Mayor hopeful jailed

Renteria is not the only mayoral candidate with a history of legal troubles. Last week, Robert K. Muscheck filed the initial paperwork for a possible candidacy. He refused to talk to the Deseret Morning News until he has decided whether he will officially file to run.

Most candidates have already created city-recognized campaign committees to set the groundwork for their candidacies, but official campaign declarations can be filed only between July 2 and 16.

Muscheck has a court-issued permanent injunction against him, barring him from Salt Lake City's Edison Elementary School after teachers complained he often threatened and intimidated them, accusing them of teaching a pro-gay and pro-abortion curriculum.

The mayor's race is officially nonpartisan, so potential candidates do not list a party affiliation. However, over the weekend, Overthrow.com, a Web site associated with the American National Socialist Workers Party, reported that Muscheck had connections to the party.

The party, according to the Web site, is "opposed to internationalism — both cultural, in the form of multiculturalism and diversity — and capitalism, meaning the centralized ownership of wealth. In particular, we believe much of the Western World's wealth is controlled by a racially alien minority (Jews) who use that wealth to culturally and economically attack white working people."

The leader of the party in Utah, Jack Gray, is running for City Council District 4.

Other candidates for mayor are House Minority Leader Ralph Becker, D-Salt Lake; City Councilman Dave Buhler; former City Councilman Keith Christensen; colo-rectal surgeon J.P. Hughes; City Councilwoman Nancy Saxton; and County Councilwoman Jenny Wilson.

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E-mail: dsmeath@desnews.com