After Thursday's Standard-Examainer head-fake, wherein Std-Ex publisher Lee Carter and his captive editorial board endorsed non-Godfreyite council incumbent Amy Wicks for re-election to her Emerald City At-large Seat "A", we were poised to welcome a new posture for our home town newspaper. Believing that this endorsement perhaps signaled the Std-Ex's departure from embracing everything Godfreyesque, (and a movement toward common sense) we were prepared (gasp) even to abandon our long-held notion that the Standard-Examiner was nothing more than the Boss Godfrey Official House Propaganda Organ. So far; so bad.
Alas, the Std-Ex backpedaled yesterday, and endorsed Godfrey henchman and certified gondolist Blain Johnson. And today's Std-Ex endorsement is even more shocking to us. The Standard-Examiner's "pick of the day?" -- Kent "the Skipper" Petersen. Sheesh! We incorporate here a few key paragraphs from today's Std-Ex editorial recommendation:
Kent Petersen has lived in Ogden for 66 years. In that time he has accomplished a lot for Junction City and the Top of Utah. A co-owner of Petersen Motor Company and Petersen Marine Supply, besides his business experience, Petersen has actively worked to better the community.Excuse us folks, but isn't Petersen the same guy who was forced to divest his interest in his car dealership after an unfortunate and bone-head financial misadventure with get-rich-quick "investment guru" Wayne Ogden? And while we don't mean to suggest that we don't feel sorry for the poor trusting souls who lost millions to Ogden's most famous ponzi schemer, we will suggest that such investors showed a paltry dedication to their own due diligence, and a troubling tolerance for investment risk. It seems to us that folks who sit on our city council ought to be able to demonstrate, at the very least, a tolerable degree of financial prudence in their own affairs, before we select them to watch over our public purse.
To us, Petersen has a passion for Ogden, and a willingness to work hard toward goals that will make Junction City a better place to live. For that reason, the Standard-Examiner Editorial Board recommends voters cast their ballots on Nov. 6 for Petersen in the race for Ogden City Council Municipal Ward 4.
Petersen is committed to building consensus within the sometimes bitterly divided council. He’ll rely on his business experience to build trust with his colleagues. This will be needed as Ogden continues its quest to revitalize the city and improve the quality of life here. ...
Our recommendation is based on Petersen’s long record of community service, his proven desire to better Ogden and his reputation of being a leader who can accomplish tasks. He will be an asset to the Ogden City Council, and merits serious consideration from Ogden voters.
And what about Petersen's early endorsement of the Chris Peterson Landgrab? As most regular readers already know, Kent Petersen's name was on the Gondolist Cult "A" list from the earliest possible moment, long before Boss Godfrey admitted the "plan" was "infeasible from the start." "Due diligence? We don't need no stinkin' due diligence," says the visionary Kent Petersen.
Kent Petersen's proven track record demonstrates the same "no questions asked" "bandwagon" mentality we've witnessed for years. It's time for a change, we think. We say "shame on the Standard-Examiner," and wonder what they've been smokin'.
Turning to another interesting topic, we now direct our readers' attention to this morning's Salt Lake Tribune story, wherein Kristen Moulton shines the spotlight again on Emerald City campaign finance. It seems that Boss Godfrey continues to raise obscene sums of campaign treasure:
OGDEN - Mayor Matthew Godfrey continued collecting record amounts of campaign cash in the past eight weeks, bringing in more than $83,000 and pushing his total raised so far to more than $183,000, according to finance reports filed Friday.Will our twisted "boy mayor," the champion of cronyism, corporate welfare, secrecy and deception, succeed in buying this election? Are we of Emerald City ready for another four years of round-the-clock, tooth-and-nail effort to keep our hyper-active Big Government in check? Are we really prepared for that? Shall our community be hopelessly divided for another four years? We'll find out in a few short days, won't we.
His challenger, Susan Van Hooser, raised more than $25,000 in the reporting period that began Sept. 1, bringing her total raised to $52,000.
Godfrey, who is seeking a third term, has spent more on a campaign consultant alone than Van Hooser, a one-year councilwoman, has raised. ...
Much of Godfrey's campaign money reported in his first filing came from developers, construction companies and real estate interests, and his most recent report includes some similar donations as well as sizable donations from ski companies and individuals.
One thing's for sure, another four years of Boss Godfrey's reign of terror will make for a full employment economy for cranky bloggers. Are we truly ready for that?
And what say our gentle readers about all this?
77 comments:
I was disappointed, but not surprised, at today's Petersen endorsement.
The only glimmer of hope (and it may be the product of my imagination) was that they said nice things about Gochnour, calling her "capable".
Also, they didn't accuse her of stealing their lawn signs.
So I may have been reading between the lines too much, but I felt like this one was a lot closer call for the Editorial Board than the previous two.
Yeah, Rudi. The Gondola-Godfrey Examiner sucks. The editorial board is comprised of nothing but members of Wayne Peterson's famed Squirrel Patrol who deserve every "hateful" invective I've flung their way. All of them. Kent "Dupe" Peterson has a brilliant idea! MOGC should "enter partnerships" with private entities! Awesome! I would "recommend" him, too! Despite protestations from Good Old (?) Curmudgeon, I also "recommend" any readers to subscribe to another paper and ditch the Godrey-reeking Stand-Ex. Pitiable losers. All the news from those lousy nitwit moron gondola lovers is available right here on WCF, via television, through the SL Trib and on the web. Congratulations, f""" at the Stand-Ex, you've officially become irrelevant, even before your "recommendation" of Lying Little Matty Gondola Godfrey. P.S. Do the onion-reeking Geigers have Squirrel Patroller Lee Carter on speed dial?
Jim:
Well, actually, the SE editorial did not say nice things about Gochnour. They said nice things about Peterson's "opponent." They never named her.
The managers of the SE go all over hurt and huffy when anyone suggests the paper is being anything but scrupulously even-handed and fair in its political coverage. They are shocked... shocked!... that anyone not blinded by partisanship could possibly think otherwise of them. So, for the benefit of SE managers, here's an example of how they fuel suspicion:
The SE endorsed Ms. Wicks, Mr. Johnson and Mr. Petersen for Council seats in Ogden. The first is generally seen as a critic of much [but not all] of the Godfrey administration program. The latter two are generally seen as supporters of Godfrey plans. In only one of those endorsement editorials was the name of the candidate not being endorsed mentioned in the editorial. Guess which one?
