Becker's Big Test

[Clash of the Liberals] Finally. It appears that a growing number of Salt Lake City policy makers are beginning to call out the emperor has no clothes! on the multi-million dollar mess that has become The Leonardo.

Earlier this month, Salt Lake City Councilman J.T. Martin expressed doubts that the project for a loosely defined science and humanities museum at Library Square would get the City Council's backing. From the start, The Leonardo has been built on oversize dreams and an exaggerated sense of self-importance. This led to repeated cost overruns and the collapse of expected donations--largely because The Leonardo's board and management staff could never quite define or explain what the museum was supposed to be or what it hoped to accomplish. City Weekly's Stephen Dark was all over last year, and was the first local reporter to nail all of the problems with getting the heavily taxpayer-subsidized museum off the ground.

Last weekend, Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker finally jumped into the controversy. This is no small feat, and marks the most significant test yet of Becker's ability to stand up against the base that elected him last fall. Why? As Dark pointed out in his story, former Leonardo executive director Mary Tull (she recently left the post in the wake of growing controversy) is married to the Rev. Tom Goldsmith of Salt Lake's First Unitarian Church. Several of The Leonardo's financial backers--including liberal philanthropists Norman and Barbara Tanner (who coughed up $1 million)--are Unitarians or regular visitors to the church. Robert Newman, Dean of the University of Utah College of Humanities, has been a longtime supporter of the project.

Leonardo supporters make for a cozy group of Salt Lake City liberals and intellectuals--which also happened to make up the solid base behind Becker's election last fall. They gave him lots of money. They walked neighborhoods and knocked on doors for him. They proudly posted campaign signs for him in their xeriscaped yards.

Now--and wisely--Becker is acting like a mayor, questioning the strange expenditures of The Leonardo and projecting that even its board's latest plan to severely downscale the museum will not be enough to save the thing. Salt Lakers have put up with nearly a decade of fiddling around with notions for the best use of the old library. In 2003, city residents approved $10.2 million of their own money go toward rehabbing the building and putting The Leonardo in place. And still, there is nothing to show for it.

Rightly so, Becker is now wondering if there might be a better use for the space.

But the mayor surely isn't going to please those who brought him to the dance in the process.
(Holly Mullen)

Ralph Becker Is A Pecker?

[City] According to some of my peeps on the Interweb, our fair mayor is indeed a "pecker." This after months of keeping us waiting with baited breath to see what kind of awesome changes he'll make to the city.

This is a mayor, after all, who while running for election had a quasi-hipster intern talking him up on gallery strolls, fashion strolls--wherever the kids hang out. And this person did so because, like the rest of us 20-40 year-olds, she truly believed he supported local businesses; that he supported walkable communities; that he supported the little guy.

Well sir, you have made some enemies by throwing out the absolutely brilllllliant idea of eliminating free parking downtown on nights and Saturdays. Why? Well, according to Fox 13, proceeds will benefit a new fire station. Oh, but then another source says its because Ralphie wants to protect the state from being sued. Or something. Still others cite lower property taxes.

Sounds a bit like Jon Lovitz's SNL character scrambling to justify his actions. Yeah, that's the ticket! Whatever the reason, this is a bunk move. All over MySpace, in bars, music venues, etc, the audience is screaming: BOO! (Jamie Gadette)

Oooh, So Salacious

[Media] Oh, how I love to see the words "salacious," "Mayor Ralph Becker" and City Weekly all together in one letter to the editor.

And a tip of the Salt Blog hat to Salt Lake City letter writer Meredith Shaw, who clearly has adopted the Utah art form of passive-aggressive communication. Is she handing our paper a compliment? A criticism? Both at once? Who knows. The nature of too much discourse in Utah is that you never quite know where a person is coming from.

Oh well. Any pub is good pub.

Anyway, here at our little paper we'll continue to keep an eye on the Becker administration. We figure the new mayor, with nearly four months of work under his belt has long passed the obligatory Honeymoon Period. If press scrutiny of elected officials counts as "even salacious," we're guilty as charged.

BTW, no one does salacious better than competing New York tabloids the Daily News and New York Post, top right. Now those are headlines! (Holly Mullen)

Secret Police (Update)

[Legislature] Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker wants some police discipline records to stay public.

A bill introduced in Utah’s Legislature would let cities stamp “private” on all records of disciplinary action brought against police officers (like these posted on our Webpage). Becker says he likes the bill in concept, but, as written, it appears to go too far.

“The language apparently doesn’t reflect my understanding of what the intent was,” Becker says of Senate Bill 260, which is backed by police chiefs and Salt Lake City's police union.

“The intent is to try to protect an employee’s privacy and due process. That I favor. But I also favor—I think it’s really important—the public having access to information about the actions of the city.”

In Becker’s opinion, disciplinary records of police officers should be kept private during the disciplinary process and during an officer's appeal. But when the city takes action resulting from a disciplinary proceeding, the Mayor says, “the results of that action should be available to the public.”

That is pretty much how Utah’s law already works. Under current public records law, documents about police discipline are released only after time has expired on an officer’s chances to appeal.

