Salt Lake County mayoral candidate Peter Corroon drives his slightly beat-up, 10-year-old Ford Explorer from an early-morning campaign stop — where he handed out Krispy Kreme doughnuts to appreciative county public works employees — to ZAP Appreciation Day at Hogle Zoo.
"I need to find a Maverik," he says, passing Chevrons, Texacos, Conocos.
He finds the station he wants and shuffles what appears to be a full deck of credit cards to find the one that will save him a few cents a gallon.
"I'm a penny-pincher," he says as he fills up. "I believe in investing money, not spending money."
The incident is typical of 40-year-old Corroon, a Democrat who is running against Republican Ellis Ivory and independent Merrill Cook.
"He's always ruled his finances with an iron fist," said Corroon's twin brother and business partner, Chris.
The son of a successful New York real estate man and first cousin to erstwhile presidential candidate Howard Dean, Corroon is a methodical man, one who prefers toiling behind the scenes to get things done rather than trumpeting himself in front of the cameras.
"I'm a workhorse, not a show horse," he often says.
The facts bear him out. Barely out of his 30s, Corroon has accomplished a remarkable amount in his education and career. He has bachelor's, master's and law degrees, all from different universities and all in different fields. He has worked in construction, finance, real estate, tax and law. He got both of his advanced degrees while working during the day and going to class at night.
"While other people were out partying, I was busting my hump," he said.
And, oh yeah, Corroon also ran two New York City marathons. His best time was a respectable 3 hours and 23 minutes.
"He's an extremely hard worker," Chris Corroon said.
Peter Corroon is a Salt Lake-based developer in a home-grown company, Red Gate Properties. In accordance with his usual modus operandi, he got started in the development business while employed with a Salt Lake law firm and fixing up a four-plex by night.
"I was living in a trashed apartment, putting on a suit and going to work in the morning," he said. "Then I would come home and take my suit off and put on my jeans and sneakers and work on the property. I felt like I was living a double life. . . . McDonald's was my favorite bathroom."
Red Gate is a small company, consisting basically of the two Corroon brothers. They have completed five projects total, with their proudest achievement being a 25-unit affordable-housing apartment building located at 900 South and 200 West.
Given Peter Corroon's nature, any guesses which brother is the glad-hander and which looks after the details?
"One guy told us that we do lip service," Chris Corroon said. "I'm the lip, and he's the service."
Following a Washington, D.C., fellowship with Housing and Urban Development at the turn of the millennium, Corroon came back to Salt Lake City with an itch to get into the public arena.
"I came back from Washington, my business was going well, and I decided to give something back to the community," he said. "I love being involved."
Consistent with his nature, Corroon didn't immediately go after a high-profile elected position. He started attending community council and state Office of Child Care advisory committee meetings, eventually becoming chairman of both.
"I started complaining about child care, and like anything else, when you complain you get roped into being part of the solution," he said.
"His leadership style was always to make sure that everyone was heard while keeping his personal vision," Office of Child Care director Lynette Rasmussen said. "He always operated from that paradigm."
He's progressed from the grassroots up, Corroon says, something that voters should note — particularly given his biggest rival, Ivory, who got into the race this month.
"You get candidates who have been out there, and you get somebody who wants to come in and buy the election," he said. "We don't need more pizazz. We need a little less pizazz."
"He's been a steady, solid voice for change," campaign adviser Russell Kennedy said. "He's a fresh start."
While he is a Democrat, and a proud one, Corroon has constantly emphasized that his will be a bipartisan administration. He's more about results, he says, than partisanship. And at least a few Republicans are listening.
"The Republican candidate, Mr. Ivory, is an extension of the current Workman administration and does not represent real change to the current Salt Lake County ethics problems," said Wendy Smith, a former Nancy Workman supporter, GOP candidate for County Commission and a state Republican delegate.
"I am voting for Peter Corroon out of principle and to support balance, fairness and an end to cronyism in county government."
That hasn't been a problem just for the past few months, Corroon says — it's been going on for 30 years.
"When my father died, one of his friends said he could describe him in three words: ethics, ethics, ethics," Corroon said. "If I can die and have people say that about me, I'll be happy."
University of Utah political science professor Tim Chambless confirmed that ethics and honest government are the biggest issues for voters nowadays.
"Voters are looking for a problem solver," he said. "They're looking for someone who's squeaky clean."
Corroon has emphasized quality growth as one of his primary political themes, saying growth and planning need to follow a cohesive strategy. He favors uniform landscaping codes to conserve water and wants to limit development in the canyon areas.
"We spend a lot of time growing but not a lot of time planning for that growth," he said. With regard to water, "we have two choices: spend money on water infrastructure or conserve."
A past president of the Salt Lake Vest Pocket Business Coalition, Corroon is a strong supporter of local businesses. He wants the county to coordinate economic development, something that is currently divided between many different agencies. He also wants to push tourism more strongly.
Corroon favors expansion of mass transit solutions rather than emphasizing the automobile, and wants the county to fund after-school programs and child care, as well as more affordable housing.
Nevertheless, Corroon has said many times that he will streamline county government — but not with the across-the-board approach that Cook favors.
"I would look for more efficiencies," he said.
He will strive to keep taxes level, Corroon says, but stops short of a promise not to raise taxes, which he says would be foolhardy.
Corroon is a developer, and developers are not popular people in the county right now. But he distinguishes himself with the size of his business — "small, not sprawl" — and says county government has catered too much to big development and big business.
"The county has been willing to make variances to the highest bidder," he said. "We need to treat everyone the same."
If there is any doubt that Corroon and his wife, Amy (a Salt Lake native whom he met on a blind date), are devout Catholics, he says to just look at their children: a girl and two boys, ages 3, 2 and 1. And more on the way.
"I keep threatening my wife that if we don't have twins we'll have to adopt some," he said. Corroon and his brother, fraternal twins, are the latest in 11 straight generations of twins in his family.
Corroon grew up with a strong, church-going (and Republican) mother in Long Island and Connecticut. He was an altar boy.
"Mom wanted a priest in the family," he said. "It wasn't in the cards."
While he has never been fanatical about spiritual things, he unashamedly identifies himself as religious. In fact, "living in this culture (LDS-dominant Utah) makes you more cognizant of your own religion."
E-mail: aedwards@desnews.com