That's right. Only in the case of Ms. Wicks. Here's the text: Wicks’ opponent in the race, Royal Eccles.... This morning's editorial speaks well of Mr. Petersen's opponent, but never tells readers who she is. Here's the text: Petersen is facing a capable opponent who also has many good ideas for Ogden. The Johnson endorsement never mentioned the name of his opponent either. In fact, from the Johnson editorial, you wouldn't know he had an opponent in the race at all. But the Wicks editorial endorsement, and only that one, provided readers the name of her opponent.
It is a common tactic among campaigners to not mention the name of their opponent in campaign literature, not wanting to increase the opposition's name recognition for free. Sound campaign tactics for a partisan piece, I agree. But should the supposedly neutral oh-so-even-handed wallowing in impartiality and fairness editorial board of the Standard Examiner be engaging in such tactics? Can they offer a reason why they included the name of the opponent of the only Council candidate they endorsed who is not supported by the Godfrey campaign, Ms. Wicks, while when endorsing the two Council candidates who are supported by [and are supporting] Godfrey's campaign they scrupulously avoid including the name of their opponents in the editorials?
Want to know why so many people doubt your claims of even-handed partiality, SE managers? Go re-read your three endorsement editorials and see if you can come up with an explanation for including in them only the name of Ms. Wicks opponent, but not the name of Mr. Johnson's and Mr. Peterson's opponents. I'm sure we'd all love to hear it.
Also from today's SL Trib, Kristin Moulton's story on the Council's passing the Mt. Ogden Community plan. Includes additional detail not in the SE story that ran on Wednesday. Here's the link.
I hate to say this again, but here I go.
I will not patronize any business that supports Godfrey and his gang, I feel that if I am spending money, I will spend it with businesses that do not promote the hate and division the Godfrey and his bunch of followers have subjected us to over the past seven plus years.
Good example, I needed a leaf blower the other day, went to Wilkinson supply to buy one, and they have a Godfrey sign on their property, I did a u-turn and went to Wilson Lane Service and bought from them, I have quit dining at Javier’s, and stopped frequenting the Beach house Coffee shop.
I have had a gut full of the Standard and their feeble attempts to blow their biased smoke up everyone’s asses. I stopped my subscription today.
The SE's recommendation of Petersen over Gochnour is baffling to me. After watching the two interviews I don't see how anyone can say Petersen will make a better council person. It was clear to me that Gochnour not only will do the research necessary to make informed decisions while on the council, she already has. While Petersen says we should make the golf course more user friendly, Gochnour tells us she went to the golf course and talked with the people who work there. While Petersen says we should study all transit options, including the gondola, Gochnour tells us she has already read quite a bit on the topic and it is clear that the gondola is not a feasible transit option. Plus, she notes how in walking the neighborhoods she has talked to only one person who thinks the gondola is a good idea. She's also talked to many who used to think it was a good idea but upon learning more have realized the error of their ways. Yet Petersen still wants to study it. Also on many issue Gochnour and Petersen were in agreement. Again, I'm just amazed that the SE recommended Petersen. If you haven't watched the interviews and you live in Ward 4, please do so, so that you can see for yourself.
tk,
Well said. I watched both interviews last night, and I've also spoken personally, at length, with both Petersen and Gochnour.
I actually think Petersen is a fairly likable and honest guy, but he prefers talking to listening, and he doesn't show much interest in putting in the hard work that's required of a City Council member. (Also, I happen to disagree with him on a number of issues. When I asked him whether he would support designating some Wilderness on Mt. Ogden and Lewis Peak, he said he didn't even think the federal government should own land.)
Gochnour has taken her job very seriously already, investing a great deal of time and energy in her campaign and into researching the issues. When she doesn't have enough information she goes out and gets it. I do wish, however, that she had expressed just a little skepticism about the feasibility of a Malan's Basin resort, and about the wisdom of giving tax subsidies to any developer who asks for them.
By the way, Gochnour says she got drawn back into politics through the Mt. Ogden Community planning process. She was a member of one of the five steering committees that developed the plan. (Her former opponent Jim Freed was also on one of the committees.)
Which makes me wonder: Where were Royal Eccles and Blain Johnson during the Mt. Ogden planning process? Both live in the same neighborhood as Gochnour, near the north end of the park. Eccles showed up to one Planning Commission hearing on the draft plan, but that's all. Johnson, as far as I'm aware, never participated at all.
I'd love to hear from Eccles and Johnson why they didn't take a more active role in this process. I sure hope it's not because they consider community planning to be a waste of time.
It's hilarious that addled has-been dupes likes Kent Petersen actually think the leader of his own famed Squirrel Patrol -- Wayne Peterson -- is going to develop anything, anywhere, other than allowing the abhorrent beast Wal-Mart to erect itself on his Bootjack property, thanks to the lies and duplicitousness of Lying Little Matty Gondola Godfrey. What's not funny is the Gondola-Godfrey Examiner editors clinging to this silly fantasy. These are supposed to be newspapermen, who are trained to view such childish nonsense with skepticism and keep in mind not-so-subtle clues like Wayne's refusal to communicate with them for eight months, his allowance that the deal is dead due to his inability to steal our golf course and parklands, his possible Thorazine-induced silence, and the fact that he's had a falling out with his potential gay European lover, Lying Little Matty. Would anyone care to venture a guess as to the last time onion-reeking THE SKI IS BEAUTIFUL BLUE spoke personally to Wayne? I'll even credit THE SKI IS BEAUTIFUL BLUE for realizing the dream was dead when he learned that WSU and the Utah State Board of Regents refused to allow Wayne to steal their property. Yet brain-dead victims of fraud like Petersen cling to hope that "private investment" will result in a fairy-tale castle in the hills that includes a Wolfgang Puck eatery, built without roads, serviced via shit orbs, and guarded by magical dwarves, to miraculously appear, as will its accompanying Jetson car circus ride, and make OTown a world-class tourist destination for people who purchase Goodie ski poles!
Good god, gondola Stand-Ex morons, pull your heads out. You embarass yourselves and your profession. Oh, wait, I forgot, you can't: your boss, Lee Carter, is a certified Squirrel Patroller and told you "the gondola" was a good idea. Yeah, it is. It really is. Ask Kent Petersen.
