Extra: Read Dan S.'s expanded 29-page GRAMA document collection below
By Curmudgeon
The Standard-Examiner this morning has a story based on the administration’s emails obtained by Dan S. via GRAMA request and made public last week on Weber County Forum. [The Std-Ex, churlishly, simply says the story is based on ”according to e-mails obtained by the Standard-Examiner.”] Still, it’s a remarkable story.
Several notable things in it. For example, it discusses the Mayor's retroactive waiver of the competitive bidding requirements for hiring Lewis, Young, Robertson & Burningham to do a financial analysis of the now defunct [the Mayor says] Peterson proposal. About which Hizzonah has this to say:
"I sign dozens of documents every day," Godfrey said. He said he is unsure why Patterson requested the waiver more than a year after the city commissioned the study. "These kinds of things are brought to me routinely," he said.
Huh? Have I got this right? The Mayor is saying he was not aware of what he was signing? That somebody, presumably Mr. Patterson, just stuck it in front of him and he signed it without knowing what it was or why he'd been given it? That's what it seems to say.
Sort of make you wonder what we are paying the Mayor his hefty salary to do, doesn't it? I wasn't aware that blindly signing whatever anyone of his staff puts in front of him constitutes responsible governance. But apparently the Mayor does.
By the way, I hope Mr. Patterson noted that the finger pointing has begun, and the Mayor is pointing at him. You're not working for a stand up guy, Mr. Patterson. In fact, watching all the Godfreyistas scamper for cover, the Godfrey Gang is beginning to look a lot like the Tweed Ring.
It hardly needs to be pointed out, I think, that if the Mayor... or anyone who slides a piece of paper before him for his signature... can retroactively grant waivers to the city's competitive bidding regulations, then those regulations have been rendered entirely meaningless.
Other elements of the story suggest that instead of a new incarnation of Boss Tweed's ring, the Godfrey Administration should instead be called "The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight."
From the story: “I have never been a part of a mess like this project has become,” Patterson wrote in an April 13 e-mail to Arrington and copied to Management Services Director Mark Johnson, Community and Economic Development Director Dave Harmer and former Business Development Manager Scott Brown. “It is an embarrassment to the city.”
Indeed it is, Mr. Patterson. Indeed it is. But you'd better get used to this sort of thing. You work for Mayor Godfrey.
Overall, the frantic scuttling here and there trying to cover the city's tracks on this ---- reminds me nothing so much as the frantic scrambling of roaches living under a flat rock in a damp place when the rock is turned over and the sunlight shines in --- is yet more evidence, as if we needed it, of the Godfrey administration's preference of operating out of sight and in the dark, and its dislike of open government. Makes it hard to arrange sales of public land without bidding and at a lower price than others offer for it if people are actually allowed to watch what you're doing.
Rep. Hansen ought to ask the State Auditor to widen his investigation beyond how the Godfrey administration handled its grant money. Perhaps an audit of the Administration's general business practices could use a little sunlight... and disinfectant... too.
Remarkable story, even if the SE didn't credit Dan S. or WCF for breaking it. Don't miss it.
Editor's Note - Special GRAMA Document Collection: We are pleased to announce that we have uploaded the full 29-page Ogden Sierra Club GRAMA document production collection, discussed in our previous article on this topic. Chairman Dan S. has taken additional time to carefully "scrub" the data of private contact information, and has selected and provided the most interesting and relevant documents, which we link for our reader's attention: July '07 GRAMA Document Production Collection.
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54 comments:
Just as a small clarification, was it the Sierra Club or Dan Schroeder who made the GRAMA application and request?
Also, did the S-E request the SAME documents at the SAME time as Sierra/Schroeder? Who got what from whom?
To me this was a typical Standard-Exminer article which avoids spelling out the illegality of the convoluted manuevers by Mayor Godfrey.
The condensed version is that Mayor Godfrey decided to have a gondola study plan done with or without the Ogden City Council's knowledge or approval.
This was done to satisfy his determination to build a gondola whether Ogden citizens wanted one or not and to assist his friend, Cris Peterson, with Peterson's plan to buy Mount Ogden property for a planned housing project which was going to make the developer even wealthier.
The gondola study, done by Laura Lee in affiliation with Lewis Young Robertson and Burningham Inc., turns out to have run up a bill for over $600,000.00.
The Mayor planned to use the $247,000.00 grant the Feds had already awarded for a Roy-Ogden bus to help pay for the $600,000.00 plus bill on the gondola study.
The problem is that Mayor Godfrey didn't bother to tell the Ogden City Council of this plan.
