Republican David Wilde plans to introduce today tighter nepotism and cronyism standards that would give the council a decisive role in determining whether a prospective employee - connected to the county through blood, marriage or domestic-partner relations - gets a job.

The proposed policy tweak comes less than a month after Democratic Salt Lake County Mayor Peter Corroon hired Rep. David Litvack, D-Salt Lake City, as director of the county's Criminal Justice Advisory Council. The legislator's wife, Erin, heads the county's Community Services Department.

Wilde acknowledges he was miffed at Litvack's selection, but declined Monday to publicly criticize the move.

But the councilman has fumed behind the scenes, sending this e-mail to the mayor's Chief Administrative Officer Doug Willmore:

"I have felt this appointment smacked of nepotism and cronyism," he wrote, "and that further scrutiny was appropriate."

Willmore defended the hiring.

"There is simply nothing improper here," he wrote Wilde in an e-mail. "You could certainly say that you would have hired someone different, as is your right. But to imply that David Litvack was hired because of political or family connections is simply unfounded and has absolutely no basis."

The new director was picked - along with two other finalists - from a pool of eight candidates by an independent review panel, Willmore said. Corroon then appointed the CJAC chief from that list.

"What needs to be focused on is the transparency and the process that took place," Litvack said, insisting that his wife did not plug him for that position. "Nepotism and cronyism had absolutely nothing to do with it."

Yet Wilde hopes to stiffen county safeguards against favoring a spouse or relative of a government employee.

The Republican wants to give the council the authority to approve or reject a potential hire who has family ties to someone on the county's payroll. And he wants every employee with a related staffer to disclose their relationship annually.

"It is a tempest in a teapot," Democratic Councilman Joe Hatch replied. "It is being done for purely partisan politics."

While the Mayor's Office supports annual disclosure forms, Willmore rejected the notion of giving the council supremacy over some hiring decisions.

"The fact is that that [nepotism] statute is very clear, and we have been diligent about making sure it is enforced," he said.

"All I want is to deal with an issue that has been a problem from time to time," Wilde replied. "This is not an effort to hurt or embarrass anybody."

jstettler@sltrib.com

Councilman David Wilde wants to adjust Salt Lake County's nepotism and cronyism policy to:

* Require potential hires to disclose any "immediate" relatives - parents, spouses, children, siblings, in-laws or unmarried partners - who work for the county. The County Council would have final authority to hire or dismiss those candidates.

* Have county employees with a relative on the payroll disclose that relationship annually in conflict-of-interest forms.

Source: Salt Lake County Councilman David Wilde