THE SKI IS BEAUTIFUL BLUE
As this Jason clown says, "all the news from those lousy, nit-wit moron gondola lovers" is available here on the WCF. I wonder how colored this news is? Does it just reflect some nit-wit like Jason W's views, or is it unbiased and supported by FACT. If this news is akin to his childish rants about "squirel patrols," then one can probably get a whole lot more by reading Marvel comics than posts like he writes. He always comes across as angry, pointed, insulting and NEVER offers an alternative. Besides these childish rants, what do guys like this really contribute to Ogden or its growth. No wonder people of his ilk aren't taken seriously.
I've brought this up many times before, and I'm glad Rudi did too:
Kent Peterson in his greedy lust for a get richer scheme lost about a million dollars in Wayne Ogden's ponzi game. Is this really the guy qualified to deal with the city's financial matters?
Especially as convoluted and tangled as they are under Godfrey's manipuations?
I say not!
Also, I hope you will recall that Peterson was one of the first to ABANDON Ogden and take his dealership to Riverdale. Will he now relacate his business in Ogden?
The Double Standard does not serve it's readership well. It certainly is not serving the voters.
They don't like Peterson's stance on illegals, yet they overlook his shortcomings in order to get on the Godfrey bandwagon.
We desperately need independent thinkers who listen to the people.
I'm just feeling sick as I contemplate the election. With Godfrey's lying at every meeting of his followers and the uninformed, the SE collaborating with him and refusing to delve into Peteraon's background and Johnson's alliances with the Foundation, Peddie, Amer, etc, the SE editors have shown themselves to be a most incurious bunch who apparently don't care that Ogden is wallowing in massive debt. The Junction is deader'n the proverbial doornail during the week, we have no real retail downtown....why doesn't the SE ask for proof of those thousands of new jobs Matt keeps boasting he's brought here?
The sickness I feel over the Double Standard's pandering to an incompetent isn't cured by my chemo!
Amused: What are your credentials for preserving Ogden's natural beauty?
With the exception of Wicks...and the SE had no choice but to endorse this capable leader, these "editors" have shown themselves to be extremely ignorant. Either they are ignorant of the true dealings of Godfrey or they believe the gondola, Peterson's Tyrolean resort up a roadless slope and the "uglyfying" of our city is in Ogden's best interests.
Have you read the SE's letter writing policy? No name calling...don't say anything bad about a candidate. Well, the letters they've printed against VanHooser are pure Godfrey lemming style replete with venomous attacks on her character, intelligence, committment and abilities.
Yep...it's the SubDoubleStandard, alright.
The Lift Ogden Choir is in full voice....and the doltish "editors" and their equally slothful reporters have never ascertained just what "protections" Godfrey has magnanimously placed on our parklands.
I don't seek to be taken seriously, Amused, and what is this supporting "FACT" of which you write? It's a FACT that Little Matty Gondola Godfrey lies repeatedly and with impunity; it's a FACT that "the gondola" is not feasible and never was; it's a FACT that people who think otherwise are nitwits and morons. And the famed Squirrel Patrol is a real, scary entity that prowls the streets that are covered by the Godfrey Examiner (which you represent, que no?), seeking to string up gondolas everywhere, eradicate OTown of squirrels and feasting on onions. Scary, indeed. Beware, Amused, and be afraid.
THE SKI IS BEAUTIFUL BLUE
tk:
Excellent analysis of the two video tapes. On the very terms to SE Ed Board offered up for endorsing Petersen, Gochnour seems to come out clearly ahead.
When Jason W. wrote of the SE management that "You embarrass yourselves and your profession," he got it right. Hard to conclude from the SE's performance over the past week in a variety of instances anything else.
How many people who post here are actually doing anything to help Susie?
A lot of Ogdenites don't read the SE (thank goodness). They get their news (if any) from the SLC TV stations. So they know the Mayor "wrestled" a drunken bike thief to the ground, but they may not even know what Susie looks like!
If you aren't actively doing anything FOR her, you are helping Godfrey. He's got the money to send mailings every day - Susie doesn't. Walking neighborhoods and handing out campaign brochures isn't rocket science. You don't have to go to houses with Godfrey signs, just those who may be uninformed or undecided. There is always an experienced walker (or even Susie) walking across the street from you in case you get a question you can't answer. There are a lot of doors left to be knocked on!
We walk neighborhoods every evening from 5-7PM and on Saturdays during the day. People are also needed to make phone calls (script provided).
Have you sent a letter to the SE? It doesn't have to be long and fancy - just heartfelt.
Go to http://www.susieformayor.com/ and fill in the form to find out how to join in. It's trite, but if you aren't part of the solution, you ARE part of the problem.
Hear, hear, Ogdenlover. In all my time going door to door, I have never encountered one person who said, "I support Matt Godfrey." Then again, I cannot fathom the idea that there are 3,000 morons in this town who would actually vote for Gondola Boy. Regarding Gondola Boy's takedown, the media also neglected to mention that Lying Little Matty Gondola Godfrey recognized his $95 Huffy bike-stealiing foe, and understood that he is developmentally disabled. What a hero! As to approaching homes with Lying Little Matty Gondola Godfrey signs in the yards, Captain Geiger and his leige, THE SKI IS BEAUTIFUL BLUE, have adopted an opposite approach, and have screamed at and threatened two of my neighbors who had the audacity to display Van Hooser signs. Yikes!
Both Johnson and Petersen when asked about the gondola suggested that they liked the idea as long as it was done with private money.
I read that as simply saying - RDA
amused:
Well, as you know, I tried publishing a piece in the S-E that was supported by FACT and got a flamethrower directed at me in return.
FACTS don't seem to carry much weight in this town.
Not to worry, Jim.
We're now getting a record amount of page-hits at Weber County Forum.
The truth always comes out in a democratic society like ours, notwithstanding the efforts of the Standard-Examiner to suppress and twist the truth.
Keep on telling the truth here people.
Godfrey is "toast" in the 2007 Emerald City election, assuming the lumpencitizens show up to vote...
Jim,
Just keep wearing your asbestos suit and yuo'll come out unsinged!
We need your cool head, wit and logic!
Here is letter to the editor that was circulated by email but not sent in to the paper.
Based on your observations, Rudi, about the decreasing impotance of the SE compared to the WCF, perhaps it should have been submitted here instead. Here it is.
