We're informed by this morning's Standard-Examiner that a majority of the city council is apparently leaning toward the course of action which we recommended on May 24, i.e., cutting turncoat lobbyist Rob Jolley's $50 thousand salary allocation from the 2009 Ogden City budget. Scott Schwebke's lead paragraphs provide the essential facts:
OGDEN — A majority of city council members said during a Thursday night work session they won’t allocate $50,000 in the municipality’s fiscal 2009 budget for lobbyist Rob Jolley because the administration hasn’t kept them informed about legislative efforts at the state Capitol.Boss Godfrey, evidently anticipating this council development well in advance, admits through administration sock puppet Mark Johnson (Ogden City Management Services Director) that the administration has already entered into a $45 thousand contract with Mr. Jolley, to secure Jolley's continuing "services" during the 2009 legislative session. Johnson further informs the Standard-Examiner that Boss Godfrey will simply misappropriate Jolley's 2009 blood money from his "operating budget" -- hinting that the council can therefor be damned.
A formal vote wasn’t taken, but city council members Amy Wicks, Jesse M. Garcia, Dorrene Jeske, Caitlin K. Gochnour and Brandon Stephenson said they won’t include funding for Jolley in the budget that may be approved Tuesday.
Remaining council members Doug Stephens and Blain Johnson opposed eliminating funding for Jolley.
All council members agreed language should be included in the budget requesting that the administration present a proposal to keep them better informed regarding legislative issues.
The final straw prompting the elimination of funding for lobbying stems from the apparent failure of Jolley and Mark Johnson, the city’s management services director, to get permission from the council before securing a bill amendment giving Mayor Matthew Godfrey complete executive control over the Ogden Redevelopment Agency.
Godfrey of course "could not be reached for comment."
We'll note that it was only last Monday that the Std-Ex published a strong editorial condemning the "sneakiness" of Boss Godfrey's 2008 legislative session maneuver, warily predicting that the inevitable council payback could ultimately result in "sub par governance."
It appears that Ogden City government is now set upon that latter course, as Godfrey adopts further tactics revealing Godfrey's persistent and troubling bunker mentality. Over the course of the next few years Boss Godfrey will necessarily come before our new council seeking council cooperation and indulgence. Yet now, early in the 2008-09 council's new term, it's evident that he's already poisoned that well.
Kudos to the majority of the city council for their tentative hard-nosed stance, by the way. Godfrey threw down the gauntlet on this; and there's no other logical way the council can react. Even councilman Stevensen, usually a staunch Godfrey ally, is evidently appalled enough by Godfrey's juvenile conduct, that he's willing to join with the council grownups.
And make no mistake, Councilwoman Jeske is exactly right when she asserts that its Godfrey is to blame for what appears to be another rocky council-administration relationship. “What it boils down to is that the mayor doesn’t respect the council,” Jeske correctly observes.
And what say our gentle readers about this?
