We should want politicians who challenge the status quo.

We should want politicians who challenge the status quo.

(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Former Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson announces his candidacy for mayor, at the Cake Salon, on Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2022.

By Jann Haworth | Special to The Tribune

It would seem some politicians want to divert people’s attention from the substantive issues we are all concerned about and instead engage in mud-slinging.

The art of the political dodge was on full display in Salt Lake County Mayor Jenny Wilson’s insult-laden December 15 commentary, “Rocky Anderson’s divisive style would be a set-back for Salt Lake City.”

Wilson is angry at Rocky Anderson for being audacious enough to run for mayor of Salt Lake City, a position in which he accomplished a lot of great things in eight years. He has a renowned work ethic and commitment to setting goals and achieving them. He also obviously cares deeply about building a better future.

I don’t understand why the county mayor wouldn’t want a good, honest campaign based on the issues and the records of the candidates, as Rocky has called for.

I’ve read Rocky’s announcement speech, which seems to have offended Wilson. In it, he did exactly what anyone would expect and want a candidate to do. He talked up his record serving our city, including his leadership – even internationally – on the climate crisis, his restorative justice programs and those legendary fights against sprawl development.

He spoke about many of the problems that are troubling us, such as the failure of Mayor Erin Mendenhall and her administration to clean up our city or deal with the homelessness crisis humanely. He spoke about skyrocketing crime and poor response times by our police department, making our city far more dangerous for all of us (except, perhaps, Mendenhall, who is reputed to have a personal police security detail). He spoke about the unaffordability of Salt Lake City housing and offered specific ideas about what he would do to make Salt Lake City more affordable.

Rocky didn’t make a personal attack during the speech Wilson found to be so troubling. Instead, he laid out a solid, fact-based critique of Mendenhall’s leadership failures and what he would do differently. Rocky’s lawyer-like approach was unlike Wilson’s barrage of insults, for which she provided no evidence or example, referring to Rocky as “arrogant,” “naïve,” “misinformed,” “unfocused,” creating “chaos at every turn,” “ foolhardy,” and “divisive.”

When I recall Rocky’s years at the helm, he was hardly “unfocused” or “chaotic.” Perhaps what Wilson has in mind is how well Rocky multi-tasked to achieve as much as he and his administration did. He was known nationally and internationally for his environmental, peace and human rights work, while he made sure city services, including policing, were of the highest quality. He also vastly improved our parks, successfully pushed for more public transit, and implemented life-saving bicycle and pedestrian safety measures.

Wilson calls Rocky “divisive.” He’s actually one of the friendliest politicians around, with a great sense of humor (which may have been lost on Wilson). He’s known to get along with most fellow politicians, regardless of their differences.

Play-it-safe politicians consider people “divisive” when they challenge the status quo and take on powerful interests. Most of us want that in our elected officials.

Wilson didn’t provide any hint of what she meant by “divisive.” Was she talking about Rocky’s “divisiveness” when he took on most of the political establishment, including much of the Utah Democratic Party, in 1996 when he ran for Congress and advocated marriage equality? Perhaps she was referring to his “divisiveness” when he pushed to end Utah’s ridiculous liquor laws, such as the private club membership requirement? Or she might have had in mind Rocky’s “divisiveness” when, along with the Sierra Club, he opposed the initial plans for Legacy Highway, which was the product of an illegal process?

Was it his “divisiveness” when he was a national leader against the Iraq War, the lies that led our nation into it, and the numerous related human rights violations? Or was it his “divisiveness” when he fought for compassionate, reasonable immigration reform, earning him the “Profile in Courage Award” from the largest Latino organization, LULAC?

If so, that is the kind of “divisiveness” I will take every day. That’s what I’m looking for in the next leader of Salt Lake City and why I’m supporting Rocky.

Jann Haworth has lived in Utah since 1997, and she is active in community art projects.

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