Godfrey also involved his own staff by asking them to participate in the cover up scheme in the attempt to keep this whole arrangement under the radar screen of the Council and Ogden residents.
The worst part is that Godfrey also tried to get UTA to cover up for him. How can those people have any respect left for Ogden City in our future dealings with them?
This conduct is shameful for the Ogden City Mayor and disgusting to Ogden City residents.
It is rather interesting that Mr. Schwepke did not mention the May 16,2007 email from Arrington to Patterson and Johnson wherein they seem to be plotting a way to get $231,250 of tax payer money into the pockets of Chris Peterson for his "expenses".
Included in this email was the statement: "this will require complete effort to get paid with out Ogden City's trackable involvement"
Seems like this email is one of the big time smoking guns and the Standard has ignored it! No wonder they have such a low trust factor with the citizens of Ogden. I think it a strong indication of how they will conduct themselves through this election cycle. Their Godfrey partisanship is showing very clearly for all to see!
I also found the email from Gadi and Wife to be rather interesting. In it they are solicitous as to how well the Mayor enjoyed his May 07 trip to Paris. It raises the question of who paid for this trip. Did Gadi send the mayor to Paris?
ozboy-
I think you should actually give the S-E some credit for running the story at all. Not only that, but it was front page, above the fold.
It must have been painful for them to run the story, and it seems they kept the editorial angle low. And, they refrained from writing it in a way that implicated Godfrey in any criminal wrongdoing.
Let's just see what the Council has to say about. Thier response will be very interesting. It did say in the story that Garcia said the Council will be issuing some sort of response.
Godfrey has nowhere left to hide. He must have tripped when he saw that this morning.
My,my,my, who still wants to defend anyone in this administration? This whole package wreaks of dishonesty and deceit.
Arrington suggesting ways of hiding transactions from auditors,complaining about how contracts entered into by Harmer and Brown are never filed with the recorders office, lost files, many times no written communication, to which Patterson offer's an understanding and admits this was intentional.
And just what is the accused frauds involvement? Does Gadi own lying little matty now?
I'd suggest the council pull the MU immediately, this would be very prudent, they may even want to contract with some outside firm to reveiw and explain what they truely want to accomplish with the ordinance. It's all ready a mess, originally offered by Peterson's lawyer, and Montgomry has pretty much destroyed any credibility he might have had.
As for the UTA officials, black eye.
House cleaning in order. As I said before, this primary is not about Hansen/ Van Hooser, it's all about ANYTHING but lying little matty gondola peccary godfrey, and now as you've witnessed, his band of theiving little peccaries.
Did I mention, a peccary is a small pig, with a white collar?
I see elfin Squirrel Patroller Patterson is embarassed for the City of Ogden because he cannot coerce UTA into violating their procurement procedures in paying for a simple, rote numerical extrapolation of some bullshit figures Wayne Peterson, Lying Little Matty Gondola Godfrey and various and sundry members of the famed Squirrel Patrol fed into a consultant's computer, yet he feels no shame in assualting an elected official's family in the press? What a bunch of C-smokers these Squirrel Patroling clowns really are. They're just like 320-year-old and 65-year-old men who put a bunch of goddamn decals on their trucks and Corvettes. Ohhh....onions. I suggest Patterson bone up his resume, although, we the taxpayers of Ogden are on the hook for at least two years of Patterson's salary (over $110K per) if he gets the ax.
See I told you so. I said that Godfrey is in the public trust and can he be trusted? The answer is NO.
Even if he does have the highest integrity in the room. That does not mean he can be trusted.
You guys crack me up. This has all been layed out days ago here on wcforum, and you're all, "gee what a filthy crook!" You're like a broken record.
I think we should give Mr. Dan S., the unabashed treehugger, some credit here. You broke the story Dan S. You da man, Dan.
They're just like 320-year-old and 65-year-old men who put a bunch of goddamn decals on their trucks and Corvettes.
Dude, what the hell? What kind of Corvette decal does a 320-year-old man sport? "Kill me I'm a fossil". "String me up in a museum, I'm a mummy".
For the standard to write this pablum about the inept Godfrey administration without mentioning the attempted Peterson payoff would be like them writing a story about problems in the Bush adminstration without mentioning Iraq!
I believe the Standard will go to most any length they can to protect Mayor Godfrey and down play his corrupt actions.
I know that the stanard is in the hip pocket for the mayor, but why don't they do their part on GETTING THINGS RIGHT.
Lets not forget, The CAN building represents all this same scenario on a much larger scale, finacially.
More convoluted, many of the same players, along with many different participants as well. It still has some holes that need filling in, but some will require subpoena power.
This too is real mess, multiple foundations of questionable legitamcy, state and federal grant transfered through multiple pareties and of course the property changing hands like a hot potato last December.
