Dave Buhler is an upbeat kind of guy: He's positive about tomorrow, eager to see what's ahead and how he can make it better.
You wouldn't know it from just looking at him. The 50-year-old Salt Lake city councilman has kind of a hound-dog appearance, with a bit of a stoop-shoulder, "awe, come on" demeanor.
He readily makes jokes about himself and seems a bit embarrassed talking about his political accomplishments.
He is not the kind of guy to stand out in a crowd. But in a crowd he is — one of nine candidates who have filed to run for Salt Lake City mayor.
If Mayor Rocky Anderson talks easily about himself — and likes the TV cameras — Buhler doesn't.
A number of politicians these days will gladly say they are a workhorse, not a show horse, even when it isn't true. Buhler actually fits that description.
This is Buhler's second run for mayor. In 1991, when he was 34, Buhler got into the final election with Deedee Corradini. She swamped him — 55 percent to 45 percent.
Corradini was the insider, Democratic female candidate. Buhler was the outsider, a Republican, white male Mormon candidate.
"I was a bit brash back then. I had never run for office before, although I had run some campaigns," says Buhler, who is the Utah System of Higher Education's associate commissioner for public affairs.
Buhler has racked up more experience since then. In 1994, he ran as a Republican for the state Senate and won. Beaten in his re-election bid in 1998, he jumped into a non-partisan City Council race (in an east-side district) in 1999, won the seat and won re-election in 2003.
Always the campaign strategist, Buhler has only run for open seats or for re-election. He has never challenged an incumbent — and won't again this year, because Anderson is retiring.
Jill Remington Love is a long-time Democrat who serves on the council with Buhler.
"He is a moderate Republican — I saw that in his (state) Senate work," says Love, who is endorsing Buhler's mayoral candidacy this year. "He's one of the good Republicans."
Love says that when she first came on the council, Buhler was already an established member. Early in that year, an ordinance on street artists selling their wares came before the council. Where could the artists do that? Would they set up a sidewalk shop outside of an established art gallery?
"The issue had a bit of political tinge to it. I figured we (Buhler and I) would be on opposite sides. But we talked. We compromised. And I found him reasonable," Love says. "He has a very even keel."
Buhler is a political junkie of the first order, she says.
"He watches C-Span a lot. Sad, isn't it?" says Love.
Buhler understands that city residents have not elected a GOP mayor since former U.S. Sen. Jake Garn became mayor in 1971.
"I'm not running to be the Republican mayor," says Buhler of the officially nonpartisan race. "I'm running to be the mayor who happens to be a Republican."
But while Democratic Salt Lake County Councilwoman Jenny Wilson's mayoral logo has "Democrat" clearly visible, you won't find Buhler advertising that he's a Republican.
Buhler says he can bring back good relations with the GOP-dominated Legislature — whose members have liked to trade insults with Anderson.
All of the representatives and senators who represent Salt Lake City are Democrats, and Buhler says he personally knows all of them through his lobbying for higher education and gets along well with them.
Buhler gives an example where a bill on limiting how cities could give employee benefits passed the Utah House, but he was able to get it amended and killed in the Senate. He says the key is to work behind the scenes on those issues and to not lambaste legislators from the mayor's pulpit.
Still, partisan politics may well play a role in the mayor's race. Todd Taylor, executive director of the Utah Democratic Party, says if one of the mayoral finalists is a Republican, the state party will become involved in the race, publicly backing the Democrat.
However, not since Buhler in 1991 has a GOP candidate even made it out of the primary. The finalists since then have been two Democrats.
Even so, a Dan Jones & Associates survey this month of 400 Salt Lake City residents who said they were likely to vote showed Buhler in second place among the mayoral candidates, with the support of 19 percent of those polled. The same poll, though, showed that if Anderson decided to seek a third term as mayor, 24 percent of residents would vote for him.
Anderson has traveled nationally to call for impeaching President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney. Buhler said that while all candidates may have personal opinions about national issues such as the Iraqi war, abortion, national health care, mayors need to focus on their local budgets and bringing services to city residents.
Buhler has helped put together seven city budgets. There have been no general tax hikes, although over his objections, there was a hike in a special cell-phone tax and, with his approval, city water rates have steadily gone up as the city tries to raise money to repair old water lines.
Even though the number of non-public-safety city personnel has gone down, there have been no employee strikes or sick-outs, Buhler says with pride. "We've added more police officers the last two years."
Buhler points to a number of successes the council has accomplished in recent years — including downtown planning and keeping Hogle Zoo in the city. "It's about building coalitions. It's not one person."
And the "awe shucks" Buhler says that should he be elected mayor, he'd be glad not to stand out and try to take all the credit.
E-mail: bbjr@desnews.com
Dave Buhler bio
- Born July 13, 1957, in Salt Lake City, Utah, grew up in Liberty Park neighborhood
Married Lori Goaslind, July 7, 1982
Five children, ages 9-20
Education
- Attended Salt Lake City public schools (Liberty Elementary, Lincoln Junior High) and graduated South High School, 1975
Graduate, University of Utah, 1983 (B.S. political science, B.S. history)
Master's degree in public administration, Brigham Young University Marriott School of Management, 1985
Career
- Staff assistant and later director of Constituent Services, Office of Sen. Orrin Hatch (Salt Lake City office) 1979-1984
Administrative assistant to Gov. Norm Bangerter, 1984-1989
Executive director, Utah Department of Commerce, 1989-1992
Vice president, Experior Assessments (formerly National Assessment Institute) 1992-2000
Associate commissioner for Public Affairs, Utah System of Higher Education, 2000-present
Taught as an adjunct in the department of political science, University of Utah, 1990-2006
Politics
- Campaign manager, Bangerter re-election, 1988
Candidate for mayor of Salt Lake City, 1991
Elected to the Utah State Senate, 1994 (defeated for re-election in 1998), served 1995-1999, representing Salt Lake City/County (District 7)
Elected to the Salt Lake City Council, 1999 (re-elected in 2003)
Vice chairman, Salt Lake City Council 2001, chairman 2002, Chair 2006
Community Service
- Salt Lake City Schools Volunteers Board of Directors (1992-1993 approximately)
Utah Heritage Foundation (1992-1994 approximately)
Trustee, Sugarhouse Community Council (1992-1995)
Chair, Governor's Task Force on Workers' Compensation Reform, 1993
This Is the Place Foundation Board of Trustees, 1997-1999, 2006-present
Trustee, University of Utah Board of Trustees, 1999-2000
Salt Lake Chamber of Commerce Board of Governors (ex-officio representing
Salt Lake City Council) 2000-present
Advisory Board, College of Social and Behavioral Science, University of Utah, 2003-present
National Leadership Council, Utah Museum of Fine Arts, 2005-present
Utah Advisory Board, Trust for Public Lands, 2005-present