Philly Mayor John Street and DC Mayor Adrian Fenty both do.
Street camped out Friday starting at 3:30 AM (the new $600 Apple phones didn't go on sale until 6:00 PM). Street got plenty of flak for spending his whole day waiting in line to buy the phone:
Fox29 reporter Jeff Cole: "The city's in crisis and you're sitting here buying an iPhone?"
Street: "I'm taking care of city business. I'm fully and completely on duty."
Reporters and random passersby: But Mayor, shouldn't you be comforting families hit by homicide? There are hundreds of them to choose from, after all.
Street: "Mayors do not go to shootings."
Street eventually left the line with and aide holding his place, but that led to even more backlash:
He planned to have a $45,000-a-year city aide keep his spot in line. But then he changed his mind and assigned a police officer to do it instead.
A cop as seat-warmer?
How can a mayor so plugged in be so checked out?
DC's mayor stirred up some controversy of his own, but it was because he didn't wait in line:
So we're all waiting outside and some of the people around me notice a double parked car with a driver and a few dudes outside all on Blackberries talking and looking into the store. A little while later, a guy comes out with three bags and gives them to the driver. AT&T was only allowed to sell one iPhone per customer. Then the same guy disappears back into the store, into the back room. The manager comes out to update people and someone asks him what just happened and we find out that the phones are for D.C.'s mayor, Adrian Fenty.
