Elections aren’t over this month. There’s still one more for Salt Lake County Recorder. The Salt Lake County Republican Party Central Committee will elect an interim recorder on Thursday to fill the role until the next general election. Julie Dole, who was former-Recorder Gary Ott’s chief deputy recorder, is a candidate, and also a lesson of how not to run an effective campaign. To put it mildly, she is off the rails.

I was committed to staying out of this race. I have a history with Dole working together in the Salt Lake County GOP. I’ve enjoyed delicious, warm, homemade bread in her kitchen. I hate what she did to the county recorder’s office, but didn’t care enough about her future in the office to stick my nose in it.

That was before she used my picture and six-year-old endorsement from a 2011 county party chair election to imply that I endorse her now. I do not. And neither do the 20 other people from whom she also used old endorsements, with their names and pictures centered prominently on her political page.

Utah law prohibits a candidate from including “the name of any person as endorser or supporter in any political advertisement, circular, poster, or publication without the express consent of that person.” The Utah Elections Office sent a letter to Dole demanding that she remove the posts. She refused to comply. The Salt Lake County Attorney’s Office is currently sitting on the issue. It’s not like it’s time-sensitive or anything.

Many of the people Dole posted fake endorsements from have demanded that she remove the posts, myself included. She has not complied. She wrote a post days after the false endorsements went live, titled a “Disclaimer,” and stated the quotes and photos she published in no way implied an endorsement. The average Facebook reader could easily assume an endorsement, though. Most people quickly scan through Facebook posts, looking at pictures and barely, if at all, reading the accompanied text. Dole intended to imply endorsement, or, charitably, cause confusion. Feigned innocence now rings hollow.

Interestingly, in the text of each post she included the line, “What’s changed?” Apparently she meant to suggest that if people liked her then, they should like her now.

Well, a lot has changed.

First, there’s evidence that she knew Gary Ott was sick and too mentally incompetent to run the Recorder’s office. She strung taxpayers along as Ott’s condition worsened and he became unable, if he ever was able, to perform his duties.



Al Hartmann | The Salt Lake Tribune Salt Lake County County Recorder Gary Ott sits with his chief deputy Julie Dole before the Salt Lake County Council's findings of the County Auditor's performance audit of his office Tuesday Oct. 4. He often had to turn to his chief deputy Julie Dole, left, to clarify questions.

Dole ran Ott’s campaign, and deftly hid him from most campaign events. After the election, Ott appointed her to be his chief deputy, at least we think he did. The state auditor found no written evidence that Ott ever made the appointment.

Dole proceeded to take over the office and run it without Ott’s supervision or even participation. She had access to his email, took over his laptop and generally made excuses for his unexplained absences. Her purpose was to protect her job, and she did.

A Unified Police Department deputy chief said Dole and Karmen Sanone, Ott’s girlfriend who was hired as an office employee “were manipulating” Ott in an elaborate “smoke and mirrors” arrangement. That’s not the kind of person we want as an elected official.

What else has changed? Dole encouraged and covered up improper nepotism in the office she supervised. Dole knew Ott and Sanone were in a relationship yet, as chief deputy, allowed Sanone’s employment to continue. She even helped cover up the relationship by scrubbing photos from her Facebook account. She was not only complicit, she was an active conspirator.

What else has changed? The Salt Lake County Republican County Party censured Dole for her activities in the Recorder’s office. It found she deliberately made false statements to assure the public that Ott was fit to work, when he wasn’t. The county party continues to investigate Dole, but postponed action against her until after the election.

What’s changed in the past six years? A lot. Dole has shown her true colors, and they aren’t pretty. Drumming up false and misleading endorsements is a bad campaign tactic, and will likely prove disastrous for her. She’s not the type of government official we want.



Michelle Quist Mumford is a Salt Lake Tribune editorial writer and a former county GOP party officer who is reminded that no good deed ever goes unpunished.