The die was cast early for Mike Dunafon. He was born in an orphanage in Phoenix in 1954, and that’s where he stayed until a year later, when his mom and rodeo cowboy dad reclaimed him and took him back to Colorado. It didn’t last long; he left home for good at 13 – with his mom’s permission.

“I’m very fortunate,” he now says with a laugh. “I had two parents who hated me equally. And some of my political opponents would agree with them completely.”

Not that he cares what those opponents think. As mayor of go-it-alone Glendale – a roughly 4,800-resident incorporated enclave of Arapahoe County surrounded by east Denver – Dunafon is accustomed to blazing his own trails. He’s irreverent, unorthodox, politically hard to define (some call him libertarian) – and dwells way outside the conventional box most workaday politicians regard as their safe space. The news media have taken notice over the years, which is why you probably have heard and read plenty about him even if you don’t happen to live in Glendale.

You may recall this is the mayor married to Debbie Matthews – the decades-long owner of signature Glendale strip club Shotgun Willie’s and, more recently, the adjacent Smokin’ Gun recreational marijuana shop. Add to his resume that Dunafon also was a standout wide receiver for the University of Northern Colorado in the 1970s; was briefly on the Broncos roster until injuries ended his NFL career, and later played professional rugby in the British Virgin Islands. But it was later on that his life took even more interesting turns.

Like his nowhere-near-the-mainstream run for Colorado governor in 2014 as a nonpartisan against Democratic incumbent John Hickenlooper and Republican challenger Bob Beauprez. It garnered him 24,000 votes, about 1.2 percent of ballots cast, but also a disproportionate share of the buzz in that election as by far the most colorful candidate. His website from the race – one of the most entertaining candidate websites in any recent election cycle – is still active and worth a visit. There, you’ll find a lot about his outspoken support for legal marijuana – not your typical, play-it-safe stance for a civic leader. (It’s a position that certainly was in sync, though, with rank-and-file voters who decisively approved legalization on the statewide ballot in 2012.) A published singer-songwriter earlier in life, Dunafon collaborated with recording artists Wyclef Jean and Snoop Dogg on a rap/hip hop video about pot legalization.

Arguably his biggest accomplishments involve the impact he has had on his city over the better part of the past two decades. It all began with his role in starting the Glendale Tea Party at the end of the 1990s in protest against a crackdown by the city’s elected leadership on Shotgun Willie’s. In the 2000 municipal election, the Tea Party uprising ousted three of the City Council’s seven members, and a fourth stepped down after the race.

The movement began the city’s transformation into the freewheeling place it is today, a micro-bastion of limited government where traffic fines are infrequent and the city actually has repealed ordinances. Dunafon himself won a seat on the council in 2004 before eventually being elected mayor.

Colorado Politics: How did you get you start in politics?

Mike Dunafon: With a gun to my head. I fell in love with somebody who was being attacked by the system. We had to figure out a way to stop the abuse of govenrent power to prevent the theft of property. They were trying to shut down Shotgun Willie’s and were trying to use city hall to do it. We started the Glendale Tea Party. It was a poltiically active group of libertarian-minded people. Grass-roots organizers volunteered their time to campaign against the morals brigade of the regime at City Hall.

CP: The faces have changed on the City Council since then, but the same philosophy still prevails at Glendale City Hall today. How would you describe that lasting legacy?

MD: The philosphical basis is individual empowerment. For two years we were taking a law off the books every month.

CP: Today, how is Glendale different from the cities around it and across Colorado?

MD: You are entering into America’s petri dish. In Glendale, we understand what you sow is what you reap. Our underlying law is don’t be a jackass. That should be the underlying premise of the rule of law in our nation.

CP: What is the average motorist going to notice when driving into Glendale?

MD: No red light cameras. The only way to get a ticket in Glendale is to be at fault in an accident; park in a handicap zone unlawfully or in a fire lane; get a DUI, or break the golden rule – and be a jackass. Ten years ago we gave out 9,000 tickets. Two years ago we gave out 400. Last year, (it was) 600. We didn’t quit policiing. We stopped the profit motive of raping your citizens (with traffic fines).

CP: How do you handle questions about conflicts of interest given that your wife owns prominent show club and the new adjacent pot dispensary, Smokin’ Gun?

MD: She’d been in business for 15 years before she met me. There’s a level playing field for anybody wishing to do business in Glendale. She’s gotta be better than anybody everybody else because everybody will be watching us.

CP: You supported Amendment 64, legalizing recreational marijuana, in 2012.

MD: I was the only mayor (among Denver metro-area mayors) to vote for it. The prohbition movement in this country was one of the greatest lies perpetrated in the history of the U.S. It was solely based on racial hatred and crony capitalism.

CP: Glendale has approximately 2,600 condos and apartments and only one single-family dwelling. Is it a good place to raise a family?

MD: Glendale contributes $9 million a year (in tax revenue) to the Cherry Creek school system. We have only 150 students. One of the reasons we put the synthetic turf in in the field at Infinity Park is because people don’t have backyards. Infinity Park is their backyard.