"This is like a mass funeral," someone opined, though, with all the milling about in the cavernous County Council chambers, it was impossible to tell who it was.
It felt a little funereal, all right, in that way anyone who has made final arrangements for the dead knows. A little frozen yet knowing there is required work at hand, you go through the necessary motions and get the job done.
Everyone did look a little ashen, including, earlier, District Attorney David Yocom. He didn't seem to take pleasure in announcing charges against Workman in the bizarre scheme she allegedly hatched, which she keeps saying was "for the kids" at the South Valley Boys and Girls Club. The facts are boilerplate now: Workman allegedly hired and paid two employees a combined $17,000 - siphoned from the health department - to help her daughter, the club's chief financial officer. The two never did a lick of work for the county, even though the mayor signed their time cards.
Yocom characterized it as a "unique arrangement," flowing along undetected for more than a year. The Utah Code calls it two felony counts of "misusing public monies." But if it's true, most know it for what it is: Stealing. Ripping off a sacred trust - a fund provided by taxpayers to maintain and promote public health.
And if it was merely a "procedural error," as Workman says, our mayor is just plain dumb.
Anyhow, there was just one problem with the funeral analogy. Most funerals include a powerfully optimistic send-off for the departed.
The warm fuzzies for Workman - especially from her own party - were hard to find.
Workman's best buddies were tripping to distance themselves from the newly named criminal suspect. Precious little praise for the mayor spilled out, and most comments were eerily neutral.
Democratic Councilman Randy Horiuchi, a political adversary but longtime pal of the mayor, called it "the saddest day" in 12 years of his county service. Then he trundled on with what amounted to a verbal punch in the arm for the county. "This government is performing at a better rate and with better productivity than ever before."
Republican Russell Skousen said recent events provided a "gut check" for all elected officials. "No political party is immune from individuals who will abuse their power."
He said this in response to Democrat Jim Bradley, who chided the GOP for its perennial lock on political power in the state. A virtual one-party system has bred "a culture of entitlement by those who have been elected and appointed," Bradley said.
One by one they scurried from the woman whom high-profile Republicans were strenuously defending just five weeks ago. Back then, Yocom tried to avoid the taint of partisanship tossed at him by appointing the bipartisan panel of district attorneys that led the probe resulting in Tuesday's charges. State GOP Chairman Joe Cannon likened Yocom to red-baiting Sen. Joe McCarthy, a charge Cannon is now dancing around. Cannon was flanked by Republican County Councilmen Steve Harmsen, Skousen and former 2nd District Rep. Enid Greene.
But that was then. There are only 53 days until the election. Gotta bury a carcass and move on.
hmullen@sltrib.com
