Although he [Bobby G.] is supportive of the proposal by developer Chris Peterson, as a City Council member, he wouldn't hesitate to oppose the plan if it turned out to be a bad deal for Ogden.
When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.
Hunter S. Thompson
The Great Shark Hunt:
Strange Tales from a Strange Time
1979Somebody posted it yesterday in a comment to the previous article thread: "Did you hear Bob Geiger put in for the city council?" We passed it off at the time as just another sarcastic reader wisecrack, consistent with the light-hearted banter that typically permeates Weber County Forum comments threads.
This morning, however, we're startled by this truly strange Standard-Examiner Section B headline story: Lift Ogden head wants council seat. We incorporate Ace Reporter Schwebke's lead paragraphs here:
The Great Shark Hunt:
Strange Tales from a Strange Time
1979Somebody posted it yesterday in a comment to the previous article thread: "Did you hear Bob Geiger put in for the city council?" We passed it off at the time as just another sarcastic reader wisecrack, consistent with the light-hearted banter that typically permeates Weber County Forum comments threads.
This morning, however, we're startled by this truly strange Standard-Examiner Section B headline story: Lift Ogden head wants council seat. We incorporate Ace Reporter Schwebke's lead paragraphs here:
OGDEN - The head of an organization in support of a controversial multimillion-dollar mountain resort east of Ogden and a downtown gondola has applied for a vacant City Council seat.On a more story-abundant news day, it's possible that we would merely file this story under "web oddities," or ignore it altogether. Having said that however, we do believe there are elements of this report that are worthy of some comment.
Bob Geiger, chairman of Lift Ogden and chief operating officer of Descente North America, has little chance of being selected due to his favoritism for the project, said his father, Curt Geiger.
However, he still wants the council to consider his qualifications which include a bachelor's degree in economics from the U.S. Naval Academy and a master's degree in business administration from Boston University, his dad said.
First, we believe Mr. Geiger's obvious bad-faith filing demonstrates once again the tendency of these people to abuse formal processes for the purpose of accomplishing ulterior motives. Even while recognizing that his chances of actually receiving a council appointment are virtually nil, Mr. Geiger nevertheless clogs the process with his own application (and grabs a Std-Ex headline article,) in an obviously self-serving effort plainly calculated to increase public credibility "down the road." Mr. Geiger hasn't always been a mind-numbed gondola zombie, he intends to remind us. At some recent point in his young life, credible academic institutions actually accorded him enough respect to award him a pair of academic degrees, after all... Bob Geiger should thus not be simply dismissed as just another raving gondolist lunatic.
Secondly, we believe proud papa Curt's above-cited fuzzy assurances concerning his son (Bobby's) potential open-minded judiciousness reflect clearly the very nature of the Lift Ogden modus operandi which leaves the townsfolk feeling queazy. Although he seems to suggest that his beloved son could conceivably nix the Peterson plan in a proper case, Curt nevertheless hedges with the phrase, "...if it turned out to be a bad deal for Ogden" -- as if such a set of facts could ever penetrate the gondolist mind of Bob Geiger, even in this inverted corner of the universe that is lovingly known as Emerald City.
Reporter Schwebke's story also reports that eleven other presumably-serious applicants (other than Bob Geiger) also applied for the vacant council seat prior to yesterday's application cut-off. We will attempt to obtain this list from the City Council Office as soon as possible, and will post it here as an update as soon as it is available.
In the meantime, what say our gentle readers about today's tempest in a teapot?
Update 9/12/06 6:04 p.m. MT: Just at the point where we were beginning to believe that the Emerald City Council Applicants List would remain a state secret over night, we receive the official list, together with today's council press release, from three different sources within five minutes:
Council Press Release
Council Applicants List (39 names - Yoiks!)
Let the games begin!
