Craig Shubert, mayor of Hudson, Ohio, has resigned following a number of bizarre ice fishing comments.
The town mayor issued his resignation from his role on Monday morning, February 14.
Shubert made headlines last week when he suggested that allowing ice fishing in a local park could lead to 'prostitution'.
In a city council meeting regarding ice fishing, Shubert said, 'Does someone come back next year and say I want an ice shanty on Hudson Springs Park for X amount of time?'
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He then added, 'And if you then allow ice fishing with shanties, then that leads to another problem. Prostitution. Now you’ve got the police chief and the police department involved.'
The comments quickly went viral online, with many asking what ice fishing had to do with prostitution.
The incident led to Shubert leaving his role and explaining his comments in his resignation statement. 'When I entered the race for mayor in 2019, my objective was to bring about change,' he said, adding that during his time in the post, he wanted to 'shake up city council and our city administration, to return Hudson to its core conservative values, and to focus on the needs of our community; not the wants of a few'.
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He then specifically addressed his controversial comments, noting: 'My comments at Tuesday’s workshop were made out of concern for our community; what could become of unintended consequences of new legislation, based on my prior television news reporting experience.
'My attempt to inject a bit of dry humor to make a point about this, in the midst of a cold, snowy February, was grossly misunderstood.'
Shubert said he felt some saw the comments 'as an opportunity to engage in the politics of personal destruction by means of character assassination, blaming me for the negative international press they helped to promote'.
However, this isn't the only time that Shubert made headlines for controversial comments.
Last year, Shubert had said a high school creative writing class was using a book that contained child pornography, which was completely unfounded, New York Post reports.
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However, the accusation led to threats being made against the board members of the school in question.
Speaking of his time in the role, USA Today reports, city council president Chris Forster said, 'City Council appreciates the time and dedication that Mayor Shubert has put in to serving the citizens of Hudson. We respect his decision and wish him the best in the future.'
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Shola Lee