The issue was made moot Tuesday night, as Richard Ellis beat Walker in the primary election. But the question remains whether voters should have known about the shadow cast over the race by the legal opinion.

The memo, dated June 16, was written by Assistant Attorney General Thom Roberts to Attorney General Mark Shurtleff and other top officials in the office. Despite its distribution to the state's top legal officers, it has not been made public.

I asked for a copy of the memo Monday under the Government Records Access Management Act from Shurtleff's Communications Director Paul Murphy. He was out of town Tuesday, but another spokesman, Scott Troxel, said the office was formulating a response to my request that should be ready in "the next couple of days."

I informed Troxel on Tuesday that I had seen the memo and would report on it. Murphy had told me that Roberts' memo could be considered a preliminary legal working document and might not be released.

The question of Walker's eligibility was raised weeks ago by several people citing a prohibition in the Utah Constitution of legislators taking jobs after voting for pay or benefit increases for that job.

Defenders of Walker pointed out legislators in the past have voted for pay raises for offices they later sought. But Roberts' memo said there was a difference. In the past, approved raises for state offices have been, across the board, cost of living raises. The raise Walker voted for in the past session was just for the treasurer, with the state auditor, who was in a similar position, purposely left out.

Friends helping friends: Former Salt Lake County Mayor Nancy Workman sent a letter to Sandy residents Friday, just three days before the election, endorsing Jordan District School Board candidate Teresa Curtis, wife of Workman's old political buddy and Speaker of the House Greg Curtis.

Nothing wrong with that, except the letters were inside official Sandy Chamber of Commerce envelopes. Workman is president of the Sandy Chamber of Commerce.

Asked if that was an official endorsement by the chamber, Workman said yes, but did not give me a direct answer when I asked if the chamber's board or membership voted on the endorsement. Instead, she said there are many ways to come up with an endorsement and the Sandy chamber is relatively new in the political game.

"We are going to be much more politically active," she said, acknowledging it is unusual for the chamber to get involved in a school board race.

Curtis was Workman's chief counsel when she was county mayor and he was instrumental in helping Sandy become the venue for Real Salt Lake's professional soccer stadium.

Teresa Curtis was one of 16 candidates for Precinct 3 and the Legislature set up the election so there would be no Jordan District primary, just Tuesday's winner-take-all election.

prolly@sltrib.com