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"No white soccer mom south of 21st South will vote for someone with brown skin and the name of Simarjit."
That comment — along with perceived pressure placed on employees in the Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office to support Republican D.A. Lohra Miller over Democratic opponent Sim Gill — now is the subject of an investigation by the county's Human Resources Division, The Salt Lake Tribune has learned.
But an internal D.A. probe, which slapped three attorneys with a "verbal warning," suggests offending comments were intended to be critical of the "very conservative" voters in the south valley.
The racial remark was made by a deputy attorney during a Sept. 22 meeting of Miller's domestic-violence unit, according to the internal investigative report released Friday to The Tribune. It quickly created a furor, employees say, and generated a complaint to the county's Equal Employment Opportunity office.
The internal report, conducted by Miller's Justice Division Administrator Paul Parker, includes interviews with four D.A. employees but redacts names.
The subjects concede the comments were inappropriate but deny any electioneering or malice toward Gill.
"It was a lament on the narrow-mindedness of the voting public in greater Salt Lake County," wrote one attorney self-identified as a Democrat. "I did not take the comments to be disparaging of Mr. Gill or his ethnicity."
Miller, who called the ongoing EEO inquiry "surprising," said her office's investigation was diligent and thorough. "I acted based on the information I had immediately to put a stop to this," she said Friday.
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Soccer moms and socialists • During the mandatory Sept. 22 meeting, domestic-violence team leader Michaela Andruzzi — a Miller hire — reportedly told staffers their jobs could be in jeopardy or they could be reassigned to lesser cases if Gill wins Nov. 2 and carries out his pledge to dismantle "boutique" prosecution teams.
"It was definitely a threat," an eyewitness said, pointing to the fear permeating the office since Miller fired her 2006 GOP opponent, veteran county prosecutor Kent Morgan. (Morgan, reinstated but demoted after he was deemed unjustly terminated, received a settlement worth $325,000 after filing a $1.7 million claim against Miller.)
"We are all hanging on by our fingernails," the employee added.
"It wasn't explicitly said, but the tone was there," another employee said. "That's where it was leading. It did create that fear."
Employees and supervisors asked not to be named out of fear of reprisal, including possible termination.
Andruzzi denies trying to sway anyone's vote, adding she is a Democrat. "That's outrageous — I'm loyal to the office," she told The Tribune. "I'm not a politician, I'm an attorney. Someone asked me what boutique prosecution meant. I explained it. That was the extent of it."
Noting Gill has suggested every attorney should be able to handle every case, a second attorney at last month's meeting asked whether Gill had read Adam Smith, the internal report states. "What is he, a socialist?" the attorney recalled saying. "Then I may have jokingly compared the Democrats to socialists. ... We joke about sex and violence every day on our team, so any offhand remarks about racial attitudes said with tongues in cheeks seemed unremarkable at the time."
Afraid the racial remark and intimidation would be "swept under the rug" if just handled internally, a supervisor within the D.A.'s Office took corroborated accounts of the comments to the EEO on Sept. 28.
Two days later, two domestic-violence attorneys and Andruzzi were called into a meeting with Parker. Later that day, Sept. 30, Miller issued an all-staff e-mail.
"Everyone, although the flurry of campaigning and electioneering is going on all around us in the community, the state and the nation, I wanted to remind everyone to conduct themselves appropriately while at work during this next month," Miller wrote in the e-mail, obtained by The Tribune. "I will not tolerate inappropriate comments about any candidate running for elected office, especially my opponent. Please be respectful of others during this election season. We work in a close environment where conversations might be overheard which may be objectionable to others. Thank you."
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Miller v. Gill: the sequel • Miller and Gill crossed political paths four years ago during a heated D.A. contest, which the Republican won by 3 percentage points.
Told about the Sept. 22 incident, Gill said he never has allowed racist remarks to derail his aspirations to achieve "the American dream."
"But I find it troubling that in 2010, in the District Attorney's Office, there is a meeting called by a team leader with a bunch of attorneys, and they feel they can politicize a conversation and imply a threat," Gill said. "That they feel comfortable that the culture in the office is such that a racist comment can be made — I find that deeply troubling."
Gill says he doesn't see the need for specialty teams — "we don't need a hierarchy of middle management" — but insists no support staff would lose their jobs if he is elected.
Gill took issue with the last line of Miller's e-mail about conversations that "may" be objectionable to others. "Every person should find this objectionable," he said. "That culture rests at the leadership. I would not let a culture like that develop."
Miller rejects any "culture" problem. "He's making an issue where there is none. I've absolutely faced the same issues as a woman in this office. I believe just as strongly as he does that discrimination based on gender or race should not be tolerated."
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History or histrionics? • Racial remarks from the domestic-violence unit — a team Miller created and points to with pride for its accomplishments — have been heard before, employees in the D.A.'s Office say.
"For that team, it's all about fashion," a midlevel manager said. "If someone doesn't look right, they ridicule them. That team specifically says things to intimidate people. It's common practice."
Another employee says the team repeatedly takes racist jabs at defense attorneys, judges and interpreters working in 3rd District Court. "The racism is continual through there."
One reprimanded attorney wrote that the banter at meetings often is " just a chance for us to blow off steam and joke around."
What's next Investigation ongoing
P Allegations of racism and electioneering by deputies working under Republican District Attorney Lohra Miller are under "current ongoing investigation," according to Salt Lake County Human Resources Director John Mathews. The Salt Lake Tribune's public-records request for any registered complaints regarding the alleged racial and electioneering comments was denied this week. Mathews says the H.R. records will be released at the end of the investigation. —
How whistle-blowers are shielded
Whistle-blowers can take a complaint or grievance to their bosses, the Salt Lake County Mayor's Office, County Council or the Equal Employment Opportunity office.
The parties involved in this complaint avoided the mayor and council so as not to "politicize" it in an election season.
County law encourages employees to report wrongdoing to the appropriate agencies or officials. If such a case is filed, "the identity of the employee filing the report shall be kept confidential," code language reads. "Any person making a report under this policy may do so without fear of reprisal, intimidation, coercion or retaliation."
Still, two days after the complaint went to the county's EEO office, it was re-routed to the D.A.'s Office.
"It really shocked me," one employee said. "It scared me for my job and my staff."