Salt Lake Mayor Rocky Anderson has named his seventh communications director in less than five years after firing Deeda Seed, a longtime friend and his former chief of staff.
Clifford Lyon, a former executive with a gift wholesale company and a member of the Human Rights Center of Utah governing board, replaces Seed, who Anderson fired Friday apparently for complaining about his management style and in part over how the controversy surrounding his involvement in last week's anti-war protest during President Bush's visit was being handled.
Like some of her predecessors, Seed complained that Anderson doesn't abide dissent or things being stated or represented differently than he thinks they should be. She also said that the mayor often berated her with vulgar language and belittled members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
"We have to sit there and listen to him berate us, degrade us, degrade other people. He regularly uses foul and derogatory language with regard to people who disagree with him. . . . He is ineffective and creates a hostile environment," Seed told the Salt Lake Tribune in a story distributed Monday by the Associated Press.
Anderson said Monday he is the victim and that he hired Seed a year and a half ago because he felt sorry that she couldn't find a job. "I felt so badly for her that she was unemployed."
Anderson maintains he's strict, but "I'm also really a softy. Unfortunately, that's what leads to all this. She abused our friendship. Taking the position and not doing a good job."
Monday, Seed's husband said she had the flu and couldn't speak with reporters.
Seed was also quoted saying the mayor privately belittles City Council members and makes fun of Mormons.
As for making fun of Latter-day Saints, Anderson said, "This is so ironic because it's so clearly a case of the pot calling the kettle black. Deeda is a longtime friend of mine who knows why I don't consider myself a member of the LDS Church anymore. She knows not only the theological differences but the differences in terms of certain practices that I have with the LDS Church."
Anderson said it is Seed who often disparages church members while the mayor tells her "we've got to, in our own private conversations, with whomever we speak, we've got to try and be respectful of others. I try to live it."
The mayor said there was one recent incident during a pre-planning meeting for an interview with a Chinese television station where he made an "off the cuff" remark about the differences he has with the LDS religion and other religions.
"But I come from long Mormon tradition, which Deeda doesn't," Anderson said. "It's a tradition that I have a lot of respect for and I don't countenance bigoted responses from people about Mormons any more than I do bigoted responses about anybody."
Seed was fired Friday after a week of dealing with media and the protest Anderson helped organize to coincide with President Bush's speech at the Veterans of Foreign Wars convention downtown.
Anderson's Chief of Staff Sam Guevara said the protest increased tension throughout the office.
"There was definitely more tension in the office," he said. "We had never had that much national and international and local coverage."
Seed complained throughout the week that Anderson blamed her for not doing a better job of defusing the criticism the mayor received over the protest. Anderson, meanwhile, complained he had to write his protest speech and his speech for the VFW at midnight the night before convention because Seed hadn't done her job and written the speech for him.
The last straw may have come with a flap over the mayor's e-mails and how they should be disseminated to the press. The Deseret Morning News filed an open-records request with the Mayor's Office Tuesday, asking for all of Anderson's e-mails relating to the protest.
Wednesday, the newspaper contacted the mayor's office to determine if the e-mails were ready. Seed said they were ready and "sitting on my desk" but that the mayor had instructed her not to release them until the last possible day allowed by law. The Morning News then informed Seed it wanted to run the e-mail story along with a story about Anderson calling for an apology from Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, who referred to the protesters as "nutcakes."
The apology story was one Anderson had encouraged a Morning News reporter to write, and Seed was informed that if the e-mails were released, it would mean the Hatch story would likely run on that same day.
Seed relayed that information to Anderson, who said he would release the e-mails if the Morning News wrote a story about the mayor's campaign to encourage people who are with friends who overdose on drugs to take them to the hospital.
The Morning News reporter, who was planning to write that story anyway, agreed to a story about Anderson's efforts to help those who overdose. But there was no agreement about what would be in the story or where or when it would run.
The next day a Salt Lake Tribune reporter called and wanted the e-mails as well. Anderson wanted to make a similar demand of the Tribune in exchange for the e-mails, Seed said. The Tribune was indignant that the mayor would make such a requirement and an editor complained to Seed, she said. Seed then told the editor that the Morning News had agreed to the mayor's request.
According to anonymous sources, someone at the Tribune then contacted the alternative newspaper, Salt Lake City Weekly, which began working on a story about the mayor asking newspapers for coverage in exchange for releasing public information.
Anderson became irate that Seed told the Tribune about how he had agreed to release the e-mails to the Morning News.
"He's ready to fire me," Seed said last week after she said Anderson yelled at her for talking to the Tribune.
Friday, Seed informed Anderson she was looking for other employment and the mayor decided to fire Seed. She cleaned out her office Saturday.
Anderson said the e-mail flap "may have added" to his decision to fire Seed, but his mind was pretty well made up before that incident.
Seed's replacement is the former brother-in-law of Anderson's girlfriend.
Guevara said the mayor often complained about Seed's job performance and "they were both aware that Deeda was not meeting the mayor's job performance requirements."
Seed, in turn, complained to Guevara about the "working environment" Anderson maintained in his office. A similar complaint came from Christy Cordwell, the mayor's longtime assistant who also resigned Friday, Guevara said.
Guevara said Anderson does yell and cuss when he is angry but not at a level that is excessive.
Contributing: Associated Press
E-mail: bsnyder@desnews.com