Salt Lake County councilwoman and longtime Democrat Jenny Wilson says her "progressive" political stands are a fine fit for the Salt Lake City mayor's office that she seeks.
How better to show that than her choice of campaign headquarters? Her campaign office on 400 South is housed in an old bar — the long bar, complete with stools, is still there. The office is located between a tattoo parlor and a haircutting salon where the stylists wear bikinis.
Wilson's political training came early. As the oldest daughter of former Salt Lake City Mayor Ted Wilson, she remembers traveling at age 12 in the mid-1970s to a National Conference of Mayors conference in Wisconsin, where she met then-President Jimmy Carter.
She spent a lot of time in her father's City Hall office — and Ted Wilson was a popular mayor, serving from 1976 to 1985. She attended a number of mayoral functions. "My mom, who is an artist, would just decline to go and told Dad, 'Just take Jenny.' And so he did."
Wilson says she's been around politics all of her life, only taking out a bit of time during her college years. She worked on her father's two statewide races — in 1982 against GOP U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch and in 1988 against GOP Gov. Norm Bangerter. She was a cable TV lobbyist in Washington, D.C., and chief of staff for former Democratic U.S. House member Bill Orton in the early 1990s.
She was a top manager in volunteer organizing for the 2002 Olympics, and she had great respect for Salt Lake Olympic Committee boss Mitt Romney's work. "I'm disappointed in Mitt now, switching all his positions" as he runs for the GOP presidential nomination, she says.
She worked for Utah Children, a nonprofit child-advocacy group, before winning her part-time countywide council seat six years ago.
Wilson is now the only woman in the mayor's race — fellow Democrats Meg Holbrook and Nancy Saxton dropped out. Early polls show Wilson leads the other candidates in the race, although some attribute that lead to the good Wilson name in city politics, not to Wilson herself.
A Dan Jones & Associates poll this month of 400 Salt Lake City residents who said they were likely to vote showed her in first place among the mayoral candidates, with 23 percent of those surveyed supporting her.
The mayor's race is officially nonpartisan — political parties have no formal role in nominating candidates. But Wilson runs "proudly" as a Democrat. "It is part of me, who I am," she says.
The word "Democrat" is on her signs and Web site and will be on other advertising as the mayor's race rushes to the Sept. 11 primary, which will whittle the field down to two candidates for the November general election.
"This is a blue (Democratic) city in a very red (Republican) state," says Wilson. While party politics is part of the city, it only really comes into play when the city deals with the Republican-controlled Legislature, she says.
Wilson believes that unlike current Democratic Mayor Rocky Anderson, she can have a good relationship with state officials. "I'm a people person. I'm a collaborative worker," she says.
Much of the mayor's work is basic service delivery — "fixing roads and such." But political philosophy does enter in. Wilson says she is very pro human rights and equal rights, as well as the best candidate on gay issues.
She also believes the next Salt Lake mayor can make a real difference in air quality and other environmental concerns.
"I'm a mom, with two small boys, and I look at issues first as a mom — especially the environment and education."
Wilson, 41, who only briefly used her married name before returning to "Wilson," is married to Trell Rohovit, the chief executive officer of the high-tech software and integration firm Venafi. The firm does no business with the city, she says.
Balancing a family life with public service "was a real issue" with Wilson before she and her husband decided on her run for mayor this year. She takes Zack, 5, and Max, 2, with her on the campaign trail for an hour or so each Saturday, "before they get restless" and have to go back with Dad, she says.
To spend time with her boys, Wilson starts campaigning late on other days or ends early.
"I have to budget my time" between the two pursuits, she says. But she's managed competing interests most of her life anyway, she adds. (Other top mayoral candidates don't have small children at home.)
Wilson's friend Rachael Crosswhite says Wilson "is a champ" as a mom. At a swimming pool last summer when their sons were taking swimming lessons, Wilson got a cell-phone call concerning the Real Salt Lake soccer stadium.
"She went into this tough conversation on the stadium, all the while feeding her little boy mashed bananas," says Crosswhite. "She never missed a beat. And when she got off the phone, the stadium discussion was out, and we resumed our conversation about the right time for potty training. That's Jenny multitasking at her best."
Wilson says seeing her own father at work as mayor when she was a child was an invaluable experience.
"For me, it was great being a mayor's daughter," she says. "My dad was my gateway to politics, my gateway to the exposure with the Salt Lake community. He had such a fine skill set, a great mediator. As kids, we had to listen to the other side of all issues."
Having seen firsthand her father work through two losing, bruising partisan statewide races, as well as Orton's 1996 defeat, Wilson says she was careful to study the 2007 mayor's race, not getting in until she was sure she could make a good run at winning.
Whoever wins the race, they need to put together a coalition of Democrats and independents. Wilson doesn't believe there are enough Republicans in the city to allow a GOP candidate to win.
Wilson says she's done well among city voters in her two countywide elections. Her race this time around, with well-known Democrat Ralph Becker also in the primary battle, is more uncertain.
If it is a Democrat and a Republican in the final, bet on the Democrat, Wilson says. If it is herself and Becker coming out for the final race, well, she still likes her chances.
"The Salt Lake City's mayor's race is a very good fit for me, politically and otherwise," says Wilson. "I'm a progressive. I'm a Democrat. It would not be best for me to run statewide. My ideology fits city residents."
Utah is a very Republican state, and it is important that the mayor of the state's largest city and capital has a Democrat who can help balance the state politically, Wilson believes.
"My job is to get the progressives out there to vote — not necessarily only the Democrats out to vote," she says.
Jenny Wilson background
Born: Nov. 1, 1965, in Salt Lake City
Parents: Ted Wilson, Kathy Wilson; Holly Mullen, step-mother
Married: Trell Rohovit, July 1, 2000
Two sons, Zachary and Max
Education:
Graduated from East High School, 1983
B.S., communication, University of Utah, 1988
Master's in public administration, Harvard University, Kennedy School of Government, 1998
Professional career:
Press secretary, Wilson for Governor, 1988
Government relations, National Cable Television Association, 1989
Assistant press secretary, Congressman Les AuCoin (D-OR), 1990
Sundance Group, 1991
Communications director, AuCoin for Senate, 1992
Communications director/chief of staff, Congressman Bill Orton (D-UT), 1992-96
Campaign manager, Dave Jones for Mayor, 1999
Volunteer director, Salt Lake Organizing Committee, 2002 Winter Olympics, 2000-02
Voices for Utah Children, director "Covering Kids," a program to enroll low- to medium-income families in CHIP and Medicaid, 2003-04
Political service:
Salt Lake County Council, at-large B, elected 2004
Salt Lake County Council Human Services Committee, chair
Salt Lake County Council Community Services Committee
Salt Lake County Council Fund Balance Committee
Member, Wasatch Front Regional Council
Member, Council of Governments
Founder and chair, Council of Governments Air Quality Subcommittee
Community service (current):
Board member, Unified Fire Authority
National Leadership Council, Utah Museum of Fine Arts
Board member, Salt Lake Community Action Board
Board member, Discovery Gateway (Children's Museum of Utah)
Member, Governor's Outdoor Recreation Task Force
E-mail: bbjr@desnews.com