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What a difference 30 years makes.

The Utah Legislature's Prison Relocation Commission announced Tuesday the site of the new state correctional facility will be in northwest Salt Lake City, and that set off a thunderous reaction from city officials crying politics.

Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker complained that the Republican-dominated Legislature picked Salt Lake City "against our wishes" and without input from the city itself.

Salt Lake City Councilman James Rogers and State Sen. Jim Dabakis, D-Salt Lake City, suggested Salt Lake was picked because the city is Democratic-leaning and the other three proposed sites are in heavy Republican areas.

"By all objective criteria, other alternatives would have saved Utah taxpayers millions of dollars. But the raw political calculation shamefully leaves the GOP hotbeds of Utah County and Draper untouched and once again makes the west of Salt Lake City the dumping grounds," said Dabakis.

Rogers said the decision is a "total political move," largely pushed by Republicans on a city full of Democrats.

City officials are aghast that the site was picked despite the need to spend $60 million just to shore up the land near the Great Salt Lake.

Back in the mid 1980s, the site selection for a second prison to be located in rural central Utah was also called political, with Democrats getting the short end of the stick.

But in that debate, those feeling slighted wanted the prison and felt it was given to another area because of politics.

When Gov. Norm Bangerter announced the second prison would be built in Sanpete County's Gunnison, a Republican stronghold, the Democrat-dominated Carbon County felt jilted because of the political leanings there.

Both Carbon and Sanpete counties lobbied hard to get the prison because of the jobs it would bring into their area.

At the behest of then-Democratic Rep. Mike Dmitrich of Price, state Democratic Chairman Randy Horiuchi held a press conference denouncing the decision as blatantly political.

He said Carbon County didn't get the prison because it votes Democrat.

Now, Salt Lake City leaders are saying they did get the prison because the city votes Democrat.

And just like the criticism now that the state will have to spend tens of millions of dollars just to solidify the soil before construction can even begin, the Democrats in the 1980s argued that the Gunnison site for the prison was in swampy lands that would take millions to rehabilitate.

Plus, Price had a hospital, a Utah National Guard unit and a Utah Highway Patrol office, all assets that Gunnison did not have.

Horiuchi also noted that a technical committee, which convened to study the two sites and make a recommendation to the governor, picked Price. But the governor ignored the recommendation and went with Gunnison.

Dmitrich was in a bar in Montana when he heard of Bangerter's announcement. He was so incensed he called Horiuchi and asked him to hold a press conference to condemn the decision.

Now, Salt Lake City leaders say they will continue the fight to keep the prison out of their city. The other three proposed sites were Grantsville, Eagle Mountain and Fairview, all Republican areas.

Also, the current site of the prison is in Draper, one of the most Republican areas of Salt Lake County and the home of Speaker of the House Greg Hughes.

Salt Lake City officials can fight all they want. But the hard reality is they're mostly Democrats in conservative Republican Utah. Just like their Democratic counterparts of the 1980s, they're destined to lose the fight. —