The county in general — not just Ott's and Swensen's offices — has a history of hiring family members and friends, finding positions for people who are terminated through a change in administration or dissatisfaction with their current job or whatever. Various county officials — a frequently cited example is District Attorney David Yocom, whose wife and son have worked for Swensen, but he's far from the only one — have relatives working in county government. If they are qualified, no regulation prohibits it.

Nevertheless, the County Council has recognized that hiring relatives and friends can be interpreted as — and on occasion is — showing favoritism to people with personal connections. The council recently changed county policy to discourage — though not prohibit — such practices.

"The county almost encouraged hiring families before that," Ott said.

In attempt to stem the tide of allegations and controversy, Mayor Peter Corroon said he's going through hiring and other policies with a fine-tooth comb to eliminate practices that, while not technically illegal, are subject to abuse. In addition, investigations are under way regarding hiring practices, tuition assistance program abuses, time-sheet manipulation and, depending on what whistle-blowers come up with, other things.

"We'll have those investigations detailed and planned and going next week," Willmore said. "The auditor and DA (district attorney) are doing their thing as well."

Willmore has received various complaints over the past few days, some of which are credible and others not.

"I got a guy who called and said, 'Felix hosed me' when he applied for such-and-such a job. That's a direct quote. He doesn't even work in the county. We'll probably discard those — well, I'll probably call them back and see if there's anything. Spend five minutes on it."

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