As the Nov. 2 election nears, Greg Skordas says his decision to defend Salt Lake County Mayor Nancy Workman is not a political one.

In addition to taking time from his campaign as the Democratic candidate for attorney general, Skordas told the Deseret Morning News editorial board Tuesday that defending Workman, a Republican, could hurt his chances at the ballot box.

"Some Democrats are cool with me now," he said. "It used to be 'rah, rah.' "

Skordas said he took the case last week because Workman asked him to. "It's what I do for a living."

Utah Democratic Party Chairman Donald Dunn said the party is backing Skordas as "a terrific candidate."

"I think there are people giving him grief over doing this," Dunn said. "There are also people telling him they thought it was a good decision."

Dunn said the time spent defending Workman does have the potential to take away from Skordas' campaign.

Republican Attorney General Mark Shurtleff has a strong lead in the race, according to a Deseret Morning News/KSL-TV poll conducted last week by Dan Jones & Associates.

Shurtleff had 55 percent support in the statewide poll, Skordas had 20 percent and Libertarian Andrew McCullough had 3 percent.

Shurtleff's campaign manager, Ally Isom, said Skordas' decision to defend Workman "won't affect our strategy, it won't affect our messaging."

Skordas told the editorial board Tuesday he's running for office because he's frustrated with the current attorney general. He accused Shurtleff of spending too much money on what he calls losing battles.

He pointed to the 2000 Census in which Utah fell short of gaining a congressional seat because its LDS missionaries living overseas weren't counted. The U.S. Supreme Court rejected Utah's arguments that the missionaries should have been counted.

Skordas said Shurtleff spent about $1.8 million on out-of-state law firms in that case.

Isom couldn't comment on the specific case but did say Shurtleff "only resorts to outside counsel when it serves the citizens best."

"In general, what the attorney general's office spends on outside counsel is nowhere near where the previous (Democratic attorney general) did," Isom said.

Skordas does agree with the attorney general on at least one issue. He said the proposal to amend the state's constitution to ban same-sex marriage is a poor one. Skordas opposes a constitutional amendment, saying the state's marriage law is adequate.

Shurtleff does want an amendment but believes the wording of the current initiative is too broad.

However, both said they'll enthusiastically defend the amendment in court if it passes Nov. 2.

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E-mail: dbulkeley@desnews.com