Salt Lake County apparently loves its enemies.

County Mayor Peter Corroon is poised to rehire The Tetris Group as part of the county's five-firm lobbying team. The lobbying firm often works for cities and other interests who are fighting for the exact opposite of the county.

Just look at the past year during the hot-button soccer stadium funding issue: Tetris not only worked for the county, but also Sandy city and Real Salt Lake. Tetris also doubled as a lobbyist for Diebold Election Systems at the same time the county was negotiating a $10 million deal with Diebold in 2005.

Corroon slashed the contract by nearly half: In 2006, the county paid Tetris $90,000; this year, Corroon cut it to $50,000. The County Council is scheduled to debate the issue next Tuesday.

If Councilman Mark Crockett gets his way, Tetris won't get a dime this year. He said he plans on making a motion next Tuesday to reduce the Tetris budget to zero.

"I don't understand why we would hire lobbyists who spend most of their time working against us," Crockett said. "Anybody who is actively lobbying against the county should be prohibited."

Despite the problems in the past, the county hires lobbyists for access to Utah's power players, Deputy Mayor Karen Suzuki-Okabe said.

"There are only a few lobbying groups who can do that," Suzuki-Okabe said. "Tetris happens to be one of them. We're not reluctant to hire folks that are getting us what we need. That means access."

The county could be in trouble again this year using Tetris. The firm will likely represent Sandy city again, and Mayor Tom Dolan is leading the charge for cities to take the restaurant tax away from counties across the state. If that happens, Salt Lake County would lose $15 million — money that is used to pay the debt service on the Salt Palace and South Towne Exposition Center bonds, as well as operating costs at those facilities and several county cultural centers, including Abravanel Hall and the Capitol Theatre, said Darrin Casper, the county's chief financial officer.

Suzuki-Okabe said the mayor hasn't decided whether Tetris will be involved in any restaurant tax lobbying in the upcoming legislative session.

The county is second to Sandy on the list of big spenders lobbying Utah lawmakers, according to a 2005 report from the Utah Taxpayers Association.

The county spent $160,000 on lobbyists last year, and Corroon's proposed budget cut that down to $155,000 for 2007. Suzuki-Okabe said the county is trying to slowly cut back the amount of dollars spent on lobbyists while it develops its own in-house lobbying strategy.

In other county budget news, newly elected District Attorney Lohra Miller was exposed to the heavy hand of the council on her first day visiting a meeting as an elected official. A bipartisan tag-team made up of Democrat Jim Bradley and Republican Mark Crockett grilled Miller on the need to budget money to hire a chief deputy district attorney.

"This is a nice welcome, so I apologize," Councilwoman Jenny Wilson said.

In the end, the council voted to put off budgeting $182,926 for the salary and benefits of Miller's potential chief deputy until Miller decides whether she wants to hire one.

The council also approved Corroon's request to hire an emergency management coordinator. The coordinator would help prepare the bureaucracy of county government in case of emergency, like setting up contracts with companies for supplies.

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E-MAIL: ldethman@desnews.com