Heartaches are a-going to the inside.
My tears are holding back,
An' tryin' not to fall.
My heart's out of the running,
True love's scratched for another's sake.
The race is on and it looks like heartaches,
And the winner loses all.
-George Jones
The one-month filing period for the upcoming Ogden City council race started today. Four council seats are in play, as reports the Standard-Examiner this morning.
OGDEN -- The filing period begins today for those wishing to run for elected offices in cities throughout the Top of Utah.
The filing period precedes an Oct. 4 primary and Nov. 8 general election. It ends Aug. 15. Candidates can file at their local city or town offices.
Up for grabs in Ogden are two at-large seats held by Donna S. Burdett and Kent Jorgenson, as well as the Ward 1 seat occupied by Jesse M. Garcia and the Ward 3 seat belonging to Fasi M. Filiaga.
Burdett, Jorgenson and Garcia plan to seek another four-year term, while Filiaga will not run again because of health problems.
There hasn't been a time within my memory as a native Ogdenite when there's been so much community interest in local events and happenings as now. It's been less than four months since the local townsfolk were riled-up about eminent domain and the Wal-mart land-grab question; and it's my own perception that people remain pretty stirred-up on the issue even today, in the wake of the outrageous SCOTUS Kelo anti-private property decision.
The Ogden Rec Center council bonding vote also apparently comes up on July 26; and it seems certain that this will be a political lightning rod for council incumbents who will stand for election this coming November, regardless of the predictability of the lock-step outcome.
Most city council elections occur with nary a peep; but something tells me this election will be quite different. Seldom have day-to-day Ogden City politics been accompanied by such rancor and contentiousness as we have witnessed recently. The upcoming race will be very interesting, I think.
Who do you think will throw their hat into the ring this time around? Is there anyone in particular you readers would like to see enter the city council race? What head-to-head matchups would be particularly interesting to you? What candidates, if any, seem vulnerable to challengers? What will be the pivotal issues?
In the event that any of our gentle readers would like specific information as to how to enter their own horse in this horse-race, by the way, you can find procedural instructions online here.
If there are any other council races in any other Weber County cities or towns that may be of interest to any of you, please don't hesitate to chime in here. Although Weber County Forum discussions have recently focused on Ogden events and issues, I suspect there are important issues in other elections elsewhere in the county. Greater Weber County is what this forum is designed to be all about, after all. So if there are other local races and council seats that deserve discussion, this is the place to do it.
Comments anyone?
