The city council in Charlotte, North Carolina, chose Dan Clodfelter, 63, to complete the two-year term of former mayor Patrick Cannon on Monday night, making him the fourth mayor since last Spring, according to Reuters.
Cannon was charged by prosecutors in March of taking more than $48,000 in bribes from undercover FBI agents posing as commercial real estate developers and investors wanting to do business in the city, Reuters reported. He resigned after less than six months in office after he was arrested on federal bribery charges.
Cannon, a Democrat who was elected as mayor in November and previously served on the city council, also accepted a trip to Las Vegas and use of a luxury apartment in Charlotte, prosecutors said, according to Reuters. He waived a preliminary hearing and remains free on bond.
Clodfelter, also a Democrat, will finish the term that ends in December 2015 and becomes the city's fourth mayor in a year, Reuters reported.
The city said Clodfelter would resign from his seat in the state Senate, where he has served since 1999, according to Reuters. A Rhodes Scholar with a law degree from Yale University, he sat on the Charlotte City Council from 1987 to 1993 and still practices law at a private firm in the city.
Cannon was elected as mayor last November after councilwoman Patsy Kinsey served as interim mayor, according to Reuters. Kinsey replaced Anthony Foxx, who resigned the post before him to become U.S. Transportation Secretary in the Obama administration.
Clodfelter took the oath of office Wednesday next to his wife, Elizabeth, and one of his two daughters, Reuters reported. Charlotte's City Council on Monday chose Clodfelter, who has been a state senator since 1999.
