Salt Lake City Councilwoman Nancy Saxton, a longtime Anderson rival, vows to run for mayor next year.

"I'm in," she told The Salt Lake Tribune on Monday. "I am the most in tune and most astute about what it takes to be a leader in Salt Lake City."

Anderson - sounding very much like a candidate - reacted by taking a political swipe at Saxton.

"She's been a terrible City Council member, and she'd be a disastrous mayor," he said. "About all you ever see from Nancy is delay, inaction, indecisiveness and a fundamental meanness."

Saxton accuses Anderson of being disengaged since his re-election in 2003. She points to the mayor's recent trips with more planned in the coming weeks. She pledges to lead differently, with more collaboration, less micromanagement and an eye to mending relationships with people outside the city.

"The mayor has done what he can do," Saxton said, noting that he often talks about his passion. "What's been missing is the compassion. I know that I have a lot more compassion and know what it is like to be in the trenches."

Besides understanding city government from a council perspective, Saxton is a business owner - running the Saltair Bed and Breakfast - and was an active community council member. She also has appeared before city boards and counts those experiences as strengths. She says she knows the "angst" residents feel when seeking approvals.

Anderson - who insists he is still engaged in city business and says his environmental trips boost the city's image - hopes to know in the "next few weeks" if he will seek another term. He added he is leaning more toward running now than he was three months ago.

The 2007 mayoral race coincides with the end of Saxton's second term representing central city. She is forgoing a third council term to chase the city's top job.

She counts as some of her successes tightening a nuisance ordinance about party houses, increasing the city bond for open space and pushing for the fact-finding hearing on the Main Street Plaza, which forced the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and former city leaders to publicly explain their 1999 decision to sell a portion of Main Street to the church.

When the council has split votes, Saxton sometimes winds up on the losing end. She voted against rezoning open space for the private Rowland Hall-St. Mark's school, and she abstained on the Main Street Plaza compromise. Anderson says Saxton lacked the "guts" to vote on the latter issue; she maintains she simply wanted a better solution.

The mayor also complains that Saxton voted against the city accepting $1.2 million in federal funds for youth programs and for a west-side shopping center, which he dubbed the "sprawl mall." Anderson also says Saxton is "abusive" to city employees and residents.

Saxton counters that Anderson "probably knows what abusive is," referring to his high rate of staff turnover. For her part, she says she merely sometimes asks tough questions of city staffers.

As for Anderson's other criticisms, Saxton argues the youth programs are Salt Lake County's responsibility, not the city's, and says she didn't have enough information on the sprawl mall because Anderson shot it down while belittling the project and its backers.

"That's something I wouldn't do as mayor is call business people . . . names."

Right now, Saxton and Anderson are battling about how to fix Pioneer Park. He wants a $4.7 million overhaul; she wants to boost the police presence with horse patrols.

Money will be a major factor in the mayoral race. Saxton says she has raised $15,000 - about what Anderson has left in his campaign account from 2003. Back then, Anderson spent almost $769,000 - a city record - to defeat challenger Frank Pignanelli.

The race is hard to handicap, says University of Utah political science professor Matthew Burbank, because no other notables have declared. "The question really is, Who else is going to run?"

There are a lot of possibilities: City Councilmen Dave Buhler and Eric Jergensen; Salt Lake County Councilmen Joe Hatch and Randy Horiuchi; County Councilwoman Jenny Wilson; former City Councilman - and Anderson's top pick if he himself doesn't run - Keith Christensen; state Rep. Ralph Becker; and Sen. Patrice Arent, who would have to move within the city boundaries.

hmay@sltrib.com

Nancy Saxton

* Is a 53-year-old Democrat born and raised in California.

* Earned a bachelor's degree in respiratory therapy.

* Married to Jan Bartlett for 20 years.

* Owns Saltair Bed and Breakfast and Anderson Commons Reception Center.

* Was elected to represent city's District 4 (South Temple to 900 South and west of the University of Utah to Interstate 15) in 1999; re-elected in 2003.

Saxton's key votes

* Abstained on the Main Street Plaza compromise - which eliminated guaranteed public access on the LDS Church's plaza in exchange for a west-side community center - because she wanted to seek other solutions.

* Voted with the majority to forbid Nordstrom from moving off Main Street to The Gateway.

* Joined the minority in opposing a rezone of open space owned by Mount Olivet Cemetery for Rowland Hall-St. Mark's.

* Voted with the majority to protect foothill patch near Ensign Peak from development by North Salt Lake.

* Agreed to extend city health insurance to single employees' "adult designees," including domestic partners.

* Backed effort to curb "monster homes."