But Workman's former top lieutenant, David Marshall, testified Thursday he knows of only one kid that Workman helped: her own daughter, Aisza Wilde, the club's chief financial officer.

Marshall said he first heard the "helping the kids" phrase at a meeting with Workman's re-election campaign managers, after the hiring scandal broke last fall.

''There was a lot of discussion about 'What are we going to do now?' '' Marshall testified. ''Then someone said, 'Yeah, that's a good explanation.' ''

Special prosecutor Michael Martinez asked if Marshall believed the explanation.

''I think there was a kid she wanted to help, yes - Aisza,'' Marshall replied.

Workman, 64, was charged in 3rd District Court with second- and third-degree felonies for allegedly arranging to have two successive Boys and Girls Clubs bookkeepers paid from county Health Department funds. More than $17,000 in public funds was misappropriated, according to prosecutors.

The defense blames Marshall, the county's chief financial officer, for failing to keep the mayor out of trouble. Defense attorney Jack Morgan has called Workman "a big-picture person," who left the details of running the county to her subordinates.

But Marshall testified that if Workman had told him all the facts, he would have counseled her that the hiring scheme was illegal.

He said that in June 2002, Workman told him she wanted to hire Alina Iorga to be her "eyes and ears" in the community. He said Workman "specifically" said Iorga would be working on health-care access issues.

Therefore, Marshall said, he told his staff to put Iorga on the health department payroll.

Marshall said there was "absolutely not" any mention by Workman of the Boys and Girls Clubs. And a full year passed before Marshall learned that Iorga, and her successor, Jennifer Schroder, had never done a bit of work for the county.

"It's illegal to give away county assets with no return on the money," Marshall said, adding that the mayor was well aware of that policy.

"We were constantly discussing what we could expend funds on," Marshall said, adding that the county gets so many requests for charitable donations that they have a form letter for turn-downs.

But on cross-examination by Morgan, Marshall conceded he had seen county services given away without any quid pro quo, and without anyone being prosecuted.

Morgan also noted that county firefighters periodically stump for charity with their "Fill the Boot" program while on the clock, and that Marshall's daughter-in-law - a former county employee - had collected charitable donations at county offices.

Morgan also brought up several instances when county employees had been loaned to other agencies.

Marshall said he learned about the criminal investigation last summer while being interviewed by Salt Lake County District Attorney David Yocom. Marshall testified it appeared he was being treated as a suspect.

Workman claimed after being charged Sept. 1 that she had not been well-served by her staff. But Marshall said Workman called him five days later to apologize for not giving him enough information about the bookkeepers.

"She said not to worry," Marshall recalled. "She said she'd use her political opposition to Yocom to get support."

Marshall said Workman, a Republican, planned to claim Yocom, a Democrat, was on a political vendetta, that "he'd threatened her before and this was the fulfillment of that."

Workman later did claim Yocom was out to get her, prompting Yocom to ask a bipartisan panel to examine the case. After the panel found evidence for two criminal counts, Yocom charged Workman and appointed Martinez as special prosecutor.

A whistle-blower had alerted authorities about the hiring irregularities - possibly someone from the health department, where Iorga's absentee status had caused continual heartburn.

Patti Pavey, the now-retired health department director, testified Thursday she had immediate concerns about the new "community liaison" person, whom she had never met.

Pavey said fair-hiring protocols were ignored, and she already had two qualified employees doing community health outreach.

Pavey said she complained more than 20 times about the phantom employee to Human Services Director Kerry Steadman.

The situation reached critical mass in summer when Iorga's name turned up on a list of employees requiring discipline for failing to attend a sexual harassment seminar.

Marshall testified that after learning Iorga had been deemed "unsupervisable," he agreed to move her to the mayor's operating budget. But by then, the criminal investigation had began.

The trial continues today.