Workman settles her legal fees

Nancy Workman won't be back in court after all.

The embattled former Salt Lake County mayor settled with the county for about half of what she originally asked it to pay for the hefty legal fees she incurred defending herself against misuse of public funds charges. Workman had threatened to take the legal fees issue all the way to court before successful negotiations finally came to a close Tuesday.

She spent months in a Salt Lake courtroom defending herself against misuse of county funds and was acquitted in February 2005.

"This is history now, and I'm happy to put it behind me," Workman said. "The biggest thing was the trial and vindication was the most important thing for me. This is just to pay the bills."

The bills reached as high as $198,000. Defense attorney Greg Skordas, a Democrat, asked the county to pay the Republican mayor's bill by April 15 or face a possible lawsuit. After months of negotiation, the county agreed to pay $100,000 for Workman's legal fees.

County officials delivered the check to Skordas' office Tuesday afternoon, ultimately ending a dark era in Salt Lake County politics.

"We certainly wrote off a tremendous portion of our fees to get to this point," Skordas said. "I hope this puts a 'closed' stamp on this chapter in Salt Lake County and some people have learned something from this."

The trial took its toll on Workman, who has shied away from politics since dropping her re-election bid in the fall of 2004. She considered running for Salt Lake County clerk in the November election after several supporters pushed her to jump back into the political fray, but instead decided to focus on her budding road construction contracting business.

Workman's legal troubles began after a whistle-blower complaint alleged she signed the timecards for a health department employee who was on loan to the Boys & Girls Club of South Valley. The employee was being paid, but no one in the department, including her boss, knew what she was doing.

District Attorney David Yocom's investigators discovered that the position, filled by two women in turn over the course of about a year, was for accounting work at the Boys & Girls Club of South Valley under the supervision of Workman's daughter, Aisza Wilde. Workman signed the employee's timecards.

After a weeklong trial, Workman was acquitted on all charges in February 2005.

Workman's supporters said the whole debacle was just political persecution against the Republican mayor by the Democratic Yocom. Yocom maintains politics played no part in his decision to file criminal charges against the former mayor.

Several members of the Salt Lake County Council said they were relieved the whole mess is over.

"Hopefully, this ends a very long and severe chapter of county government that hopefully doesn't happen again for a long time," councilman Randy Horiuchi said.

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E-mail: ldethman@desnews.com