City Attorney Ed Rutan issued a statement Thursday that says he gave Anderson the "green light on [Turin] expenses" before the mayor made the trek in July to the next Winter Olympic host city.

The statement is coming late in the controversy - a week after the Salt Lake County Republican Party requested that the district attorney launch a criminal investigation of Anderson and two days after the leader of the county Democratic Party agreed an investigation is warranted.

Rutan noted the delay, saying he was out of the state on vacation. He also pointed out that he issued the statement on his own. "I felt that the fact that the administration had sought legal advice from our office before proceeding was a fact that the public should know."

Rutan couldn't be reached late Thursday.

Anderson's spokesman, Duncan Moench, said Rutan's statement shows an investigation isn't needed. "It was needless from the start."

James Evans, head of the county GOP party, has alleged the mayor misused taxpayer funds because Anderson brought his friends and his girlfriend on the trip and the city reimbursed some of their expenses with private donations. No public money is expected to cover the trip's $136,000 tab. Rutan said the reimbursements of the noncity employees was legal - Anderson considered them to be city ambassadors - and Rutan cited the state's Volunteer Government Workers Act.

Those who are calling for a probe aren't satisfied. Lohra Miller, a public prosecutor who plans to run for district attorney, said that statute doesn't apply. The act defines volunteers as government employees for purposes of workers' compensation and liability protection, she noted. "It's not to justify an opportunity to take friends and family and then designate them as volunteers."