A candidate for mayor who grew up in the Driver area said health care, education and growth are among his top priorities.

Charles Lee Scott Sr. said he grew up going to civic league meetings in Driver and witnessing citizen involvement in action.

Scott graduated from John Yeates High School. He says he served for 25 to 30 years in the U.S. Army, the Reserves and the Merchant Marines. He says he started his postsecondary education at the University of Maryland College Park and also attended the University of Oxford in England, receiving three doctoral-level degrees and several master’s degrees.

Most of those claims remain unproven.

Scott said he is “obligated by my education” to run for office. He also says he is supposed to be unopposed on the ballot because of an endorsement he said he received from a prominent Democrat in the 1960s.

It’s a claim he has frequently repeated in emails throughout the campaign season. Many of those emails also have suggested that Scott believes British Parliament has some authority in Suffolk’s affairs. Via email, he regularly appeals to the Queen of England, along with a long list of media and other contacts listed in the “CC” field, and in one such fractured message in July, whose subject line was “Parliamentary authorization document of official political purpose unoppposed (sic) candidate,” he referred obliquely to a sum of $100 trillion, connecting that sum somehow to the federal government and the city of Suffolk.

Regarding his alleged “endorsement” as an unopposed candidate for mayor, which his emails variously claim happened in the 1960s or the 1980s, “I considered it as an endorsement, because Ted Kennedy selected me,” Scott said.

He says he took five tests to become a member of the Democratic caucus, has written legislation for the Democrats and has been a lobbyist in Oregon and California.

Scott also said his DNA has shown he is related to at least four U.S. presidents, including George Washington.

“I am just doing what I’m biologically born to do,” he said.

If elected mayor, Scott said he wants to focus on health care. He mentioned Medicaid and Medicare and maintained that they are the purview of local government, even though they are federal programs.

Growth is a concern for Scott.

“The city has grown larger than a lot of people think,” he said. “That alone calls for intervention and innovation. There’s a lot to consider. If we don’t look at that, I’m very sure we will have a problem.”

Economic development is another area where Scott wants to focus.

Economic development “will create the funds for education,” Scott said.

He also said he wants to fix the potholes on city roads.

Scott said he plans to be an accessible mayor.

“My concern is that I work diligently for the people,” he said. “They need me, they can call me. That’s the kind of mayor I want to be. I want my city to be the best.”