KSL News devotes an entire story and video clip to Ogden City's most notorious dunce
By Danny
Now KSL has an entire article and video just on Godfrey's sentencing hearing statements about Val Southwick and the response to those statements.
Our mayor's appalling comments, and the response of state officials to those comments, speak for themselves.
City council take note. Matthew Godfrey is a psychopath, a law unto himself, with no contact with reality. Good and evil are defined solely by who his friends are, in his mind.
Be sure to watch the video too.
Well....?
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24 comments:
Danny:
Thanks for the pointer. Godfrey's remarks just keep getting more unbelievable as he goes on.
From the KSL website article:
Godfrey said, "He's owned up to the mistakes he made, which are really technical in nature."
No, Mayor Godfrey, he has not "owned up to technical mistakes." He pled guilty to crimes. There is a difference, and the citizens of Ogden ought to begin pondering what it means to have their city run by a Mayor who apparently cannot tell the difference.
Again, from the KSL website story:
Mayor Godfrey admits Southwick hasn't paid him back and probably won't. Godfrey said, "I'll probably get pennies on the dollar, and that's part of investing, it's a risk. If anyone in here was unaware of that, they shouldn't have been investing in the first place."
Mr.Southwick's "mistakes" were technical in the same sense that Kenneth Lay and his gang made some "technical" mistakes running Enron. Or in the same sense Willie Sutton's bank heists... when considered from the Godfrey perspective... were merely technical oversights involving his failing to fill out withdrawal slips.
Investors assume risk when they invest... risk that they called the market wrong, the the economy will go south and so on. They accept all of that as normal business risk. They do not accept as a normal market risk that the company they are investing with is run by a crook mounting a ponzi scheme to bilk the investors to finance a Porche and caviar lifestyle for himself and his family. Southwick's "technical" errors are generally called by ethical people and the courts, "criminal conduct" and to which criminal conduct, again, your friend Mr. Southwick pled guilty.
So Ogden has a Mayor, recommending multi-million dollar allocations of taxpayer funds to various projects, who evidently cannot quite grasp the distinction between market risk on the one hand and criminal conduct on the other.
Here's the final line from the KSL story: Mayor Godfrey was not available for comment. He's on vacation.
The Mayor is fortunate that he has enough left after Southwick's raid on his family's funds that he can afford to vacation. Which some of those scammed by Southwick... retirees wiped out by his ponzi scheme... plainly cannot. Some, apparently, are now penniless and stand to lose their homes as a result of the fraud, or so the papers reported. Be sure to send them a postcard, Matt. I'm certain they'll appreciate knowing you and your family are having a good time.
Curm, the secret to such a long profitable ponsi operation is continually finding new fish. It's not unlike the strip joints and such in places like Tiajuana or on Broadway in L.A.. They all incorporate a sidewalk barker, a come on in guy if you will.
Lying little matty's claim of being a victim appears to be more a cover in light of his staunch loyal plea for leniency. If he, the self described champion recruiter of private investors, for all his silly crony benefitting scams, was such a lead barker in service to his buddy Val, his story to these fish would include a personal testimony of what a great opportunity investing with Val is. Makes one wonder what the finders fee he collected was.
Like in the much smaller Wayne Ogden scam, folks are real reluctant to discuss the particulars of how they were so easily taken by professional con men, especially when it's perpatrated by so called higher ups in their own religion.
Wouldn't it be great if the now convicted Southwick were to fully cooperate and totally spill his guts? Under a scenario like this I can find reason for lying little matty's insane PR gaff. He lies because there's something to hide.
Danny,
Thank you. You did a great job of linking to that video so the world can see what a stupid unethical jerk Ogden has for Mayor. Godfrey can see himself being sentenced to the State Penn in the next year or two/
Bill:
As I noted in a thread below, Mono's advising a more thorough look at the financial relationships between Mayor Godfrey and Mr. Southwick seems, in light of the Mayor's astonishing comments at and on the Southwick sentencing, to be apropos.
Monotreme pointed out in the earlier thread that initially Godfrey said that he had lost money to Southwick and yesterday he changed that to family members.
Today it's him.
I think I'd know if it were me or my family members. Not only is he unscrupulous, he can't get his story straight.
