We'll direct our readers' attention this morning to a couple of items of interest, each of which relates to our upcoming September 11 municipal primary election:
Sharp-eyed reader Curmudgeon this morning spotted an interesting article in today's Salt Lake Tribune, which pertains to a problem that has been a pet peeve of Weber County Forum since the very early days of this blog. We duly incorporate for our readers' attention gentle Curmudgeon's text, cut and pasted from a lower article comments section:
The Salt Lake Trib is running a story this morning about a proposed overhaul of the justice court system to make the judges full time state employees, paid by the state as other state judges are, and subject to voter reconfirmation after each six year term. The matter of justice courts being cash cows for local government, and of the judges' pay coming out of the fines they assess has come up here before.Indeed, the establishment of our very own Emerald City Justice Court has drawn plenty of "electronic ink" on these pages over the past two years. For us, the opening of a Justice Court in our city, in conjunction with Boss Godfrey's aggressive and still operational ticket quota system, is just another example -- in a long line of examples -- of the current administration's harsh and citizen-unfriendly style of municipal governance.
Our regular readers will recall, of course, that it was the issue of ticket quotas which also led in the year 2006 to one of the most embarrassing incidents in recent Emerald City history -- the now notorious "Vangate scandal."
Although we know that the lumpencitizenry of our little Utah town have long memories, we nevertheless see no harm in refreshing our readers' recollections as to these events.
And speaking of jogging our readers' memories, this morning's Standard-Examiner features an excellent guest commentary, by Emerald City resident Kathy Gambles, on the topic of "what we've all learned" during eight years of Boss Godfrey tyranny.
These lessons have been learned "the hard way" by our resourceful Emerald City community of course.
We'll also add our sincere hope that we of Emerald City have learned one other thing which Ms. Gambles doesn't mention -- the location of our neighborhood primary election polling places.
You know what to do, WCF readers. Do it at your neighborhood polling place on September 11, 2007.
Have at it, O gentle ones.
27 comments:
Anyone but godfrey is not a good idea. I feel that you should study out the issues and candidates and I think that there will be one that is better than the rest. So go after it. Btw it is not godfrey.
And do you honestly believe that Mayor Hansen will do away with these kangaroo courts? Don't hold your breath. I do expect him to do away with the ticket quota nonsense, however. He does seem to have the backing of the cops.
I'd also like to say that, if we are going to keep these justice courts, I'm definitely in favor of allowing local control of who the judges are. I think that the article makes a good point with regards to local judges who know the community tend to make better judgements. Especially when it comes to landscaping and zoning violations.
Go for it:
Absolutely right. Ogden does not need a mayor elected solely on the single qualification that he or she is not Matt Godfrey. Presuming Godfrey is defeated, whoever defeats him, the morning after, will have to start actually governing Ogden. And will have to don hip-boots to start cleaning up the problems eight years of a Godfrey administration have created [a mountain of public debt, declining water and sewage systems, etc.]. So precisely one second after the polls close in September [or November], "I'm not Matt Godfrey" isn't going to cut it anymore.
Which means we need to start asking of his challengers, and asking now, "what will you do if you win?" And in answer to that question, we need specifics, not just generalities.
After finally being able to wrestle a prescription for my meds away from my tightfisted doctor, I calmed down Saturday night and made my way down to a fantastic BBQ on Jefferson, co-presented by GTrain Wilkerson herself! GTrain seemed to be the perfect host, was simply charming and her home (the idiotic red Lift Ogden YES! sign notwithstanding) seemed marvelous (I only walked into the garage). There was a live band, food, and I availed myself of way too many BYOB reebs that I indeed brought on my own. I didn't have the opportunity to chat with GTrain, and the affair was populated mostly by minions of the evil local chamber, and various covert soldiers in Wayne Peterson's famed Squirrel Patrol, so mainly I listened to the band and grooved by myself like a drunk sailor. I did, however, enjoy a lengthy conversation with one SLC Democrat by the name of Randy Horiuchi, who was friendly, self-deprecating and intelligent, until he said something to the effect of: "You guys up here [in OTown] have got to be happy with what's going on downtown and what [Lying Little Matty Gondola] Godfrey is doing."
