Kenneth Simmons

Kenneth Hopkins Simmons (1904 - 1981) was a politician and the mayor of Milton, Washington. He also founded and served as the mayor of Bonney Lake, Washington in 1949. Simmons gained notoriety when he placed a mule named 'Boston Curtis' on the ballot for Republican precinct committeeman for Milton in 1938. Despite running unopposed and without a campaign or platform, Curtis was elected with 51 votes. Simmons orchestrated this political stunt to highlight the tendency of voters to make uninformed decisions. It later became known that the mule switched allegiance and joined the Stevens lobby. In 1939, Simmons employed a group of teenagers as special policemen to handle a Halloween altercation with teenagers from Fife.