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Ross C. "Rocky" Anderson (born 1951) is the current mayor of Salt Lake City, Utah. He was born in Logan and received a bachelor's degree in science from the University of Utah and a Juris Doctor degree from George Washington University. Although the office of mayor in Salt Lake City is nonpartisan, Anderson's personal party affiliation is Democratic, and much of his platform is that of a liberal Democrat. Anderson was first elected in 1999 and was reelected in 2003.

Anderson spent many years as a lawyer in Salt Lake City, specializing in civil litigation. He was affiliated with the ACLU , although not (as myth has it) president of the local chapter. He ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 1996, but received 55% of Salt Lake City's vote in that race.

Anderson has a strong American liberal agenda. Under his mayorship, the city has purchased wind power, increased recycling, and is converting its fleet of city vehicles to alternative fuels. Anderson has supported initial measures to make the city more bicycle-friendly and pedestrian-friendly while opposing "monster" home rebuilding projects in the historic Avenues and Sugar House districts. He helped manage the 2002 Olympic Winter Games, and is a major proponent of downtown revitalization projects. He is an ardent opponent of tobacco use and has supported legislative measures limiting smoking; conversely, he is one of the most outspoken public critics of Utah's strict liquor laws (state law permits the sale of liquor only in restaurants, private clubs, and state-run liquor stores).

Anderson opposes English-only legislation, supports gay rights and same-sex marriage, and has launched living wage initiatives. This is notable in the state that in the 2004 presidential election gave George W. Bush his greatest percentage of the vote of any state in the Union. However, similar agendas were supported by previous Salt Lake City mayors such as Deedee Corradini, pointing out the contrast between Salt Lake City and other parts of Utah with the exception of Summit County and Salt Lake County.

In 2000, Anderson had Salt Lake City police officers end their participation in the D.A.R.E. program. He was characteristically blunt, telling D.A.R.E. officials: "I think your organization has been an absolute fraud on the people of this country ... For you to continue taking precious drug-prevention dollars when we have such a serious and, in some instances, growing addiction problem is unconscionable." There have been a number of studies showing D.A.R.E. to be an ineffective and useless program (see article on D.A.R.E.). Critics charged Anderson with being insufficiently opposed to teen drug use and with failing to propose any alternatives.

Anderson attracted praise and scorn in August 2005 when, after accepting an invitation from the Bush administration to participate in a visit by the President, he sent an e-mail to local advocacy leaders calling for "the biggest demonstration has ever seen" to protest Bush's appearance at Veterans of Foreign Wars' national convention at the Salt Palace. Speaking to a rally in Pioneer Park (in downtown Salt Lake City), Anderson justified his protest against Bush, suggesting that the "nation was lied into a war."

Anderson's management style has also come under criticism, with some former staffers complaining of abusive language, ridicule of LDS Church beliefs, and overall maintaining a hostile work environment. (See Article) Anderson counters that such allegations are an "urban myth" and come from disenfranchised staffers with an axe to grind. (See Article) Since Anderson took office in 2000, 41 employees from the mayor's office have either quit or been fired: a 240 percent turnover rate within the 17 positions at the mayor's office. "Those people, most of them if not all of them, were capable, qualified, personable people," Councilman Van Turner said. Anderson attributes the high turnover to incompetence by employees, who, he said, "weren't getting the job done."

On July 28, 2006, Rocky Anderson announced that he would not pursue a third term as mayor. He said that he wishes to "make more noise" by organizing a group to lobby on human rights and climate-change issues. He also says that he wishes to pursue another marriage, saying that he has had little time for a personal life as mayor and that being alone at home "sometimes is hard".

Criticism

In August 2005, Anderson violated Salt Lake City policy when he used $633.74 in public funds to purchase meals and alcoholic beverages on two occasions for musicians who performed at the Salt Lake City Jazz Festival. These purchases were portrayed as "bar tabs" by Brady Snyder of the Deseret Morning News, a characterization that soon spread to the Associated Press and to other papers nationwide. When interviewed in September 2005 by the Deseret Morning News, Anderson stated that he disagreed with the policy, that other cities had no such policy, and that exceptions to the policy had been made by previous mayors . Further investigation showed that other cities, including nearby Las Vegas, do have such policies . Anderson changed the policy to avoid future imbroglios .

