Get Thee to the Polls!

So, gentlemen,
With all my love I do commend me to you:
And what so poor a man as Hamlet is
May do, to express his love and friending to you,
God willing, shall not lack. Let us go in together;
And still your fingers on your lips, I pray.
The time is out of joint: O cursed spite,
That ever I was born to set it right!
Nay, come, let's go together.
-Hamlet Act 1. Scene V
William Shakespeare

We Ogdenites face a very sobering responsibility today. We are the only thing standing between Matt Godfrey and another two years of one-man rule. And Ogdenites simply cannot afford two more years of failure and drift, two more years of alibis but no answers.

I believe Ogdenites are fed up with six years of reckless borrowing and spending, tunnel-vision, council block-voting and machine politics. And I believe Ogden is desperate for leadership determined to involve citizens in finding new ways to revive Ogden city from her present economic doldrums.

That's why there are an unprecedented fifteen challengers running for four city council seats. I strongly believe that the city council -- in the right hands and with the right plans -- can be an effective force for the change Ogden so desperately needs.

We've got to be willing to shed the idea that one single small clique of single-minded and arrogant individuals holds a monopoly on all the good ideas, and recognize that tapping the "wisdom of the crowd" is the key to answering the great challenges we face in this city.

On economic development in particular, we Ogdenites can no longer blindly entrust and delegate the responsibility of improving our economic viability and quality of life to a single clique of individuals. By the same token, we know that we must actively participate in our government, by electing council members who will listen to us.

After all, we, too, have parents, spouses, children and siblings we love very much. We, too, care deeply about our friends, our co-workers, our neighbors and our city.

And we must not be reticent about communicating to "the powers that be" that we are dissatisfied with the present course of our city government, and that we will not idly stand by for another two years of grand failed schemes, cronyism and excuses.

Together -- and with your help -- we will fight to bring Ogden back!

The polls are now open. This is the most important primary in many years. It's time for the citizens of Ogden to take back our city.

The time is out of joint: O cursed spite, That ever you were born to set it right!

Aye, come, let's go to the polls together.