Candidate has broken the mold

Utah politics has seen its share of flip-flops and turnarounds over the years.

But I think it's fair to say it's never seen anything like this:

Jennifer Lee Jackson is a female non-Mormon Democrat challenger who used to be a male, Mormon Republican incumbent named Ken Prince.

There is one constant: She still lives in Sandy.

A little over three years ago, Jackson, who prefers to be called Jenny, completed a male-female transformation with a sex-change operation and a legal name change.

Before Ken became Jen, he was a two-term member of the Sandy City Council who first won election in 1988 and again in 1992, both times with more than 70 percent of the vote. In 1993, he ran for Sandy mayor and lost by only a little more than 200 votes to Tom Dolan, who has been Sandy's mayor ever since.

When Prince retired from the City Council and exited the public arena in 1996 to concentrate on his personal life, few knew he was on his way to cross the gender divide. After two marriages that produced six children, the 5-foot-11 190-pound former high school football letterman and member of the high council in his LDS stake remained outwardly very much a man.

But inwardly, that was a different story.

"I tell you what," said Jenny in a recent visit to the Deseret Morning News offices, "I spent 51 years of being in a male role and now three years as a female, and I'd trade my 51 years, most of them anyway, for the three years I've had as a woman.

"I'm still who I am, just packaged different," she continued. "People who knew me as Ken and now know me as Jenny, they prefer Jenny. I used to be so tired at the end of the day being somebody I wasn't. I was so exhausted because I had to work twice as hard. I was an honest, God-fearing man. Now I'm an honest, God-fearing woman who doesn't have anything to hide."

She couldn't resist the punch line: "And how many politicians have nothing to hide?"

I asked Jackson, who has entered the race for a legislative seat in Sandy, the obvious question: as a female Democrat non-Mormon newcomer — talk about embracing the minority — does she honestly think she's electable?

"Oh yeah," answered the woman who has two ex-wives. "And you know why? Because I believe white-bread Utah is ready for a little honey. I believe people want honest people; they want somebody who really is who they really are. Out in Sandy I honestly see a new wave of interest. People would rather have someone they trust that's maybe different but who can see the whole picture. Who better than me can say I know how a man and a woman think?"