41 staffers gone? Rocky admits to making 'hiring mistakes'

The words "I'm sorry" and "I've made mistakes" came from Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson's lips Friday — but it didn't seem quite enough to appease his most vocal critic.

Anderson acknowledged Friday "I've made hiring mistakes" — an admission that came a day after the Deseret Morning News was given city records showing 41 people have either been fired from the mayor's office or resigned during Anderson's nearly six years in office.

The mayor, who did not take questions, also admitted to some mismanagement in how he handled personnel issues.

"I've made mistakes in the way I've handled things when it became apparent that some city employees were not getting the job done," Anderson said.

It was not clear if that was a reference to six months ago when the mayor asked the City Council for $50,000 to help his friend and now fired communications manager do her job.

That was in February when Anderson had his chief of staff Sam Guevara ask the City Council to fund a new position that would assist communications director Deeda Seed in writing press releases and planning press conferences, among several other duties.

Anderson fired Seed last week for doing her work "half-heartedly and sloppily," claiming she hadn't done a good job during her entire tenure at City Hall other than the first year of her stint as Anderson's chief of staff.

Seed maintains she was a good employee who was verbally abused by a boss who expected her to do the work of two people.

"That's not good enough," Seed said after the mayor's apology. "He said I was a bad employee."

The mayor's press conference came on the same day the Deseret Morning News received a public opinion poll showing Anderson's chances of being re-elected are slipping and a majority of Salt Lake City residents don't like his "political style."

"He's taking it in the shorts," pollster Dan Jones said of the numbers he produced this week for the Morning News. "But he brings a lot of that on himself."

Anderson did say he had lost two good friends during his frequent fights with Seed. Christy Cordwell, Anderson's longtime assistant who kept an office between Seed and the mayor, resigned last week as well after growing tired of listening to the fights.

"I've lost two good friends as a result of this recent ordeal, and I truly wish them the very best I hope that someday we can renew those friendships," Anderson said. "If I became impatient, if I became frustrated, if I said or did anything that hurt or caused anxiety to anyone, I'm sorry. I wish things had turned out differently. I will continue to demand the very best from those that are paid by taxpayers, and I will continue to do my best for the people of this great city."