For a lobbying firm to be worth the $140,000 that Salt Lake County taxpayers pay The Tetris Group every year, it should know both the rules and the exceptions, even as its principals sweet talk public officials into changing the rules and widening, or narrowing, the exceptions.

Thus it was not encouraging to read the other day that it took Tetris lobbyists, the local top dogs in paid friend-winning and people-influencing, some eight months to realize that they were supposed to have registered with the Salt Lake County Clerk's Office.

It shouldn't take that long for Mayor Peter Corroon and/or the County Council to realize that there is more wrong with this relationship than a little sloppiness among friends, and to fire Tetris as the county's own lobbyist.

Everybody makes mistakes. But it would be wrong for the county to continue its business relationship with a firm that almost certainly will be lobbying against the county from time to time.

The most glaring example of that conflict of interest is the fact that Tetris is the Utah lobbyist for Diebold Election Systems, the Texas outfit that has sold the state $27 million worth of new generation touch-screen voting machines. The trustworthiness and the cost of that equipment has been questioned by some important and knowledgeable people, notably Salt Lake County Clerk Sherrie Swensen.

So far, Tetris has been making the case for Diebold and has not been called upon by one of its other clients - Salt Lake County - to simultaneously make the case against. Though, because the details of the contract are still in negotiations, and because more questions are being raised after the California Secretary of State pronounced that same system untrustworthy, there stands to be a whole lot more lobbying on this crucial matter.

Tetris principals also represent such interests as the state's bankers, its primary electric utility, communications companies, law firms and other municipalities, all of which might have differing interests on any number of questions.

The county should hire itself a different hired gun. In fact, for $140,000 it might be able to bring a lobbyist on staff, someone who would represent the interests of the county, and only the county, before state and federal officials.