Grooked governance as only lying little matty can provide.
Native, you ought to see the potato a 320 yr old can sport as part of his countenance.
Patterson said,
"We would never do anything inappropriate or wrong."
Of course they wouldn't do anything wrong, since they are so full of hubris they themselves define what "right" and "wrong" are.
Therefore, be definition, they can never do anything wrong.
Crazy people.
Nice word, Julia. Pablum. I had to go look it up on wikipedia.
And that's exactly what that S-E article was... "the word pablum is often used to describe anything bland, oversimplified and generally unsatisfying, especially a work of literature or speech"
But they did RUN it. I didn't even think they'd do that. I'm beginning to conclude that the S-E might not be so much of Godfrey's little bitch anymore. I'll bet the little guy spit out his cornflakes when he saw it.
In defense of the Standard:
Well, folks, after days of grousing [in which I participated] about the SE not doing the story, it did the story. And gets grousing about not having included all the elements that people here think should have been included. [I too would like to have seen some reporting on the Mayor's attempts to have federal taxpayers pick up Mr. Peterson's expenses for his poor business judgment. There is at least the possibility that the SE's interest in this matter --- and its digging --- is as they like to say on CNN "on-going." For example, is the SE pursuing the question of who in the Utah delegation arranged this earmark pork for the Mayor's gondola study?]
Native wrote [and others above suggested similarly] that "It must have been painful for them [the SE] to run the story, and... they refrained from writing it in a way that implicated Godfrey in any criminal wrongdoing."
Two points: first, I disagree that the SE staff found it painful to run the piece. Quite the contrary. Controversy sells newspapers, and they tell me that putting the word "gondola" in a headline above the fold boosts single copy sales noticeably. I agree they might be [they should be] a little embarrassed at not having dug out the story themselves --- and they should be blushing in embarrassment for implying that the SE dug up the documents on its own by saying simply " according to e-mails obtained by the Standard Examiner." But however they got the story, I think they were delighted to run it.
Secondly, since I don't see any irrefutable evidence of criminal conduct on the part of the Administration in this story so far [reams of evidence of unethical conduct of course], I think were I editing the story, I'd be careful to avoid charging the Mayor or any of his crew with criminal conduct in the story. Charging people with criminal conduct is very serious business. That, when you get right down to it, is not the job of the news columns. That's the job of DAs and prosecutors. I'd have been cautious too. Though the story does provide lots of reasons to keep digging. Which I hope the SE will --- I was going to say "continue to do," but since it was Dan S. who did most of the digging on this story, instead I'll say begin to do.
Finally, for all those who periodically argue that the SL Trib is the paper to read to keep up on Ogden affairs, please note the Trib which got notice of what the GRAMA request had turned up at the same time the SE did, I think, still has printed nothing --- nada, zilch, zero --- on the matter. In fact, if you go to the Trib's search engine today and type in "Ogden", you'll discover that the Trib has printed only three substantive Ogden stories since the 18 of July... two weeks ago. One about a truck crash on I-15, one about the Mayor's raising water rates for heavy users, and one about the Council passing the new gang ordinances. That's it.
Sorry, folks. If you want to keep up on Ogden affairs, the SE is the only game in town. However interesting a piece the Trib may do on Ogden matters now and then, it just is not a viable alternative to the daily SE for staying up on Ogden affairs.
Curmudgeon...
Good points.
I suppose that another conclusion we may draw is that the SE is necessarily more reserved in jumping to conclusions and drawing judgement than we are. The likely reasons for this are well stated by you. The SE also has to be concerned about libel.
However, you will note that I did move to give the SE credit for running the story. They deserve credit for doing so. It didn't look like they were going to.
I did not know that the paper sells more copies when they run Gondola stories. This was probably the most interesting thing you said. This also implies that the Gondola mess is on the minds of Ogdenites, which is good.
And I never implied that the SLTrib ran more Ogden information than the SE. This is clearly not the case. However, I maintain that the SLTrib is a superior paper to the SE. The writing is much better. I'd say the SE is written on say, a 4th grade level, and the SLTrib is written on an 8th grade level.
Also might note, that many of the staffers and editors are past SE writers...who where probably equally criticized when they wrote for the SE, but now, when writing under a different flag are so much more skillful. Perception is everything.
Council Chairman Garcia has a real prize quote here:
“I’m very concerned by the e-mail,” said city council Chairman Jesse Garcia. “It’s almost like the administration was trying to get around the council. The entire council will look at it and respond.”
"Almost like"
Ya Think" Jesse?!?!?!?!
And this friggin pussy is the friggin' Chairman of the council.