Please read it, Godfrey supporters. And ask yourself what in the world you are doing supporting this man.
-----
I recently received a Susan VanHooser flyer in which Kent Jorgenson, a former Godfrey supporter, former city councilmen and my neighbor endorsed Mrs. VanHooser. When I saw Kent and mentioned the flyer I was appalled to learn that upon endorsing VanHooser, Kent was contacted by John Patterson, Godfrey’s Chief Administrative Officer. Patterson told Kent they were disappointed and that his actions would hurt the mayor’s campaign. Patterson spoke of fear that should Godfrey lose, he too would be unemployed. He tried to intimidate Kent by saying his boss would be displeased to know of Kent’s actions. He asked Kent to withdraw his support. Kent refused and his boss was, in fact, contacted. Such use of intimidation to garner support or squash opposition is abhorrent.
The mayor’s administration proved what Kent stated: that Godfrey’s obsession with winning at all costs has become dangerous. When VanHooser learned of this situation, she offered to remove Kent’s endorsement and reprint her flyer rather than jeopardize Kent’s employment. Kent courageously declined.
I am angered and frightened that a man of Kent Jorgenson’s caliber could be treated this way. Godfrey’s actions should be watched closely for further retaliation.
Sadly, Matthew Godfrey has become a politician in every sense of the word. He has forgotten who his real employers are and that his job is to serve, not be served. Mrs. VanHooser may not be politically polished, but she knows how to listen, how to tell the truth and how to treat us with respect and integrity.
emailer:
Kent is a good man. Having heard many similar stories about the current administration, and knowing Mr. Jorgenson as I do, I give your letter much credibility.
When I moved to this beautiful city and met some of the truly wonderful people who live here, I never dreamed I was moving into a Police State. I've lived all over the country. Not even in the Deep South have I seen this kind of intimidation used consistently to squash freedom of speech. (Curm may disagree, but then Louisiana is a story unto itself.)
Emailer:
Well stated. Do these so-called "elders," Lying Little Matty Gondola Godfrey and Short-deck Geiger and Godfrey's elfish henchman Patterson, think they're being Christian when they attempt to remove my or your livelihood and ability to feed our families? Do the Godfrey-reeking Stand-Ex editors like Amused support and "recommend" such tactics?
THE SKI IS BEAUTIFUL BLUE
P.S. When Godfrey loses and Patterson is fired, we, the taxpayers, owe him two years' salary.
I'm dumbfounded by whatever schizophrenia impels the Standard-Examiner to endorse Amy Wicks and then in short succession to throw their editorial weight behind Wicks antagonists and pro-Gondolists Blain Johnson and Kent Petersen. Blecccchhh! What planet are they on?
I can only hope their endorsement of Elder Godfrey comes tomorrow, appropriately, on the Lord's Day.
It has been suggested that the Standard is merely expressing its best judgment and those who divine ulterior motives behind such inscrutable pronouncements are "paranoid."
As to that, Curmudgeon, I can only reply, as Sydney Smith wrote to Bishop Blomfield, "You must not think me necessarily foolish because I am facetious, nor will I consider you necessarily wise because you are grave."
Moroni:
Indeed, tommorrow will bring us a new day, one filled with Gondola Godfrey endorsements and letters from the Storeys and maybe the Blodgetts, the only Godfreyites in town who haven't posited their illiterate viewpoints in the Godfrey-reeking Stand-Ex. I am aghast that you are not currently local, as Captain Geiger of Wayne Peterson's famed Squirrel Patrol purchased a new Taurus and is available for viewing on Malan Avenue.
THE SKI IS BEAUTIFUL BLUE
I will be sending my letter to the editor soon.
Thusly Godfrey will be re-elected.
emailer:
Why wasn't that letter sent to the SE???
For petesake do it!
Since VanHooser knows of the manipulations and threats and offered to redo her flyer to protect Kent, that should be proof enuf for Don Porter.
Send it in now! If Kent is being courageous, surely the emailer will be too.
Jim, Dont worry about the flamethrower, as long as the firefighters are supporting Susie, we have your back.
Jason, Pattersons contract with the Mayor states that he is guaranteed compensation through August of 1008, unless he resigns on his own.
OK, Sir, thanks for the correction; I thought it was two years. He'll never resign.
Just Another Humble Servant:
Thanks. I have never had any problem at all with the rank-and-file public servants in this city, in fact, I have the greatest respect for them and the difficult conditions they work under.
Mayor Godfrey opined at the first debate that he wanted to abolish the Civil Service. I guess we now know why.
Permit me to co-opt some WCF karma, Rudi, and let our own Rocky Mountain athletes claw their way back into the Series. OK? God, I hate Red Sox fans, especially those of the pink-cum-lately variety. Guess who Bob Geiger cheers for?
THE SKI IS BEAUTIFUL BLUE
Say what you will about Mayor Godfrey, but one thing is for sure - He is out smarting, out campaigning, and out foxing Van Hooser and her really really dumb SOUL campaign tactic. He is doing the number one most important thing in a campaign, he is controlling the message, he is making her react to him. In other words he is kicking her ass in every conceivable political way there is.
Givin the very large pool of resentment toward Godfrey in Ogden, this election was Van Hooser's to lose, and sure as shit she is doing exactly that. She has done next to nothing toward educating the public about Godfrey's true nature, his difficulties with the truth, his insider dealings and his reckless spending of public money. In other words she is not giving any one a reason to vote him out.
Voters in general, and especially those in Utah, usually will not vote an incumbent out with out a good reason. Believe it or not, there is a very large segment of the population that is not already aware of Godfrey's actions or his true nature. Mayor Godfrey has given many many good reasons to remove him, but Van Hooser has miserably failed in educating the public about his record.
This will be a great lost opportunity to set Ogden back on a course of integrity. A sad story for sure.
I watched part of the Godfrey DVD that I got in the mail yesterday. When he talks about the the crime rate going down I believe it is the BCI stats that he suggests we look at-didn't Greiner just tell us that these stats have been manipulated and are not accurate?
Yeah, I watched the garbled Lying Little Matty Gondola Godfrey DVD, too. It even had a THE GONDOLA section, where a Depends customer told onion-reeking THE SKI IS BEAUTIFUL BLUE it's a great idea! Go Godfreyites! Build Gondolas!
