Rocky seeks backing of council for his agenda

Mayor Rocky Anderson wants Salt Lake City to take his political agenda to Capitol Hill.

The City Council isn't so sure it should.

Tonight, at City Hall, Anderson is set to present the council a list of nine issues he wants the city to lobby for at the 2005 Legislature. The briefing comes a day after Anderson presented the same nine issues to the Salt Lake County Council of Governments' executive committee.

If Anderson gets his way, the city will try to influence state lawmakers on topics from gun control and adoption by unmarried couples to sex education and living wages.

And the city will also advocate for a change in state law that would give cities the authority to install "PhotoCop" technology for enforcement of red light violations and speeding.

Anderson said he figures the city's new, yet-to-be hired lobbyist will take up some of the issues, with the Salt Lake City Attorney's Office and other public officials picking lobbying duties.

But the City Council has the final say on what issues the city's new lobbyist will take up, and chairwoman Jill Remington Love and vice chairman Dale Lambert aren't ready to sign on.

While both agree with many of Anderson's political and social causes, they aren't sure city tax dollars should support such an agenda. They believe the city should stick to issues directly tied to municipal government, such as allocation of sales tax and increasing taxes on hotel rooms to fund Salt Palace Convention Center expansion.

"The mayor or the mayor and the City Council or, for that matter, some city employees can personally pursue legislation or a legislative agenda they feel strongly about, but I have reservations about the city doing so and using city resources unless they are genuinely municipal issues involving Salt Lake City," Lambert said. "The other thing you have to do as a practical matter is prioritize and focus on the most important and the ones where you have the best opportunity in succeeding. You can water down your efforts in using too big of a shotgun."

Anderson proposes:

• Giving cities the right to use "PhotoCop" technology for enforcement of red light violations and speeding.

• Repealing state prohibitions on city laws requiring contractors to pay a living wage.

• Gaining legislation banning indoor smoking in all public places and at mass gathering of more than 50 people.

• Calling for a task force charged with creating universal health care within Utah.

• Revising state laws requiring Utah sex education to be abstinence-only.

• Pursuing legislation requiring motor vehicles passing pedestrians and bicyclists to allow a minimum clearance of 3 feet.