Patrick Underwood "Pat" Smathers served as the

Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...

of Canton, North Carolina from 1999 to 2011. He ran for

Lieutenant Governor A lieutenant governor, lieutenant-governor, or vice governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction. Often a lieutenant governor is the deputy, or lieutenant, to or ranked under a governor — a "second-in-comm ...

of his state in

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

Career

He has made his living as an

attorney Attorney may refer to: * Lawyer ** Attorney at law, in some jurisdictions * Attorney, one who has power of attorney * ''The Attorney'', a 2013 South Korean film See also * Attorney general, the principal legal officer of (or advisor to) a gove ...

for 27 years. He is the attorney for the Haywood County School System and

Haywood Community College Haywood Community College is a community college in Clyde, North Carolina. It is part of the North Carolina Community College System. Established in 1965, the college offers associate degree programs and online courses in programs such as forestr ...

. He also serves in the North Carolina

Army National Guard The Army National Guard (ARNG), in conjunction with the Air National Guard, is an organized Militia (United States), militia force and a Reserve components of the United States Armed Forces, federal military reserve force of the United States A ...

as a Lieutenant Colonel, and is a graduate from the

United States Army War College The United States Army War College (USAWC) is a U.S. Army educational institution in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, on the 500-acre (2 km2) campus of the historic Carlisle Barracks. It provides graduate-level instruction to senior military offic ...

Class of 2006. Smathers is a graduate of

Duke University Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James ...

, where he played

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

under an athletic scholarship. He is also a graduate of the

Wake Forest University School of Law The Wake Forest University School of Law is one of the professional graduate schools of Wake Forest University. Located in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Wake Forest University School of Law is a private American Bar Association (ABA) accredited ...

Political and community involvement

He is a member of the North Carolina Local Government Commission, a member of the Haywood Rotary Club, and is involved in the

North Carolina Democratic Party The North Carolina Democratic Party (NCDP) is the North Carolina affiliate of the Democratic Party. It is headquartered in the historic Goodwin House, located in Raleigh. Governor Roy Cooper is a North Carolina Democrat. Since the 2010 passage of ...

Task Force on

Western North Carolina Western North Carolina (often abbreviated as WNC) is the region of North Carolina which includes the Appalachian Mountains; it is often known geographically as the state's Mountain Region. It contains the highest mountains in the Eastern United S ...

. He was Haywood County's Rotary Citizen of the Year in 2003 and was elected to the Pisgah High School Athletic Hall of Fame in 1999. He also serves as the Vice president of the Haywood County Democratic Men's Club, was chairman of the 2003 Vance-Aycock Dinner, and is a former County party chair. His 2008 campaign slogan was "Local Leadership, Statewide." Smathers came in third in the May 6, 2008 primary, behind winner

Walter H. Dalton Walter H. Dalton (born May 21, 1949) is an American attorney and politician who served as the 33rd Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina. A member of the Democratic Party, he served six terms in the state senate before his election to the office o ...

and runner-up

Hampton Dellinger Hampton Yeats Dellinger (born April 30, 1967) is an American attorney and political candidate serving as the United States Assistant Attorney General for Legal Policy. He was previously a partner at Boies, Schiller & Flexner and Robinson, Brads ...

. In 2014, Smathers undertook an investigation into allegations of violations of the

Equal Access Act The Equal Access Act is a United States federal law passed as Title VIII of the Education for Economic Security Act in 1984 to compel federally funded public secondary schools to provide equal access to extracurricular student clubs. Lobbied for b ...

related to the attempt by a student to form a Secular Student Alliance club at Pisgah High School in Canton, North Carolina. His report concluded that the allegations were "without merit and baseless." The Freedom From Religion Foundation released a statement saying they were "troubled by the report, which contains many factual errors and focuses on matters that are irrelevant to forming a student club."

References

External links

Campaign siteCanton Mayor and Board of Aldermen2008 Lt. Gov Platform
Year of birth missing (living people) Living people North Carolina Democrats People from Canton, North Carolina Mayors of places in North Carolina Duke University alumni Wake Forest University alumni {{NorthCarolina-mayor-stub