And then we had to go and elect one of them the mayor of Salt Lake County.

Under fire, Mayor Peter Corroon has decided to abstain from building any more of the affordable housing projects the area needs, at least where public financing is involved. Which it usually is.

He has made the right call. While Salt Lake County doesn't have as many socially concerned developers as it needs, it has only one mayor at a time. Busy as Corroon is cleaning up the multi-layered mess left to him by the previous administration, neither he nor we need the distraction of even the most far-fetched accusations of favoritism or insider dealing.

The Corroon project that has caused some eyebrows to be raised is a $22 million, 200-unit apartment complex envisioned for 134-164 S. 200 East. Helping get the project off the ground is an $850,000 loan from the Salt Lake City Council's Housing Trust Fund, approved in April. (That's if it gets off the ground, as ownership of the land has been in flux.)

City approval came despite concerns raised at the time, not about Corroon's day job, but about the city's policy preferring a mix of assisted-housing units with market-rate apartments, rather than a concentration of them, and about the fact that the normal limit for such loans is $300,000.

And, because politics ain't beanbag, Salt Lake County Republican Party Chairman James Evans is now accusing Democrat Corroon of improper behavior for being involved in a private business deal while also serving in an office that, while it doesn't control either the loan or the permitting process for the project, does have a lot of dealings with the jurisdiction that does.

That's a bit of a reach. But, in politics, perception is reality. And because it is already hard enough to win both public and financial support for such projects, it is better that Corroon not provide their opponents, and his, with an easy target.