I've verified this afternoon that there are the nineteen citizen-aspirants for the four Ogden City Council seats that are up for grabs in November. I verified this by standing inside the city recorder's office when she slammed the front door shut this afternoon at 5:00 p.m. It's a fairly large list. Unlike last time we had a municipal election, I predict that this will be a very "energetic" city council race. Here's a list of the "horses" as they leave the gate:Ogden City Council Candidate Roster
2005 Elections
8/15/05 -- 5:00 p.m.
Municipal Ward 1
Jesse M. Garcia, 750 Healy Street, 778-6834
David Berghout, 2669 Madison Avenue, 399-3472
Dori Mosher, 719 Belnap Circle, 778-0482
Municipal Ward 3
Ronald L. Hale, 1058 Rushton, 622-2687
Stephen J. Larsen, 1467 Jefferson Avenue, 564-5000
Mitch Moyes, 1710 Capitol Street, 399-3279
Clifton Douglas Stephens, 1131 16th Street, 393-9796
At Large Seat A
Daryl S. Andersen, 2849 Eccles Avenue, 391-6515
James E. Carrell, 2634 Quincy Avenue, Apt. 1, 686-0107
Bill Glasmann 1730 28th Street 628-1799
Kent W. Jorgenson, 1364 Arlington Drive, 393-1885
Jack McWain Sr., 1659 Childs Avenue, 627-6035
Kori Munns, 2906 Taylor Avenue, 612-1234
At Large Seat B
Joshua Belka, 2622 Madison Avenue, 499-1880
Donna S. Burdett, 4421 Taylor Avenue, 394-1521
Jeff LeFevre, 934 N. Quincy Avenue, 782-5359
Steven M. Prisbrey, 625 Iowa Street, 668-8824
John H. Thompson, 1506 24th Street, 621-1808
Dorrene E. Jeske 1056 E. 425 N. 782-5827
I promise there will more information on each of these people here on Weber County Forum as November approaches.
One of the things I'll be trying to do here, by the way, is to put together a list of questions to each of these candidates. Although I've already composed a few of my own, I wonder -- do the gentle readers of Weber County Forum have any questions they'd like to ask these candidates?
Comments or candidate questions are invited, as the horses head off into the first turn.
Here's a map of the Ogden precincts, BTW... just in case you don't already know which "big government" incumbent you plan to vote against this November.
Update 9/16/05 11:13 p.m. MT: This morning's Standard-Examiner features another fine John Wright article, which provides more information about the ongoing Ogden City council race. It turns out, Mr. Wright reports, that the number of candidates (19) running for council seats is unprecedented, at least within the memory of City Clerk Gloria Berrett, an employee of 22 years.
Mr. Wright's story goes into a discussion of the political dynamics which have resulted in this long list of council candidates, and also provides information from background interviews. Anyone who intends to follow the council race from its very beginning will find this article a good starting point.
Among the quotes that Mr. Wright provides in this aticle is this one from incumbent Ogden City Council Vice-Chair and council candidate, Kent Jorgensen. It really is quite astonishing, I think:
Some of those who qualified to run have been outspoken critics of the incumbents, but Jorgenson defended them.
"Clearly we're making great strides and we're bringing in more business, we're not increasing taxes," he said. "We're clearly adding value, but for some reason we're not communicating that."
Jorgenson also said he feels there is a misperception that the council and administration are one and the same.
"I hope we're not lumped in to how people feel in general about what the mayor's doing, because a lot of times we don't have control over what his agenda is," he said.
There you have it, gentle readers. It's not Jorgensen and the city council "gang of five" who are "out of touch." The problem is that the citizens who've stepped up and committed to removing Mr. Jorgensen and his fellow incumbants from office are merely uninformed. For some odd reason they haven't gotten "the message," and don't understand what a great job Mr. Jorgensen and the gang of five have been doing for the citizens of Ogden -- or so says Councilman Jorgensen.
What say you, gentle readers? Is it the citizens of Ogden who are out of touch?
And what about the bulk of the city council? Is it true that it actually has a mind of its own?
