At the risk of having a different candidate beat their party's pick for Salt Lake County mayor, three high-ranking Democrats want Nancy Workman to resign from office and call off her re-election bid.

"Mayor Workman, begone," County Councilman Joe Hatch said, invoking Winston Churchill's advice to his World War II political rival, Neville Chamberlain.

On the same day Workman appeared in court on felony misuse of public funds charges and in the wake of reports that she paid her daughter's friend with government funds for computer work never completed in 2003, the county's only three Democratic councilmen — Hatch, Horiuchi and Jim Bradley — decided it was time to publicly plead with Workman to step down, focus on her legal troubles and let everyone else move on.

The scandals, they said at a hastily called press conference Monday at the Democratic state headquarters, are getting in the way of the county conducting its real business as well as interfering with the mayoral race.

"We have to get rid of the distraction, and the distraction is Mayor Workman," Bradley said. He believes she is damaging the county's future because of her "ego and desire to vindicate herself."

"There's only so much the community and county can take in this," Hatch added. It's a major distraction for community members, the County Council and other mayoral candidates, he said, to have a "continual drip-drip-drip" of leaking scandals from the faucet known as the mayor's office. "The people of Salt Lake County deserve better than this."

Horiuchi made the public request for Workman, his friend despite political differences, to bow out with a "sad and heavy heart," he said. He even lauded her for doing a good job as mayor. But, he said, "for the good of an institution, you must sometimes make sacrifices. . . . The future of the institution is more important than the good of the individual."

Salt Lake County Council Chairman Steve Harmsen, a Republican, said he didn't want to directly respond to the news conference because he didn't attend it.

He said Workman has many advisers talking with her about her situation. "It's a decision she has to make. I'm not in a position to tell her what to do," Harmsen said. "She's got her view of the forest. It's just a tough time for her."

Horiuchi said Workman will come to the realization that her actions and refusal to step aside while on trial are contributing to the "denigration" of county government. Some speculate that that realization — and a possible resignation — could happen after the Republican leaders vote on what they would have her do at a meeting tonight.