We notice Councilwoman "Suzie", whose political platform is keeping us all in the dark, hasn't yet spoke out about this.
Can't wait for the council's mealy mouth response.
Maybe "Suzy" will actually talk to Shwebke about this some time soon.
And two elections from now, we Ogdenites REALLY NEED TO DO SOMETHING about Jesse.
Surely there are a few more articulate and smart hispanics in Jesse's district who are finally fed up with his "sackless" brand of politics.
Perhaps some new political candidate in his ward will rise to the surface, to put the poor old dumb sackless political eunich out to pasture.
ex jesse:
One of the downsides of reading comments in the paper is that the text loses all intonation, all facial expressions, and so much of the "message." [Same problem with posts, by the way.] I can see Mr. Garcia saying what he said with a twinkle in his eye and a grin on his face. Along the lines of someone saying of the Hon. [?] Alberto Gonzales that "why it's almost like he was trying to mislead the committee." [wink wink nudge nudge]
You build a pretty big scaffold on the basis of one comment to the paper, Ex. Besides which, Mr. Garcia is not up for re-election this cycle.
New poll being conducted. Just got a call from a polling company about upcoming Ogden mayor's race. Was asked how important I think each of the following is in Ogden:
taxes and city spending; city roads and infrastructure; jobs and business growth; illegal immigration; open space; public education; declinging moral values; safety of neighborhoods; downtown revitalization. Then asked who I was likely to vote for in mayor's race. Then asked to comment on a host of statements about Mayor Godfrey and the job he has been doing these past 7 years and whether the statement made me more or less likely to vote for Godfrey. Statements were both positive and negative, like Godfrey has lowered taxes, or city debt has risen under Godfrey, or he has brought x number of jobs to Ogden, or he has a divisive personality, etc. Interestingly not one of them dealt with Mt Ogden or the gondola or Peterson. Then after hearing all of these statements I was asked against who I was likely to vote for. Hard to tell who put this poll out there. A much better designed poll than the one that Godfrey commissioned to help him decide whether to run for re-election.
"You build a pretty big scaffold on the basis of one comment to the paper, Ex. Besides which, Mr. Garcia is not up for re-election this cycle."
Garcia's performance during the last two years is abominable. The citizens of Ogden gave him a new council who could stand up to the "little shit," and Garcia then started voting "for" Godfrey's initiatives regularly.
Ogden's activist community "fed him" technical and legal objections" to the whole "executive branch overload" scheme of Ogden City government...
But the former anti-Godfreyite NEVER STOOD UP for either Jeske's council iniatives, nor the citizens who elected him during that fight.
I will PERSONALLY find another well-heeled and well-supported representative from Jesse's geographic political constituency to fill Jesse's post in the next election.
signed,
Your blogmaister.
We've given up on the "very flaky" Garcia.
Cato:
Interesting. "Declining moral values"? That's a new one. Sounds more like a Dan Jones project, which the previous [Godfrey] poll manifestly was not.
I gather no other candidates were mentioned. It only asked after your likelihood of voting for/not for the Mayor, it seems.
Wonder if whoever commissioned it will make the results public. I doubt it. Sounds like the sort of poll a campaign would commission to uncover its own [or an opposing] candidate's best/worst campaign issues. And nary a mention of gondolas. Very interesting.
Sorry to be joining this discussion so late. Let's see...
I've submitted a number of GRAMA requests on gondola-related stuff over the last four years. Usually I type them out formally, and make it clear that the requests are on behalf of the Sierra Club. In this particular case, however, I didn't have time to type out a letter but happened to be downtown so I just dropped by and scribbled the request on the city's form. Given the limited space I don't think I wrote "Sierra Club" anywhere but it doesn't really matter from the city's point of view. I did send a follow-up letter yesterday and made it clear in that letter that I'm representing the Ogden Sierra Club.
The City Recorder told me the documents were ready last Wednesday evening, and I picked them up Thursday morning. By around 4 in the afternoon I had gone through them in enough detail to know what most of the newsworthy sections were. I then called Scott Schwebke and left him a voicemail about the documents, but didn't get a call back that afternoon. That night I wrote a summary of many of the interesting excerpts, which I emailed on Friday morning to the Standard, the Trib, and our dear blogmeister. On Friday afternoon I got a brief emailed "thanks" from Scott Schwebke. But he never asked me for the documents, so I would assume that he got them directly from the city, like the article says.
Should Schwebke have gotten the story into the paper sooner than today? Think about it. In order to do the story responsibly he had to first get hold of the documents themselves, then spend a few hours reading them, then put in calls to most of the principal players and give them a reasonable length of time to respond. "Reasonable" in this case probably means until the next working day, which would have been yesterday. So the timing of the article was just what we all should have expected.
