"I do the same thing at my company — uh, is this going to be on TV?"

In case you missed it, Workman, borrowing a page from the International Olympic Committee handbook, hired two accountants to work under her daughter at the Boys and Girls Club of South Valley. She paid most of their $17,000 in salary with county money, although — and this is the darndest thing — no one can find any evidence that they ever did any work for the county.

Why didn't she follow the lead of former Salt Lake City mayor Deedee Corradini, who asked for donations from influential "friends" to fix a financial problem?

Years ago Workman spent thousands of taxpayer dollars to plaster her name on county property, from golf carts to buildings. It amounted to free advertising for the mayor; she said it was advertising for the county, but why a county would need advertising is anyone's guess. By November, the signs could be outdated.

It doesn't look good for Workman's re-election campaign. The Friends of Nancy Workman spent $125,000 to produce the latest TV ad. That probably won't be enough. It's just politics.

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Doug Robinson's column runs on Tuesdays. E-mail drob@desnews.com.