Councilmen voted Tuesday to have acting Mayor Alan Dayton draft detailed ethics ordinances mirroring several suggested reforms. He would:

l Require lobbyists to register.

l Open the mayor's Cabinet meetings to the public.

l Cap campaign contributions by individuals to $10,000 for countywide races and $2,000 for council district races.

l Prohibit campaign contributions from county contractors and from county employees - which conflicts with state law.

l Require donors who give $500 or more to disclose their employer or occupation.

l Prohibit cars and car allowances as benefits of employment.

l Require employees to be trained in ethics and take an ethics oath.

Dayton, who was appointed mayor when Nancy Workman had to step aside after being charged with two felonies for allegedly misusing public money, said at least one Democrat on the nine-member council must agree to some of the proposals.

Because there are only three Democrats on the council, they can be outvoted.

Democrats had balked at the plan last week, saying the ethics debate was timed to help Republicans during the upcoming election.

Tuesday's discussion was still tense, with Democrat Joe Hatch suggesting that if the council had passed a stronger campaign-finance law last year, some of the county's current scandals could have been avoided. He pointed to a list of contributors who have given to Workman even after she was charged with felonies as proof the campaign finance process "is nothing other than buying influence."

But Republican Michael Jensen disagreed.

"I cannot fathom if we would have had a different campaign ordinance that . . . Nancy's situation would be different."

Some of the proposed ethics reforms have been dropped from discussion, including the implementation of a nepotism policy and hiring of an ethics commissioner.

hmay@sltrib.com