Workman, daughter are probe targets

Salt Lake County District Attorney David Yocom has launched an investigation into county hiring practices that targets, in part, county Mayor Nancy Workman.

The matter involves the mayor's daughter, Aisza Workman, and couldn't come at a worse time for the Workmans — Aisza is getting married today.

"Tomorrow's my daughter's wedding, and it's an election year," Workman said Thursday. "I think it's politics at its worst."

This investigation, unrelated to Yocom's ongoing investigation into the "guzzlegate" scandal, involves the hiring of two employees at the Murray-based Boys & Girls Club of South Valley where Aisza Workman (whose first name is pronounced "Asia") is employed as chief financial officer and director of development.

The employees — one of whom was hired a year to 18 months ago, with the other being hired last fall when the first one moved out of state — both reported to Aisza Workman. The position was funded jointly by the club, for accounting and financial duties, and by the county, ostensibly as a liaison with minorities and others to help them gain access to county services.

Both the club's administration and the mayor's office are in an uproar over the matter, not only because it could turn out to be serious for the mayor but because the timing is so close to the wedding date. Yocom's investigators began interviewing people Tuesday.

Others also questioned Democrat Yocom's motivations. Workman is a Republican.

"If there were policies that weren't followed, it's his duty to make sure they are," one employee said. "But he's getting some political (gain) out of it, too."

Aisza Workman said an investigator told her Thursday he plans to criminally charge her for obstruction of justice because he believes she lied to him. It is also possible, though probably unlikely, that she won't be permitted to leave for Indonesia and Thailand Sunday on her planned three-week honeymoon.

"I may walk out of the temple and get handcuffed," she said.

Citing standard procedure, Yocom declined comment on the status of the investigation, even declining to confirm whether it is under way. Several people in the county and the mayor's office, however, have been interviewed, though Workman herself has not been interviewed as yet.