Now, Corroon says Workman is the one misleading folks.

The Republican incumbent started her media campaign last weekend with nearly full-page advertisements in Salt Lake City's daily newspapers and a one-minute radio spot that touts her as the "positive mayor."

But Corroon says the mayor is taking sole credit for other people's work - or for successes that required a collaboration of many people. Her ads clearly state that Workman "Cut county taxes three times . . . Returned $5 1/2 million to 66,000 county households . . . Succeeded in forming the first Unified Fire Authority."

Corroon has a different take.

"Everything I'm giving you is fact," Corroon said Friday. "How you look at them is obviously the difference between the campaigns. What I said was true, but they [Workman's campaign] obviously think people should be looking at it a different way."

Workman, for example, heralds "three tax cuts" in the print and radio ads, without elaborating on when and what took place. Two were partial cuts in the amount of property-tax increases approved by the now-defunct County Commission. The mayor suggested the cuts in 2001 and the County Council, which along with the mayor replaced the commission form of government, approved them - although taxes still were raised.

The other cut, a 4 percent reduction in municipal-services property taxes, originally was pushed last fall by council Democrats and, in fact, was derided at the time by Workman's deputy mayor, Alan Dayton. The GOP-controlled County Council approved the tax cut during this summer's interim budget session.

"The mayor's [2004] budget did not recommend a reduction," Corroon said. "It was the Council that brought up [the third] tax cut."

Workman campaign manager Chris Bleak says the mayor is not trying to take away credit from others, but wants to show what has been done during her term. "We worry less about credit and more about what is getting done that's positive," Bleak said. Still, he added, "We stand behind our advertising and our message."

He added that Corroon has said that he will not be one of those "foolhardy" politicians who promise not to raise taxes in campaign speeches. Corroon has said his goal is not to raise taxes if elected.

"We are one of those politicians who does make that promise," Bleak said. "And we have backed that up. We have cut taxes."

Corroon also takes after Workman's newspaper ad that says she returned millions to residents. The $75 rebate going to households in the county's sanitation district has not been sent to homeowners yet, even though it was approved nine months ago. And Corroon charges that it was not the mayor who did it. Council Republicans suggested the rebate and the entire Council approved it.

In another point of contention, Corroon takes after a statement in Workman's newspaper ad and radio spot that says she formed the Unified Fire Authority, which recently took over the county's Fire Department. Corroon says that was a group effort by several city mayors, councils and County Council members. "There's more than one person putting it together," Corroon said.

Bleak says Corroon can't have it both ways. Corroon had said the mayor lacked leadership in losing a contract to provide police protection in Taylorsville, but also said Workman can't take credit for forming the fire authority.

"Peter Corroon has got to be consistent," Bleak said.

Bleak says the mayor should get credit for the sanitation rebates because she "runs that fund."

Last week, Bleak panned a Corroon fund-raising letter that said the county's general fund had grown by some $140 million since Workman took office. While technically correct, the letter did not explain that there were no tax increases during that time, and the higher budget number did not mean residents were paying more.

tburr@sltrib.com