This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Growing concerns about Salt Lake County Recorder Gary Ott's cognitive abilities and mental health were revealed in a Salt Lake Tribune report Wednesday.
It recounted an incident in which a confused and incoherent Ott was discovered near his disabled car, other times when county employees noticed behavior at the Salt Lake County Government Center that raised alarms and at last November's budget hearings when Ott's chief deputy, Julie Dole, fielded all of the County Council's questions about the recorder's office.
Here is the rest of the story.
Ott's aides and campaign officials shielded him from the public when he ran for re-election in 2014, raising questions that the Republican Party knew of developing cognitive problems but kept it secret so he could win another term.
Ott did not appear at numerous debates or candidate joint appearances with his Democratic opponent, Mary Bishop. He was replaced with surrogates — usually Dole or his office assistant, Karmen Sanone.
If Ott resigns because of health issues before January 2018, the county would have to hold a special election, with Republicans and Democrats filing for the job, because the departure would occur before half his six-year term is filled.
If he holds on until January 2018, the replacement process changes. His successor would be chosen by Republican delegates to finish the term without having to go through a regular election.
—
Win some, lose some • The Utah Eagle Forum, that conservative guardian of moral values, had an interesting couple of days recently at the Legislature.
Representatives of the group testified against HB264 — the death-with-dignity bill — sponsored by Rep. Rebecca Chavez-Houck, R-Salt Lake City, during the House Health and Human Services Committee meeting Feb. 25. That measure would have allowed terminally ill and suffering patients to obtain medications needed, through heavily regulated means, to end their lives.
Two days earlier, the Eagle Forum testified against SB189 during a hearing in the Senate Judiciary, Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Committee. That bill, sponsored by Sen. Steve Urquhart, R-St. George, would end the death penalty in Utah.
Chavez-Houck's proposal died in committee — a win for the Eagle Forum's drive to preserve life, no matter how painful that life might be.
Urquhart's measure passed the Senate and is now in the House — a loss for the Eagle Forum's effort to end life amid arguments that the death penalty is arbitrary, costly and, if the executed prisoner is innocent, painfully irreversible.
—
Utah in the spotlight • While Utah favorite son Mitt Romney used a Salt Lake City stage Thursday to blast Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump as a "phony and a fraud," bringing national attention to the 2012 GOP nominee's adopted home state, two other less-publicized stories put a somewhat-tainted spotlight on the Beehive State.
The Daily Beast reported Thursday that U.S. Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, is secretly putting a hold on legislation that would give federal aid to help the infrastructures of cities such as Flint, Mich., where the decision to use a cheaper water supply led to lead poisoning of its residents.
One of the Senate's quirky rules allows one senator to block a bill by putting a hold on it. Michigan health officials have said the longer the problem with the water system lasts, more children will suffer lead poisoning and its serious aftereffects.
The Daily Beast said Lee's hold appears to be on philosophical grounds that the federal government shouldn't get involved in local projects.
Several Republican senators considered placing holds on the bipartisan legislation, but all dropped the idea, except Lee.
In addition, Donald Trump Jr., one of the front-runner's sons, appeared on a Utah-based radio program Tuesday with a white supremacist, according to a Reuters story. The younger Trump, who is campaigning for his father, did an interview on "Liberty Roundtable," a conservative show hosted by Sam Bushman.
He was interviewed by James Edwards, another radio host who has been tagged by the Southern Poverty Law Center as "racist and anti-Semitic." The show, according to Reuters, has featured such extremists as former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke and Holocaust denier Willis Carto.