Mayor Attends GOP Convention

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- John Tyler Hammons, who made history by becoming Muskogee mayor at age 19, is now witnessing history as the youngest member of Oklahoma's delegation at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn.

"It's amazing -- there's governors, senators, (Cabinet) secretaries, former presidential candidates -- and they're all just around me," Hammons, who turns 20 on Thursday, told The Oklahoman.

He became the state's youngest mayor when he was elected four months ago.

Hammons said he is amazed that several national figures have come up to him asking to be in a picture with him.

Among them, he said, was U.S. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne, who spoke to the Oklahoma convention delegation here earlier this week.

"They've heard of me when I say who I am," Hammons said.

He calls becoming mayor "a life-changing event."

"It's humbling and an honor to think that 40,000 people have entrusted me to be their leader and to look to me for wisdom," he said. "That's an incredibly humbling feeling for anybody, let alone a 19-year-old."

Hammons said he can understand the national scrutiny that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has come under since being picked by presumptive Republican presidential candidate U.S. Sen. John McCain to be his running mate. Hammons quit a salesman's job at a Muskogee auto dealership after he heard people saying the dealership would not have to abide by the city's code enforcement rules.

"It proves there are always two sides to a story and you need to do the best you can to rise above controversy," Hammons said. "My thinking was ... I'm going to distance myself."

Hammons, who is taking classes at Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, is a McCain delegate, although the Arizona senator was not his first choice. Hammons said he preferred former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani.

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