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SALT LAKE CITY (AP/KSL News) -- Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson announced Friday that he will not seek a third term in office.
Anderson, who was first elected in 1999, made the announcement at a forum on climate change, an issue he has focused on throughout his two terms as mayor.
Anderson, a Democrat, had been undecided for months on whether he would run again.
"It saddens me in many ways," an emotional Anderson told the audience at the downtown library, which was built during his first term. "I've decided I will not seek a third term as Salt Lake City mayor."
He said he wants to spend his remaining days working on grass roots advocacy campaigns. Mayor Anderson also used the forum tonight to criticize Utah's religious culture.
"Locally I saw a disregard for the rights and freedoms of people who are members of minority political parties...people who are not members of the dominant religion," Anderson said.
Anderson has been known for his outspoken ways, including campaigns to loosen state liquor laws and issuing an executive order for the city to extend health care and related benefits to the same-sex and unmarried heterosexual partners of city employees.
KSL Newsradio reports Keith Christensen - a former city councilman who Anderson has endorsed for a Mayoral run - says he will make an announcement Monday.
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
