Now, as his four-month stint in charge - following embattled Mayor Nancy Workman - winds to a close, Dayton reflects on the four "toughest years of my life."

In excerpts from a sweeping interview with The Salt Lake Tribune, Dayton discusses a range of issues - personal, professional, political - from the joy of meeting his wife to feeling like a character in Al Pacino's "Scarface" ("There's a lot of us with bullet holes to prove it," Dayton says):

Is there a particular occurrence that told you things in Salt Lake County government were going wrong?

This past year, basically everything all year went wrong. This is really tough because I don't want to be critical. I don't want to appear as though I'm the armchair quarterback who didn't properly raise concerns at an earlier date by now bringing up these obvious concerns. Internally, within the office there has always been a tension over management style and focus and priorities. But the bottom line was, Nancy Workman was the boss. She was in office because of her success and, ultimately, it was her decisions that we had to abide by. Whether we liked them or not or whether we disagreed or not. We tried to have our disagreements in private, and we would try to do the best we could under the rules that were established and go forward.

When did your relationship begin to wear down? Was it before any scandals became public?

Any relationship with a boss has its ups and downs. And I think it's fair to say ours had ups and downs the whole four years. And there were a couple of downs that were significant. I wouldn't say that our relationship broke down, but it wasn't easy. It was tough. I would say it's been the four toughest years of my life. As far as the work demands, the unique pressures of the position, the changing of the government, the office dynamic and working under Nancy [as deputy mayor] - it was all tough.

Do you think Workman has a legacy? If so, what is it?

Unfortunately, I think people are often remembered by the worst chapter of their lives, and I think that's unfair. I wish and I hope that Nancy will be remembered also for the very good things she's done. She did take over an incredible responsibility that no man was willing to take on. . . . And she ran against a really good candidate. I think [Democrat] Karen Crompton was a really sharp, solid candidate. It wasn't like Nancy won on a fluke. She had to work and she had to earn it. . . . When she got into this race, all the men, all the big, tough Republican men ran to hide because they thought it would be too tough to be county mayor. Or it's not prestigious enough for me. Or let's see what happens and maybe I'll do it if the little lady can do it. And she was not afraid at all.

Regarding Nancy's legacy, on the positive side are two accomplishments: First, she made "no new taxes" so common that it ultimately became not worth mentioning anymore. Second, she established the integrity of the executive-legislative distinction. And I believe this government could have easily degenerated from the council-mayor form to the commission-secretary form. She prevented this from happening and did so without ever attacking the council [members] or their personal assistants. And I believe that the possibility of distorting the form of government was a real risk. As a pioneer of this form of government, Cache County screwed theirs up because their first mayor was a weakling. He apparently acted like the secretary to the council instead of the executive of the county. But then this can go too far and this, of course, is what her critics say - that she was the imperial mayor, that the people were her subjects and that she had staff who were her servants.

Regarding staff, most of them were super-qualified. And Nancy had an interesting mix. On the one hand, you had people like Leslie Reberg -very smart, probably the best manager we had, but also someone who was sadly underutilized by Nancy. I think this was because Leslie wasn't Republican. Then, on the other hand, you had people like Gerrie Shaw, who was the most powerful and important person to Nancy. When I think of Nancy and Gerrie I think of that last scene in "Scarface," where Al Pacino says, "Say hello to my little friend," and then pulls out a 50-caliber machine gun and mows everybody down. While that's not exactly what anyone would have in mind for a "little friend," there's a lot of us with bullet holes to prove it.

Is there an event over the last four years that stands out? That will remain in your memory?

[Laughs] There's a whole lot of events that I don't even dare bring up. Funny events, sad events. And it's true, I've had my "I quit" fantasies over the four years. But I want to think about this experience in the best possible light. It was really pretty exciting for the most part. I made a lot of friends. The best thing about being here was, of course, this is where I met my wife. So that obviously worked out well.

Do you still feel loyalty to Nancy Workman?

Yes, I do. I feel like she gave me a great opportunity. She placed a lot of trust in me. I tried to serve her my very best. And even after she's been gone, I've tried to be careful in what I've said about her, and I've been careful with the employees that she left behind. I'll freely admit a lot of these employees, I would not hire. Not because they're bad, not because they can't do the job, but because they're not the kind of people I would hire. I would hire different people to serve my management style and my personality. Out of respect for her, I didn't just kick everybody out to the curb and bring on new people to help me these past few months.

Describe being appointed deputy mayor.

She called me up to her house the morning after the election. She knew that I had been involved in the drafting of the county's new constitution, which changed the form [of government]. So it was kind of a unique experience for me. In 1997 and '98, I was intimately involved in the drafting of the constitution and then it was approved. Then we had this campaign in 2000 and she wins. And all of the sudden, one of the positions we had put in the plan, deputy mayor, was being offered to me. I never would have imagined that. It seemed like a fun opportunity and I thought to myself I'd give it a shot, and that's how I ended up there.

Has this experience whetted your appetite for running for public office?

Not necessarily. To some extent, it's made me less interested in it. But, at the same time, the past few months I've realized how much good can be done if given the opportunity. Some of the experience over the past year has been very negative and made me not at all interested. I can tell you this: looking at what we've been able to do in four or five months, if we had at least a year, we could probably radically change the whole nature of county government.

How do you explain the seemingly Democratic shift in the county, and do you think it will continue?

I'm not sure if it will continue, but I think the Democratic shift within the county government is an obvious consequence of the scandals of this year. I think that's entirely appropriate. If something breaks down on one party's watch, the other party should benefit from it. And that's a good, healthy process. I think that Salt Lake County is going to be a swing [county] for the foreseeable future, and I think we have our red and blue zones as it is within the precincts. If you look at a map, you'll see it. It's kind of a north versus south almost.

What would be your advice for Mayor-elect Peter Corroon?

I would advise him to be modest and hire smart people. Be modest, cautious and probably spend as much time as he can outside of the office working with city mayors and the citizens. It's a big county. There are a lot of people to meet with. But he's got to get out there. I think that's a real high priority. He ought not ever let himself get caught up in the [perks] of being county mayor and the importance that might entail. Just be modest about it.

Will you run against Corroon for county mayor in 2008?

[Laughs] People have asked me that. And the best answer to that is, "absolutely not." I can't see myself running against him. I guess, in part, because I kind of like the guy. He's handled this quite well. He handled the campaign very well. A lot of people told him to take the gloves off and really slug away at Workman and I don't think he ever did. . . . I was really flattered when he talked to me about staying on. . . . He is almost the perfect personality for what the county government needs right now.

Is the county better off than it was four years ago?

Yes, it is. . . . Here we are today. The budget's in good shape. Everything is running fairly smooth. The employees are happy. Most of the public is fairly contented. The problems surrounding Nancy Workman are, in reality, quite isolated to Nancy Workman. And they're problems that will be resolved in a court of law. That's more about Nancy and less about the county. . . . Government is best when the best people are running it. Jesus could run a really poor form of government and it would be an awesome government. But you could get a bunch of idiots running a perfect form and it would be a terrible government. It's all about the people more than the form.

djensen@sltrib.com