The Deseret Morning News soon raised awareness of the situation with their coverage of an interview Anderson gave to The Guardian newspaper in London, when the paper implied he had compared life in Utah to life under the Taliban Islamist organization . Anderson clarified that the comment, intended to be light-hearted, was not directed toward the state or its residents, nor toward the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Rather, he said, the comment was directed toward local media, particularly the Deseret Morning News, who had originally characterized his alcohol and food purchases at a local restaurant as "bar tabs." Jeremiads soon appeared on the editorial pages and of the Deseret Morning News and other Utah newspapers. These incidents illustrate the tension arising between some of Anderson's positions and the beliefs of the LDS population. Incidentally, Anderson was raised LDS but is no longer associated with the church.

In October 2005, local politicians accused Anderson of additional careless spending of public money. This time the issue was travel to Italy related to the 2006 Winter Olympic Games . Anderson responded that the trip to Turin was to continue the longstanding Olympic tradition of delivering the Olympic message and did not cost Utah taxpayers any money. No official investigation is underway.

Interview with Fox News

In August 2006 Anderson gave an interview with the show Fox and Friends on the Fox News network, concerning his plans for an anti-war protest to coincide with a visit from President Bush. The interview generated significant interest in Fox's viewers, with the show receiving a large number of emails, many of which were said to be critical of the mayor. These criticisms were raised at the beginning of the interview, which began cordially, until Anderson claimed that President Bush "makes excuses for torturing other human beings". At this point one of the interviewers, E.D. Hill, broke in and asked Anderson for evidence supporting this statement. Much of remainder of the interview involved Anderson and Hill debating this point, until Anderson claimed that "you folks are the ones that are helping to mislead the American people". Later in the interview Anderson again claimed that "we were lied into this war by you folks, the mainstream media". In the final seconds of the interview E.D. Hill defended herself, saying "we didn't lie to anyone". Afterwards, Hill used her "Fox and Friends" blog to address the incident and printed some of the "hundreds of emails" she had received concerning it.

Anti-war protest on August 30, 2006

Despite the above criticism, Anderson gave a speech during the anti-war protest as President Bush was visiting the state of Utah on a Republication fundraising trip.

See also

Notes

1. Baum, Dan (23 November, 2000). "Salt Lake City Drops D.A.R.E." Rolling Stone. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
2. ^ The Nation, "Progressive City Leaders".
3. Vanderpool, Time (February 26 2004). "Truth or D.A.R.E.?". Tucson Weekly. Retrieved December 12 2005. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help)
4. Warchol, Glen (20 August, 2005). "Rocky's call to protest Bush makes vets see red". The Salt Lake Tribune. Retrieved August 20, 2005. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help)
5. Bernick, Bob, Jr. (August 20, 2005). "Rocky calls for Bush protest". Deseret Morning News. Retrieved August 7, 2006. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
6. "Remarks by Mayor Ross C. "Rocky" Anderson" (PDF) (Press release). Salt Lake City's Mayor Office. August 22 2005. Retrieved August 2006. {{cite press release}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help)
7. Stewart and Swinyard [http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,605154239,00.html "Are Rocky's methods…"
8. No Rocky III, Salt Lake Tribune
9. Rocky: Ups, downs, and why it's time, Salt Lake Tribune
10. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,211292,00.html
11. MSNBC interview with Anderson on September 1, 2006. Retreived September 2, 2006.

References

• (unsigned article), "Progressive City Leaders", The Nation, June 18, 2005, p.18-19.
• Official Mayor's office bio retrieved October 2004
• Brady Snyder, Tough Rocky also has a soft side Deseret News, September 24, 2003. Article about the 2003 mayoral race retrieved October 2004
• Erin Stewart and Kersten Swinyard, Are Rocky's methods hurting city business?. Deseret News, September 13, 2005. Retrieved September 2005
• Brady Snyder, Rocky's bar tab paid by the city, Deseret Morning News, September 28, 2005. Retrieved October 7, 2005.
• Deseret Morning News editorial board, Rocky and the Taliban, Deseret Morning News, October 6, 2005. Retrieved October 7, 2005.
• Ogden Standard-Examiner editorial board, Rocky vs. the Taliban, Ogden Standard-Examiner, October 6, 2005. Retrieved October 7, 2005.
• Heather May, GOP chairman calls for an investigation of Rocky's spending, Salt Lake Tribune, October 6, 2005. Retrieved October 7, 2005.
• Anti-war protest speech (video as recorded by CBS) by Rocky Anderson given on August 30, 2006. Retreived September 2, 2006.

• Mayors of Salt Lake City
• Latter Day Saints
• People from Logan, Utah
• 1951 births
• Living people