Did the article cover everything in the documents that was newsworthy? Of course not. There was too much information for a single article. But I hope there will be follow-up articles on at least a couple of the remaining issues: the administration's intent to use the rest of the $247,500 to reimburse Peterson's contractors, and the apparent ongoing lobbying effort by Ken Lee.
Should the article have hit harder, with more interpretation to point out how unethical all this was? I don't think so. This is a situation where it's important to show readers the facts and let them come to their own conclusions.
I do wish, though, that the article had explained more clearly the reasons for the long delay in getting the consultants paid. UTA was operating under the assumption that the city would pay the consultants and UTA would reimburse the city. UTA sent a formal agreement to the city that apparently spelled this out. (I still haven't seen the agreement itself.) The administration was unhappy with these terms so it didn't sign the agreement. The administration didn't clearly communicate its position on this to UTA until March, and didn't seem to understand why UTA was reluctant to do it this way until April. It seems that UTA will ultimately go along with paying the consultants directly, but not until they're convinced that the city at least followed its own procurement policies--hence the retroactive waiver. (Although the waiver was done to make UTA happy, it's required by the city's own policies as well.)
Regarding Jesse Garcia's reaction, I'm with Curmudgeon. I strongly suspect that we haven't heard the last from him on this.
Should Schwebke have credited me or the Sierra Club with digging up all this stuff? In a way I'm glad he didn't, again because I think it's best for people to see the bare facts and come to their own conclusions. Cluttering up the article with references to the Sierra Club would have distracted from the facts. But ethically, I think reporters should credit anyone whose research contributes to an article, and in most cases, disclose who brought something to their attention. I'm reminded of the "boycott" article in which Schwebke never disclosed how he obtained the email from Pieser to Dowse that mentioned a possible boycott. (In that case, however, the lack of disclosure was worse because it gave the false impression that Pieser himself had distributed the email to others besides Dowse.)
Curm, the poll did ask my opinion of all 5 mayoral candidates. Sorry I left that out earlier. But half the poll was focused on whether certain statements about Godfrey made me more or less likely to vote for him.
Now that everyone can see, and determine who lying little matty and his administrative gouls truely represent, what do you think it would be like should any of his handpicked idiot council candidates get elected? eccles, peterson, irons and howland.
Just concider how corrupt this bunch would be with a rubber stamp council.
Oust lying little matty gondola pinnoccio peccary godfrey!
Clean up the vermin.( not to be confused with squirrels,which only wayne (chris)peterson has an aversion to).
Oh how we miss Diane, she would always promptly respond to any ordinance research request that needed to be unveiled.
Now that lying little matty has signed a waiver for the procurement regulations,(a year after completion of the study) isn't there also an ordinance and protocol that deals with single vender dealings? UTA has one, so do the feds, what about Ogden? I do know that for contracts of less than $10,000 the multiple bid requirement does not apply, but this exceeds that amount.
Was gary williams asleep at the wheel? Could be lying little matty just signed the waiver without inquiring. After all, he claims not to have known what he signed.
Mr. Dan S.,
Thank you for your explanation of the unfolding of events. I want to again congratulate you on your persistence, tenacity, and clarity in this matter. You broke the story and you broke it here. Once again, wcforum, for all it's sometimes hyperbolic rants (mine included), has managed to provide an invaluable service to our fine community. Our elected government would be much less transluscent without wcforum. You deserve an award.
I did want to clear up whether or not it was you as an individual, or you representing the Sierra Club, which made the GRAMA application. I think it's important because people expect more or less of an agenda from organizations as opposed to individuals. Thank you for clarifying that for me.
You have made a good case for Schwebke and the SE in presenting the story as they did. I still find it a bit "pablumish", but given the circumstances and my persistently low expectations, I sustain my move to congratulate the SE for running it all, no less on page one above the fold.
Your final point leaves my initial question unanswered: Did Schwebke obtain his information from you, or indeed, this website? I doubt we will ever know the answer to that.
And as you suggested, this is but the second chapter of an epic saga and I eagerly await the turning of the next page.
Again, thank you for your valuable service to our beloved community, Mr. Dan S.
Amen to almost all of the above.
A bit off topic, but still to do with Peterson, the Mayor and other lunatics and screw ball ideas.
This article off the KSL web site about the Governors blue ribbon panel on global warming:
Council Says Global Warming has Serious Implications for Utah
It may be academic now seeing that the resort in Malan basin, and its promoters, have been so thouroughly discredited. But if there is any lingering doubt of the ski resort in Malan basin being viable, this may finally put a stake through its heart.
