Then, Mayor Rocky Anderson led a protest against President Bush during his visit to Salt Lake City for the Veterans of Foreign Wars convention.

That angered Ron Simkins, co-owner of Sarasota, Fla.-based LexJet Corp.

"I called our people and asked them if Salt Lake had any significant advantages over Denver," said Simkins. "They told me it was a toss of an economic coin."

''I said, 'Great, it's Denver,' '' said Simkins. "It's [the mayor's] job to represent his community, not to throw down a gauntlet in front of the president."

Salt Lake City economic development officials couldn't confirm the company was interested in the city - they'd never heard of LexJet. But the corporate decision may provide one answer to the question: Has Anderson's protest of the president Monday during the VFW convention harmed or helped Salt Lake City's economic-development potential?

According to e-mails and interviews, Anderson's rally at Pioneer Park has spurred other threats of pullouts by businesses. It's hard to tell if those executives are believable or blustering.

But for many others across the country, the fallout is favorable.

Supporters are writing to the mayor by the hundreds, hailing Anderson as a hero and patriot for "speaking truth to power." They want him to run for president, for Senate, or at least to move to their city (Milwaukee, North Las Vegas, New York City, Price) and stump for office.

"We need 30 more Rocky Andersons in every state, speaking up about equal rights, our environment and the illegal war in Iraq," wrote Dave Wilson, from Denver.

Backlash begins: And some are curious about Utah, maybe for the first time.

"I never thought of Salt Lake City - Utah!? - as a place I'd like to live, but Mayor Anderson's actions have given me reason to think I should reconsider that option," Victor Beaumont, from St. Petersburg, Fla., wrote to the mayor.

That may be cold comfort for a city hoping to attract businesses like LexJet. Simkins estimates the $100 million company, which also has distribution facilities in Milwaukee, Reno, Dallas, Jacksonville, and Wilmington, Del., would have spent an initial $5 million to put a 90,000-square-foot warehouse in Salt Lake City.

Simkins emphasized his decision was not a reaction against what Anderson said about the president or the war. According to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics, Simkins has not contributed significantly to anyone or any party.

"When you look at a community, you look at its mayor. I didn't like what I saw," Simkins said. "The responsibility of a mayor is to look after the interests of his constituents - which is local. If this is how this guy speaks for his community, I'm not sure this is the kind of guy I want to deal with."

Alison McFarlane, the mayor's economic-development senior aide, hadn't heard of the company, or that it was considering Salt Lake City. Neither had the Economic Development Corporation of Utah, though that would not be unusual considering the size of the project.

"We usually know about significant new businesses moving to Salt Lake City," Anderson said. "I've had a lot of people tell me they've moved here, including Alphagraphics, because of me."

Ben Jenkins claims he, too, is pulling out of Salt Lake City, but his company, Western Fire & Aviation, couldn't be found in the phone book. Nor does it have a business license in Salt Lake City.

In an e-mail, Jenkins said his Las Vegas-based company has wildland fire engines and helicopters stored in Salt Lake City, and he had planned to double the amount. Now he's looking at moving them to Boise, Idaho.

Jenkins, who attend the Veterans of Foreign Wars convention, said the mayor's Bush protest also was a protest against veterans. "I'm sure I can find a better community and municipal government to invest business in," he wrote the mayor.

Sam Sweg, leader of a Montana-based Christian ministry group, says he had planned to hold a convention for 500 ministers in Salt Lake City in March. It's been canceled.

"That's our way of putting our money with our beliefs," Sweg said in an interview.

Salt Lake Chamber President Lane Beattie also was dismayed at Anderson's protest, and he believes the mayor is harming the city among Utahns, who have called for boycotts.

But Beattie downplays any suggestion that Anderson's comments could affect relocation decisions, noting Salt Lake City is about more than the mayor. "It may be the home of Rocky Anderson. It's also the home of [LDS Church President] Gordon B. Hinckley," Beattie said. "There are so many right things about Utah, and so many reasons people want to come [family lifestyle, downtown entertainment, skiing].

"If somebody's making decisions that are based on [Anderson's protest], that's a company I would start worrying about. He's an elected official. He's here today, gone tomorrow."

Shows of support: For some, Anderson's protest was the first glimpse that the nation's reddest state harbors liberals. Anderson's involvement in the protest was on CNN and NPR and in The New York Times, USA Today, various blogs and Web sites.

"News from Utah is usually about criminals, polygamy, or liquor laws," wrote Jeannie Smith. "Yesterday the news was about a mayor that urges his fellow citizens to read and to make their opinions heard. I was proud of SLC today."

Beth Melville, from Portland, Ore., said she had "no idea the mayor of Salt Lake was so cool. Had I known, I would've happily paid air fare from Portland, Ore., to attend Monday's anti-war rally."

Former Utahn Anna Worthen left the city five years ago for Winston-Salem, N.C. "I just wanted you to know that, you are making me want to move back!" she wrote to the mayor.

Anderson says he helps attract people to the city by speaking out about high-profile issues like the president, gay rights, the environment. It's the conservative policies that harm the city, he said.

"There are more businesses that don't move here because of the perception that is driven by some of the wacko legislation, our liquor laws, the hostility toward gays and lesbians from our Legislature and much of our culture."

Just last week an online resource, PlanetOut Inc., named Salt Lake City as a "top surprising gay destination." And in this month's cover story called "Where to Live Now," Outside magazine named Salt Lake City a "new American dream town," in part because of Anderson's environmental work.

While people may not be calling moving vans just yet, Anderson is apparently changing some of their travel plans.

Wisconsin resident Cynthia Clement wrote Anderson to say she and her husband won't be stopping in Utah next year when they visit other Western states because of his protest. But, in an interview, she allowed that she might change her mind. "I just wanted to make my point. We don't take trips that often [so] to go West would be a big thing."

Y J Chun could make an appearance in the Beehive state. "To celebrate this proud liberal tradition of Salt Lake City, I will visit Salt Lake City with my family and friends and spend some money for vacation," wrote Chun, who lives on the East Coast.

McFarlane said progressive policies in a city can be an economic-development tool.

Beattie calls that theory "a bunch of baloney. It's a way for liberal-minded people to justify their behavior. People come to Utah for what we are, not for what some people want to make us."

He added that the mayor doesn't need to show the world "we're not Amish walking around in little black hats. The Olympics did that."

Others say the Rocky Factor doesn't exist.

Anderson might have been booed during his welcoming remarks at VFW, but the veterans group is taking steps to plan a fourth convention in the city - a record number for one city for that organization, according to Scott Beck, president and CEO of the Salt Lake Convention and Visitors Bureau.

"There's no indication of whether it's good or bad" for the convention business, Beck said of Anderson's comments. He believes they will have no impact because people want to be in Salt Lake City for the positives it and the surrounding environment offer.

"Whether you're going to ski at Snowbird is not going to be affected by our mayor's opinion."

Bruce Bingham is trying to find tenants for a planned 22-story office building on Main Street.

He didn't think Anderson's comments about the president or other controversial topics will matter in his leasing efforts. "I don't see it as a huge negative. [But] the liberalization of Salt Lake City is not an enhancement or enticement for people to locate to Utah. No one has said, 'How cool. Haight Ashbury.' "

glenwarchol@sltrib.com