As when the hyperactive mayor of Salt Lake City was entertaining a party that included the conductor of the Utah Symphony at Squatters Pub Brewery during the city's International Jazz Festival, or burning the midnight oil at Grand America with visiting mayors and others who were part of the Sundance Summit on the environment.

Only after racking up some $700 in food and drinks for the two evenings combined was it pointed out to hizzoner that city policy prohibits paying for alcoholic beverages on the taxpayer's dime.

Well, shucks. Civil disobedience - or, as Harry Truman referred to his shots of bourbon, "striking a blow for liberty" - is a lot less fun if you are not even aware you are doing it.

Now that the mayor knows, he has described the no-booze policy as "absurd" - which indeed it is.

So Anderson is correctly moving to change the policy so that the adult mayor of a 21st century city can entertain visiting dignitaries, business prospects and job candidates in a manner befitting a good host.

There is no reason to disbelieve Anderson's claim that he was not aware of the policy that would allow him to pick up the tab for everything from soup to nuts but not a cocktail, a glass of wine or a locally produced Chasing Tail Golden Aleª. Had he known, as a mayor who publicly worries about his city's image as a backward, dry community, he certainly would have moved to change it before.

The policy was instituted during the ethically challenged regime of Mayor Deedee Corradini. And, as the current mayor suggests, it was likely to have been more honored in the breach, when, say, International Olympic Committee members were considering Salt Lake for the 2002 Winter Games.

Any privilege can be abused. But there is no reason to treat Anderson, or future mayors, as too juvenile to be entrusted with the ability to include adult beverages in the dinner or late evening fare offered to our city's honored guests.

No one is suggesting that Anderson has been plying minors with alcohol, attempting to drink scouts for industrial locations under the table or paying off bar bets lost to the mayor of Budapest.

As long as future entertainment tabs are public record, as these were, this is another prohibition that should be repealed.