Here we go.  According to the Asheville Citizen-Times today:

“Mayor Terry Bellamy is fasting and praying for a solution to the city’s budget woes and asking her friends to join her.  She asked friends on her Facebook page today to fast and pray for 24 days [emphasis mine]. She said in an interview that the timeframe doesn’t have any religious significance.  The mayor is suggesting a limited diet as a fasting plan.”

I don’t know what religious tradition our mayor follows, but it sounds very much like what Christian Assemblies International recommends: “A blessed progress will develop in the Assembly of God depending on how much the Christians pray and fast!”

It does seem that 24 days is a popular fasting duration — the best-known 24-day fast is the 1972 “fast for justice” by Cesar Chavez.  Maybe Ms. Bellamy is emulating Mr. Chavez.  Except that the “limited diet” then enjoyed by Mr. Chavez consisted only of water.

“The city faces a nearly $6 million budget gap it blames on a raft of Republican legislation aimed at taking away fees and revenue. City leaders have said they might close popular amenities like the WNC Nature Center and all city pools and athletics.”  So, just as with Mr. Chavez, this is about lettuce.

Ms. Bellamy is a Democrat.  Her action gives Democratic leadership a bad name.  Rather than do something about the problem, our fast-and-pray mayor instead makes a show of what she is not doing — (a) eating normally and (b) talking to someone who might help.  I am not impressed.