Corroon wins Salt Lake County mayor's race

A Democrat was elected mayor of the state's most populous county Tuesday, fighting off the challenges of two Republicans and an independent in a race marked by scandal and court interventions.

With all precincts reported, Peter Corroon, a cousin of one-time presidential hopeful Howard Dean, had 157,287 votes or 48 percent. GOP candidate Ellis Ivory had 144,928 for 44 percent, and Merrill Cook, a former Republican congressman, had 19,997 for 6 percent.

Corroon was reportedly long in bed when the results were announced early Wednesday, and a phone message left on his spokesman's cell phone was not immediately returned.

Ivory didn't return a message left at his headquarters by The Associated Press, but declined to concede the race — even as Corroon's lead mounted — when interviewed by Salt Lake television station KSL.

Ivory instead said he would issue a statement Wednesday after looking at all the results.

Ivory, a well-known and wealthy land developer, was elevated to the ballot from write-in status last week after incumbent Nancy Workman dropped out of the race after she was charged with two felony counts of misusing public funds. Corroon had become the front-runner when Workman dropped out, but faced a last-minute surge in the polls from Ivory.

Workman, who enabled her party to appoint another candidate by claiming she was withdrawing due to disability, has not resigned from office. Her terms ends in January.

"All my friends are here," Workman said Tuesday night while at a GOP celebration party. "This is America. This is what we're about, this is why the guys are fighting in Iraq."

James Brinkerhoff, a 29-year-old customer service officer at the University of Utah hospital, said he associated the Workman scandal with Republican domination of Salt Lake County.

Brinkerhoff wasn't too concerned which candidate won the county mayor's race — "just as long as we got Workman out of there," he said. "And, honestly, we have too many Republicans" running Salt Lake County.

The political and legal tangles began last summer when Workman became embroiled in a controversy over alleged misuse of public funds.

She was accused of shuffling about $17,000 in county health department funds to pay for a bookkeeper at a boys and girls club where her daughter was a top financial officer.