Rocky Anderson

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Rocky Anderson

Term of office:
2000 – present
City	Salt Lake City
State	Utah
Country	United States
Political party	Democratic
Preceded by	Deedee Corradini
Succeeded by	incumbent
Born	1951 Logan, Utah
Spouse	Divorced

Ross C. "Rocky" Anderson (born 1951) is the current mayor of Salt Lake City, Utah.

Contents 1 Life before election as Mayor 2 As Mayor of Salt Lake City, Utah 3 Criticism 4 Criticism of Bush administration 5 See also 6 Notes 7 References

[edit] Life before election as Mayor

Anderson was born in Logan, Utah and graduated from Ogden High School. He received a bachelor's degree in philosophy^{[verification needed]} from the University of Utah and graduated in 1978 with a law degree from George Washington University.^[1]

Anderson practiced law for twenty-one years in Salt Lake City, specializing in civil litigation. He was lead attorney in several important civil rights and consumer protection cases, including Bott v. Deland and Bradford v. Moench, and filed an amicus brief in University of Utah Students Against Apartheid v. Peterson. Anderson also helped spearhead reform of Utah’s child custody laws. He worked to institute a program to help those who do not qualify for assistance through Legal Aid or Legal Services, but who are unable to afford to pay a full fee for legal representation. Anderson served as Chair of the Litigation Section of the Utah State Bar Association and as President of Anderson and Karrenberg, a Salt Lake City law firm.

During this time, he was affiliated with the ACLU ^[2], and volunteered as a board member of several community-based, non-profit organizations, including Common Cause, Planned Parenthood Association of Utah, and Guadalupe Schools. On behalf of Common Cause, Anderson lobbied for stronger legislation pertaining to ethical conduct by elected officials and for campaign finance reform. Anderson also founded and served as President of Citizens for Penal Reform.

He ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 1996, but received 55% of Salt Lake City's vote in that race. ^[3] His Republican opponent, Merrill Cook, made Anderson's support of marriage equality the focus of his campaign in that race.

Anderson was raised in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints but is no longer affiliated with the church.

[edit] As Mayor of Salt Lake City, Utah

Anderson was first elected as mayor in 1999 and was reelected for a second four-year term in 2003. Although the office of mayor in Salt Lake City is nonpartisan, Anderson's personal party affiliation is Democratic, and much of his platform is that of a liberal Democrat. While Utah generally votes Republican in statewide and national elections, Salt Lake City is primarily Democratic in party allegiance^[4].

Mayor Anderson has gained international renown for his Salt Lake City Green Program,^[5] a comprehensive effort to improve the sustainability and reduce the environmental footprint of Salt Lake City’s municipal operations. Elements of the program, which is said to “cover everything from dog waste to nuclear waste,” include initiatives to improve the efficiency of the City’s fleet and use of electricity, measures to make Salt Lake City more bicycle-friendly and pedestrian-friendly, and cogeneration plants at the City’s landfill and wastewater treatment facility that recapture methane to generate electricity.

As part of the Salt Lake City Green program, Anderson committed Salt Lake City to the Kyoto Protocol in 2002. Last year, the City surpassed its Kyoto goals, seven years ahead of schedule. In 2003, Anderson received the Climate Protection Award from the US Environmental Protection Agency, and the Sierra Club acknowledged his environmental work with its Distinguished Service Award. In November of 2005, the Salt Lake City Green program garnered Salt Lake City the World Leadership Award for the Environment.

Anderson is a proponent of transit-oriented urban housing and walkable, mixed-use neighborhoods that do not perpetuate dependence on the automobile or further sprawl development.

Anderson is an ardent opponent of tobacco use and has supported legislative measures limiting smoking. He is also one of the most outspoken public critics of Utah's strict liquor laws. (State law permits the sale of liquor only in restaurants, private clubs, and state-run liquor stores. The majority of bars in Utah function as private clubs with membership fees, and the number of bars on a block face is limited by City ordinance.)

Anderson has been a strong advocate for the rights and interests of minority communities in Salt Lake City. In December 2001, state and federal officials organized a raid at the Salt Lake City Airport that selectively enforced immigration laws against undocumented employees, who were arrested, imprisoned, and lost their jobs. In response, Anderson created the Family to Family program, which made it possible for Salt Lake City families to provide direct emotional and financial assistance to the airport workers and their families. Additionally, the Mayor spearheaded a challenge to English-only legislation in Utah in 2000, and in 2006 spoke at two large demonstrations for comprehensive immigration reform.

For his leadership, Anderson received the League of United Latin American Citizens’s first-ever “Profile in Courage” award, as well as the National Association of Hispanic Publications’ Presidential Award, in 2006.

Anderson signed an executive order in 2000 implementing a full-fledged affirmative action program in City hiring. This program has led to historic levels of ethnic minority hiring and retention in City government. The City employs 34% more ethnic minorities compared to 1999, with a 90% increase in members of the ethnic minority community holding executive and administrative positions. Members of the minority community comprise more than one-third of his staff and more than one-third of his nominations to City boards and commissions.