I've heard people knock VanHooser before and I don't understand why. Her literature looks good to me and she and her supporters are out knocking doors almost every night. I think some people want to see her hitting harder but that too is a turn off for some people. To be a leader you have to show some prudence.
Godfrey's hand waving, number spewing and know-it-all may frighten those who want to see him gone and who fear such behavior may look smart to some, but I don't think it plays all that well.
But, we will see.
It is a violation of city policy for any employee to use city property for political purposes, saw Godfrey doing his door to door campaigning on one of the OPD Segways today.
Poor Little Stand-Ex editorial employee, Amused, crossed the line because I offended him, and now he's scared to come back: listen, clown, you reek of Godfrey and gondolas. You've lost all your credibility. Only Goug Dibson lives in Ogden proper, so vote for whomever you want, you jerkoff gondola-loving members of Wayne Peterson's Squirrel Patrol. You are irrelevant. I don't care if you endorsed Bill Hodson ... errrhhhaggghhhh, Scott Rhodes, errrahhhhggghh, Kent Petersen.
Honestly, I think we should just trust our mayor in every decision that he makes and we should just support that.
MM:
My comments about the SE's managers were offered before the recent spate of evidence to the contrary. The [1]publishing of a Godfrey campaign piece as "news" the same day it appeared in a paid [by you and me] city "informational" page in the SE and the bungling of the story in such a way that anyone who read it on the "mid day update" site could not possibly have drawn any sound conclusions about what the Mayor's plan to retire [1/3 of the] city's debt in nine years actually involved, much less whether it was feasible; [2] the failure of the story to so much as indicate that a city-issued accounting places the city's debt at three times plus that listed in the story as the city's debt, or that the amount of that debt has become a matter of dispute in the election;[2] the failure to do any clarifying followup the next day, leaving on the impression from the lightly retouched Godfrey press release the SE called a "story" and its headline that the Mayor's plan was sound and would work; [3] the same embarrassing reporting of the Mayor's "declaring" some kind of restrictive covenants to prevent him from selling the parklands, without so much as describing what those covenants were, who they were between [covenant meaning a contract of some sort], or even whether they were legally enforceable or not; [4] the SE's publishing no follow-up on that story, asking any questions or even explaining what the covenants were or involved; [5] the endorsement editorial for Petersen, which seems wholly detached from the content of the accompanying tapes, even on the terms the SE said it used to make its decision;[6] the not naming opponents of Petersen and Johnson therein; [7] the endorsement of Johnson as "not a yes man" because the "presented himself" as not being one --- hell, Richard Nixon "presented himself" as honest; Sen. Vitter "presented himself" as a family values guy; and George Bush "presented himself" as competent; [8] the reporting of the moving up Godfrey's "gang crimes unit" to two days before the election as designed to "get a jump on crime" without so much as raising the question of other possible motives for the timing; ... all of that has provided sufficient evidence so that the possibility I offered up before all this was revealed is no longer sustainable on the evidence.
And I did not suggest you were paranoid, merely that during the endgame of hard fought political contests, people's paranoia does seem to go on steroids. That statement is still true.
To be honest, the editorial stuff bothers me less than the inexcusably shoddy reporting on the "pay the debt" and "restrictive covenants" stories, both of which were left vague in ways that aid the Mayor's claims, both of which left readers in the dark about even the straight facts of the matters, and neither of which reflected any effort whatever to probe, to question, to do much of anything other than provide a mildly reworded presentation of a Godfrey press release. As Jason W. said, on these matters the SE managers have shamed themselves and embarrassed their profession... presuming that is they retain the ability to blush. Which I am beginning to doubt.
Carl
While I agree with most of your analysis of the Godfrey and Van Hooser campaigns, I think you may be underestimating the very large reservoir of contempt that the little jerk has built up in Ogden over the last few years. He has managed to offend many people over the entire spectrum of Ogden society with his dishonesty and arrogance. Whether that translates into bodies in voting booths remains to be seen, but we can always hope you know!
I too would like to see Susie take it to the little pecker head in a much more aggressive manner, but she apparently sees it differently and is being true to her own style. Hopefully she is right in her approach and the people of Ogden will see through all of these well financed lies the altitude and integrity challenged punk is propagating.
I think the one thing she is doing right is walking the neighborhoods. That seems to be one of the more effective things a candidate can do in a town the size of Ogden.
I also would like to point out that Glasmann and Jeske, in their council races two years ago, were pretty much running against Godfrey and his policies and they both won with healthy margins over two leading Godfreyite incumbent zombies. People were pissed at the little caped crime fighter then and with any luck they will still feel that way.
So here is to Susie and the truth, hopefully they will both prevail on election day.
Ozboy:
You took the words from my fingers. Natch! THE SKI IS BEAUTIFUL BLUE. Ne humma! God bless!
OB:
I was astonished that Hizzonah has raised 180K for this race... which I think is an unprecedented sum for a race for mayor of Ogden... most of it apparently from developers and construction companies and realtors who have fattened at the public trough during Godfrey's two terms. Can't help wondering how much they expect back if he wins from their investment of 180K in his race.
If he does win re-election, and comes in with a docile and obedient lap-dog Council, I'm afraid the looting of Ogden by the Mayor's cronies will begin in earnest.
And you wrote: "I think the one thing she is doing right is walking the neighborhoods. That seems to be one of the more effective things a candidate can do." Absolutely right. Here are the success rates for various kinds of voter outreach:
1. Canvassing [door to door] --- one additional vote for every 14 potential votes contacted.
2. Phone banks: One additional vote for every 35 potential voters contacted.
3. Literature drops: One additonal vote for every 66 potential voters contacted.
4. Direct mail: one additional vote for every 133 potential voters contacted.
O.K. you lying little matty gondola godfrey worshippers, name one thing this lying little sociopath has done for the people of Ogden. Name one.
For the last 4 years he's done virtually nothing except promote the most assinine, childish, fantasy skyride, complete with the most blatant attempt at thievery of public property ever witnessed in these parts. All the while his real job's responsibilities have been a total failure. His actions of the last 3 months show exactly that.
Those of you so impressed by the wooing and paying of ski companies to relocate here should pause and concider one thing, how does the run of the mill, low paid, hard working average Ogdenite benefit whatso ever from these efforts? How will thier lives be improved?
