For the sake of consistency, we'll highlight this Standard-Examiner article, appearing in yesterday's "Top of Utah" section, under the headline "Ogden hospital a done deal." In truth, yesterday's print edition story is merely a fleshed out version of the earlier Std-Ex Online Edition story which we spotlighted here on Thursday, padded out with some generally useful background information. We did identify two paragraphs in the most recent story, however, with which we must take issue:
In January 2006, Ernest Health abruptly canceled its plans to build a hospital in Ogden after the RDA board, made up of city council members, questioned Darby Brockette, the company’s president and chief executive officer, about the firm’s finances and investors.We find the inclusion of these paragraphs troubling, because they continue to perpetuate the myth that simple qualifying questions posed by the then newly-elected 2005-06 Council/RDA Board caused Ernest Health to back away from the the negotiating table in the winter of 2006. The Standard-Examiner has previouly characterised the former RDA Board as having been overly agressive and/or rude. We've addressed this issue at Weber County Forum several times in the past, most recently in this June 7, 2007 article. We incorporate below an excerpt from that 2007 WCF article:
Members of the RDA board later apologized, and Mayor Matthew Godfrey’s administration encouraged the company to return to negotiations.
Those of us who actually attended that January 10, 2006 RDA session of course had a completely different take from that of the Std-Ex, about the events which transpired that night. What members of the RDA Board did that evening, as it has done many a night since then, was to ask (quite politely we thought) whether the Ernest Health folks would be willing to 1) disclose the identities of their principles, and 2) provide some basic financial information. The atmosphere was very cordial, according to our recollection; and Mr. Brockette agreed that his company would do so, mentioning that he "expected the Board to do its due diligence," and adding that his company itself was yet to complete its own due diligence.For our readers' further enlightenment, we also provide a link to a Dian Woodhouse letter, appearing in the February 8, 2006 Std-Ex edition. The letter refers to an audio recording of the infamous February 10, 2006 RDA Board meeting -- an audio recording which has since been removed from the Ogden City website. Until recently, our readers could simply listen to the audio, and decide for themselves whether its reasonable to speculate whether an earlier RDA Board actually drove Ernest Health out of town. Unfortunately, the Ogden City Administration, for reasons unknown, has eliminated that useful resource from public purview.
The real problem, of course was the usual problem: Boss Godfrey. The RDA board had asked for certain information necessary to an important decision; and Boss Godfrey had refused to provide it behind the scenes. Thus the Board had to ask its questions in open session. At the time, our gentle readers will recall, Godfrey's lame excuse was that the new RDA Board had failed to put their information request in writing.
What developed subsequently was a month-long anti-council harangue from the Standard-Examiner, and an extended and petulant Municipal Government Academy Award performance from Drama Queen Godfrey, blaming Ernest Health's failure to abandon its ongoing due diligence, and to immediately sign on the dotted line, on RDA Board over-aggressiveness. Blaming the victim has of course always been Godfrey's strong suit.
For those readers who'd like to fully bone up on the subject, you can review the full array of Weber County Forum articles on the on the topic of Earnest Health right here. We believe it to be a danged good historical archive.
The phrasing in yesterday's Std-Ex article suggests that the 2006 RDA Board's behavior had been improper. Thus we're compelled this morning to set the record straight once again.
We don't know why it took Ernest Health 2-1/2 years to finally commit to building its new hospital in Ogden; and as far as we're concerned, neither does the Standard-Examiner.
And what say our gentle readers about all this?