OL:
Here are two possibilities that might explain Godfrey's slippin' and slidin' pronouns:
1. Godfrey was managing family money on behalf of others in the family and invested it with Southwick.
2. Godfrey personally, and other family members individually, all lost money in the Southwick's ponzi scheme.
I would have said Godfrey was simply a victim until his statements at the sentencing raised some questions about his motives for making them that I can't see plain answers to. And so when Mono says that we need to know more about Hizzonah's financial dealings with Southwick, I think now that he's right.
Notice too the flat refutation by state penal officials of the Mayor's claim that a murderer or rapist will be released to accommodate Southwick in the clink --- Angie Welling, with the Department of Corrections, says, "Housing this defendant won't be any kind of a problem. It won't create a hardship on the department whatsoever, and we won't release a murderer or any other violent offender to make way for Mr. Southwick.".
When a successful elected official [re-elected twice] starts flailing about in public spouting patent falsehoods to justify no jail time for a family friend and confessed felon who conducted a 17 year long ponzi scheme that defrauded investors of as much as $400 million, I start to wonder why. So should we all.
It is interesting to see how Godfrey percieves things. It just goes to show what a sick twisted little creep that he is.
He is a dangerous person to have leading the City government, and to have him in charge of our tax dollars.
Scary.
Danny, in the interveiw linked, the first statement out of pinnoccio's mouth was, "were going to have to let a thief, a murderer..." Isn't Southwick the grandest thief in all time Utah history? $400 million?
Apparently lying little matty gondola godfrey has a much different take on theft. If someone freely gives money under false pretences, the reciever was just smart, if they steal some small item without your witnessing it, now thats crime.
This concept explains much about how lying little matty goes about his pet projects. If he steals tax dollars with a lie, like the icicle for Lowe, or giving the golf couse to peterson, for thier personal gain, that's just smart. He doesn't understand the concept of theft. Ignorance is bliss.
Oh, I forgot to mention that lying little matty must be a true example of the Darwinian theory of evolution.
We've all witnessed his ever growing nose and forehead, in the vidio I also noticed a new morphological twist, his eyes are now starting to bug out. What is this guy changing into?
A turd with ears
Godfrey is the most disgusting piece of shit ever to hit Ogden! And to think you stupid fools elected him 3 times! You deserve him! For the people who didn't vote for him, you have my deepest sympathy.
If you didn't already realize it, Godfrey is a pathalogical liar -- he is unable to distinguish a lie from the truth. He is also dillusional -- he believes that everything he says and does is for the good of Ogden. He is so egotistacal that he cannot comprehend the concept of himself ever being wrong on ANY thing. On top of all those attributes he is shifty, devious, and thinks like a criminal (in other words a politician), always operating just on that fine line between legal and illegal, hence his sympathy for Southwick.
How embarrassing to have such a schizo for your Mayor!
More SLANDER heaped upon the most precious Mayor who's ever governed Ogden.
Mayor Godfrey is PRECIOUS, I say.
Here's what I sent to the Standard-Examiner earlier about my blessed son-in-law's sheer preciousness:
Ed Allen 9/29/07 Letter
Please be sure to vote for me in the Weber County Legislative District 10 race in November.
Once elected, I promise to do anything in my power to allow my daughter's husband (my son-in-law-Godfrey) to really put his snout up to the public trough.
Please take note that your local political guru Curmudgen has already endorsed me, because I talk the talk, and SOUND like a democrat to him.
That of course makes me a "no-brainer" for all registed democRATS!
Vote MEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Here's my new Campaign Motto for my Leg 10 represenative race"
"I Sacrificed my lovely daughter to become the wife of Boss Godfrey.
The least you can do in repayment, is to give your vote to me!"
Pretty good campaign slogan, don't you think?
Signed,
Dumb Ed
You mean Addled Ed. And, yes, Curmudgeon is thinking none too clearly in supporting that arrogant dumbass Dr. Eddie, champion of GONDOLAs and Lying Little Matty Gondola Godfrey. In fact, on this one, Good Old (?) Curmudgeon has his head up his ass. Where is Wayne Peterson, by the way, Addled Ed? Where is your resort, built without roads and without a sewer, serviced via shit orbs under GONDOLA cars? Where is your half-a-billion investment? Why is your abusive midget son-in-law still saying things like "if a proposal for a resort were to ever come forward"? How do you like your idiot buddy Jeff Lowe's idea for a year-round icecicle? You GONDOLA freaks are dumber than dumber, dopier than dope, more moronic than a Geiger. Ooops! You are a bunch of Geigers. Geiger, Geiger, Geiger, Geiger, Geiger, Geiger
Jason and the Demo:
One more time... Mr. Allen is running for state rep, not city councilman or Weber County Commissioner. If he were running for either of those jobs, I'd not vote for him, and would work for his opponent because of his support for the Mayor's silly flatland gondola plan.
