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SALT LAKE CITY — Two days after Gary Ott was last re-elected as Salt Lake County recorder, Karmen Sanone was hired to work for him as one of his top administrators.
Sanone had just finished helping him manage his campaign and appeared in his stead multiple times during campaign events. Years earlier, she helped Ott manage his 2010 campaign.
Yet Ott’s relationship with Sanone appears to be more than just political or professional. Sanone has been identified as Ott’s fiancée, girlfriend or wife in court documents, police reports, social media posts and personal conversations.
Neither Ott nor Sanone will discuss their relationship, but reports about them are prompting Salt Lake County officials to take a new look at the county’s nepotism ordinance, a law designed to avoid unethical working relationships among employees.
The current nepotism ordinance prohibits employees from supervising a “relative or household member.” It doesn’t address romantic relationships unless the employees are married or have lived together for an entire year.
Questions are being raised about whether Ott lives with Sanone in North Ogden after Ott told a police officer he lives with her, according to newly-released video from an officer’s body camera.
Ott owns a home in Salt Lake City, the residence that roots him to the county he was elected to represent. But if Ott has shifted his primary residence outside of the county, such action could remove him from the seat he’s held for more than 15 years.
Such issues add to a cloud of concerns looming over the county recorder’s office since a Deseret News investigation in February questioned whether Ott is suffering from health concerns that may be preventing him from doing his job. Some county employees have also alleged that Sanone and Ott’s chief deputy are running the office and covering for him and his condition.
Read the full story at deseretnews.com.
Contributing: Ladd Egan
