Rocky Anderson believes now is the time to bond moral, philosophical commitment to everyday politics and city management.
Anderson, the father of a 17-year-old son who often campaigns with him, seeks his second major office in three years.He ran for the 2nd Congressional District in 1996, winning the Democratic nomination but falling to GOP Rep. Merrill Cook in the final election.
An attorney by trade, Anderson, 47 and single, points to years of civic and legal service to show he has the knowledge and experience for the job.
From supporting the low-income Guadalupe School to pushing the Salt Lake Police Department to solve the murders of three young Salt Lake women, Anderson has at times been a thorn in the side of state and local officials and at other times their ally if he believes they are doing right.
He's sued the state prison over inmate mistreatment, served on the board of Planned Parenthood and championed campaign finance reform through Utah Common Cause. He likes to point out that he's the only major candidate that is following city self-imposed campaign spending limits in the mayor's race.
And how many other mayoral candidates' Web sites voterocky.com list papers the candidate has written on the mining law of 1872, Arab terrorism and bigotry, Olympic spirit and gay and lesbian equal rights?
Anderson doesn't live the life of the typical Utah politician. Twice in the 1980s he traveled to Central America to look into American foreign policy. Today, he said he shares his Salt Lake home with an Amazon parrot named Cardozo, a golden retriever named Winston and a newly released state prison inmate "who needed a break" to get his life started again.
Key in his campaign is the promise that he'll start safe after-school programs for kids and a jobs training program and summer jobs program for youths.
In response to Deseret News questions, Anderson said:
Olympics: He'd avoid owing money after the 2002 Games by negotiating with the Legislature to get a fair share of Olympic payments to the state, "reasonably" increase tourist-related taxes just before and during the Games and work with Congress to get federal monies for security and fire protection during the Olympics.
Crime: He would replace Police Chief Ruben Ortega who "has badly damaged the morale of the Salt Lake City Police Department." Anderson says he'll provide "morale-building leadership" to police, vigorously recruit and promote minority officers, give cops the tools and training they need, better coordinate community policing, provide easy-to-remember non-emergency police numbers, offer rewards for the arrest and conviction of people who sell illegal drugs or guns and require a no-tolerance campaign against illegal sale and possession of guns.
He won't raise property taxes unless the City Council finds "that an increase is absolutely necessary and no other options are available."
He supports a mixed-use development in the Gateway district known as Bridges. But before taxpayer money goes to the Boyer Co. (the main Gateway developer), other downtown areas must be economically revitalized.
At this time, he doesn't favor the closing and selling of Main Street to the LDS Church.
Instead of west-east light rail, he favors small shuttle buses using high-occupancy lanes. But if west-east is built to the University of Utah, then it should only be done if businesses along 400 and 500 South streets aren't harmed.