So come this June, the Salt Lake County councilman plans to present an ordinance prohibiting nepotism in the ranks of the county's work force.

"The county is a public agency," he said Monday. "People shouldn't be getting favors. Even temps should be given access to those jobs."

Crockett's cry comes amid a chorus of hiring allegations. Criminal investigations have been launched into the lack of oversight at the personnel department as well as corners cut at the clerk's office.

Few dispute the county's widespread practice of hiring friends and family. And it's not illegal as long as employees do not directly supervise family members. But Crockett, who sits on an ethics subcommittee with university professors and a judge, wants a blanket ban on family hiring family.

Right now, the favors most frequently involve seasonal or temporary employees - usually county workers' children looking for summer jobs. Most are students hired at low wages with few benefits and a limit on how many hours they can work.

"Basically, all of them know somebody here," said County Recorder Gary Ott, who defends the hiring of his deputy's two nieces last summer. "They can get us through a hard spot when we're super busy."

Most of the work involves filing and research but can be as basic as yanking staples so documents can be scanned. Current county policy permits the divisions to dodge the normal personnel procedures and directly hire temps.

That allowed former Community Services Director Leslie Reberg to hire a BYU student - the daughter of her former US West boss - for four consecutive summers. Reberg also defends the practice, saying it is not cost-effective for the county to advertise such posts.

"You hire someone you know because you know their competencies and skill sets," she said. "I derive no personal benefit at all."

Reberg went on to defend her past employment in the clerk's office, which was questioned in a report by attorney James Morton that addresses hiring abuses and retaliation in county government.

"It was a position that was open that I qualified for," said Reberg, who criticized the Morton report for failing to clarify her circumstance as an exempt employee.

County Clerk Sherrie Swensen also defends Reberg, saying that after 10 years as a merit employee "she would have been qualified to bump into pretty much any position."

Reberg, who left the county during the recent change in administration, is Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr.'s nominee to become new director of the Committee of Consumer Services.

Meanwhile, Crockett hopes favoritism at the county will become a thing of the past, even if it means shelling out more to temp agencies. "Clearly, people have been given that [hiring] flexibility at the county," he said. "Going forward, [employees] shouldn't be able to hire or be involved in the hiring."