Becker said his administration did not write SB 260. The idea of changing public records law was presented to his staff late last year, he said. (A chief Becker staffer appears to have worked toward the change.) But Becker says the idea was presented to his people as “a cleanup bill” to bring city procedures in line with those used by the county.

Maybe so. It turns out discipline records about county Sheriff’s deputies are secret. (Ted McDonough)

Secret Police

[Legislature] On Friday, a committee of Utah’s Legislature is scheduled to consider a bill that would put off limits to the public documents about how and why police officers are disciplined. While the records are still public, City Weekly has posted some on our Webpage. They give an idea of the sorts of behavior that might be buried if the bill passes—from cops on drugs to office romance.

Senate Bill 260 would change Utah’s public records law, known as GRAMA.

One of the movers behind the legislation appears to be the administration of Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker. Two months before taking office this January, Becker’s chief administrative officer, in an email to senior Becker staff, suggested working with the city police union during the legislative session, “to support changes in GRAMA to protect our police investigations and discipline.” Senate Bill 260 is proposed by Sen. Chris Buttars, R-West Jordan. (Ted McDonough)

Best Part of Becker Inauguration

[Inauguration Day] A few hours ago, I attended the inauguration ceremonies for Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker and City Council members Luke Garrott, J.T. Martin and Van Turner.

The highlight of the event: An original poem, written to honor Becker, by Utah's Poet Laureate Katharine Coles.

Arrival

Who knew where we would end?
We took the plains in passing,
Following our hunger
Through a harrowed land.

In this, we are alike—
All of us arriving
Together, each alone,
The prairies passing us through

Until we came so far.
The valley, laid out, open,
Will turn to spring, then summer,
Green and gold at our feet

And we’ll be sailing the mountains
Riding the rim of sky,
Full of ourselves, and dizzy,
Almost into heaven.

Now, at our daily work,
Hands on the wheel or keyboard
We lift our eyes to the hills
That delivered us, and sing. -- Katharine Coles

(Holly Mullen)

Becker Metaphored to Death

[Dept. of Overwriting] It's been said that everything important in life can be summed up with a baseball metaphor. Even so, must The Salt Lake Tribune subject us to extra innings? (Holly Mullen)

Calling All Becker Stalkers

[Day's Work] This just in: It's Salt Lake City mayoral candidate Ralph Becker's Election Day Schedule!

For those of you just waiting to build your day around a honk and wave, here it is:

Election Day Itinerary for Ralph Becker

You are welcome to join Ralph for the day on November 6. He will be honking and waving, meeting voters, and working with the army of campaign volunteers to get out the vote on election day.

6:15 AM – Short interview on Channel 2

8:45-9:15 – Honk and wave, Foothill and Sunnyside

10-11 AM – Campaign headquarters to greet volunteers

11:30 AM – Interview on SLCC radio

12:15-1:15 – Campaign headquarters to greet volunteers

8:30 PM – Celebration at Squatters Brewpub

This itinerary is certain to change, given the vagaries of election day. Please contact me if you have at-the-moment questions about Ralph’s location and availability. Thank you.

David (Everitt)
campaign manager

(Holly Mullen)

The Doer vs. the Drinkers

[Political Pimping] The invitation that landed in my mailbox today reads: "Come have a drink with Dave after work ... He'll have a root beer, you have whatever you want."

Well there's that Dave Buhler again, getting all down with his darker side and reaching out to the wild-ass drinkers in Salt Lake. It's a fundraiser. October 25. At the Oyster Bar. Suggested contribution is $100.

It's been amusing, all right, watching devout Mormon and Republican Buhler bend a bit to appeal to the city's non-Mormon majority. He hasn't given up his ... principles. While he struggles uphill to beat Democrat Ralph Becker (ahead in most polls by 18 points), Republican Buhler often notes that he's the only one of the two candidates who voted in the state Legislature to loosen the government/LDS Church's grip on liquor laws. Buhler sponsored a successful bill that allowed people to buy booze at liquor store with checks and credit cards.

(What the hell? How about cold beer and chilled wine on site? Now that would be progress.)

Anyway, judging from the members of the host committee for Buhler's blow-out, it should be a regular toga party. The group is a Who's Who of priesthood holders and Chamber of Commerce powerhouses (interchangeable parts): former Sen. Jake Garn; Zion's Bank founder Harris Simmons; Questar CEO Keith Rattie; Repub Salt Lake City Councilmen Van Turner and Carlton Christensen. To name a few.

In fairness, I can't exactly see fusty old Becker sucking down Jell-O shots at a fundraiser, either. Such is our choice of exciting mayors-in-waiting.

Party on. (Holly Mullen)

Indie-Rock the Vote

[Politics] Looks like Ralph Becker has done his research regarding the next generation of voters. Instead of sticking to basic fund-raising dinners for rich liberals, he's going after an often overlooked portion of Salt Lake City's population: the indie rockers. On Saturday Oct. 27, Becker will appear at Kilby Court, hoping to endear fans of Menomena (see video) to his cause. It's not yet clear whether he plans to lose 30 lbs to fit into a pair of skinny jeans/cords. Be on the lookout for the odd man out. He could be the right man for mayor.



(Jamie Gadette)