Billings' resumes show a long career in business, including stints as chairman of the board of the Provo/Orem Chamber of Commerce.

For his part, Billings is firing back, saying the campaign is full of "personal attacks" he called "questionable," "marginal" and "tripe." His campaign has already surpassed the five "misinformation alerts" it issued in response to Bailey statements and mailers in the 2001 Billings-Bailey match.

"I'm going to nominate Dave for a fiction writer of the year award," Billings said. "This whole campaign from my opponent is innuendo and attacks. It seems willing to pull out all the stops for political mileage. I think it will backfire because the people of Provo don't react well to those tactics."

Republicans outside the Billings campaign have pointed out that Nancy Jane Woodside is working for the Bailey campaign. Woodside has served as vice chairwoman of the Utah Democratic Party and ran for Congress as a Democrat against Rep. Chris Cannon, R-Utah. Bailey's wife, Mary Bailey, said Woodside is only helping to prep the candidate for debates against Billings.

Provo is no stranger to nasty campaigns. Billings easily won his first election in 1997 despite negative ads by an anonymous group called Ethics 4 Provo. Billings' opponent, Karl Thalman, said the group was not linked to his campaign.

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E-mail: twalch@desnews.com