Some are searching for replacement politicians on which to latch. Others are devising strategies to resuscitate Workman's image and keep her in office.

Even before Workman's campaign was torpedoed Wednesday by a bipartisan panel of county prosecutors recommending she be indicted on two felony counts of misusing public funds, two well-known politicians were approached last week about mounting a write-in campaign for mayor.

Lobbyists first contacted former Democratic legislator and 2003 Salt Lake City mayoral candidate Frank Pignanelli about jumping into the race. Pignanelli reportedly told his suitors that because of the insurmountable odds against a last-minute write-in campaign, he probably would not be interested. But he left the door slightly open.

Next to be contacted was Merit Medical Co. owner Fred Lampropoulos, one of this year's Republican gubernatorial hopefuls, who showed a similar reluctance to take that plunge.

But the stakes, for some, are high.

Tetris grosses more than $100,000 a year in lobbying contracts with the county, then subcontracts some of the work to others, including lobbyists Rob Jolley and Christine Fox, the former House majority leader.

Tetris has developed a symbiotic relationship with Workman, helping her with campaign support and enjoying lucrative county contracts at the same time.

But Tetris, through partner Blaze Wharton, also maintains political ties to Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson, a friend and supporter of Democratic mayoral candidate Peter Corroon, who suddenly has become the front-runner in the county mayor's race.

Lobbyists not allied with Workman or the Anderson-Corroon clique would logically pursue the likes of Pignanelli, a long-time foe of Anderson within Democratic Party circles, or Lampropoulos, who has emerged as a serious Republican politician.

The Summit Group, a lobbying, political consulting and public relations firm with an attack-dog reputation, also has much to lose from Workman's demise.

The Summit Group, which already had county economic development contracts through their Workman connection, was brought into her campaign earlier this summer for damage control once a series of county scandals began firmly gripping the throat of the incumbent mayor.

Shortly after the Summit Group joined the campaign, press manipulation and personal attacks began with the leak to a local news reporter of District Attorney David Yocom's investigation into Workman's alleged misuse of public money, resulting in a somewhat sympathetic story portraying Workman and her daughter as believing they were unwitting targets of a political witch hunt.

The same reporter later was fed a story that Yocom had once told one of Workman's top administrative appointees that he was "going to get" Workman. The day that story ran, a group of Republican officials held a news conference, orchestrated by Summit Group agent Dave Owen, that trashed Yocom as a political henchman and hailed Workman as the innocent victim of dirty political shenanigans.

The tactics may be summarized with the phrase: deja vu.

Summit Group coordinated the 2002 congressional campaign of former House Majority Leader Kevin Garn, whose Republican primary election opponent, Rob Bishop, was the target of an 11th-hour flier attacking his character.

Bishop won handily.

The Summit Group worked on the campaign of 1999 Salt Lake City mayoral candidate Stuart Reid, whose opponent, Rocky Anderson, was the target of an 11th-hour flier claiming Anderson was soft on pedophiles because he opposed minimum-mandatory sentencing for child sex offenders. The flier didn't mention that most Republican legislators also opposed the sentences because they didn't work.

Anderson won in a landslide.

The Summit Group was involved in the rising political career of House Speaker Marty Stephens before sponsoring ads for the Utah League of Credit Unions that portrayed Stephens as anti-credit union.

The firm was involved in Pignanelli's mayoral campaign last year, but quit after a disagreement over campaign strategies. Summit Group agents then tried to get State Sen. Paula Julander to join the race.

But the Summit Group people are not quitters. Last week, they brought nationally known spin doctor Eddie Maye to town to talk about repairing Workman's image.

Maye knows Utah well. He was retained to save the sinking ship of former Congresswoman Enid Greene in 1996, helped Envirocare fight a citizens initiative to tax and limit hazardous waste stored in western Utah, and advised former Gov. Mike Leavitt in his bid for a third term four years ago.

prolly@sltrib.com