Salt Lake County leaders moved ahead with new campaign finance reforms Tuesday, despite a vow by the county's Republican Party chairman to take the issue to the voters.

The ordinance lowers the donation limit for campaigns from $5,000 to $2,000 per each of three election cycles, but also opens the door for contractors to chip in for county races.

Anyone holding a contract for business with the county was banned from posting money for campaigns under an ethics package by former acting Mayor Alan Dayton in the final days of the Nancy Workman administration last year.

"My sense is that the public has lost a sense of faith in Salt Lake County government. There is a credibility problem," said James Evans, chairman of the county's Republican party. "I believe this is a step backwards."

Evans said members of the Salt Lake County GOP may now back a voter referendum to reinstate the ban on contractor donations.

But county leaders, who approved the ethics reforms in a 8-1 vote, said they pushed the measure through because it was better than doing nothing.

"The entire package is an improvement," Councilman Mark Crockett said. "I think this is a good step forward,"

Crockett — along with several other council members — still had his qualms about allowing contractors back into the donation pool. Crockett tried to tack on an amendment to the ordinance to limit donations from contractors to $200 per election cycle for groups holding a contract worth more than $10,000.

That attempt failed, however, as did a move by Councilman Randy Horiuchi to push back the effective date until Jan. 1, 2006. The reforms will be put in place in two weeks.

Councilman Joe Hatch advocated for council members to pass the ethics package in its entirety, cautioning his colleagues that nit-picking the proposal could essentially kill any real reform.

"Already the language is a compromise that's already been talked about at length," Hatch said. "Let's not get lost in the minutiae of $2,500 versus $2,000, contractors or no contractors."

But to former County Council member Steve Harmsen, the contractor provision is at the crux of reform. Removing that ban is a step backward, said Harmsen, who worked with Dayton to pass the contractor prohibition.

"It's money flowing from a contractor to a politician for a favor," he said.

---

E-mail: estewart@desnews.com