From Deseret News archives:
'Super Dell' files to run against Corroon'
"Super" Dell Schanze is taking on Peter Corroon.
The infamous pitchman for his Totally Awesome Computers on Friday filed to run as a Republican against the Salt Lake County mayor.
Taking down Corroon is the top priority for Salt Lake County Republican Party Chairman James Evans in 2008.
Evans did not return several phone calls from the Deseret Morning News late Friday.
Schanze is in for a rough battle as Corroon's poll numbers have remained consistently high throughout his term.
Win or lose, the spotlight is back on Schanze.
In the past, it has long followed him, whether he wanted it or not.
His quirky commercials for his former company, Totally Awesome Computers, made him a household name.
Then, his public jousts with police and the media made him infamous.
In June 2006 he was charged with creating a public nuisance, a class B misdemeanor, and disorderly conduct, an infraction, for flying a powered paraglider over rush-hour traffic on I-15.
That same year he was acquitted of threatening to use a dangerous weapon after some angry Draper residents confronted him for speeding through their neighborhood on the way to a hang-gliding park.
A jury did, however, find him guilty of lying to police about the incident.
The battle also led to a class C misdemeanor reckless driving charge of driving 50 mph in a 25 mph zone.
In March 2006, Schanze shut down the business that made him famous. After months of slow sales and media problems, Schanze ultimately blamed Totally Awesome Computers' downfall on the news media.
"It's too bad that all of the media in Utah are liars and murderers," he said at the time. "You just destroyed the greatest computer company of all time. We were the best in the world, the world champion. All this hatred was created by you. You're basically angels of Satan. All I can say to the people in Utah is, please pray for all the news people."
F. Joseph Irish also filed to run for Salt Lake County mayor on Friday. He ran against Corroon in 2004 as a personal choice candidate and garnered just more than 1 percent of the vote.
He is a perennial candidate who has never won office.
According to his 2004 campaign Web site, Irish is an industrial equipment representative.
E-mail: ldethman@desnews.com