Anderson also signed executive orders that extend benefits to domestic partners of City employees, and ban discrimination against City employees on the basis of race, creed, gender, or sexual orientation. Anderson co-convened the Alliance for Unity, a non-partisan group of religious and community leaders working to build bridges between people throughout Utah.

Anderson led Salt Lake City through the highly successful 2002 Olympic Winter Games. He founded the Salt Lake City International Jazz Festival, now in its seventh year. He has also pushed for better security at the nation's airports, overseeing Salt Lake City International Airport's effort to become the first in the nation to screen all checked baggage.

On July 28, 2006, Anderson announced he would not pursue a third term as mayor. He said he wishes to organize communities to "make more noise" by advocating and organizing on human rights and climate-change issues.^[6][7].

Anderson's approach to public policy strongly exemplifies the American liberal tradition, notable in the state that in the 2004 presidential election gave George W. Bush his greatest percentage of the vote of any state in the Union^[3].

[edit] Criticism

In 2000, Anderson asked the Salt Lake City Police Department to end its participation in the D.A.R.E. program. He was characteristically direct, telling D.A.R.E. officials: "I think your organization has been an absolute fraud on the people of this country... For you to continue taking precious drug-prevention dollars when we have such a serious and, in some instances, growing addiction problem is unconscionable" ^[8]. There have been a number of studies showing D.A.R.E. to be an ineffective program.

Critics charged Anderson with being insufficiently opposed to teen drug use and with failing to propose any alternatives. In fact, Anderson introduced the ATLAS Program to the Salt Lake City School Board, which voted to implement the program^[9]. Anderson also created the Mayor’s Coalition on Alcohol, Tobacco, and Other Drugs, and has vigorously advocated for the implementation of proven drug prevention, treatment, and harm-reduction programs. In 2005, the Drug Policy Alliance honored him with its Richard J. Dennis Drugpeace Award.

In August 2005, Anderson violated Salt Lake City policy when he used $633.74 in public funds to purchase meals and alcoholic beverages on two occasions for musicians who performed at the Salt Lake City International Jazz Festival and for visiting mayors from throughout the country. A local newspaper devoted four consecutive front-page articles to the story, and portrayed the purchases as "bar tabs." This characterization soon spread to the Associated Press and other national and even international outlets.

When interviewed in September 2005 by the Deseret Morning News, Anderson stated that he disagreed with the policy, that providing hospitality to out-of-town visitors is an important mayoral function, and that exceptions to the policy had been made previously. [4]. The policy was subsequently changed to allow appropriate purchases of food and alcohol when entertaining out-of-town guests. Mayor Anderson reimbursed the City with his private funds for expenditures incurred while entertaining visiting mayors.[5].

The Deseret Morning News soon created more controversy with its coverage of an interview Anderson gave to The Guardian newspaper in London. Leading with the headline, “LDS Church Not Taliban, Rocky says,” the paper implied that Anderson had compared life in Utah to life under the Taliban[6]. Anderson emphasized that the comment, intended to be light-hearted, was not directed toward the state or its residents, nor toward The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Rather, he said, the comment was directed toward local media, particularly the Deseret Morning News, who had originally characterized his alcohol and food purchases at a local restaurant as "bar tabs," and which had run articles about the fact that a Salt Lake City Reads Together book selection contained profanity. Jeremiads soon appeared on the editorial pages of the Deseret Morning News and other Utah newspapers. Anderson often singles out the Deseret Morning News and other media outlets for deceptive, biased reporting, as evidenced in a statement about the reporting of the Deseret Morning News and a speech on media ethics to an annual banquet of the Daily Utah Chronicle.

In October 2005, local politicians accused Anderson of improper spending of public money. This time the issue was travel to Italy related to the 2006 Winter Olympic Games[7]. Anderson responded that the trip to Turin was to continue the longstanding Olympic tradition of delivering the Olympic message and did not cost Utah taxpayers any money. The Salt Lake City District Attorney cleared Anderson of any wrongdoing in the case.

[edit] Criticism of Bush administration

Anderson attracted praise and scorn in August 2005 when, after accepting an invitation from the Veterans of Foreign Wars to participate in a visit by President Bush, he sent an e-mail to local advocacy leaders calling for "the biggest demonstration [Utah] has ever seen" to protest Bush's appearance at Veterans of Foreign Wars' national convention at the Salt Palace^[10][11]. Speaking to a rally at Pioneer Park in downtown Salt Lake City, Anderson justified his protest against Bush, asserting that the "nation was lied into a war"^[12].

In August 2006 Anderson gave an interview with the show Fox and Friends on the Fox News network, concerning his plans to speak at an anti-war protest on the occasion of a visit by President Bush, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld to Salt Lake City to speak at the American Legion convention. The interview generated significant interest in Fox's viewers, with the show receiving a large number of emails. The interview began cordially, until Anderson claimed that President Bush "makes excuses for torturing other human beings."

