Seated to the new mayor's right: the City Council conservatives - Carlton Christensen, Van Turner and Eric Jergensen. (Outgoing Mayor Rocky Anderson was there briefly, but bailed after Becker took his oath.)
That left the left-leaners to his - you guessed it - left. Joining incumbents Soren Simonsen and Jill Remington Love were progressive newcomers Luke Garrott and J.T. Martin.
No snowball fights broke out, but the divide seemed clear. For good measure, Garrott invoked Aristotle's dictum about ruling and being ruled, noting "we don't have to be ruled at this level of politics." Garrott defended his "liberal Democrat" label, saying it means to be generous and have a "wide respect for individual liberty."
Moments later, Martin punctuated the political shift as he stood on the frosty steps of City Hall. "A lot of people said it would be a cold day when I got elected," he told a crowd of about 700 onlookers. "Well . . . "
Paint, parties and poop
Eager to get cranking, Ralph Becker and some of his crew played musical desks this week as workers prepped the new Salt Lake City mayor's office.
After all, new paint had to hit the walls and any remaining sign from Cardozo - Rocky Anderson's raucous parrot - had to be scraped away.
"We got it all up," Becker's chief of staff, David Everitt, beamed over the bird cleanup during the inaugural reception. "I can't believe it."
Poop scooped and paint dried, Becker was able set up shop by week's end.
They doth protest too much, county thinks
Free speech has taken an ear-splitting turn in Salt Lake County, where animal-rights protesters have cranked up the volume outside the homes of University of Utah scientists to condemn their research.
Take a look at their tactics, as recorded in the Primate Freedom Project blog:
"For two straight hours, [the U. scientist's] quiet neighborhood in the Avenues became a pulpit . . . to name and shame her," one entry reads. "As one protester's voice went hoarse from shouting into the bullhorn, we handed it off to another."
Another demonstration - on a researcher's birthday - ended in this blog, "Birthdays, Christmas, Thanksgiving dinners; don't expect anything less than screaming protesters at your homes."
And, finally, protesters penned this entry after a Dec. 10 demonstration in Millcreek.
"We saw him peeking through his windows and we demanded he come out and answer for his crimes. . . . As our chants continued to fill his neighborhood, police showed up and demanded everyone's identification under threat of arrest.
"[The scientist] should know that this type of police harassment will not make the AR movement go away. . . . Exactly what type of activist behavior are you encouraging by stifling free-speech rights and protests? Think real hard."
Salt Lake County seems to have thought hard enough. Officials are expected to impose a residential-picketing ban later this month.
A whole lot of hiding
The Primate Freedom Project seems to have pricked a nerve among readers - not just because of its message, but also because of the ski masks members wore while picketing outside University of Utah researchers' homes.
"How brave of the picketers, hiding behind ski masks," wrote one commentator, known as ChatterlysLady, on The Salt Lake Tribune's Web site.
Another reader, calling himself Rerook, replied, "Who are these people anyway? Oh yeah, they aren't brave enough to show their faces."
Funny thing is, those readers didn't give their real names either.
Revving the engine
Salt Lake County Mayor Peter Corroon insists he kept his political ambitions for a second term out of his 2008 State of the County speech.
But the mayor - who heralded his administration's reforms since the scandal-sullied days of his predecessor, Nancy Workman - confirmed that a campaign photographer came along to capture the moment.
"We're starting to warm up the engine," remarked Corroon, who faces re-election in November.
With all his talk about leaving government "better than we found it" in last week's address, it seems the engine already is roaring.
Groovy speech, Pete
You might say Peter Corroon's State of the County speech was decidedly hip - three or four decades ago.
Instead of spicing his speech with Jay-Z and Radiohead, the Salt Lake County mayor leaned on the lyrics of Chicago and Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons.
Even his intro seemed to carry decades of dust, harking to the "Star Trek" era's catch phrase, to "go where no one has gone before."
"Today, I hope those words have a similar effect - minus the Trekkie conventions - as I present the 2008 State of the County," the mayor mused.
Corroon's comments weren't without some comedy. The Democrat elicited laughs midspeech when he combined state mottos in this statement, "We've lived life elevated in this pretty, great state."
The speech then closed with this unsuccessful sound bite that blended "Star Trek" with "Peter Pan":
"Now as we take in the vast county universe, our course is clear, even to Mr. Sulu: 'Second star to the right and straight on 'til morning.' "
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