We have a lot of "me" codes. I don't think they do it intentionally, they just don't necessarily know any better- we all make mistakes. And they're government workers and don't really get the right resources, either- a few months after my state adopted IBC 2003, the inspections dept still hadn't seen a physical copy of it and were eagerly thumbing through mine when I came in to ask a question, lol.
In my city, we can always appeal to the next higher authority. If the inspector doesn't like it, you can appeal to the trade inspector supervisor. If you still disagree, you can take it to the city engineer. I'm not sure if you could take it to the mayor/city council from there, but as they write the legislature, I'd imagine you could.
I'd think it's really not nice to piss off your inspectors going around them like this, though. So it'd better be something very important, unless the inspector really does agree with you but feels bound to the letter of the law and is unwilling to go out on a limb as his more experienced supervisor(s) might.