However, he is running for state legislator. And if either of you can convince me that Utah, Weber County and Ogden will be better off with yet another Curtis/Bramble/Buttars spear carrier in the legislator in Lou Shurtliff's seat, I will change my mind. Neither of you have come close to doing that yet. And so your screeds look to me very much like cutting off your nose to spite your face. Not wise policy, politically, ever.
If you have questions about Mr. Allen's views on the matters he is likely to vote on in the legislature, why not ask him about them. [He had in the Senate a solid Democratic voting record.] And I've heard him on the subject of Bush, Bush Republicans, Neo-Cons and the Utah Republican legislature, vouchers, etc. On all of those matters, he stands where I do. And where the WC Dems do.
Ask him where he stands on undebated clauses being stuffed into unrelated bills as riders at the last second. Ask the same questions of his Republican opponent.
But "he's related to the Mayor" and "he's supported his son in law as mayor" are not sufficient reasons for me to put yet another Bramble/Curtis clone in the legislature, just to make you guys feel good so you can go "whoooo, wowie, we really showed Godfrey! We voted down is father in law! That'll show him!" It won't affect the Mayor at all and it will hurt Ogden and Weber County.
Legislative politics that works is not about making Jason et al. feel good by stiffing someone at the polls, and to hell with the consequences. It's about getting something worthwhile done in the legislature, or preventing Buttars' embarrassment du jour from being enacted into law. Putting a Republican in Lou's seat will not do that, seems to me. It will do just the opposite. You want my vote? Convince me otherwise. You haven't even begun to do that.
>>>One more time... Mr. Allen is running for state rep, not city councilman or Weber County Commissioner. If he were running for either of those jobs, I'd not vote for him, and would work for his opponent because of his support for the Mayor's silly flatland gondola plan.
However, he is running for state legislator. And if either of you an convince me that Utah, Weber County and Ogden will be better off with yet another Curtis/Bramble/Buttars spear carrier in the legislator in Lou Shurtliff's seat, I will change my mind. Neither of you have come close to doing that yet. And so your screeds look to me very much like cutting off your nose to spite your face. Not wise policy, politically, ever.<<<
ROFLMAO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
There is none so blind as he who will not see.
Curmudgeon,
You posted, "Ask him where he stands on undebated clauses being stuffed into unrelated bills as riders at the last second. Ask the same questions of his Republican opponent." IT WAS HIS SON-IN-LAW, GOOD OLE DEVIOUS, DISHONEST (the list could go on and on) GODFREY who was responsible for the "undebated clauses being stuffed" onto the end of a bill at the last second of the last day of the last legislative session that usurped the Council's authority and power! What are you thinking? How can you judge his opponent who has never served in an elected position? Are you clairvoyent?
George K:
I said ask Mr. Allen. You didn't. Your reply was "IT WAS HIS SON IN LAW". His son in law is not running for state rep. Mr. Allen is.
I don't have a whole lot of sympathy for "guilt by family relationship" as a way to judge legislators. Or candidates. Both should be judged by what they stand for and do. Not for who they are kin to.
To summarize your own post: Mayor Godfrey did it. Mayor Godfrey and his pet lobbyist are the ones responsible. On that we agree.
And you apparently still have not asked Mr. Allen where he stands on the midnight insertion of un-debated riders in , on matters like the obscene "omnibus education bill," stuffed at the last minute with provisions and programs that had actually been voted down earlier.
Good Old (?) Curmudgeon:
Take a minute and read Addled Ed's letter to the Gondola-Examiner. Then ponder your vote. You are a freaking idiot if you vote for Addled Ed, in any capacity, for any office. You're supposedly an adult with a doctorate. Act like it.
THE SKI IS BEAUTIFUL BLUE
Jason,
You've never met a Yellow Dog before, have you?
Curm, I'm not piling on but, it seems that you have jumped to a conclussion about the honorable man running against the demented idiot father in law of the most narcissistic liar in Utah history.
Why or how can you assume he's another Bramble or Buttars? You have witnessed firsthand the incredibly poor judgement of the addled absurdity Allen, does his precious embrace and advocacy of all that is lying little matty reflect your Democrat values?
