Compassion helps Babka as cop, dad, political candidate

Rink Babka said he doesn't have regrets about his parenting, but, he added, "Lots of times as parents we say or do things we wished we hadn't said or done because of different environments or pressures."

And while Babka has described his boyhood as "horrible," he also said, "I don't want to be painted as some kind of victim."

But he does want to reshape the world, care for other people and provide a different life for his six children.

"As a father, I want no pressure on my children," he said. "If they want to be ballerinas, be ballerinas, just be darn good ballerinas. But I want what they want."

That's a nonpartisan thought, but Babka has strong views on Utah's political divide.

"I'm a Republicrat, I guess," he said. "The Democratic Party to me was more of an inclusive party. I live my life the way I've chosen now, but I still have to respect others. I don't see that in the Republican Party. I was very much mystified by the Republican Party in Utah."

He's wanted to be a senator or congressman since he was a teenager, and he's prepared himself throughout his police career.

"A lot of the issues that Beau talked to me about in our first meeting," Mayne said, "his concern about people's access to health care, and how in his job, he met so many people that didn't have health care, concerns about the seniors with Social Security and prescription drug plans, and seniors having to choose between food and medication that they need, and the jobs issue, the loss of jobs, the recession, problems in the manufacturing area — those really are a better fit as a congressman than they are as a sheriff."

Babka's former chief in the South Salt Lake Police Department, Robert Gray, praised Babka, who rose through the ranks to detective and assistant chief quickly during the 1990s.

"He's a very good leader," said Gray, who is now on the South Salt Lake City Council. "He's what we call in law enforcement a 'fast riser.' He's very pro-active, very aggressive in accomplishing the various tasks and situations that are involved. He fit very well in community policing because he got along exceptionally well with citizens in the community, and he was an excellent organizer.

For a while, as a teenager, Babka had to get to know himself. There was a lot of pressure to be like Rink Babka, whose friends were a who's who of great American Olympic throwers such as Al Oerter.

"That's why I think I ventured off to football; it was my own thing," he said. "The shot (put)," not the discus, "was my own thing. It was my way to rebel."

He continued to rebel in every phase of his life, blazing opposite paths to his father's, shaped by their relationship. He became nervous, however, when his first child was born in 1992.