Anti-gay, pro-life candidate seeks Salt Lake mayoralty

The Salt Lake City mayor's race now has six official candidates.

Consultant Robert K. Muscheck filed for candidacy with the city recorder's office Friday. At least two more candidates are expected to file before the July 16 deadline.

Muscheck first signaled his interest in running on June 5, when he opened a personal campaign committee with the city. However, at the time he said he hadn't decided for sure whether to run and declined to comment on his candidacy until he made his final decision.

Attempts to reach Muscheck for comment Friday were unsuccessful.

Muscheck's court records show that in December 2000, a 3rd District judge issued a permanent injunction keeping him off the grounds of Edison Elementary School after faculty there complained that he had a history of threatening and intimidating them.

Muscheck had two children attending Edison as students at the time, court records show.

According to the complaint filed by the Salt Lake City School District, Muscheck frequently showed up at the school dressed in a military uniform "to intimidate others." During his visits, he reportedly insulted faculty and staff members with anti-gay and misogynous slurs and profanities and told school officials his young son was "now a white supremacist."

In a 2002 document Muscheck filed with the court that unsuccessfully sought to have the injunction lifted, he claimed the school's faculty was pushing a pro-gay, pro-choice agenda on his children and other students at the school.

"I am against having homosexuals working or having contact with my children (students) at any time," he wrote. "I am anti-abortion pro-life and want that platform taught to my children."

He wanted teachers to be required to answer whether they were pro-life and whether they supported gays and lesbians working with children.

He also complained that the school was too easy on students, saying that martial arts should be taught in the classroom, students and teachers should be required to wear uniforms, the school's food service should only include vegetarian meals and students should be forced to eat all the food that was served to them, the school district reported.

Other candidates who have officially filed to run for mayor are House Minority Leader Ralph Becker, D-Salt Lake; Salt Lake City Councilman Dave Buhler; retired engineer Rainer Huck; colorectal surgeon J.P. Hughes; and Salt Lake County Councilwoman Jenny Wilson.

Former City Council member Keith Christensen, has not yet filed to run but plans to do so.And Centro Civico Mexicano director John Renteria originally planned to run but recently spent two weeks in jail on a probation violation. After he was released last month and placed on electronic ankle monitoring, he said he still planned to run, but he also has not yet filed.

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E-mail: dsmeath@desnews.com