Would you vote for this cat? Man behind curious ‘Mr. Sleeves’ yard signs explains himself
Election season has arrived, and all over town, political yard signs are popping up in front of homes and on street corners.
But one set of political signs that have started appearing all over Wichita lately are paws-itivly adorable — if not a bit baffling.
The signs, paid for by the “Committee For the Aggrandizement of Our Cats” — feature two cat-idates who appear to be running for office, though which office is unclear. Still, the signs outline a long list of qualifications that would make the budding feline politicians — an orange-and-white kitty named Mr. Sleeves and his running mate, a seal point Siamese called 88 — reliable leaders.
Mr. Sleeves, for example, touts his existence (“For over four years, Mister Sleeves has been a kitty”), his experience (“He has mastered multiple nap styles and is a practitioner of the “LONGBOY!!!” stretching technique”) and his toe beans (“He has a wide toe-bean spread and does excellent leg booms as you fill the food bowl.”)
Meanwhile, 88 “brings vigor and enthusiasm to the table, bed, counter and any number of hoppable surfaces.” Defying partisan expectations, “88 is an avid fetcher of fuzzy mice and milk rings with an exceptional return rate.”
This week, The Eagle was able to track down the cats’ campaign manager, who also identifies himself as the co-chair of the Committee for the Aggrandizement of Our Cats.
He is James Gates, and he and his fiance, Sarah Jane Sovereign, are the parents of Mr. Sleeves and 88. Though their feline wards haven’t shown much interest in public life, Gates — a longtime bartender at the Vagabond Cafe in Delano who once dabbled in stand up comedy — decided that the two were as qualified as anyone to hold office.
Gates first purr-suaded the cats to run during primary election season in the spring, distributing pamphlets outlining their qualifications at businesses around Wichita.
When fall election season ramped up, so did Gates’ efforts. He designed yard signs and had them printed and has been putting them up all over town. A few locals who have already become supporters of Mr. Sleeves and 88 have even purchased yard signs from Gates to put up in front of their homes or businesses.
Gates said his motivation for launching his furry friends into the political arena was pure. It just “felt like the thing to do,” he said.
“It just kind of started off as me just wanting to do something that was going to be fun and amusing and slightly confusing for some,” Gates said. “It was just out of a general, sincere love of our kitties — two very sweet kitties.”
The cats are running on a combined ticket, he said. Their names, though, won’t appear on the ballot for a number of reasons — one is that Mr. Sleeves if only 4, and 88 is 2, so neither is technically old enough to run for office.
Though he hasn’t encouraged anyone to vote for the kitties as write-in candidates, some have volunteered that they might. Those people should know, Gates said, that Mr. Sleeves and 88 are not interested in becoming president and vice president of the United States. In fact, he feels like they’d fare better down-ticket.
“...Everybody has their choice for what they want. It’s their vote,” he said. “If someone wanted to embarrass someone who was running for congress — if they thought it might be embarrassing to the winner of the District 4 house race to have a few votes stolen by a cat...”
Gates does want to clear a few things up. First, though he is a cat-paign manager, his motivations aren’t necessarily political. He wants people who see the signs to decide for themselves what they mean. Are they just silly? Or are they a wry poke at the political climate?
“What I kind of love about this is that it’s open to interpretation,” he said. “My own motivations for it are... probably heavier on the whimsy side than a commentary, but I appreciate the opportunity to play in both realms with that.”
The signs, which direct people to the cat candidates’ Facebook page — catcampaign2024 — have sparked some unexpected controversy, Gates said. Recently, they’ve become a frequent topic of conversation on Reddit, where some posters have speculated that the creator of the signs is a white supremacist.
Their reasoning: The number 88 is a symbol white supremacists are known to use to signal their beliefs. (H is the eighth letter in the alphabet, so 88 is used as code for “Heil Hitler.”)
Gates said he and his fiance didn’t know that when they named 88 and only learned about it once the chatter started. They chose the name two years ago just because they thought it was fun. (For the record, 88 also is a symbol for good luck in Asian culture, and in Morse code, it means “love and kisses”.)
“It’s been interesting and slightly absurd — on top of a generally absurd thing that we’re doing — to have to tell people that neither my cat nor myself are racists,” Gates said, adding that 88 the cat “doesn’t have a racist bone in his body.”
Gates said he’s placed about 25 signs around town. Some that have been spotted recently are across the street from the Orpheum Theatre at Second and Broadway, on the 800 block of Nims in Riverside, and just off the Seneca exit ramp on westbound Kellogg.
Occasionally, Gates says, the signs will disappear. Occasionally, he puts more up.
People are overall enthusiastic about his peculiar election-season hobby, he said. And it’s brought exactly what he was after: good fun.
“It has brought a lot of joy. It really has,” he said. “Going around and putting these out and talking to people and just kind of hearing the chatter in the background as these things get passed around — it is enjoyable.
“It’s not without its bumpy bits, but it’s been a nice and positive ride. It’s good stuff.”
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