I'm not knocking skiing, I'm asking you to concider what a small percentage of Ogden's population skis, and other than a nice personal feel good sorta ego stroke, even skiers don't benefit from having a couple of warehouses and over weight Ceo's from the ski industry here. And when lying little matty and potato nose start talking about the average salaries of these paid relocaters, I ask, how will that benefit the families in east central Ogden, whose average household annual income is $19,000.00 ?
Lying little matty has had 92 months to do something for the people of Ogden, in his 90th month, after unfavorable polling, he finally offers the folks a couple of future conciderations. Two cops and a flip flop on one of his land schemes. Thats it folks.
And his flip flop on the land scheme has a loophole you could erect a gondola through.
There is no professional ethic left at the standard, they've been too busy trying to catch that carrot at the end of the stick lying little matty's a dangling in front of their nose.
What lying little matty calls a rec center, aint even a rec center. Go to Roy or Bountiful, they have rec centers. What we have is a private,as far as any profit goes, publicly owned boondogle, that offers no recreation to the citizens of Ogden. Go look at whats there. All the while, Ogdens only true public rec center, the Marshall White facility has been un-funded almost out of exsistance.
Good people of Ogden, the job of the mayor is not stroking your ego or being head carnival barker for developers and cronies wishing to gain your tax dollars thru new complex forms of corporate wellfare. The peoples well being should be the mayors only job.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
The Professional Firefighters of Ogden is pleased to announce that we will be hosting a Meet the Ogden City Council Candidates Forum. We take pride in serving the Citizens of Ogden in their time of need in a professional manor, and will be honored to provide the community the opportunity to meet their Candidates for City Council.
The Forum will be held at the Ogden Union Station Browning Theater on 25th street and Wall Avenue.
The Date will be Friday, November 2nd, 2007.
Time will be 7:00 P. M.
The format will be as follows:
Each Candidate will be given three minutes to introduce him/her self.
Followed by eight questions submitted by the audience, each Candidate will have two minutes to respond to the questions.
Followed by a one minute re-cap by each candidate at the end of all questions submitted by the audience.
This event is free and open to the public.
Reading today's letter column was certainly enlightening.
Being a relative newcomer to Ogden, I hadn't known until this morning that Matthew Godfrey was responsible for removing opium dens from 25th Street.
Jim:
Are you sure the opium dens have closed? Based on what I've just read in the SE's lead editorial this morning, I'm not so sure at all. Maybe they've just been moved to BDO, where the SE's offices are now located. The editorial urges support for the transportation tax on the ballot next week. It includes the following, which might be explainable if it was composed in the opium dens you think have been closed:
But not all the money will be used for public transit. A quarter of the money, by law, will be designated for corridor preservation. That's vital, since we all can see how fast the ground is being developed around us -- and some of that property will be needed for roads and transit lines in the decades to come.
But not all the money will be used for public transit?? The SE editorial board manages to ignore the fact that the WACOG [Weber Area Council Of Governments] voted not too long ago favoring spending 80% of the money on roads, and only 20% on transit projects. The editorial manages not to mention that the Ogden City Council recently passed a resolution urging the WACOG and UTA and UDOT to spend at least 40% of the money on transit. Nor does the editorial note that the current priority list of projects to be funded [which list is not binding on anybody] involves only one --- count' 'em one --- transit project for all of Weber County: a bus rapid transit line from downtown to WSU and McKay Dee Hospital --- which Mayor Godfrey is fighting by the way, and wants replaced in the priority list.
The editor's attempt in the editorial to convey to Weber County voters the impression that this tax is primarily a tax designed to bring public transit to the top of Utah is disingenuous to say the least. If the SE Board thinks the tax is a good idea, let them make their case for it, but they ought not to do that by attempting to delude the voters of Weber County that the tax revenues raised will be used here mostly for transit projects. WACOG would prefer 80% of the money will go to roads. The Ogden City Council is hoping, pleading, that at least 40% will go to transit, but with no guarantees. And the SE sees no problem telling its readers, with a straight face, that "not all the money will be used for public transit."
The SE's latest bit of editorial disembling can be found
here.
Was this new plan covered in the local paper here? I might have missed this. If crime is so low, why all of a sudden is the little man on takng an interest in it?
Ogden Police Sending New Crime Fighting Unit to the Streets
Grace:
Yes, it was covered in the SE. It pretty much simply remixed a Godfrey press release and printed it. It was also covered weeks ago when Godrey first announced the plan. Covered again when he and Greiner announced they were jumping the deployment date ahead from the scheduled January roll out to a date just a couple of days before the election [though the SE story chose not to point that out in its "story," merely instead quoting Greiner to the effect that the only reason for jumping the program rollout forward to days before the election was to "get a jump on crime." It will probably be covered yet again just before the election when the unit actually takes to the what the SE likes to call "the mean streets of central Ogden" --- "leave no cliche' behind" being apparently one of the SE's current mottoes. And yes, Grace, those are the same "mean streets" on which the Mayor has been insisting, unchallenged by any questions from the SE, that all crime, but especially violent crime, has been plummeting during his term in office.
All of this is a good example of how well Godfrey's paid consultants are playing the SE, and the SE's embarrassing willingness to be played, for election purposes, by the Mayor's campaign. Newspapers that take seriously their role in a democracy, which is to inform the public, at least make a credible attempt to do more than warm over candidate press releases and then try to pass them off as "news" stories.
Elections in Utah are often governed by the electorate’s notion of whom the prophet wants them to vote for. In Ogden in 2007, of course, that mindset favors Matt Godfrey and is his secret weapon. Sadly, folks, this election may have much less to do with gondolas, the wanton proposal to sell Mount Ogden Golf Course, the profligate commitment of BDO funds to the Junction's pizza monument, the crumbling of our infrastructure and police force, or the free horse stables at Lorin Farr Park, than we might reckon.
This weekend I heard from a friend who is close to Rulon Yorgason, a plaintiff in the recently-dismissed lawsuit against the Godfrey campaign. A local citizen had urged the friend to persuade Yorgason to “to stop coming down on Mayor Godfrey and his family. [This citizen] went on to say that Rulon's eternal salvation depends on this - that he will be judged harshly and be tortured for eternity if he keeps this up.”
