Well here it is folks, our archived "short list" of the 2007 Emerald City Mayoral and Council candidates who managed to get their filings completed prior to yesterday's 5:00 p.m. deadline. In terms of name recognition they run the gamut, from a two-term mayor (Boss Godfrey,) a five-term State House Representative (Hansen,) three sitting incumbent council-members (Stephenson, Van Hooser & Wicks,) a prominent Ogden firefighter (Youngberg,) a perennial candidate (Thompson) to various others whom it's probably fair to politely characterise as "lesser-knowns."It's an equal-opportunity playing field here in Emerald City at this point in time however; and in the next eight weeks (the municipal primary falls on September 11, 2007) we're sure each of these candidates will devote ample effort to speak up and show us exactly what they're made of.
For a slightly more fleshed-out overview of the field of candidates, don't forget to read up on this morning's two Standard-Examiner articles:
Five vie for Ogden Mayor
Godfrey has four challengers
And now that the 2007 municipal campaign is officially underway, we suppose it's fair to begin a discussion of these candidates, their past achievements and qualifications for office, here on our little backwater community blog.
Before we open the floor however, we'd like to issue a short admonition. Although our regular readers are invariably gentle and well-behaved, we realize that a number of trolls and "Godfreyite" lurkers regularly prowl this blog. For those who may consider the opening of a discussion of these candidates to be an invitation to "flaming," we suggest such readers to carefully read and understand our posting policy. During the next eight weeks, these rules will be strictly enforced. If we demonstrate a bias at all in the application of this policy, it will be toward the direction of civility. And as one reader has already suggested, we intend to come down hard on "poorly-founded allegations and accusations."
As we approach the primary election, we'd like to foster the highest possible level of civil discourse. That isn't to imply that we'll ban "negativity." In the case of at least one incumbent candidate, we know negativity is clearly warranted on the facts.
Even in that connection, however, we hope all our readers will remember our constant motto:
This board is for grown-ups.
Don't let the cat get your tongues.
