Appointment of Yocom son defended

Democratic Salt Lake County District Attorney David Yocom has come under attack from Republicans, who say he swept sexual harassment allegations in the County Clerk's Office under the rug partly because of personal connections there — chiefly the fact that his son, Jason Yocom, is chief deputy clerk.

But Councilman Jim Bradley, for whom Jason worked as an administrative assistant, said David Yocom had nothing to do with his son attaining his current position.

"It was I who went to Jason and said, 'Have you ever considered that job?' " Bradley said. "He hadn't even thought about it."

County Clerk Sherrie Swensen said the two Yocoms have been — professionally, at least — completely separate from each other.

"I had four elections in the next seven months," Swensen said of Jason Yocom's hiring last March. "I filled that position with the best person, and I am appalled that they would even make an accusation (that his presence influenced the elder Yocom). He's qualified, he's experienced, he has a master's degree. . . . Not in my wildest imagination could I have ever dreamed that they could have concocted something like this."

• Independent Salt Lake County mayoral candidate Merrill Cook said Tuesday the Nancy Workman and Nick Floros controversies show the county mayor and district attorney offices should be nonpartisan.

"The entire morass proves the central point my candidacy has been making from the very beginning," he said. "The allegations against Workman need to be decided in court on the merits, free of partisan politics. Also, a credible allegation of sexual harassment in the County Clerk's Office should never be swept under the rug. I have no idea whether this particular allegation is credible or not. The point is, if these offices were nonpartisan, then no one could make the claim that this is 'all just politics.' "

• Responding to allegations from special prosecutor Mike Martinez that Workman has tainted her jury pool through political advertisements, the Workman campaign issued a press release saying Yocom has also saturated the airwaves.

"Yocom, with a series of universally covered press conferences, interviews and statements, has generated the equivalent of up to $1.5 million in free media," the statement read.

"He has stated repeatedly that Mayor Workman is guilty of a crime," campaign manager Chris Bleak said. "To say that our little 30-second ads are 'polluting' the jury pool is laughable."

• Things in the Workman trial are moving along. Subpoenas have been given to several county employees requiring that they give evidence, presumably in the preliminary hearing currently scheduled for Oct. 4.