Fine enough. We are not surprised that this notion of Godfrey as the Lord’s Anointed is all around us. Nonetheless, my friend, although a staunch Mormon, had long ago announced her disgust with Godfrey’s performance and her intention not to vote for him. This was one small ray of hope I had clung to, that people might be persuaded by reason in 2007.
Alas, with my friend it is not to be. Today she informs me that she will vote neither for Godfrey nor Susan Van Hooser -- she will leave both mayoral chads on her card unpunched. This Forum easily recognizes this as a de facto vote for Godfrey.
Peace Be With You.
It is incredible to me that any thinking person would protect a fellow church member who has been proven to be a liar and worse just because he is "one of the flock".
I have long heard the charge that Mormons are not Christians.
Maybe the charge is right. No Christian would promote and protect a scoundrel like Godfrey.
Thanks Curm, proves to me even more that I will NOT be voting Republican in the next election at all. The loittle man is a oiar at best and a manipulator at worst. I live on Liberty between 26th and 27th, drug houses right here on Binford, 15 illeglas in one house across the street, kids fighting in the ally behind Monroe....maybe I sould send a map to the little man so he can know where to point this task force! Lord help the Ogden police dept, cause it's a sure thing their CHIEF AND THE LITTLE MAN WON'T.
ozboy...wicks didn't beat an inumbent. hold your self to the same standards you expect from everyone else.
daps
Where did I ever write that Wicks beat an incumbent? My last post had to do with Jeske and Glasmann beating incumbents - which they of course both did. I don't recall writing anything about Wicks for awhile now.
Perhaps you ought to try a little harder to pay attention, and "hold your self to the same standards you expect from everyone else".
I was amazed to see "Ogden City Council" listed as a supporter of Opinion #1. That's the "transportation" question on the ballot. Our CC voted suggesting that a specific percentage be alloted for mass transit and said people should study the proposal. They did NOT vote to tell people to support it.
From the Oct 10 WCF:
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE OGDEN CITY COUNCIL, that if the Opinion Question #1 ballot measure is approved by County residents the Council hereby formally encourages the Weber Area Council of Governments (WACOG) to distribute the funds from the tax increase so that at least 40% of the funds are used for transit projects. Further, the Council encourages the voters of Ogden City and Weber County to voice their opinions regarding the question on November 6th.
Note, please, that the main intent of the resolution was to urge 40% of the spending at least be on transit, not the "urge to vote" that so annoyed Mr. Howell.
Perhaps the Mayor was so upset at their decision because he knew the ad had already been readied for print?
Og:
Where did you see the ad listing Ogden City Council as recommending passage of the tax?
Though of course, it's easy to understand why the makers of the ad might have been confused, since the Standard Examiner, getting the facts completely wrong, reported that the Council did recommend passage of the tax. Though surely the ad makers could not have missed the tiny correction the paper ran the next day in the corrections box.
You just better watch out Curmudgeon or the Standard is going to cut your pay, or worse might even fire you for your recent insubordination.
You have written the truth about the rag several times recently. While the major domo's at the rag might put up with a little peevishness from the peones, they are not going to suffer your truth telling for much longer.
You know the party line now damn it start towing it again. Now repeat after me - "The Standard is a real news paper, they are our only paper, we must love them" As penance I want you to repeat that 50 times before dinner.
This morning's Tribune had yet another extensive write up about Salt Lake's mayoral race. Front page stuff with a lot of depth. This is just the latest in a line of deep coverage of that race.
Compare that to the incredibly lame job the Sub-Standard is doing with the Ogden election. Practically nothing but a couple of little insignificant fluff pieces do we get from the Suits of Sandusky. Nada, nothing of consequence. What they do write is basically drivel wrung from Godfrey's press releases and campaign materials.
Just one more example of why the Standard is such a sorry excuse for a newspaper.
Ozboy:
The SE is the only paper we have. The SL Trib covers Ogden only intermittently, and the TV channels in SL cover Ogden mostly when there's a grim crash or a viewer-grabbing murder. However, that does not mean, nor have I ever suggested, that we must therefor "love" it. Or even like it. And I have never suggested we should be satisfied with it.
And if the SE is sending me checks none of them have ever arrived chez moi. I shall speak sternly to the postman about this tomorrow.
As far as the Mormons/Christians issue, I am a Mormon and a Christian.
I will be voting for VanHooser, Wicks, Gochnour, and Aardema, all the women candidates, and one big reason I do not support Godfrey or the male candidates is the level of deceit. The make candidates may be self-called Mormons but they are deceitful men. They speak differently than what they are, and what they would do.
Don't blame me for that, and don't blame the church. The LDS church has its share of dishonest people and always has. Perhaps some feel the Lord's kingdom on Earth should be perfect, but its members are far from it.
Rather than choose based on religion, we should take the LDS church's advise and vote for those whose idea of the proper role of government is closest to our own, electing those who are honest and wise.
Blain Johnson, Royal Eccles, and Kent Peterson fail that test on most or all counts for me. I will be voting for the women.
The Standard's endorsement of Peterson is certainly no surprise. The Sandusky suits are no dummies, they know where their revenue comes from. Peterson and his company contributes a hell of a lot more ad revenue to the paper than all the other council candidates combined.
There isn't any one that really thought they would be impartial on this particular candidate, is there? Ad revenue is one hell of a lot more important to these guys than editorial integrity. This is the main reason they are such a poor news paper.
melvin:
Papers' owners can do what they please on the editorial pages, and often do. That's a problem, I agree, but not the main problem. You can have a great newspaper and great reporting even with certifiable wing nuts running the editorial pages: the Wall Street Journal is a good example.
But when slanting spills over into the news coverage, as it has, I think, in the Standard Examiner, that is a much more serious matter. How the SE could do a "story" [politely so-called]on the Mayor's "declaration" of "restrictive covenants" supposedly preventing sale of the Mt. Ogden Golf Course and adjacent lands for development, without actually printing what the declaration said or what the alleged "covenants" were, is astonishing. And that it printed the "story" as an only lightly edited Godfrey press release, without for example, inquiring of its house attorneys or other legal experts on municipal law... or anyone, really... whether the Mayor's "declaration" was in any way legally binding on him or anyone else, was inexcusable. It left the "story" as a straight news announcement that legally binding restrictive covenants were actually now in place. We don't know that that is so, because the SE didn't bother to ask anyone in a position to know or to offer an informed opinion. In the final weeks of an election in which the park sale matter is an issue, this was --- to be as charitable as possible --- unbelievably shoddy journalism. More probably, it was an effort to aid the Godfrey campaign by swallowing whole, without any questions, his press release on the matter as fact. Responsible journalists, responsible editors, respectable papers, don't do things like that during elections or at any other times for that matter. The SE did.