Yes, I know, blue ribbon panels of scientists appointed by the Governor may not be on the intellectual level of Matt Godfrey, but still....
The man that states that his integrity is above that of anyone in the room proved it again.
He was quoted in the SE as saying that he didn't know who commissioned the gondola study.
He was quoted in the paper as saying he didn't know who paid for the study.
And he was quoted in the paper as saying that he only had a preliminary bief of the report.
All proven lies told directly to the SE and yet they wouldn't point any of these comments out.
Why didn't the paper point out these descrepancies in what the mayor had told the SE previously and what the evidence within the e-mails showed within their story? I'm not paying the SE to lie to me and when they only tell me half of the story (leaving out incriminating parts to the story), full and well knowing the whole story, then I feel that they are lying to me.
Why didn't the SE point out that Godfrey was trying to use city funds to compensate Peterson for his expenses?
The SE now says that they are going to endorse candidates. I'm not a rocket scientist but I would wager that I already know who the SE is going to endorse.
SE should be ashamed of their coverage of this story and of their own ethics. They worry more about politics than telling it how it is.
Amen to almost all of the above.
Almost? What didn't you like? I'm dyin to know. You mean you don't agree with everything I say? Come on Mono, sack up!
SE just lost a subscriber...
Why don't you put what you just said in a letter to the editor. I think that the public would really love to be reminded of the truth.
I would if I thought the SE would print it. They wouldn't though because it puts them in a negative light. They think a lot like godfrey apparently; just sweep it under the rug. I've lost all faith in the SE as a reliable source for local information.
My comments would never make it to press.
se just lost,
The S-E has published every letter and commentary I've ever sent them, usually without substantive editing. You do have to play by their rules, but I think you could make all your points without crossing any lines that would disqualify your letter.
"I sign dozens of documents every day," Godfrey said. He said he is unsure why Patterson requested the waiver more than a year after the city commissioned the study. "These kinds of things are brought to me routinely," he said.
Oboy. Pinocchio's nose grows longer by the minute.
How long can it grow before the "righteous" people in his wardhouse realize he's a "lying POS?"
I'm starting to get some insight about why "the Mormans" got run out of New York, Missouri and Illinois.
They stick up for crooked idiots like Godfrey, long after they should be incarcerated.
Just thought I'd point out that all of the three statements by the Mayor that "Just Lost a Subscriber" is upset about the SE not dealing with as he'd have liked... he apparently learned about by reading the SE.
Second: saying you won't send in a letter criticizing the paper because they would never print it is a kind of self-censorship with very little point to it. If you send the letter and the SE prints it, your views get out to readers. If they don't, you're exactly where you are now, and you've gotten more evidence of the bias you claim you see in the paper. Not sending in the letter doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me, given your unhappiness with the SE's coverage.
Good Christian:
Sigh. So far as I can see, Mormons don't seem to be, as a group any less, or any more, virtuous, honest, ethical and so on than Baptists, or Catholics, or Lutherans or Methodists or Episcopalians or Jews or atheists or agnostics or Hindus or Moslims --- or than people who call themselves "Good Christians" for that matter.
Folks, pretty much, is folks. You'll find the ethical and unethical, the honest and dishonest in pretty much every group I can think of and in pretty much the same proportions.
How lame is "Susy" anyway?
I'll tell you how lame she is.
Unlike all the other councilmembers, she still (after 18 months on the job) lists her email address on the city website as citycouncil@ci.ogden.ut.us
This means Mayor Godfrey reads all her emails.
Even the totally lame Doug Stephens is smarter than this.
Just another subtle clue about how totally clueless this woman really is.
Did somebody say Sailor?
On a somewhat different subject, but still very relevant to the issue of open government:
Today's Standard-Examiner reports that Rep. Hansen's requested audit of the American Can transactions may not be completed until after the election.
Now I have to admit that I'm not really up to speed on the American Can transactions. (As a Sierra Club volunteer I've given my priority to shining light on other scandals; in this post I'm taking off my Sierra Club hat.) But from recent news reports I gather that there are plenty of intriguing questions--and that to answer these questions will involve looking into the records of the Ogden Community Foundation.
It sure looks suspicious when a nonprofit foundation acquires a piece of property worth $3 million (a hundred times more money than it's ever handled before), then sells it to a commercial developer a month later. In what way were these transactions relevant to the foundation's charitable mission? How exactly was the foundation able to acquire such a valuable asset, and what is it doing with the proceeds of the sale?