"Ha!" I reiterated the many lies, falsehoods and fabrications that Teeny Matty has perpetrated upon the citizenry, how he has no regard for and an utter disdain of his constituency, how he's saddled us with piles of debt from which we'll never recover, how he's attached city assets as collateral for his folly, how his few selected Squirrel Patrolers benefit from these many crooked schemes and how he's done nothing for two years but shout at the top of his lungs that he was more than willing to give his cozy traveling pal and really special friend Wayne Peterson at less than pennies on the dollar; how our town is going to die unless we build a circus ride to nowhere; how Wayne will save us all with a fairy-tale castle, serviced by golden gondolas with attached shit orbs; and how he's quite the egotistical little jackass. I was disturbed not only because Mr. Horiuchi is a fellow Dem, but because his remarks stand in stark contrast to everyone I speak with in the capital city: legislators, lobbyists, real developers, those in the concrete and mortgage businesses, banking industry, higher education, the law and medicine -- these people have done nothing but laugh at Godfrey for two years, and think this whole circus ride scheme and Lying Little Matty Gondola Godfrey's willingness to put himself and the city in bed with Wayne is the biggest single political joke in the history of our fair state (contrary to what THE SKI IS BEAUTIFUL BLUE will tell you about his meetings, in which he will name-drop 600 times, tell us about dining with Wolfgang Puck, and generally make an ass of himself and removes his credibility). I guess politics does make strange bedfellows, but GONDOLAS make strange species from protracted comingling and perverted couplings in gondola cars. THE SKI IS BEAUTIFUL BLUE.
Jason:
Good BBQ, good music and no admission charge? Why wasn't I invited?
Oh well.... As to Mr. Horiuchi, he watches TV for a living. Lots and lots of TV. Sit-coms. Un-real "reality" shows. Dance contests. Talk shows. Probably even "The View." Endlessly. It's his job. Bound to scramble the good sense and intelligence of even the best of us sooner or later. In his case, later seems to be now.
Good Old (?) Curmudgeon:
Vince the TV critic is Randy's brother; Randy is famous for, as a Salt Lake County Commissioner, donning a hazmat suit at an industrial property owned by Senator Bob Bennett (not then) in the early 1990s. We had a veritable heyday with old Randy back then in the student press, replete with expletives, and he laughed about it again the other night.
Jason:
Ah. Thank you for clearing that up for me. Maybe he talks to his brother about TV a lot... and got sort of a "contact-low" [sense-wise] so to speak...
Jason W., you are a warrior of the finest caliber. Gawd, I can't believe you're willing to subject yourself to that. Nice report on the GTrain party. How did you not get the boot? Especially after you fired up your med-laced rant? You are awesome.
The only party I despise more than a GTrain party or the Democrat Party, is the Republican Party. Horiuchi kinda sorta epitomizes a politician.
What the hell is going on in Ogden these days? Saturday at midnight a lady was shot at 26th and Washington, child in back seat and all. Four shot two killed yesterday, and now someone was shot and left for dead on Commerce Way what the Hell is going on around here?
"... Mayor Godfrey has chosen to address the crime issue in Ogden by adding more officers to the Traffic Division (officers whose primary mission is to write citations). The mayor effectively doubled the size of the Traffic Division. No addition in personnel has been made to the Patrol Division (those officers who handle your calls and proactively prevent crime), to the Narcotic Unit, Gang Unit or the Detective Division. This is an obvious plan to use the police department as revenue generators and raise money from you, the citizens, to pay for who knows what project."
Ogden thinks of police as revenue-generators
If Justice Court Judges become state employees paid by the state, expect the cost of a ticket to jump significantly as the state will put another surcharge on tickets and/or impose a charge on the justice court to pay for these new higher cost full-time with benefit judges.
The cities will not stand for a reduction in revenue from their justice courts and with costs going up the only way to keep the cities happy will be to raise the fines on tickets.
Have fun paying those more expensive tickets.