It did the same thing thing with a Godfrey campaign press release about his announced plan to retire the entire city debt [claimed by him to be only in the mid twenty millions] in nine years. The paper asked no questions of the numbers; did not ask if the plan was workable; did not ask, apparently, its house accountants to vet it; did not note that the size of the city's debt is in dispute and a campaign issue, there being a city accounting the VH campaign has unearthed showing that debt to be, this past June, 93 million dollars. Again, this was, charitably, very shoddy journalism, or it was intended to aid the Godfrey campaign by accepting and printing as uncontested fact a city debt in the mid twenty millions, and as unexamined fact his announced "plan" to retire it all in nine years. How can journalists with even a modicum of professional can ask no questions of a press release put out by an elected official in mid-campaign mode? Somehow, in the newsroom of the SE, they managed it.
The slipping of advocacy off the editorial page, where it belongs [however ill-advised that advocacy might be] into the news columns is a very serious problem. It's in the news columns that the SE... that any newspaper... serves its most important function in a democracy: keeping the electorate informed as honestly and as thoroughly as is feasible. No newspaper that meekly accepts officials and/or candidates' press releases as self-evidently factual fulfills that obligation.
Here's how Jefferson put the importance of newspapers to maintaining democracy in 1787:
The basis of our governments being the opinion of the people, the very first object should be to keep that right; and were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.
But then, Jefferson wasn't reading the Standard Examiner
Melvin:
Although I agree with your premise, the addled Kent Petersen sold out to Garff because he was duped by Wayne Ogden for a mill plus. Whatta financial genius! Let's elect this guy!
"Vote YES on 1 ad"
Curm, this ad was on page 8D (Sports Section) of Sunday's SE. The Ogden City Council is the 9th line from the bottom of the second column.
Ogdenlover:
"All revenues will be spent in the county where it was collected."
Good English skills, too.
When I read this statement about Kent Peterson, I almost choked "He’ll rely on his business experience to build trust with his colleagues. Trust is NOT one word that most people associate with Kent Peterson. In the '60's and 70's, it was not uncommon to pick up the paper and read about some underhanded business transaction that Peterson was involved in. We also had a VERY BAD experience with him and he had the audacity to charge us for doing absolutely nothing to our car before we could get it back when we took it in after one of his mechanics damaged our car to the point that it could not be fixed and we had to get rid of it. Honesty and trust are word that do not apply to Kent Peterson, just as they don't apply to Godfrey. "Birds of feather flock together."
What in the hell would our city be like if both Peterson and Godfrey were in the governing bodies?!! By the time they were through, we'd be lucky if there were an Ogden! Like it's been posted on a previous thread, "If you want a rubber stamp council again, vote for Godfrey's cronies: Eccles, Johnson, and Peterson. If you want an independent council who will listen to the people, vote for Aardema, Gochnour and Wicks!"
I ask, "Doesn't Johnson have a conflict of interest in running for the Council? He has profited from his dealings with the city through Godfrey -- sure looks like a conflict of interest to me."
Wait a minute! What was I thinking? Kent Petersen wore a Patagonia vest to his Godfrey-Gondola-reeking Stand-Ex interview and wants MOGC to "enter partnerships" with private entities to become profitable! Just think what we could do with a million bucks he lost to Wayne Ogden, not to mention the land he was begging to give to Wayne Peterson at pennies on the dollar. Wow, Stand-Ex Editorial Board, you are sharp! We would vote you out, if we could. My Money had it right earlier this morning; Cancel your Stand-Ex subscription and let them know why. And go see Bob G.'s Taurus!
THE SKI IS BEAUTIFUL BLUE
OL:
TY
The Ogden-Weber Chamber of Commerce Strikes Again!
That ad OL mentions above that lists the Ogden City Council as supporting the transportation tax was from the Northern Utah Transportation Alliance, which is composed of the Chambers of Commerce of Ogden-Weber, Davis and I think Cache County. Which means the Ogden-Weber Chamber of Commerce evidently applied the same rigorous standards of thorough and careful research to compiling this list that it did to determining that sale of Ogden's parklands for a real estate development to partly support a city gondola was a grand idea and sure to work... which project the Mayor himself tells us was not feasible from the start. Way to go, Chamber of Commerce. Yet another reason people should be leery of relying on the care and accuracy of its research and the viability of its recommendations. I wonder what Mr. Harman and the Chamber he leads will recommend public funding for next... a factory to build perpetual motion machines, perhaps? Or one to build rubber-band powered trolleys as cutting edge "green" technology? Or public funding to build a plant to make Edsels as the coming thing in classic cars? I can hardly wait to find out....
Of course, as far as the ad is concerned, Mr. Hardman and the Chamber he leads probably concluded the Ogden City Council was supporting the tax because they read it in the Standard Examiner. Which raises, of course, still more questions about the reliability of their sources and the worth of their judgment.
Hartman, Godfrey, Greiner, Peterson, Safsten, Stephenson, et al.
The lunatics have gained control of the asylum!
What is the arrangement the Weber Chamber has with the city? They are on the 6th floor of the Municipal bldg conducting re-election campaigning for Godfrey.
Does anyone know if they are there rent free...if not, I'll call tomorrow and find out.
BTW, Honest in Gov't
Thanks for telling us what a baaaad businessman Peterson is!
Why do you suppose the Standard doesnt report the obscene amount of cash that Godfrey has raised?
cpa:
Since the SE reported the previous financial disclosure statements of the two candidates, that seems a fair question to me. Perhaps it will be in tomorrow's paper. Or perhaps not. We shall see.
Great letter to the editor by Dirk Youngberg.
It's too bad him, and Neil Hansen didn't make it to the ballet.
They were the two best candiates.
I thought both front-page articles in this morning's (Monday's) S-E were rather well done.
The story about the number of shootings, in particular, took an angle of the crime statistics story and shone a bright light on it.
There was independent analysis, and quotes from a number of local experts on the matter.
Even the water story, which could have been deadly dull, was readable and pertinent.
Well done.
Jim:
Agreed on both counts.
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