If the Ogden Community Foundation were part of the government, we could perhaps answer these questions by obtaining the minutes of its meetings through a GRAMA request. According to news reports, Hansen filed such a request and it was denied on the grounds that the OCF is a private entity. Yet there are allegations that the OCF is actually controlled by city officials. To prove or disprove these allegations we would again need to see the minutes of its meetings.
So I'm wondering: Has Hansen appealed the denial of his GRAMA request? If so, what is the status of the appeal?
Why dosen't the se print the truth about the Ogden community foundation? do they have something to hide. Is all the money that they are sitting on not public money or is it all legal because it has been launderd thought the foundation. One other question is it going into godfrey's campaing? Is it going to Scot Brown's pocket? or Godfrey's pocket? Just how did the foundation get the property to start with.
Dan I think your on to this whole thing. lets really shed some lit on it.
Dan S:
You are so suspicious. The solution to the problem of whether the Foundation is [or rather was at the time it acquired title to the American Can building] a public or private entity is simplicity itself. On the morning after the election this November, Mayor Godfrey can issue retroactive appointments to the Foundation board for 15 public-spirited citizens in no way connected with the Godfrey administration. Their retroactive appointments, backdated to the original creation of the Foundation, will establish clearly the private nature of the foundation board during the period when all this property transferring was going on.
Hey, the Mayor's retroactive waiving of the bid requirements for the contract to hire consultants for a gondola study worked. Sort of. UTA management seems to have found it an acceptable practice. Not sure why they found it acceptable, but evidently they did. [Perhaps it might be interesting for Ogden's other legislative representatives like Rep. Shurtlif [D-Ogden] and Senator Greiner [R-Ogden]to get involved by asking Mr. Inglish of UTA if his organization routinely engages in retroactive competitive bid waivers... or acquiesces in them by Utah cities.]
Anyway, don't see why retroactive appointments to the Foundation's board won't work for Hizzonah. Why not? In the rules-free world of the Godfrey administration, anything goes. Or seems to.
right on:
I'm not aware of any evidence whatsoever that Godfrey or Brown has personally profited from the Ogden Community Foundation, or that the Foundation is involved in any way with the Godfrey campaign. Unless you have hard evidence of these things, you're not helping by bringing up these kinds of speculations.
If the newspaper has been slow to get involved in this issue, I suspect it's because of the shrill tone of some of the people who are urging them to get involved. This tone does not inspire confidence.
In science we have a principle that applies here as well: Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof.
At this time there's no proof (that I'm aware of) that the OCF is engaged in any illegal activity. There is evidence (not proof!) to suggest that the OCF might have been involved in some sort of money laundering that could entail violations of tax laws pertaining to its nonprofit status. The apparent beneficiaries of this activity have been private investors: Wadman and/or Peddie. From what I've seen, the evidence is sufficient to warrant further investigation. From today's story it sounds like we shouldn't all sit around waiting for the state auditor to do the investigating. Therefore I do hope that the Standard-Examiner (and other media) will pursue this story, and that the citizens who are pursuing it will do so in a professional manner that maintains their credibility.
Curm, they have all ready made their cover-up appointments, prior to the adition of these new board members, the board was all city administration officials and Rick Safsten.
The bylaws specifically call for the chairman of the City Council to serve as a co-director, however Jessie Garcia has never been affiliated with the foundation, nor approached to join in.
Pretty damning evidence that something of a shady, clandestine nature has been going on.
Any time this foundation comes up, Safsten gets aggressively defensive. In his defense, he came on board after some of the alleged shananigans took place, but his expressions and body language may be quite revealing.
What? Local oaf Rick Safsten, a certified gondola freak and vest-wearing member of Wayne Peterson's famed Squirrel Patrol, getting defensive about the malfeasance conducted by THE SKI IS BEAUTIFUL BLUE and Onions are Ambrosia Foundation? Naw, it can't be. It's funny to watch these assclown squirrel-haters because they are delusional. Remember, Lying Little Matty Gondola Godfrey's father-in-law, dopey, moronic, head-in-the-sand Dr. Ed, went on and on and on to a member of my family about how painfully forthright and honest Lying Little Matty is. "I don't know who commissioned the [analysis]." By the way, it's not a goddamned "study," it's a grade-school extrapolation of figures based on lies fed to these "consultants" by the city and Wayne Peterson. "I don't know who paid for it." "I don't know." "It's not our money." "Ken Lee didn't lobby for anything on our behalf." "I asked [Wayne] Peterson to consider building his [fairy-tale castle, guarded by magical dwarves], in Malan's Basin." "[Wayne] approached me about building [his castle, serviced by a gondola with shit orbs underneath it], to save Ogden." "The town has had no economic engine since the railroad left, and I am convinced that this project will save us all." "I had a handshake deal with [cheat] Stu Reid. This happens all the time in other municipalities." "My vision for Ogden was, let's say, divinely inspired ... I have been called to save us." "I paid for my wife's plane ticket to go to Europe with me and [my possible gay lover Wayne] Chris to see how great gondolas are, but the city paid my airfare." "The [Mt. Ogden parklands] will go to the person with 'the best plan.'" "The city has spent like 6,000 on maps and things." I saw Lying Little Matty and THE SKI IS BEAUTIFUL BLUE together at the rodeo, and one of my associates remarked: "They're the only two people left in town who can stand each other." I guess Lying Little Matty Gondola Godfrey likes onions, too, and still has to ask THE SKI IS BEAUTIFUL BLUE if he can go potty.
