The Legislature commands. Salt Lake County complains, then concedes.

It happened on funding for Real Salt Lake's Sandy stadium and the proposed split of the Jordan School District. The county said no (or was prepared to), but the state stepped in.

Some view the slap-downs and dust-ups as the typical rough-and-tumble of politics and foresee no lasting damage. Others fear the strained relations will grow worse and, in the end, harm constituents.

Democratic County Councilman Jim Bradley argues the Republican-dominated Legislature has "marginalized" Utah's most-populous county, snatching decision-making power from officeholders who know the county best.

His council colleague, Republican David Wilde, says such interference from state lawmakers runs counter to good governance.

"I just wish they would respect the idea that government closest to the people serves the people best," he says.

But Councilman Joe Hatch, a Democrat who stated in mid-January that the county quickly was replacing Salt Lake City's liberal-leaning capital as the Legislature's "least-favorite government entity" - characterizes the bantering between governments as healthy.

"The process is ugly," he acknowledges. "But the end result usually isn't that horrible."

Yet the county has found itself on the short end of two pretty big sticks this year.

Led by Democratic Mayor Peter Corroon, county officials rejected funneling $35 million in hotel taxes to help build RSL's stadium. The Legislature - shepherded by Republican Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. - overruled them.

Then the County Council balked at a ballot request that could break up the Jordan School District. Again, legislators - with a last-minute law change - bypassed the county and freed up a fall referendum.

"This is how the process works and moves forward," says county lobbyist Spencer Stokes, a former state GOP executive director. "There is an antagonistic relationship, but I think a lot of it is normal and natural."

Alan Dayton, an Intermountain Healthcare lobbyist who formerly served as Salt Lake County's deputy mayor, defines the legislative climate as not ''much worse than it ever has been.''

For his part, Corroon doubts the disputes run deeper than mere policy disagreements.

"It's part of the process of government," he says. "I don't see it as a bad relationship. We just don't agree on a lot of issues."

But Democratic County Councilman Randy Horiuchi says the county is being treated like a "scourge" on Capitol Hill.

"I can't even explain how bad it is now," he adds.

Some of the verbal volleys offer evidence of the less-than-congenial relationship.

During the RSL squabbles in January, Hatch remarked: ''There is no question in my mind the Legislature hates Salt Lake County.''

And during the Salt Palace expansion debate in 2005, the Legislature demanded an apology after County Council members suggested state lawmakers were behaving ''like children'' and didn't know ''what the hell they're doing.''

But Hatch, for one, didn't complain late last month, when lawmakers cut the council out of the Jordan School District decision. Instead, he characterized the move as a fair compromise.

Legislators may have sidestepped the county in putting a Jordan defection on the ballot, but they didn't stop the county from scuttling a proposed Granite School District split.

"If people's goal is an absolute victory, this is not the system," Hatch says. "But if people can live with baby-step victories, it seems to be working."

Even so, the county - with its 5-4 GOP council majority - is campaigning for a little more love from Capitol Hill.

"We are trying to open up better lines of communication," Stokes says. "Often times these [disagreements] get blown out of proportion."

So the county has treated legislators to lunch, contributed thousands of dollars to a countywide tour and scheduled bundles of events from parades to theater productions to better acquaint lawmakers with Salt Lake County.

At this point, insiders report no rumblings for retaliation against the county for its stands against stadium funding and the Jordan split

Senate President John Valentine, R-Orem, says he wouldn't tolerate it.

"It is not acceptable public policy to take revenge because of disagreements," he says.

Lawmakers once tried to withhold funding from Salt Lake City when Mayor Rocky Anderson sued to stop the Legacy Parkway.

But House Speaker Greg Curtis, R-Sandy and a former county official, states matter-of-factly that the issues with the county are "done and gone."

Wilde isn't so sure. The GOP county councilman, who says relations between the Legislature and county are more strained than at any time during his six-year tenure, worries political payback is a possibility when the Legislature reconvenes.

Salt Lake City once was the whipping boy, he says; now the county seems to be taking stripes of its own.

Republican County Councilman Michael Jensen predicts the tension will abate. True, the year has been "troublesome." But Jensen says the contention has more to do with the issues than with some innate antagonism between the state and county.

"We need to work on [better relations] as a county and council," he says. "I would hope they would like to work on it as well. Ultimately, we're all trying to do the public good."

jstettler@sltrib.com