But nothing was passed by the Republican-dominated County Council requiring the former Republican mayor to open up her meetings. In fact, the Republican council members were once caught, Wilde included, holding their own private meeting in a Salt Lake City restaurant to discuss official matters.

Here are other examples of the rules applied to Democrats and Republicans:

l When Democrat Bill Clinton was president, Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch co-sponsored a balanced budget amendment, supported by fellow Republican Sen. Bob Bennett. But now that Republican President George W. Bush is running the largest deficits in history, Hatch and Bennett have backed off that cause. Bennett even told The Salt Lake Tribune editorial board a few months ago that deficits are fine.

l When Clinton was president and Hatch was chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Hatch was accused of holding up Clinton's judicial appointments for partisan reasons, helping to create a dangerous shortage of judges in the federal courts. Hatch justified his actions, but since Bush has been president, Hatch has chastised the Democrats for using delay tactics in confirming the president's appointments, calling them petty partisan politics.

l When Colorado Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell switched from the Democratic to the Republican Party in 1995, Hatch, wearing a beaded Navajo tie, joined the throngs of Republicans praising Campbell, an American Indian, for his courage and principles. But when Vermont Sen. James Jeffords switched from a Republican to an independent in 2001, giving the Democrats the advantage in the Senate, Hatch said: "Many feel what he did was selfish and inconsiderate. My personal belief is that he should have stuck with the people who got him there."

l Several Utah Republicans have called for an investigation of the "Truth in Politics" PAC that unfairly accused several GOP officeholders of wrongdoing last fall. But the Republicans didn't bat an eye over a mysterious mailer from the "Defense of Family" PAC several years ago that made ugly insinuations about Democratic legislative candidate Jackie Biskupski, who is openly gay. The source of that PAC was hazy until the following January, when filings revealed its backers were conservative icon Gayle Ruzicka and then-GOP Rep. Katherine Bryson.

l Conservative mouthpiece Sean Hannity blasted Democrats for questioning President Bush's plans to invade Iraq in 2003, stating they should not take "partisan cheap shots" when the president is "leading men and women into harm's way." But Hannity in 1999 said of President Clinton's Kosovo raids: "I don't think Clinton has the moral authority or ability to fight this war correctly." (Hannity's quotes and the dates they were uttered were taken from Al Franken's book Lies And the Lying Liars Who Tell Them.)

l When the student council agreed to pay liberal filmmaker Michael Moore $40,000 to speak at Utah Valley State College in Orem, there were attempts to impeach the council's leaders. But when the college paid former first lady Barbara Bush the same amount to speak several years ago, there was nary a peep of protest, even though the audience for Mrs. Bush's speech was less than half that of Moore's.