A mysterious advertisement in Park City's newspaper accuses Summit County officials of corruption and refers to a Web site that alleges millions of dollars in public monies are being hidden from public view.
Curiously, the ad's authorship remains unclear and the Web site's creators are anonymous.
The ad in The Park Record, along with comments on www.oursummitcounty.org, are causing a stir in an election year when Summit County voters will select five County Council members to replace the current three-member County Commission.
"Entire multimillion-dollar funds that are known to exist, are not included in fiscal reports," the Web site claims. "We issue a call for full disclosure of county documents by Summit County officials."
Commissioner Sally Elliott - who is running for a seat on the new council - called the ad and site bogus. The notion that Summit County is hiding millions of dollars is "false" and "ridiculous," she said.
Elliott noted that a recent independent financial audit gave Summit County a clean bill of health.
The identities of the site's author and the newspaper ad buyer, remains murky.
The ad says it was purchased by Robert Benidetto. But Thursday, Park Record Publisher Andy Bernhard said he could not confirm whether Benidetto purchased the ad or even if such a person exists.
"The ad was purchased by an agency, cash in advance," he said. "Benidetto never came in here."
The Web site domain was registered through BlueHost.com in Orem. A BlueHost spokesperson said Thursday the company is not at liberty to disclose its client's identity.
Meanwhile, Elliott said nobody knows who Benidetto is. He is not listed on county voter roles, either, she said.
Attempts by The Salt Lake Tribune on Thursday to locate Robert Benidetto were not successful. There is no telephone listing for anyone with that name in Summit County or anywhere in northern Utah.
Although the Web site offers no clue as to its publisher, it urges "transparency" in Summit County government. It notes that oursummitcounty.org is something of a "new kind of town hall" and "a homecoming for all of us."
Interestingly, the Web site speaks in planning jargon and refers to "TDRs," a term relating to the transfer of building density from one location to another. It claims that only certain developers are granted TDRs, while others are treated unfairly.
Commissioner Elliott and Summit County Attorney David Brickey speculate the ad and Web site could be connected to a developer who recently was denied a zone change for a large project.