I wonder if we can have "branching", or threads, like on usenet. I'm sick of reading posts that don't respond to or address the posts that are relevant to the discussion.
So the Mayor admits that he signs things retroactively all the time! Documents that are meant to cover up and/or forgive past transgressions.
He apparently is clueless as to what this admission really means.
It is apparently A-OK for him and the members of his administration to break the law and bend the rules any time they want, because the fix is as easy as him signing a retroactive waiver.
Why is UTA going along with this?
Why are the voters of Ogden going along with this? Are we OK with this moral decay in city government?
And most curious, where is the other candiates at on this? Why aren't they speaking out?
Mary lou,
The only candidate to speak out is Neil Hansen and then the paper won't write what the real truth is.
I wonder why there is so much voter appathy when the papers won't write the full story. I beleive they know more than they are willing to print. this is because of the politics of mayor and that he will do some bad things to them, Like he has so many of the other companies in Ogden.
So bow down and kiss my ring, because I'm the king.
Mary Lou,
What have you personally done to correct what is going on in Ogden?
Have you asked for a Legislative Audit of the current UTA/Ogden Bus Grant fiasco?
Have you been to an Ogden City Council meeting to take your 3 minutes to ask questions of Mayor Godfrey or to voice your opinions?
You have to become personally involved.
You cannot depend on a few of us to move mountains to solve the problem of Ogden City and the shenanigans of Mayor Godfrey.
Dear Native, just which posts would you be alluding to? If the underlying issue is the mayor's lack of honesty, integrety and morals, I can find relavence in almost all of the preceeding posts.
If the the issue is the deceitful manor in which his goulish underlings have conducted the publics business, I would again refer you to the original underlying issue.
As to who has a right to be appalled by the tone and motivations revealed in these e-mails, every citizen, state and national, this is scam on all taxpayers in our country. It's same rip off as the bridge to nowhere in Alaska, and for what? To refund wayne (chris) peterson for his involvement in a scam, hatched by lying little matty, that for political expedience the lying little mayor has proclaimed,not ffffffffffeasable from the outset.
If this is not criminal, it's at least immoral, improper, unethecal and shows complete bad judgement.
One last thought, Was not ken lee hired by the Council, to find money for Ogden City?
No, Bill, I'm not saying that all posts are irrelevant, I'm just saying that it would be nice if we had threads. Because honestly, some of what is posted here I'm just not interested in.
Image branches on a tree. Each topic sort of creates a branch and your reply becomes a twig on that branch. Then I don't have to read the whole friggin' tree every time I pull up wcforum.
And another thing, I generally agree with what you say (even though I'm still afraid to reveal my identity due to severe Boss Tweed retribution and consequences). But it's like Mr. Dan S. said somewhere in the above tangled bush, that if we sound so shrill, then the fence sitters will tune us out and the SE won't run stories.
I admit I've been shrill. I think Godfrey is a racist. Well, all the snowflakes and crackers in Ogden don't want to hear that. So I gotta tone it down maybe.
Dear Native, part of the beauty of this blog is the variety of opinion. It's also very entertaing, and sometimes down right funny. If you don't like the tone of a post, rapid scroll past it. But remember, like it or not, they are exercising their right of free expression, which we all should celebrate .
Sometimes there can be new information or a new perspective burried in the content that you'll miss,might take a couple of reads to get it.
Finally, this is the best damn blog in Utah, and if your moniker is a true reflection, it's eclectic, different, entertaing, humorous and genuine, just like the city we all love. Why do we love Ogden, because it's not like the rest of Utah. Anyone from Ogden should relate to that. Zitzs and all, we love it.
Native, a more simplified approach, Ogden doesn't need to be changed by some drastic phony make-over,(lying little matty's vision) to something it's not, nor historically never wanted to be, just nurtured and improved.
Oust lying little matty gondola godfrey!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
How did we ever wind up witha picked on little outcast from Harrisville?
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