Charlotte Mayor Resigns Following Arrest

Democratic Charlotte Mayor Patrick Cannon today resigned after being handcuffed and perp-walked out of his office yesterday by the FBI.

Cannon submitted his resignation letter to city manager Ron Carlee and city attorney Bob Hagemann, Charlotte spokesman Keith Richardson said in an email. The 47-year-old Cannon is charged with bribery and public corruption. The Democrat took cash, airline tickets, a hotel room and the use of a luxury apartment as bribes and solicited more than $1 million more, according to a criminal complaint from the U.S. Attorney's office. Cannon said in his resignation letter that the pending charges "will create too much of a distraction" for the business of the city to go forward. He said it was effective immediately. "I regret that I have to take this action, but I believe that it is in the best interest of the City for me to do so," he said.

RELATED: Wingnut shrieker site Twitchy just published an apology to the Associated Press after running a headline that denounced the AP for not mentioning Cannon's party affiliation. In fact, the AP noted that Cannon is a Democrat in its second paragraph. The apology is buried at the bottom of Twitchy's updated post.