Awards

"Political Leader of the Year" Award, Sierra Club, 2002
"Elected Official of the Year" Award, Utah Issues, 2002
"Best Elected Official" Award, City Weekly, 2000, 2001, 2002
"Allies for Equality" Award, Unity Utah, 2002
International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives Award to Salt Lake City for its "actions to protect the climate," 2002
"Friend of the Merchant" Award, Downtown Merchants Association, 2001
"Utahn of the Year," Salt Lake Tribune, 2000
"Best New Utah Hero" Award, City Weekly, 1997, 2000
"Best Contrast in Political Styles" Award, City Weekly, 2001
"Best Lawyer Activist" City Weekly, 1997
"Outstanding Service Award" H2Low Water Symposium 2003
"Best Democrat" Award, City Weekly, 2003
"Best Sane Politician" Award, City Weekly, 2001

"CLIMATE PROTECTION AWARD" Environmental Protection Agency, 2003

City Weekly 2001 - Readers' Choice

Like his namesake, Rocky Balboa, Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson is a fighter. Trained as a gladiator in the modern arena of the law, Rocky has never backed away from a fight. He has the stuff that makes champions: Confidence, persuasiveness and a lot of nerve. But rather than cloak his actions in the smoke and mirrors that have come to define politics, Anderson lets it all hang out. Like it or not, you know exactly where Rocky Anderson is coming from, and he hides it from no one, including TV cameras. Whether railing against the failed War On Drugs, seeking to liberalize Utah's strange liquor laws, deep-sixing the Sprawl Mall or fighting to get the Hansen Planetarium on the new Library Block, Rocky is a hands-on activist mayor who would rather do it himself.

Even though the mayor of Torino, Italy showed a little more muscle waving the Olympic flag, Salt Lakers were still proud of their mayor. Ballot after ballot named Rocky Anderson (or just plain Rocky) the best elected official. It was a landslide-evidence of how favorably people respond to resolute leadership. Time and time again, Rocky has taken a principled stand on issues that his community holds dear. The only complaint that has stung him at all was that he worked too hard. Needless to say, Salt Lakers have forgiven him that egregious sin.

The now-regular Saturday morning "Talk to the Mayor" formats not only give unprecedented support to Salt Lake City communities, but also provide a unique public relations platform for Mayor Rocky Anderson. This is not your mother's Deedee Corradini.

With his first term as Salt Lake City mayor nearing the finish line, the man remains as tough and smooth as suede leather. Aside from his controversial demeanor, the reason so many eyes are on him is simple: He's the Democrat's Democrat. With the Utah Democratic Party still holding on to its tired template of the ideal Utah Democrat as white, Mormon, male, and Republican in disguise, Anderson never shied away from his liberal principles. Oh yeah, and he managed to win office. If the state party brass would only pay attention, Anderson could show them how it's done.

Best Democrat and Best Sane Politician? Lightning strikes twice. Maybe you wouldn't want to work for this famed task-master. And maybe he gives every Salt Lake City Republican a case of the hives. But the man Salt Lakers love to hate or hate to love is still the only state politician guaranteed to make headlines and crash a few debates. Chew him out over his Church Plaza proposal, label him "anti-capitalist" for his rants concerning Nordstrom's imminent move to the Gateway, or curse him as a useless rebel rouser who never should have left his law practice. In a city where politics routinely consists of milquetoast rhetoric with a cadaver's pulse, his is exactly the kind of attitude that passes for sanity. Insanity, after all, is about saying nothing, doing nothing, and bothering no one. Let's hope he turns over a few more apple carts.