Arcritic:
OK, maybe as you say. But if so, how do you address the apparent conflict of interest of judges assessing the fines out of which their own pay comes? To be effective, good government must be seen to be good government, doesn't it? And the perception of self-interest affecting decisions is not a trivial one. So if you are right, the question becomes how to removed the apparent conflict of interest without boosting the fines for tickets beyond where they are now.
Any suggestions? Ideas?
Thanks, Nati -- Wait a mintue. Native just called me "awesome" and he/she warned me that such a use predicates his/her mocking me and thinking I'm an assclown. I am one, and I wouldn't be pissed off if someone hurled that invective my way. Captain Geiger of Wayne Peterson's famed Squirrel Patrol is welcome to call me an assclown and I won't try to get him fired for it...Well, that and he works for Daddy. Anyway, my Grift Ogden, Squirrel Patrol and Oust Gondola Godfrey Tshirts were all dirty because I spilled Lord Calvert all over all of them, so I was incognito.
"First thing we do is kill all the lawyers"
One suggestion was to leave things the way they are but change the way Justice Court Judges are retained.
Right now, mayors appoint them for 4 year terms and at the end of the term the mayor has the authority to appoint again. One proposal was to allow the mayor to continue appointing initially but then every 4 years have the Justice Court Judge stand for retention like District Court Judges do now. There is still the issue of the setting of salary and benefits for the Justice Court Judge.
Personally, I think there is a problem anytime a government looks at something they do as a money making opportunity. If it is a money making enterprise, shouldn't it probably be better to let the private sector handle it?
But how much of the punishment of lawbreakers should be allowed to be used to fund the enforcement of those laws?
It is a bit of a Catch-22 and unfortunately, some cities (probably way too many) have become dependent on this stream of revenue which, I totally agree, has the very real posibility of a conflict of interest.
Jason, was lying little matty or stuart reid at g-trains little bash? Pressin flesh, strong arming cash or lying about last weeks rash of hard headlines?
That brings to mind a question Schwebke or someone ought to direct to the members and board members of the Ogden chamber of commerce. How did it feel when lying little matty said this gondola plan was never feasable from the outset? Why did you come out loudly endorsing this boondoggle without any research or credible information to back your position? Did the ex-ZCMI no business experience clothier leader of your group make that decision all by himself and you so foolishly went along for the ride? What has this mayor done to improve your business, or the overall business climate sinse taking office 7+ years ago?
Fact is nothing, there has been a loss of business during lying little matty's tenure, things like crime have not been delt with, he killed the most successfull promotion going for Ogden business at the time and increased the debt to over $100 million in order to placate some non-Ogden cronies.
How can anyone endorse this cloven hoofed dishonest scumbag?
And Curm and co. I respectfully disaggree with you, for this primary election it is, ANYBODT BUT LYING LITTLE MATTY GONDOLA PECCARY GODFREY. If noone votes for him in the primary, we can have a real honest race between 2 good reasonable candidates.
Bill C.:
There are four non-Godfreys running. Presuming Hizzonah does not make it through the primary, surely it is in Ogden's best interest to have the best two other candidates survive to the second round. Which means, seems to me, it is still important to start asking questions of them now along the lines of "What will you do if you become Mayor?"
Besides which, "he or she is not Godfrey" is not, I suspect, going to be a winning campaign appeal to voters who are not, like WCF folks are, policy wonks and much informed on goings on at City Hall. Be foolish to put all eggs in only one basket called "not Matt."
And OK, I give: why is Wilkerson Gtrain. You guys seem to know. I have no idea. GravyTrain Wilkerson? That it?
Late Notice:
Just found this notice taped to my front door:
-----------------------------
NATIONAL NIGHT OUT AGAINST CRIME
To promote awareness, safety and neighborhood unity.
Monday, August 6, 2007, 6:30 PM
Lester Park [21th & Jefferson, next to Weber County Library.]
----------------------------------
Hadn't heard of this, and it's pretty late notice, but I thought I'd post it FYI.
I nominate Bonzo for mayor.
Hey, his side kick Professor Peter Boyd (Ronnie Reagan) became president, so why couldn't the Bonz become mayor of Emerald City?
