Rocky finally wises up

(Photo Credit: Reason Magazine)

Although it might have been a tar baby strategy all along to endorse Keith Christensen and slam Jenny Wilson to help Wilson and Ralph Becker, this time Rocky for sure is staying away from something he supports on purpose.

No bully pulpit speeches. No public campaign. In fact, Anderson's input can be summed up by his three-sentence sound bite in the Prop. 1 brochure.
"Our resources and facilities are stretched to the breaking point," the mayor writes. "Our need for improved facilities is dramatic and urgent."
So where is the urgency?
City Hall insiders can't explain the mayor's quietude. Meantime, police and fire officials, who avoid public criticism, privately wonder about Anderson's support.

Who ever these unnamed sources are must be dense.

Rocky is a polarizing figure.

In a Salt Lake Tribune poll conducted earlier this month, 54 percent of Salt Lakers rate Anderson's performance as "good" or "excellent." That's virtually the same tally as the 53 percent approval he received in January 2006, the last time The Tribune asked residents to score Anderson.
But the numbers at the extremes have grown. More than a quarter (26 percent) rate the mayor's performance as "poor," up from 17 percent in the earlier survey. And 25 percent now say mayor is doing an "excellent" job, compared with 17 percent last year.
In addition, nearly half (45 percent) rate the mayor as only "fair" or "poor," up from 36 percent in 2006.
Fewer residents - a mere 1 percent - are undecided in the latest poll...

As such, the minute he goes out on the rustings supporting something, whatever that is sees its negatives go up. And it is a lot easier to vote down something like a bond initiative than it is to approve it. Ergo, Rocky's finally shutting his trap. You are welcome police and fire officials and "City Hall insiders."

Mr. Anderson has also thankfully stayed away from Becker, only to heap scorn on Buhler, which thankfully won't have as much of a chance to back fire as his dissing of Wilson. In any event, Rocky has thankfully discovered that he can be useful only in the negative or by working quietly behind the scenes.