Salt Lake Mayor Rocky Anderson candidly says he sought high political office because he wanted influence — not for himself, but for the causes he espoused as a private citizen and saw go almost nowhere despite a lot of work by him and others.

Anderson has that power and influence now, a panel of Deseret News insiders decided. He ranks ninth in the most powerful Top 10 and ranks second in the study when it comes to people who have the ability to stop an idea or kill a proposal.

"I really sought public office so I could make a difference," said Anderson, who lost a 1996 run in the 2nd Congressional District to former Rep. Merrill Cook.

"And if that's what having influence or power means, that means, I suppose, that I'm at least perceived as making a difference," Anderson added.

"I think that in the short time that I've been in office (18 months), we've made a huge difference. I'm very conscious, actually, what we chose to take on or what we chose to bypass. And those decisions all have a common thread — and that is what's going to build a better community for the long run."

Anderson, 49, has been controversial, getting into areas not usually trodden by the leading city's mayor. Anderson has suggested the nation's drug enforcement policy is wrong-headed, locking people up for being drug addicts instead of seeking medical help for them. And he's suggested that some of Utah's liquor laws "make no sense" and should be changed before the 2002 Olympics.

Before winning the mayorship he was frustrated bumping up against a political establishment that just wouldn't change, he said.

Whether it was criminal justice reform he advocated as a trial lawyer and part of a special study committee; government reform he pushed on Utah Common Cause's board; sex education and teen pregnancy prevention he sought on the Planned Parenthood board; or simply human rights he fought for as president of the local chapter of the ACLU; Anderson said he was "running up against public officials that you realize — at least a majority of them — aren't really interested in either studying the issue or necessarily doing the right things for the right reasons."