He certainly would do a better job than Bozo our current idiot in charge. He would also be one hell of a lot more honest that's for sure. Besides all the real practical reasons to elect Bonzo, just think - we could have The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band playing in our amphitheater every night!
So vote for bonzo. I think it will make you feel so good you will want to do it twice.
Jason W:
I was never gonna call you an assclown, but I do think you're truly awesome. No but seriously, what's all this he/she his/her tripe? Do I not post like a man? Do I shirk like treehugger Dan's little bitch? Do swoon to Curm's deadly, rambling invective's? Do I prance off topic like Bill's consistently misspelled rants?
Oh I'm kidding. Y'all need to lighten up and celebrate. Godfrey had one of the worst weeks in his entire tenure. I'm giddy about it.
No, but seriously again, I met the GTrain a good while ago, looking at a OIO house the GTrain was pimpin. It was meth'd out dope crap, but the GTrain rolled it up like a CDV on five-ohs. I threw the RDA some profs (verbally) and the GTrain was sippin gravy and dishin lash. That whole smooth ride rolled rims when I was all, "yeah but that Gondola is a stupid idea." She said, get this, the GTrain said,"yeah, well why don't you propose something, anything, Ogden is dying...". Remember that G? Member how I showed hand, shook neck and split? Mmmm Hmmm. No sale.
Godfreyite Sue Wilkerson's "G-Train" reference
And Dear Curm,
Yer L7 dude. There's a lot you don't know about O-Town. I should take ya up to the Store where we can get some glass-a-delic. Then we'll scrape south, gittin n chillin some OE8 for later. And while that's chillin, I'll show you some of G-Train's A-Bags. You'll be in spit heaven. Ain't that right J-Dub?
googleboy:
Thanks for the history on GTrain.
Thanks googleboy, I'd love to know how g-train now feels about signing a letter written by short deck's daddy, aqualung the lying tuber face. Who knows, could have been a compilation, including tidbits tossed in by lying little matty gondola himself. All that classic BS regurgitated so nobly by the truck drivin turned Ogden's own monopoly realestate HUD dealer.
The big silent majority, the one lying little matty heard so loud and clear, the one that caused him to throw g-train and co. under the bus for political expediency in a last ditch effort to salvage his employment hopes. Despite all my buddies selling realestate these days, I gotta say, g-trains' regurgitated geigerisms make used car salesmen appear qutie credible.
All of the smart folks employed at WSU should have listened to their spiel, we could be the best collage golf and ski town in the whole USA, wow.
I wonder If anybody has explained to her, what we've advocated all along, and recently confirmed by lying little matty himself, never was feasable.
Fyi Mr. Native, I'm not now nor have I ever claimed familiarity with a keyboard.
You are what you is.
Great post today.
This is why the we Cops want Neil Hansen to be our next mayor. He's the only candidate that's gone to bat for us on these issues!
Don't forget!
It was Godfrey that called cops a bunch of wieners, when they told the truth about ticket quotas. Then fired and demoted cops for speaking out against his corrupt policies.
Native has gone all urban colloquial on our izzass, but he/she best stop copping my lingo. Those who speak OTown know OTown, you dig? And I remain convinced that calling me "awesome" means you're Geigering me, but whatever. GTrain Wilkerson, for the record, is a flat-out moron, a delusional truck driver with her dizzy, high-school, ass-flat retarded, jagoff head up Curt Geiger's ass. And speaking of Wayne Peterson's famed Squirrel Patrol, it's amazing how far its hatred of rodents reaches; last night at the Rush show at USANA in WVC, I happened upon two fellow tailgaters from Park City; they mentioned that Snowbasin is one of the best mountains in North America, and I agreed. They then started speaking of OTown building "A GONDOLA" to the Basin, at which point I asked them from whom they received this nonsense. "That big-nosed ski clothing douche ... what's his name, Geiger?"
"Yeah, it never was going to Snowbasin, but Lying Little Matty Gondola Godfrey thought building a GONDOLA from Wall to WSU [an organization that wants no part of this madness] would save our beloved OTown. Matty Godfrey's a f------ criminal," I responded.
"OK," one of the duped said. "But let's have a beer this winter at Needles."
Indeed, indeed.
Post a Comment