Salt Lake County Mayor Nancy Workman's legal problem understandably has Utah Democrats looking at the 2004 election in six weeks as an opportunity to win several county races as well as pick up some seats in the Utah Legislature because of fallout from this year's Republican scandals. But to paraphrase an old saying, the Democrats should be careful what they wish for. With political posturing draped all over the legal aspects of the two felony charges filed against Workman, the mayor could be seen, in the long run, as the Max Cleland of Utah politics and a martyr for the GOP in many elections to come. Cleland, for those who aren't familiar with the name, was a Democratic senator from Georgia who is a triple amputee from wounds suffered as a combat soldier in Vietnam. He lost the 2002 election after being pilloried by Republicans and conservative writers and commentators who said he shouldn't be called a war hero because his wounds were suffered in a non-combat mission. His stands on the Homeland Security votes also were misstated in political ads and he now is the Democratic Party's poster child in their quest to portray the George W. Bush-led Republican Party as a mean-spirited, misleading pack of thugs who will say or do anything to win an election. Back to Utah. Workman's followers and Republican spinners are framing the charges against her for putting two bookkeepers at the Murray Boys and Girls Club on the county payroll as a politically motivated attack by Democratic District Attorney David Yocom designed to ruin Workman's career. There is no evidence to suggest Yocom acted improperly by investigating a whistleblower's allegations that Workman diverted county money to a private entity to help her daughter, who is the financial officer at the Murray Boys and Girls Club. But the timing of the complaint by the whistleblower, Yocom's subsequent investigation and then the felony charges he filed in 3rd District Court is unfortunate, for both Workman and Yocom - and, in the long run, possibly for the Utah Democratic Party. First Yocom tried to defuse charges of political motivation by appointing a screening panel of bipartisan prosecutors from other counties who concluded there was enough evidence to support felony charges against the mayor. Then, after filing the charges, Yocom appointed special prosecutor Mike Martinez. The Workman camp keeps pressing for a trial before the election so the charges won't remain a cloud over her head when voters cast ballots Nov. 2. Workman supporters are claiming the prosecution is purposely delaying proceedings so they still will be pending on election day. Some from Workman's defense team claim that the Day Planner that Martinez was holding in his hand as he told the judge during Workman's initial court appearance last week that he had prior commitments on days they were trying to schedule for hearings was actually from a previous year and appeared to be blank. Whether those are outlandish claims or not, perception is reality in politics and a constant hammering of those types of complaints from professional spin doctors could eventually give Workman Joan of Arc status. Workman's poll numbers have dropped like a stone since the charges were filed and it is likely she will lose the election. Democrats hope her tainted coattails will also affect at least two County Council races and some legislative seats in Salt Lake County, especially since several of those seats were lost by Democrats by just a handful of votes two years ago. But if Workman loses the election and later is acquitted by a jury she suddenly becomes a martyr. It might not help the Republicans this year, but it could in the future. Over the past 30 years, every elected official in Salt Lake County who has been charged with a crime while in office was charged by an elected prosecutor of the opposite political party. And in every case, the party of the accused made headway in the following election. In the 1970s, Democratic Salt Lake County Attorney Paul Van Dam, during his one term in office, filed misuse-of-public-funds charges against Republican County Auditor Gerald R. Hansen and lewdness-related charges against GOP County Commissioner William Hutchinson. Hansen plea-bargained down to misdemeanors, resigned from office and served a few days in jail. Hutchinson was acquitted. Republican Ted Cannon was elected county attorney in the next election and the Republicans made inroads in other county and legislative races. In the 1980s, Cannon filed ethics violations charges against Democratic County Treasurer Art Monson and his chief deputy, Lonnie Johnson. Monson was acquitted, charges were eventually dropped against Johnson, and the Democrats regained the county attorney's office and doubled their numbers in the Legislature in the next election. prolly@sltrib.com