Harassment report is at crux of fray

The Salt Lake County Council is having a hard time deciding whether to release a controversial report on alleged sexual harassment in the clerk's office.

In fact, with potential release of the report having become a political hot potato, council members are having a hard time deciding whether they even want to decide.

Several complications — including some undisguised rancor among a few council members — arose during a meeting Tuesday that may result in the council simply letting a court settle the matter.

Take Councilman Joe Hatch, who, in the middle of the meeting, abruptly said he would not participate in the process and walked out.

Hatch had earlier supported the district attorney's motion to disqualify, not himself, but councilmen Steve Harmsen and Russell Skousen, who have refused to remove themselves.

"I hate it," Hatch said of the process. "I really dislike what my two colleagues (Harmsen and Skousen) are doing. I really dislike what the Deseret News is doing in this case — they claim to be the PG paper in an R-rated world, and now they want something triple-X. It's a game they're playing. It's political."

Skousen agreed the process has become "unnecessarily political," but said it has come from all sides.

The Deseret Morning News is seeking the report in part because it may shed light on allegations that alleged harassment by the then-chief deputy clerk was generally known but little was done to stop it.

The report was the result of an investigation into the matter.

The issue has reached the council after three administrative appeals and several weeks of maneuvering. While the Deseret Morning News has not indicated whether it will appeal a decision denying access, deputy district attorney Valerie Wilde said she would appeal any decision giving access — and in fact would go to court to keep council members themselves from seeing the report.

Since Deseret Morning News attorney Jeffrey Hunt maintains council members can't make a decision without seeing the report, that means the issue of access for council members alone could well go to court even before the council reaches a decision. What's more, the ostensibly salacious nature of at least part of the report, rising emotions among all involved and other influences have council members thinking they might want to just take a pass.