It is not often a political candidate comes along who challenges the norm; politics in general is a fairly routine affair. Then there is Brett McClafferty. At the age of 19, he ran for mayor of the city of Streetsboro, Ohio. After the election – an election he lost by a single vote – the city, with no small amount of encouragement by the victor, passed an amendment to the city laws raising the age of candidacy to 23 for mayor and city council. NYRA has issued a press release condemning this action as both arbitrary and unconstitutional.
NYRA President Jeff Nadel said of the issue, “There are so many citizens and organizations in this country working to get young people more involved in politics. There are young people across this nation that work each day to effect positive change. Brett McClafferty, a courageous young man, ran for office because he wanted to serve the people of Streetsboro. After his one-vote defeat, the City decided that they no longer wanted young people involved in solving the issues that face us. They instituted an arbitrary minimum age for candidacy that we feel will not survive a challenge in court.”
McClafferty has written a book based on his experiences, “The Age of Politics,” published through AuthorHouse Publishing.
