A Tennessee man named Mark "Coonrippy" Brown announced he is running for governor, pulling a petition for the office on Friday with intentions to challenge incumbent Gov. Bill Haslam in the Republican primary in August.
His reason? Brown, a licensed firearms dealer who became nationally famous last year when state officials confiscated his raccoon "Rebekah," wants to shed light on the state ignoring petitions for him to get back his pet, WBIR reports:
Brown claimed he was targeted by the agency after videos of him with another raccoon, Gunshow, went viral. His quest to regain ownership of Rebekah was eventually featured on CNN when he appeared on the Anderson Cooper 360 RidicuList in August.
Brown said his letter to TWRA officials seeking a permit went unanswered and a petition to Haslam with over 60,000 signatures was returned unopened.
"Gov. Haslam ignored the cries from the entire United States," he said.
The Gallatin High School graduate said that by running for governor he hopes to "expose the people in office who are not for the people."
"He can free prisoners, he can pardon people, but he refused the online petition and refused to accept the letter," he said. "All eyes were on Tennessee and it made us look bad. It made it look like we were under Caesar's law."