The mayor's office has not yet responded to a Government Records Management Act Request filed by the Deseret Morning News for all such e-mails. The mayor's office hasn't responded to Morning News questions — submitted Monday — about the e-mails.

Besides potentially violating city laws, council members say the e-mails may suggest a larger problem of chumminess between the mayor's and the city's largest cab company — Yellow Cab.

In one of the e-mails, Shorthouse notes that a Yellow Cab driver would score Anderson an invitation to the city's Persian New Year bash.

"Sam from Yellow Cab will get him a formal invite," she wrote. "Gov. Leavitt will be there."

Many of the e-mails involve Yellow Cab and window-wrap advertising designed for Yellow Cab taxis. During the re-election campaign, the Yellow Cab Drivers Association contributed $500 to the mayor, and many drivers put Anderson campaign advertisements on their vehicles. During the primary, many offered free cab rides to the polls to anyone who called Anderson's campaign needing a ride.

After a complaint was filed, the city elections clerk ruled Anderson had to claim the free rides as a campaign contribution.

Earlier this year Anderson proposed sweeping changes to the city's taxi ordinances that would limit competition for the cab companies and allow them to employ more profitable schedules.

Some have suggested certain parts of the taxi ordinance revision were political payback for Yellow Cab's re-election support.

Anderson's ties to Yellow Cab have already been investigated by the Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office once. A complaint was filed with city prosecutor Sim Gill — a financial supporter of Anderson's re-election campaign — who claimed a conflict of interest and forwarded information on to the county district attorney.

The complaint concerned whether Anderson violated the city's campaign finance laws by not claiming as a campaign contribution advertising that Yellow Cab drivers gave by placing Anderson's window wraps on their cabs.

The county attorney's investigation recommended that charges not be filed, Gill said.

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E-mail: bsnyder@desnews.com