Hair-farming councilman running for mayor

Dan Leap, Merriam’s rock-and-roll councilman, wants to be the suburb’s next mayor.

Leap plays guitar and sells lamps constructed from microphone stands and Fenders. (The guitar strings work as dimmer switches.) He has served on the council for six years, after unseating an incumbent he depicted as a witch in a window display of his rock shop in downtown Merriam.

On the council, Leap has pushed for transparency and voted against efforts to lure development with tax incentives. His vote against a plan to redevelop a site along Interstate 35 and Johnson Drive looks prescient. The development’s anchor tenant, Circuit City, filed for bankruptcy protection before it could ring up a sale.