The trip was funded through private donations, not tax dollars. However, Republicans maintain those donations are still "public monies" by law and subject to some of the same spending rules as tax dollars. Because public monies were involved, the mayor should have conducted a more open process regarding who went on the trip, especially since some expenses were paid, Republicans say.

And while they want an investigation, Republicans say they want Yocom to do the investigating. Evans and potential 2008 Republican district attorney candidate Lohra Miller told the Deseret Morning News Editorial Board on Tuesday they don't believe Yocom has a conflict.

If there was a conflict, Miller suggested, Yocom could pass the investigation to another agency — maybe a group of out-of-county prosecutors like he did in investigating former County Mayor Nancy Workman, or perhaps the Utah Attorney General's Office.

Back when Yocom investigated Workman for misusing public monies, he formed an independent panel of outside prosecutors to recommend whether the county mayor should be prosecuted. He also hired a special prosecutor to handle the prosecution.

Evans and Miller said it was obvious that Yocom had a conflict back then, but they said they don't believe the district attorney has one regarding Anderson.

University of Utah law professor Erik Luna said there is no state law governing whether a prosecutor should recuse himself.

That said, "If there is an appearance of impropriety or an appearance of conflict of interest, it may be in Mr. Yocom's best interest to assign this case to another prosecutor or the attorney general's office," Luna said.

Luna noted he has no firsthand knowledge of the case or the specifics of Yocom's and Anderson's relationship. He also said $100 "doesn't seem like an awful lot," but "conflicts of interest are not measured by dollar amounts but are measured by some interest or connection, no matter how large or small."

Yocom has investigated Anderson before. Back in 2004, Anderson asked the district attorney to investigate him after it was revealed the mayor used his personal city e-mail for campaign purposes, which violates state law. Yocom's office determined the issue was moot since there is no criminal penalty associated with the law.

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E-mail: bsnyder@desnews.com