Workman status up in air
If mayor is charged, policy says she can't carry on her duties
But soon, she may not be able to do even that.
According to Utah law, any county elected official who is charged with a felony must go on paid administrative leave until the matter comes to a complete conclusion — in the words of the statute, "until a court of competent jurisdiction disposes of the charges."
That would place Workman in the position of being paid her county salary, and running for re-election, but being prevented from carrying out the very duties she hopes to carry out over the next four years.
Mayoral spokesman Ted Phillips on Tuesday declined comment on the possibility and consequences of felony charges, citing the ongoing investigation.
District Attorney David Yocom said he plans to place the evidence obtained in his investigation before an independent panel of his counterparts from Weber, Davis, Summit and Utah counties by the end of this week or early next week. The panel will decide whether to charge Workman and, if so, what to charge her with.
If the panel opts to charge Workman with misuse of public money, the charge would become a felony at $5,000.
Workman conceded last week she may not have followed the proper steps when hiring the employees, who worked for her daughter, Aisza, at the South Valley Boys and Girls Club. But, like Salt Lake County Council vice chairman Russell Skousen, she said it was a simple procedural matter she would be happy to correct.
"We probably didn't dot some i's and cross some t's," she said. "We did the right thing; we just didn't follow the correct procedure. . . . These allegations going around about serious wrongdoing" will prove to be unfounded.
Republican Workman and her staff maintain that Democrat Yocom is pursuing the investigation for political reasons and that, while some procedures may not have been followed, he is making more of it than is merited.
Yocom maintains he is simply following up on a whistle-blower complaint that has blossomed into an inquiry into the mayor's actions.
The County Council would be the body to place Workman on leave (and perhaps hire someone to temporarily carry out her duties). Skousen, who maintains the investigation is primarily a political vendetta, said things would be at a sorry pass should the matter go that far.
"To even be talking about criminal charges" is farther than the matter should have proceeded, he said. Instead of an investigation, "typically we would handle this by just looking into it and correcting the problem."
Skousen cited what he believes to be a similar situation in the late 1990s between then-county attorney Doug Short and the County Commission. That resulted in a series of civil lawsuits, but nothing criminal.
Democratic Councilman Joe Hatch noted that the panel members (two members of which are Republican, two Democrat), not Yocom, would be the ones to decide the charges.
"My genuine hope is that the investigation would (conclude) that there was nothing wrong, and if there was something wrong it would not be criminal. . . . It would put the county in a very, very bad position," he said. "I hope it doesn't happen."
E-mail: aedwards@desnews.com
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