Given Peter Corroon's nature, any guesses which brother is the glad-hander and which looks after the details?

"One guy told us that we do lip service," Chris Corroon said. "I'm the lip, and he's the service."

Following a Washington, D.C., fellowship with Housing and Urban Development at the turn of the millennium, Corroon came back to Salt Lake City with an itch to get into the public arena.

"I came back from Washington, my business was going well, and I decided to give something back to the community," he said. "I love being involved."

Consistent with his nature, Corroon didn't immediately go after a high-profile elected position. He started attending community council and state Office of Child Care advisory committee meetings, eventually becoming chairman of both.

"I started complaining about child care, and like anything else, when you complain you get roped into being part of the solution," he said. "His leadership style was always to make sure that everyone was heard while keeping his personal vision," Office of Child Care director Lynette Rasmussen said. "He always operated from that paradigm."

He's progressed from the grassroots up, Corroon says, something that voters should note — particularly given his biggest rival, Ivory, who got into the race this month.

"You get candidates who have been out there, and you get somebody who wants to come in and buy the election," he said. "We don't need more pizazz. We need a little less pizazz."

"He's been a steady, solid voice for change," campaign adviser Russell Kennedy said. "He's a fresh start."

While he is a Democrat, and a proud one, Corroon has constantly emphasized that his will be a bipartisan administration. He's more about results, he says, than partisanship. And at least a few Republicans are listening.

"The Republican candidate, Mr. Ivory, is an extension of the current Workman administration and does not represent real change to the current Salt Lake County ethics problems," said Wendy Smith, a former Nancy Workman supporter, GOP candidate for County Commission and a state Republican delegate.

"I am voting for Peter Corroon out of principle and to support balance, fairness and an end to cronyism in county government."

That hasn't been a problem just for the past few months, Corroon says — it's been going on for 30 years.

"When my father died, one of his friends said he could describe him in three words: ethics, ethics, ethics," Corroon said. "If I can die and have people say that about me, I'll be happy."

University of Utah political science professor Tim Chambless confirmed that ethics and honest government are the biggest issues for voters nowadays.