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Richard Piatt ReportingSalt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson is calling it absurd, a city policy against paying for dinner that includes alcohol. The anti-booze rule is getting attention after city records show the Mayor used taxpayer money at least twice to pick up the dinner-and-alcohol tab.
The question is whether taxpayers should be upset that the mayor paid for dinner and drinks for dignitaries a couple months ago. No one is saying 'yes' at this point, but it looks like buying those drinks did violate city policy.
Everyone knows that alcohol is a part of entertaining some people from out of town, and that's what the mayor did: twice. Once during this Sundance environmental summit when he entertained mayors across the nation, the mayor spent abou5 450 dollars at he Grand America. And another time, during the summer Jazz festival, the mayor picked up the dinner tab at Squatters for 175 dollars that included some alcohol. The question is: should the rules be changed to accommodate entertaining realities?
Former Salt Lake City mayor Ted Wilson has a different idea. Wilson says a rule should be clearly established against buying alcohol on the public dime, but he says there should be some allowances.
Today the mayor says he feels picked on, and unjustly. He pointed out that he already has a no gift policy, watches his own expense reports and doesn't take a per diem. So he feels this is another manufactured controversy to try and make him look bad.