At this point one of the interviewers, E.D. Hill, broke in and asked Anderson for evidence supporting this statement. Much of remainder of the interview involved Anderson and Hill debating this point, with frequent interruptions from Hill, until Anderson claimed that "you folks are the ones that are helping to mislead the American people." Later in the interview Anderson again claimed that "we were lied into this war by you folks, the mainstream media." In the final seconds of the interview E.D. Hill defended herself, saying "we didn't lie to anyone." Afterwards, Hill used her "Fox and Friends" blog to address the incident and printed some of the "hundreds of emails" she had received concerning it ^[13]. Although Hill maintained that Anderson did not provide specific evidence for his charge, he in fact referred to a German citizen, Khalid El-Masri, who, as a result of mistaken identity, was kidnapped, transported to a secret prison, and tortured.

Amidst this and other criticism, Anderson spoke at a protest against the Bush administration and Congress on August 30, 2006^[14]. His speech was animated characterized the war in Iraq as "illegal and immoral"^[15].

Approximately 4,000 people attended the protest, including numerous veterans. Throughout his speech Anderson stated that a true patriot can question government actions while still supporting America's troops, asserting, "Blind faith in bad leaders is not patriotism." After the anti-war rally where Anderson gave his speech, Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff led a pro-war rally and responded to Anderson, accusing him of being "disrespectful" and "stupid" for speaking out on a war when a soldier from his city was being buried the same day^[16][17]. Meanwhile, supporters have called his speech "outstanding"^[18], "refreshing"^[19], and "orders of magnitude more powerful than any critique of Bush I've seen by an elected political figure"^[20].

[edit] See also

Preceded by: Deedee Corradini

Mayors of Salt Lake City 2000 – present

Incumbent

 

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[edit] Notes

1. ^ Freedman, Jamie. [1]"GW Law's Utah Connection," GW Magazine, Summer 2004. Accessed October 10, 2006.
2. ^ Baum, Dan. "Salt Lake City Drops D.A.R.E.", Rolling Stone, 23 November, 2000.
3. ^ ^a b The Nation, "Progressive City Leaders".
4. ^ Salt Lake City Tribune article protesting President Bush's visit by Thomas Burr and Heather May, August 15, 2006. Retrieved September 2, 2006.
5. ^ Salt Lake City Green Program, official site. Accessed 28 September 2006.
6. ^ No Rocky III, Salt Lake Tribune
7. ^ Rocky: Ups, downs, and why it's time, Salt Lake Tribune
8. ^ Vanderpool, Time. "Truth or D.A.R.E.?", Tucson Weekly, February 26, 2004. Retrieved on [[December 12, 2005]].
9. ^ May, Heather. "Prep Athlete Use Of Drugs Declines; SLC school board credits ATLAS program," The Salt Lake Tribune, March 7, 2002.
10. ^ Warchol, Glen. "Rocky's call to protest Bush makes vets see red", The Salt Lake Tribune, August 20, 2005. Retrieved on [[August 20, 2005]].
11. ^ Bernick, Bob, Jr., Roche, Lisa Riley. "Rocky calls for Bush protest", Deseret Morning News, August 20, 2005. Retrieved on [[August 7, 2006]].
12. ^ Salt Lake City's Mayor Office (August 22, 2005). Remarks by Mayor Ross C. "Rocky" Anderson. (PDF) Press release. Retrieved on August 2006.
13. ^ http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,211292,00.html
14. ^ MSNBC interview with Anderson on September 1, 2006. Retreived September 2, 2006.
15. ^ Anderson, Rocky. Speech on the occasion of President Bush's visit to Salt Lake City. Retrieved September 26, 2006.
16. ^ [2] Rocky Anderson leads protest opposing Bush; Shurtleff calls Mayor "disrespectful"
17. ^ [3] Salt Lake sounds off in protest and support
18. ^ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bob-geiger/slc-mayor-rocky-anderson_b_28450.html
19. ^ http://onegoodmove.org/1gm/1gmarchive/2006/08/mayor_rocky_and.html
20. ^ Abramsky, Sasha. Rocky Anderson, Folk Hero?, The Nation, September 1, 2006

[edit] References

• (unsigned article), "Progressive City Leaders", The Nation, June 18, 2005, p.18-19.
• Extensive bio from 2003 reelection campaign website. Retrieved September 26, 2006.
• Official Mayor's office bio retrieved October 2004
• Brady Snyder, Tough Rocky also has a soft side Deseret News, September 24, 2003. Article about the 2003 mayoral race retrieved October 2004
• Erin Stewart and Kersten Swinyard, Are Rocky's methods hurting city business?. Deseret News, September 13, 2005. Retrieved September 2005
• Brady Snyder, Rocky's bar tab paid by the city, Deseret Morning News, September 28, 2005. Retrieved October 7, 2005.
• Deseret Morning News editorial board, Rocky and the Taliban, Deseret Morning News, October 6, 2005. Retrieved October 7, 2005.
• Ogden Standard-Examiner editorial board, Rocky vs. the Taliban, Ogden Standard-Examiner, October 6, 2005. Retrieved October 7, 2005.
• Heather May, GOP chairman calls for an investigation of Rocky's spending, Salt Lake Tribune, October 6, 2005. Retrieved October 7, 2005.
• Anti-war protest speech (video as recorded by CBS) by Rocky Anderson given on August 30, 2006. Retreived September 2, 2006.
• Text of Aug. 30, 2006 Speech (pdf)