Journalistic scruples kicked in and I balked at the gift. So he scrawled, "Stolen from the library of Rocky Anderson. Enjoy a great, inspirational read!" on the inside cover.

Rocky was new, idealistic and eager to share his vision of the world. I took it.

Now, after eight years, I finally cracked the book. Paul Loeb's call to citizen activism reveals a lot about Rocky's time in office - from his initial focus on little things like abandoned shopping carts and orange pedestrian flags to the globe-trotting, global-warming, "Pay attention to me!" years.

"You can't take a waiver. You can't sit it out. You're always on the playing field," he said in an interview last week on KUER. "By not doing anything, you are getting in line with those who are supporting the status quo. We ought to be figuring out how to lead our lives consistently with our moral values. We can't put our responsibility off on someone else."

Whatever you think of Rocky, he was consistent. He never silenced his citizen's soul, even when it made him look hypocritical, suffering from a Jekyll-Hyde split personality or desperate to cling to relevance.

A few years ago, he traded a block of Main Street for a Glendale weed patch owned by the LDS Church in a failed bid to bridge Utah's religious chasm and empty his e-mail box.

Then this year, he accused City Councilman and mayoral candidate Dave Buhler of pandering to his church by supporting a sky bridge over the same street.

Last May, Rocky debated conservative shock jock Sean Hannity. But no liberal loyalist, he turned on Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton on the eve of the Iowa caucuses - one of just two politicians Ralph Nader could round up for the dirty job last week.

Rocky's critics would say he is inconstant, flighty. But I think that shadow-boxing was all part of the citizen mayor's personality. Freud is passé, I know, but the analogy works - Rocky is an earnest Ego wrestling with a grasping Superego. The struggling halves made Rocky a paradox, a mayor who made us pump our fists one day and hiss in disgust the next.

"That's really the tragedy of his administration," says Stuart Reid, Rocky's 1999 opponent. "He was capable in his energy and ability. But he let it become about him rather than the city."

Rocky nemesis and one-time staffer, Dave Owen, calls it a mix of "megalomania and insecurity."

Both sides were on full display last month in one 24-hour period - at Rocky's last City Council meeting and his final hourlong radio show on KCPW.

At the council meeting, Rocky still ticked off a laundry list of his accomplishments. He couldn't help himself.

But this one was mercifully shorter than the tiny print on the back of the copies of his city portrait or the full, 200-item catalog available online for those nights you can't sleep. He graciously accepted his gift from the council, a first edition of Upton Sinclair's The Jungle. He laughed about the Blue Boutique dildo a resident plopped down in front of him. And he went home.

Then the paper-thin skin showed up for the radio show. Fed softball questions, Rocky wallowed in his persecution/Messiah complex. He took one last swipe at newspaper reporters, never mentioning the episodes when he tried to have a few (me, Tribune reporter Heather May) removed from the beat and cut off communication with others (Deseret Morning News reporter Brady Snyder) for writing too critically about his administration. "It's sort of the City Weekly style of journalism," he said. "You have to tear everybody down."

He challenged mayor-elect Ralph Becker - again - to kill the sky bridge. "You can't do everything by consensus," he said.

And then he took phone calls from his fan club - solicited by his spokesman in an e-mail to the mayor's 400-strong address book.

"All good wishes for achieving your dreams," wrote June.

And Dan from Park City asked Rocky to "consider more national offices, so I can be voting for you."

Rocky, obviously, still has his fans.

It might surprise you Mr. Mayor, but I'm one of them. You will be missed - if only for the news copy.

walsh@sltrib.com

www.sltrib.com