Column: Dog ‘mayor’ puts national spotlight on town of Idyllwild

Can a dog put a town on the map?

Apparently it can, if it’s a golden retriever named Max who lives in the tiny mountain village of Idyllwild near Palm Springs.

That’s because Max is the “elected” mayor of the unincorporated community. He keeps regular office hours and attends ribbon cuttings, ground-breaking ceremonies, festivals, school activities, birthday parties, showers and weddings. He even visits shut-ins.

CBS News dispatched a crew to the Norman Rockwellian town of about 3,500 full-time residents (plus many from San Diego County who have vacation homes there) and spent two days filming Max at work and play.

Phyllis Mueller, Mayor Max’s executive assistant, appointments secretary, press spokeswoman and owner, has been notified that the segment is set to air Monday on the 6:30 p.m. newscast. It’s just the latest in Max’s eventful life.

Last September, I wrote about the political pooch, who has a closet full of neckties and hats, being chosen as Petco’s poster pooch in honor of National Dogs in Politics Day.

He appeared with Mueller as a contestant on “To Tell the Truth” in late September. He visited with Kelly Clarkson on her talk show in October.

In December, Max was heralded as one of The CW Network’s 2019 top 10 dogs nationally, and his portrait was added to the American Kennel Club Museum of the Dog in Manhattan, N.Y. Max also was invited to join Mario Lopez at a CW holiday gala in Los Angeles, elevating the four-legged celebrity from a political party animal to an official party animal.

It appears Max has turned into a one-dog PR machine for the economically struggling tourist town. With its surrounding hillsides scorched by recent wildfires and the washout of two of its three main access roads by a flash flood last February, Idyllwild has suffered from empty hotel rooms, a slump in restaurant and retail sales and related job losses.

By December, the roads finally had been repaired and re-opened, so visitors started riding and cycling back in. Recent publicity over its dog mayor has proved an added tourist attraction.

“People are always crowded around Mayor Max,” says Idyllwild real estate agent Sheila Zacker. She calls him a good-natured ambassador for the town — a one-canine Chamber of Commerce. Zacker publishes a brochure of things to do in the old-fashioned community. Making an appointment to see the mayor is on her list.

One recent visitor posted a clip of Max on the TikTok social media app on Jan. 20. By Jan. 31, the short home-made video attracted had 1.2 million views. A Mayor Max segment on the “Daily Dose of Internet” has tallied 6.8 million views over the past 13 months.

In addition to holding daily “office” hours in the center of town, Max’s calendar is jammed with guest appearances. For Mueller, who, with husband Glenn, personally finances Max’s lifestyle and does a lot of his legwork, being Max’s owner has blossomed into a nearly full-time career. She even spent $30,000 of her own money printing colorful 2020 calendars of political pooch poses, which she gives out for free.

“We get calls and emails every day from people who want to come to Idyllwild,” reports Mueller, who oversees Max’s transportation in one of two mayor-mobiles that bear his name. “We love it,” she says, even though his political post is an unpaid job.

Masked pedestrians walk down a shopping street in downtown Wuhan, China. The new coronavirus outbreak, as of Jan. 31, had resulted in at least 213 people dead and more than 9,709 cases confirmed in mainland China, as the virus spreads globally.

(Associated Press / Dake Kang)

Flight or fight? ResMed, the locally-based high tech company that manufactures breathing aids for people who suffer from sleep apnea, COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease) and other respiratory ailments, has a couple of employees based in Wuhan, China, the epicenter of the deadly coronavirus outbreak.

As the contagious disease spread, instead of isolating themselves in their living quarters as advised, ResMed CEO Mick Farrell said they went out and volunteered to help China’s medical personnel dealing with coronavirus patients in hospital respiratory wards.

“ResMed has already sent over 100 ventilators from our plant in Suzhou near Shanghai to Wuhan,” Farrell added. “Next week we will send hundreds more ventilators and thousands of masks.” The chief executive explained that the ventilators breathe for people who have damaged lungs or fluid in their lungs, some of the side effects of the coronavirus.

Farrell referred to the two China-based employees as heroes, adding, “We will make sure they are thanked and rewarded.”

Life after politics? When asked at a Rotary event what he plans to do after his mayoral term ends, Kevin Faulconer replied: “I used to be a carpet cleaner when I was at San Diego State. I can always go back to that.”

Then came the truly political response: “Ask me in a couple of months, and I’ll let you know.”