Prominent friends and associates of Workman said late Monday that the first-term Republican mayor, who earlier this year appeared ready to coast to re-election, will quit the race after facing apparently insurmountable odds, mostly caused by a series of scandals and two felony charges of misuse of public money.
Neither Workman nor her campaign returned several calls for comment late Monday.
But sources close to the mayor said she would submit a letter to Salt Lake County Clerk Sherrie Swensen today withdrawing from the four-way race. The County Republican Party had pulled its support from Workman last week after polls showed her at less than 20 percent only four weeks from Election Day.
Workman's departure certainly would help write-in candidate Ellis Ivory, who has received the Republicans' backing.
Ivory said Monday that he was in "total shock" and vowed to continue his write-in campaign no matter Workman's status.
"Everything I'm doing, I'm going to continue to do," Ivory said.
Race front-runner, Democrat Peter Corroon, said he was "disappointed and surprised."
"The mayor said all along that she'd stay in the race," Corroon said. "Politics should be about one's word."
Workman had issued a defiant statement last week - on the same day the county GOP pulled its support - saying she was not a quitter and would not withdraw even if her own party dropped its backing.
"To back down now would go against everything I have ever stood for in my personal, professional and political life," the mayor wrote.
But things have changed.
Ivory, now with the party's backing, plans to mount a sweeping campaign, spending up to $400,000 of his own money. Workman's presence in the four-way race could help Corroon, as Workman, Ivory and independent Merrill Cook, a former GOP congressman, could have split the conservative vote.
Workman's withdrawal could propel Ivory to victory in a mostly GOP county. A Deseret Morning News/KSL poll last week put Ivory in a statistical tie with Corroon, with Ivory at 32 percent and Corroon at 34 percent. Workman had 10 percent of those surveyed. Though the write-in faces a challenge of getting voters to pencil him in (or place a sticker with his name on the ballot), Workman's withdrawal would certainly give him a boost.
Ivory late Monday said that doesn't change a thing. "We're running a write-in campaign; that's what I intend to do," he said.
Workman's name would remain on ballots, which already are printed, unless she asks to be removed. In that case, election workers would have to black out or cover up her name. She can only be replaced on the ballot at this point if certified by a doctor as medically or physically unable to serve.
The mayor was charged in September with second- and third-degree felonies alleging misuse of public money after a panel of prosecutors found that there was "sufficient credible evidence" to support the charges. The prosecutors allege that Workman skirted the law to tap Health Department funds to hire two successive bookkeepers at the South Valley Boys and Girls Clubs, where the mayor's daughter, Aisza Wilde, was chief financial officer.
The mayor, who has been placed on paid leave, denies any criminal wrongdoing and says she was only trying to help the kids at the club.
Workman has said repeatedly that she is the victim of a political vendetta by Democratic District Attorney David Yocom, a constant foe in her administration. She said in her statement last week that even if her party backed someone else, she was standing up for herself.
"I recognize that many will question my decision from a political standpoint," Workman said then. "My decision is not about politics, polls, opinions or even final vote counts. My decision is about my reputation and the good name of my family."
tburr@sltrib.com
