to the Hancock County Board of Elections Friday.
Damn, damn, double damn.
Here I was hoping for an interesting primary election.
You know Gatchell, he’s the guy who dresses up like the professional wrestler Sting and has been seen near in Findlay’s Tiffin Avenue retail district.
Here’s a link to a story from 2000 that ace Findlay Courier reporter J. Steven Dillon did on Gatchell, aka Sting, for the newspaper.
Now would he have won? Probably not. But just the thought of Sting going toe-to-toe with Tony in a mayoral debate is intriguing.
Hell forget the debate, put them both in a set of tights, set up a wrestling ring in Dorney Plaza and let them duke it out in a no-holds-barred winner becomes mayor steel cage match.
Could you imagine what kind of attention that would bring?
There would be camera crews from the four corners of the globe here to cover Findlay’s own version of Wrestlemania. Maybe the undercard could feature a two-outta-three falls match between service director and former Courier business writer and current Findlay Service Director Mike Sobczyk and Findlay Safety Director Eileen Benson. Other matches could be maybe a tag team match with the Police and Fire Chiefs and their top commanders getting it on in the squared circle.
If Gatchell did run, maybe people would pay a little more attention to local politics. And just maybe it would get some people involved and interested in their local government and who’s in charge of it. He could bring some of the issues the city faces off the back burner and place them front and center in the public eye opening up discussion and debate. And he could do it with a flair and pinache’ only someone imitating a professional wrestler could.
Plus he would sell one heck of a lot of newspapers.
Run, Gatchell, run -- Sting the Flag City in 2007.