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Rocky Anderson - the maverick mayor who defied stereotypes about Utah and conventional wisdom about what a city leader is supposed to do - will not seek a third term.
Anderson made the announcement Friday at Salt Lake City's Main Library, surrounded by a crowd of supporters and employees.
"Although it saddens me in many ways, I have decided I will not seek a third term as Salt Lake City mayor," an emotional Anderson said.
After finishing his term in 17 months, he plans to tweak the establishment - or "make more noise," as he put it - organizing a grass-roots group to lobby on human rights and climate-change issues. "Our elected officials are generally not leaders. They respond to what the polls say or what we the people demand - so long as we demand it effectively and in large enough numbers."
The mayor doesn't know if he will remain in Utah to do the work, but says he hasn't been offered another job.
Anderson finished his half-hour remarks - thanking virtually every city department, listing his accomplishments and ripping the City Council - by saying, "I love you and I love our great city."
The crowd showed its love in return with a sustained and deafening standing ovation. Anderson wiped a tear and put his hand to his heart.
"I'm very sad," said Dex Kiltz, a resident who attended the event, which also included Anderson's presentation on combating global warming. "I'm worried about the future, but I respect his decision. I just hope we can continue to have good leadership."
About a dozen politicos now may vie to be that leader. Only one candidate - City Councilwoman Nancy Saxton - is officially in the race. Anderson reaffirmed Friday he will endorse former Councilman Keith Christensen, a Republican who attended the announcement and said he and Anderson would hold a news conference Monday.
County Councilwoman Jenny Wilson said she is more likely to enter the race without an incumbent to challenge. "The dynamic without Mayor Anderson in the race changes dramatically."
Another potential candidate, and longtime Anderson foe, is glad to see Anderson go. "I'm in 100 percent agreement with his decision," said former state Sen. James Evans.
Anderson didn't tell his closest staff until Friday. While he may have had a tumultuous relationship with city employees - he's had more turnover than his immediate predecessor, including nine communications directors - several top aides were at Friday's announcement and praised their boss.
"He has been a tremendous partner," police Chief Chris Burbank said.
Anderson's frequent environmental trips of late fueled speculation he didn't plan to run. It also angered council members, some of whom considered him an absentee mayor.
"He's been passionate and controversial and difficult and stubborn and smart. At times he's shined," Councilwoman Jill Remington Love said. "At other times, he was, using his word, outrageous."
After losing to Republican rebel Merrill Cook in a 1996 congressional race, Anderson coasted to a mayoral victory in 1999 after scandal-tainted Deedee Corradini opted against a third term. He won re-election in 2003.
An activist mayor from the beginning - issuing a veto, signing three executive orders and hampering Gateway development within three months of taking office - Anderson, who seems to have an opinion on everything, spoke out about genocide in Sudan, nuclear-waste storage, marijuana laws, the Iraq war, President Bush, "Brokeback Mountain," HIV testing, health care, abstinence-only education, gay marriage, living wages, sprawl. He even chased down a speeder on Interstate 15 in 2002.
Anderson clearly sees his environmental accomplishments as a legacy. So while the timing of Friday's announcement may make governing difficult - he will be a lame duck for 17 months but vows to work "full-speed ahead" - the venue made sense. The town hall meeting was packed by like-minded environmentalists, who cheered and laughed in all the right spots during Anderson's Gore-esque slide show on how the city reduced its greenhouse-gas emissions by more than 20,000 tons.
It was accomplished by eliminating some SUVs and stoking the alternative-fuel fleet; adding TRAX; promoting high-density housing; purchasing wind power; expanding recycling; and requiring future city buildings to conserve.
Anderson's role as iconoclast won't escape the history books either.
His supporters have loved him for living up to his nickname, rocking Utah's homogenous boat and emerging as an anti-establishment spokesman. His disdain for polite politics was evident whenever he lambasted lawmakers for "bizarre" liquor laws, Legacy Highway or anti-gay regulations, and City Council members for analysis-paralysis and "cowardly" stands.
He was a champion to gay-rights groups, using a State of the City address to decry their second-class status; signing executive orders on their behalf; advocating for gay marriage.
Taking on the establishment occasionally included the LDS Church, which declined to comment on his announcement. In one of the most memorable times of Anderson's tenure, the mayor and church initially battled for control of the Main Street Plaza. The church eventually won after Anderson brokered a compromise, but many Mormons have harbored resentment ever since.
Dani Eyer fought the mayor on the Main Street Plaza issue as executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union. But she said Friday he "did the best he could."
"Time and again, Rocky honored basic constitutional principles even when it would not translate into personal political gain," Eyer said.
The mayor's outspokenness also made him a star - outside Utah. Outsiders are baffled that such a true-blue liberal could be elected in such a deep-red state, not realizing Mormons are in the minority in the city, which has long leaned left.
But the mayor's politics riled conservative power brokers within Utah and hampered his effectiveness at the Legislature and City Hall.
City Councilman Dave Buhler once told Anderson: "You're more than a crusader; you're elected to represent the city . . . not just pursue your own agenda."
Anderson clearly didn't take the advice: He protested Bush last year and plans to do it again next month.
He has work to do to finish his campaign promise to revitalize downtown.
He devised the Main Street grants, added parking downtown, welcomed a TV station and oversaw a handful of housing projects. But momentum didn't pick up until the LDS Church announced it would renovate its Main Street malls. Anderson would significantly change the landscape if he succeeds in gaining support for a performing arts center with a Broadway theater.
But even his sometime critics were conciliatory. "If everybody was as committed to their issues as Mayor Anderson, the world would be a different place," said Salt Lake Chamber President Lane Beattie.
The tears were gone by night's end. Anderson and a crowd of 15 employees and supporters capped the evening at The Tavernacle bar, drinking, laughing and snapping pictures.
"We're celebrating Rocky's success," said Talitha Day, events manager for the Gallivan Center.
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Tribune staffers Derek P. Jensen, Marķa Villaseñor, Patty Henetz and Ana Daraban contributed to this report.