Utah mayor unmasked as fictitious 'good news' reporter

A Utah mayor has been outed for using a pseudonym to write news articles about the city he governs, saying he wanted to highlight "good news" after cutbacks in coverage of local government, according to reports from the Beehive State.

West Valley City Mayor Mike Winder admitted writing more than a dozen articles under the byline "Richard Burwash" that for more than two years appeared in the daily Deseret News, KSL-TV's website and the Oquirrh Times, a community weekly, the DeseretNews reports.

He even quoted himself, as mayor, and used anonymous city employees as sources. Editors said the articles were always factually correct. Among his published reports was a three-part series a year ago advocating passage of a $25 million bond measure for parks and trails, which he supported. (Voters defeated it.)

Winder told the daily that his motive was "to try to restore balance in the Deseret News' coverage of my city," claiming the paper focused too much on crime and not enough on "good news" in his community.

"I care deeply about having news stories about my community beyond what the crime desk churns out, since there is a negative reputation we are working hard to turn around," said Winder.

He defended his journalistic sleight of hand to The Salt Lake Tribune by invoking the names of other Americans -- Benjamin Franklin, James Madison and Alexander Hamilton -- who published under pen names.

He submitted articles to Deseret Connect, which distributes freelance contributions to other media outlets, including Mormon Times and LDS Church News. He also posed as Burwash in phone calls with editors and in e-mails, used a photo of someone else in his profile and created a phony Facebook page, the Deseret News says.

The mayor informed the paper's editors about the ruse this week after learning his pseudonym violated Deseret Connect's terms of service. He said he had "stopped writing under the alias and told editors that Burwash had moved to London and even provided the phone number of a library there as his new number," the DN writes.

The paper points out that back in March, Winder "unveiled a new transparency standard for government, saying it would define West Valley City as Utah's most open and accessible community."

Although the paper says his deception continued for more than two years, the mayor told the Associated Press it "lasted several months."

"While we appreciate that Mayor Winder would, of his own accord, quit writing under the assumed name and then detail the error to us, we remain highly concerned that someone would purposely misrepresent himself," said Clark Gilbert, president and CEO of the Deseret News and Deseret Digital Media.

The Washington Post caught up with a real Richard Burwash.

"I have no idea what you're talking about. . . . I haven't written any stories," said the 71-year-old Coral Gables, Fla., resident, who was a career educator. He added that there's another Richard Burwash , in Champaign, Ill. There's also one in Ottawa, the capital of Canada.