So why is Salt Lake County Mayor Nancy Workman facing potential felony charges for tapping Health Department funds to pay for a worker at the South Valley Boys and Girls Club?

After all, the mayor repeatedly has said that she was "helping the kids" by paying a club accountant with public funds. Workman says she would gladly do it again.

Her motive was altruistic, she says, and there was no benefit to her or her daughter, Aisza Wilde, the club's chief financial officer.

"If the [district attorney] feels clerical errors or omissions in coming to the aid of this worthy charitable organization merit criminal charges, then I look forward to being exonerated in court," she said in a statement.

A panel of prosecutors disagrees. In their report, they say the mayor skirted rules regarding contributions to a nonprofit group. And while the result may be noble, the law says several procedures must be followed.

Prosecutors say the felonies are in the details.

Granting money to a private, nonprofit is allowed by law. In fact, the county annually gives millions to organizations that range from arts groups to tourism programs - all of which go through a stringent, public process.

But the bipartisan panel that screened the possible charges against Workman said the Republican mayor deceived her co-workers and used "calculated acts" to bypass safeguards meant to prevent abuse of taxpayer money.

The prosecutors, according to their report, said the mayor did not create a job description for the position, failed to establish a pay grade and did not hold a public hearing. The mayor never ran the position through a charitable-contribution review board, the panel said, and didn't get legal approval.

Additionally, the panel says the mayor misrepresented and omitted facts to her chief administrative officer, David Marshall, leading him to believe the two successive employees working at the Boys and Girls Club were doing Health Department tasks.

That's supported by evidence that the department created a workstation for the employee that never was occupied, prosecutors say.

They added that Workman also assumed the responsibility to supervise the employees and account for their hours, but "had no idea what the employees were doing." The mayor falsely certified the accuracy of the those records on a weekly basis, the prosecutors said, and she circumvented the rules by classifying two employees as in a Health Department position, which would not be "subject to scrutiny required for assistance to nonprofit organizations."

Workman denies there was anything criminal, but repeatedly has declared, "We did nothing wrong."

The Utah Supreme Court ruled in 1999 that a government agency can give money to a charity as long as it can show a specific public benefit to the government. For example, the county supports chambers of commerce as a way to boost economic development.

The court decision came out of a mid-1990s dispute between then-Salt Lake County Attorney Doug Short and county commissioners. (The three-person commission was replaced by the mayor-council form in 2001.)

Short took on the trio for donating government money to charities, saying the practice violated the law. The court later ruled he was right: The government had to specifically prove it received a benefit.

Now in private practice, Short says the danger of donating to charitable organizations is that if you give to one, another will want the same, and it turns into a mess of requests.

"My bias is, you shouldn't be doing it at all," Short said Wednesday. "It's quicksand."

Prosecutors say in their report that Workman wanted "to provide her daughter, Aisza, with assistance" at the Boys and Girls Club.

"Nancy Workman accomplished this objective by paying two employees over $17,000 in restricted Health Department funds. Neither employee ever completed a single Health Department task."

tburr@sltrib.com