This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Salt Lake County Mayor Ben McAdams came under fire this week for his comments on a campaign TV ad for Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker, who is in a tough re-election fight against challenger Jackie Biskupski.
Some observers complained that McAdams' remarks about Biskup- ski not only were negative, but also personal.
In the spot, McAdams says he has a strong partnership with Becker. He adds that he is not sure Biskupski has "the vision or the leadership to be that partner."
When asked by The Salt Lake Tribune to respond to the criticisms, McAdams referred reporter Christopher Smart to the Becker campaign, which disputed the ad was negative.
But there is a history between McAdams and Biskupski that might help explain his piercing comments.
Biskupski, a former state legislator and an executive in Salt Lake County Sheriff Jim Winder's administration, was the first openly gay Utah House member and remains an important figure in the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.
When Scott McCoy, the first openly gay member of the Utah Senate resigned his seat in 2009, McAdams, a top aide to Becker at the time, wanted to run for the seat but had only recently moved into the district.
The buzz was that McCoy delayed his resignation so McAdams would be eligible to run.
When McCoy left, the Democrats had a special election to replace him among the delegates in his Senate District 2. Among the candidates was Arlyn Bradshaw, another openly gay politician who then was the administrative assistant to Salt Lake County Council member Joe Hatch.
Biskupski persuaded Bradshaw to get in the race and threw her support behind him, while Becker backed McAdams.
McAdams won the seat and later successfully ran for Salt Lake County mayor. Bradshaw has since been elected to the County Council.
Do Democrats have long memories like elephants? Maybe, maybe not.
But McAdams has made it clear in the latest Becker ad that he doesn't think much of Biskupski, and that history might provide a clue.
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Anti-government musings • San Juan County Commissioner Phil Lyman's Facebook page, where his online friends continue to comment on his conviction and pending sentencing for arranging a protest ATV ride on protected Bureau of Land Management turf, reveals the mentality of his supporters.
"Not sure why the government would want an illegal immigrant to run the BLM," wrote Lyman political ally and San Juan County Assessor Shelby Seely.
He was referring to former state BLM Director Juan Palma, whom Lyman supporters allege set up the commissioner by leading him to believe that he had the agency's blessing to ride in Recapture Canyon.
Those assertions have come despite the fact that BLM District Manager Lance Porter sent a letter to Lyman making it clear the commissioner would be charged if he continued with the ride.
The agency issued a news release the day before the protest reiterating that riding into closed areas of the canyon would result in civil or criminal charges.
As for Palma, he is a U.S. citizen who grew up in Yakima Valley, Wash., as the son of Mexican farmworkers.
When one of Lyman's gullible Facebook friends responded to Seely's post with shock that an illegal immigrant would head a major government agency and asked if there was more information about it she could find on line, Seely wrote back that he was just kidding.
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The mouths of babes • A good friend's 8-year-old grandson is a staunch supporter of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and sees himself as a leader in the 8-year-olds-for-Hillary movement.
The boy, who will remain anonymous by order of his mother, showed his talent for wit when he told his granddad recently that if Clinton is elected, she should appoint Donald Trump as ambassador to Mexico.