SILVERTON, ORE. — Stu Rasmussen promised a new administration if he was elected, and he's as good as his word: Silverton residents not only are getting a new mayor; they're also getting a new Stu.
Rasmussen, longtime manager of the local cinema, was also elected mayor in 1988 and 1990, and served four years -- but that was when he was wearing slacks and sport shirts to council meetings. The new Rasmussen -- who got breast implants a few years ago and began calling himself Carla Fong -- wears skirts, lipstick and high heels.
The thing is, Rasmussen's been a fixture in this small former lumber mill town so long, people tend not to pay much attention to what he's wearing.
Earlier this month, Rasmussen became America's first openly transgender mayor. His constituents say they elected him not for his looks, but because he promised to put a halt to the rapid development that has threatened Silverton's small-town charm.
"My first two terms, I was a very straight-looking guy," said Rasmussen, 60, a software engineer who has written on transgender issues. "Now, I write under the name Carla Fong, but basically I'm Stu in Silverton. Honestly, it would be too much trouble to retrain the whole town."
Rasmussen walks down Silverton's Norman Rockwell-like main street in a plunging purple top revealing impressive cleavage, with a tight black miniskirt, flowing red locks and dagger-like red nails.
He is stopped every few feet by people who want to shake his hand and congratulate him on his victory, in which he took 52% of the vote against 39% for incumbent Mayor Ken Hector in the nonpartisan election.
"To be perfectly candid, the incumbent . . . and I are not bosom buddies -- that was a bad choice in terms," deadpans Rasmussen. "Ken's heart is in the right place, but it's just when his mind's made up, that's it -- facts won't change it.
"What was it Alexis de Tocqueville said -- his mind is not like the fertile field onto which seeds fall. Ken . . . had a council that was easy for him to get along with because, when he didn't get his way -- well truthfully, his last name is Hector, and he just kind of lived up to it."
Rasmussen, who has served the last four years on the City Council, promises an era of "reasoned discourse" in the city "where everybody's going to be participating for a change."