I hate to tell you but your support of this idiot is truely a reflection of whats wrong with our country today, given a choice you favor a morally bankrupt lunatic simply because he's wearing your colors. Curm, this aint sports, I hate both Dodgers and republicans, if I had to choose in this district I'd pass, because I have to live with myself also. Maybe you could write in Addled Eds' good friend, Val Southwick. It's well known that if it weren't for this election Eddy would have been pouring his heart out to the judge instead of lying little matty. Lying little matty has more than 3 years to rely on good old American public amnesia to take hold.
Curmudgeon,
If you vote for Ed Allen as a State Repesentative, you are putting one more vote in the House for the next underhanded legislation that Godfrey wants passed. He has his Police Chief and his cousin, Scott Jenkins, who sponsored for Godfrey the bill to do away with the Civil Service Commission that protects the police and firefighters against vindictive offoials, in the Senate, and if Crazy Ed is elected, Godfrey will have a vote and voice in the House. You're not that dumb that you can't see that!
BTW I can't call him, he hates my guts because I'm "mean" to his precious son-in-law.
Curmudgeon,
You're supporting Ed Allen makes as much sense as Godfrey saying of Southwick: "He isn't an evil man." He did no harm to anyone.
Come on! Open your eyes and use your brain! Anything that I can't stand is someone who votes for someone because of party affiliation -- for hell's sake, vote for the man on his merits - not party!
George K:
Several points. First, as for your comment that Mr. Allen will just be an addition to Greiner and Jenkins, helping the Mayor get legislation he wants through. I believe Mr. Greiner and Jenkins are Republicans and the attack on civil service commisions was --- as it always is everywhere --- a Republican legislative priority. Unlike Mr. Greiner and Mr. Jenkins, Mr. Allen is a Democrat. You're going to have to come up with one hell of an argument to convince me that replacing a Democrat with a Republican in the House by opposing Allen will make Republican attacks on civil service commissions and similar bodies less likely.
Second, you accuse me of voting the party, not the man. Two points; first, party matters in legislatures. It matters a lot. Party determines who organizes the house, it determines who makes the rules, it determines for example whether the Republican majority caucus can continue to meet and mark up bills in secret, without permitting the opposition any role whatever. Party is not a trivial consideration in an election in what is essentially a one party state, like Utah. Second: I have talked to Mr. Allen. I've heard his views on Bush's war, on school vouchers, on pay-day lenders, on the neo-conservative nut jobs [think Bramble, Curtis and Buttars] who largely run the Utah legislature. And on all these and more, his views are very much in line with mine and with the WC Democratic Party. I am supporting his election on issues, just as I would not support his election to the Ogden City Council on grounds that he's wrong on the issues for that post.
Finally, you wrote that my supporting Allen for the legislature makes as much sense as Godfrey saying of Southwick: "He isn't an evil man." He did no harm to anyone.
Get a grip, Mr. K. That's nonsense. Inmate Southwick pled guilty to nine felonies, involving the theft of hundreds of millions of dollars which ruined many elderly investors who entrusted him with their money. Mr. Allen supported [unwisely in my view] an urban gondola for Ogden and wrote a letter [unwisely in my view] supporting his son-in-law's re-election campaign. Equating the two with the Mayor's excusing major felonies is absurd, which is what happens, Mr. K, when you let anger run away with your reason: you end up arguing nonsense.
Curmudgeon,
It wasn't I, but Godfrey who said that Val Southwick was not evil. The thought is ridiculous -- of course he's an evil man.
I do agree with you that a balanced Legislature is much more desirable and productive than our present ratio, and I have written letters to the editor in support of good democratice candidates, urging Republicans to vote for the person, not the party. I've been just as disgusted with Republicans who have voted for a person on the basis that they were Republican not their character, as I am with you voting for Ed Allen. You say that you have talked to him and liked his answers; may I ask whether you have talked with Mr. Brent Wallis to find out what his position is on those issues that concern you? Thought not -- Mr. Wallis is 10 times (more) the man than Ed Allen is. Mr. Allen is petty and vindictive just like his son-in-law.
I know for a fact that Mark Johnson drafted the bill that Scott Jenkins sponsored regarding the Civil Service Commission because he told me he had at the Mayor's request. I believe it is more than a coincidence that Scott Jenkins who is the Mayor's cousin sponsored that bill.
I'm not angry; your reply sounded angry though, and I don't blame you. I was pretty rough on you. Go ahead and call Mr. Wallis and compare him to Allen.
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