Dirty Book Guy for mayor?
Posted on 14 Sep 2009 by James Willamor
video: Mecklenburg County; view this video on Vimeo
This election of a new Charlotte mayor this November is expected to be a contest between established and experienced leaders John Lassiter and Anthony Foxx, both of whom currently serve on the Charlotte City Council. First comes the primary on Tuesday, Sept. 15th. While Democrat Foxx has no opponents, Republican Lassiter has two challengers; Jack Stratton and Martin Davis.
Stratton, who doesn’t even live in Charlotte, features a rambling, incoherent website dedicated to an unintelligible conspiracy theory. The other fringe candidate, Martin Davis, has been dubbed “dirty book guy” by the Charlotte Observer and Creative Loafing.
Martin Davis first rose to notoriety at the October 7th, 1997 Mecklenburg Board of County Commissioners meeting. Davis used a public comment period to read sexually explicit excerpts from “The Faber Book of Gay Fiction” which he had stumbled across at the public library. The meeting was broadcast live on television.
At first, the Commissioners allowed Davis to proceed. After several more sessions of reading aloud graphic and often homoerotic books, Chairman Parks Helms had enough. At the March 6th, 2001 County Commissioners meeting, Helms forbid Martin Davis from reading any adult material aloud. When Davis ignored the Chairman and attempted to read a special passage from “Woman on Top,” Helms had him forcefully removed from the building, or as Davis puts it “had a police officer attack me.” It was far from Davis’ only run-in with law enforcement, and it wouldn’t be his last performance at a County Commissioners meeting, either.
The episode lead to “dirty book guy” Davis landing on Creative Loafing’s list of “Ten Scariest People in Charlotte.”
The primary election is Tuesday, September 15th. Republicans and Democrats can vote in their respective parties’ primaries, and those registered as “unaffiliated” can choose which primary in which they want to vote. For more information on the primary, visit Andrea Krewson’s blog.
While it remains to be seen how Martin Davis will finish in the Tuesday primary, his antics at County Commissioners meetings are only good enough to land him in third place, trailing “rogue helicopter guy” and reigning champ, Chilly Willy. Chilly Willy for mayor, anyone?
James — thanks for enlightening us on the “dirty book guy”. I would have never known. I am surprised we haven’t heard more about it on TV. I guess he doesn’t really stand a chance in the primaries so the media focus remains on Lassister vs. Foxx.
I just want to know what he’s so worked up about. Is it because these books are available at the public library, and he thinks they shouldn’t be?
Yes, that seems to be the case. Also, he recently had an explicit rant about the play “Southern Rapture” which pays homage to the controversy around the late 90’s performance of “Angels in America,” due to its homosexual themes. This time he battles Jennifer Roberts: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awb-Ui36ywA
Today must be crazy people day. This morning a woman came in and asked to speak with a reporter. I sat down with her and she told me about how a Huntersville school principal and his assistant have put a contract hit out on her. She has survived three attempts on her life so far. She wants to run for city council so she can put an end to civic injustice (Charlotte city council…not Huntersville).
I asked for a number and she started to give me one and then said it was monitored by the fire marshal (what?). I then asked for an email address and she said she went down to Silicon Valley and set one up at Yahoo, and then the next day, that same computer at Yahoo she used to set it up exploded. I honestly didn’t know what to say.
Also, I’ve had a bunch of interview requests from some Davis supporters. They told me he had a very good chance of winning the primary and if I didn’t get him in the paper now, I would be shocked like the rest of the press when he wins…
Anyways, thanks for the link to the helicopter guy. I haven’t seen that before and that (along with the crazy woman in my office) really made my morning.
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