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From drinking elbow to elbow with Hollywood’s hairiest (Robin Williams) and handsomest (Pierce Brosnan) stars to making sure his grandkids register to vote in Danville, Mayor Mike Doyle looks back over his tenure.
“It’s been a crazy ride,” Doyle said over coffee at Pascal’s on Railroad Avenue.
While it’s common knowledge that the congenial official is a veteran of Berlin Airlift fame and perhaps that he made a blink-and-you’ll-miss-him cameo in 1993’s Mrs. Doubtfire. But did you know that First Lady Michelle Obama has his phone number? Whether or not she calls is your guess.
When the Mrs. Doubtfire crew came to Danville to film the now infamous scene at Bridges the then councilman contacted the producers and kindly demanded to appear in the movie. Doyle can be seen exiting the restaurant with a woman as the protagonists are entering.
As he sipped his coffee, Doyle reminisced about the 10 to 12 hour day that often ended with Robin Williams and his “nemesis” Stuart drinking at Elliott’s Bar down the street.
“Robin would act up every day,” he said. “It took him five hours to get his outfit on!” Anyone would need a drink after that.
But Mayor Doyle’s list of celebrity encounters reaches much further back. In 1948, while acting as a chaplain’s assistant in Germany, Doyle met Pope Pius XII and took not one, but two pictures with him.
“You Americans have two of everything,” the Pope said to Doyle, he recalled. “Why not have two pictures?” Doyle was then pulled from the back row of a group photograph and knelt next to Pius XII.
When Doyle sent the photographs home to his mother in Pennsylvania coal mining country (a very religious area, Doyle says) “she about died.”
Mayor Doyle is extremely approachable and disarming; he has been described as an archetypal-looking movie mayor and often referrers to Danville as “Camelot.” Despite his cool demeanor, he has a track record of saying things that make his colleagues’ jaws drop.
Last year, while at the National Conference of Mayors with San Ramon Mayor Abram Wilson, Doyle finagled a tour of the White House. The two wandered off and eventually ran into Michelle Obama, with family dog in hand.
“She’s a charming, beautiful woman. Very down to earth,” Doyle said. So, mostly likely without hesitation, Doyle handed Mrs. Obama his card. “‘Call me,’ I said. Abram about died.”
Throughout his tenure in Danville office, Doyle has done things in an ever-so-unique fashion. Fittingly, he plans to title his memoirs (a work in progress that will get much more attention after he is no longer mayor) My Way. When asked whether that was the same title of Frank Sinatra’s memoir, Doyle chuckled, “No, it’s my way.”
Doyle will hold his last monthly Morning with the Mayor on Friday, Dec. 3, before he completes his one-year rotating term as mayor and again serves as a Town Councilman. Once Karen Stepper takes office, Doyle says he plans on sleeping in.
“My phone calls on Dec. 8 will be almost nil,” he said.
Unless Mrs. Obama returns his call, in which case Doyle will be more than happy to pick up.
He very publicly claimed to be a Republican who was endorsing McNerney, which was used by McNerney’s campaign to persuade real Republicans to vote for McNerney. Now he notes that Mrs.Obama has his phone number. Very Interesting. If you look like a Democrat, smell like a Democrat, and sound like a Democrat, you probably are a Democrat. Calling yourself a Republican to get elected in a conservative town like Danville will not fool voters next election.
Maybe it’s just me, but I smell cheese. I’m not sure if it’s the way this article was written, but I get the impression Mayor Doyle likes to pat himself on the back.
Bud and Interesting,
Our Mayor Mike is an independent something you two can’t grasp. Those who are from partisanville will never grasp the concept. According to some folks with narrow thinking you have to be 100% Republican or Democrat. There are those of us who believe that we have the right to vote for whom we think is the best candidate, (what a concept). I’m a Democrat/Independent who voted for Abram Wilson for assembly. I smell angry disgruntled Republicans who can’t think outside the box.
My thanks to Mr. Doyle in particular in this time of transition and also to the rest of our city council members who devote substancial time each week into making our town so wonderful. Moreover, almost every Saturday, rain or shine, one of them is at the town table at the Farmer’s Market to field questions from the citizenry. I always feel a bit guilty when I see them there…here I am, going for my run and leisurely perusing the market and enjoying a restful Saturday morning and one or two of them are at the table giving up their family time to greet us and listen to our concerns. A sincere thanks! And BTW, Bill is right on…
Two thumbs up to Bill and JRM.
I live in San Ramon and found this article about Mike Doyle entertaining and informational. He is the real McCoy. We need more people in office like him.
Understand, it is not about being Republican or Democrat. It is about doing the right thing just because it is the right thing to do. Support a person because you believe in what they can bring to the table and can do for the benefit of the people. Support a cause because it is the moral and ethical thing to do.
The sooner we forget about partisan politics the sooner we will be able to accomplish all that is before us to get done.
Oh, please…calm down folks. I have nothing against the mayor. Like I said, maybe it was the way the article was written. To silly Billy, why are you injecting politics into my comment? I couldn’t care less what political affiliation the mayor belongs too. And what, silly Billy, do you mean by me not grasping the concept. What concept? What in the heck are you talking about? ROFLMAO! Chill out.
Before I fall back down from laughter, the fact that silly Billy voted for Mayor Wilson tells me much. I mean, heck, what Mayor would allow his City Manager to make well over $350,000? Justify that one, Mr. Bill!
Budster
Mike Doyle has been a fine Mayor who loves Danville and has worked hard to improve our town. In regard to supporting McNerney when Mike is a GOPer it was a no brainer for Mike or anyone else who saw the great job McNerney does for us in District 11. McNerney during his time in office has really paid attention to our local needs and delivered on issues important to Danville. Mike Doyle is not a blind party man and when the better man happens not to be a GOPer that will not prevent Mike and any thinking voter from voting for McNerney.
I find it odd that people complain about the salary paid to the City Manager of San Ramon. We have one City Manager in San Ramon, who does not have an assistant. Quite a work load I would presume in a city that is expanding and has a large commercial complex with hundreds of the top 500 companies represented. Also, we are well represented by the Mayor.
If you want to criticize salaries of persons employed by any of the public agencies, let’s start with the University of California: football coach with benefits I have read amount to over $1,000,000; presidents of universities make more than 2x the President of the United States; the mayor of Oakland, regardless of his salary, hid for most of his tenture, broke promises to the city’s citizens and committed many other egregious acts in a city considered by many to be the most dangerous in the U.S.; Joan Buchanan is paid for not casting votes in the Education Committee and not casting votes on education issues on the floor of the Assembly.
There are many web sites which enumerate salaries of public agency employees. If you really want to get upset, look them up and then wonder why people who don’t perform their proper duties still get paid and people who do not contribute to the education of children have exorbidant incomes.
P.S. I didn’t realize that San Ramon was under the control of a dictator, Mayor Wilson. Isn’t there a City Council?
Miss Marie,
Moniz makes more money as a city manager in San Ranon than does a city manager in Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Jose, Oakland, San Diego, etc. You want to talk about a work load in those cities? Give me a break. You want to compare San Ramon to Los Angeles? Are you kidding me?With that kind of thinking, I understand why we are in such a mess. LOL, really!
@Bill: Interesting, ain’t it, that some of the same folks who would castigate Mr. McNerney as a “puppet” when he agrees with his party leaders also attacked Mayor Doyle in this forum as a “turncoat” for expressing any independence from his party?