Talk about a tin ear for politics. We’ve said more than once in this space over the past eight-plus years that Ogden Mayor Matthew Godfrey can be his own worst enemy. He’s proving it again with an “advisory” committee charged with making suggestions about how to deal with the Mount Ogden Golf Course’s annual deficits.
Standard-Examiner Editorial
Work together, Ogden
September 2, 2008
Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
Albert Einstein
The Quotations Page
1879 - 1955
Once again the Standard-Examiner comes out this morning with an editorial, criticising our esteemed mayor, Boss Godfrey, for the same traits he's consistently demonstrated for 8-1/2 years, i.e., mendacity, obsessive secrecy and inability to play well with others.
This time Godfrey's botched Mount Ogden Golf Course (secret) citizens committee is the pressure point du jour, and the Std-Ex editors do a pretty fair job through most of the editorial, setting forth a few of Godfey's many MOGC committee blunders, in this latest episode of mayoral hubris, which mayoral gaffes we'll attempt to enumerate one by one:
• Ignoring all city council input;
• Alienating the council;
• Forming a committee mainly of stooges, and labeling it "independent;"
• Failing to pass on the council's committee nominations to "The Skipper";
• Generally shooting himself in the political foot.
Today's editorial starts out appearing to be a harsh indictment of Godfrey's misbehavior in this latest transaction; and we were sitting on the edge of our seats, waiting for a strong finish. Unfortunately, the Std-Ex editors went soft in the knees... and closed out their closing paragraph with this dazzling piece of milquetoast editorial advice:
"Talk to each other, work together, debate, disagree and compromise. Move the city forward. It’s a simple philosophy, but it works. Ask most other cities, they’ll confirm that we’re right."
Sheesh! Godfrey operates with a style of governance which would make a Chinese warlord blush, and the Std-Ex editors believe the problem is that everyone (including the council and public, we suppose) isn't talking to each other?
The Std-Ex editors mention that today's editorial is not the first time they've admonished Boss Godfrey about his well-demonstrated inability to "play well with others." A quick Google search reveals the two most recent of these editorials:
• Kumbaya on Ice - 3/28/08
• Hunkering down, Doing the job - 5/30/08
If memory serves, the Std-Ex editors have also published numerous other similar editorials over the past few years. These editorials all have one thing in common, it seems to us. They all start out with "fire in the editorial belly," and wind up with the Std-Ex editors essentially on bended knee, begging Boss Godfrey to "play nice."
It's time for the Standard-Examiner to change its tone, we believe. After all, Boss Godfrey is the Std-Ex's "pet project;" and their November endorsement was no doubt at least partly to blame for Godfrey's razor-thin 449 vote victory margin in the 2007 municipal election. Time for the Std-Ex to exhibit a little tough love. They owe this to their readership, we believe.
We suppose it would be too much to ask, for the Standard-Examiner to actually call for Godfrey's resignation. But it would be nice, we think, if the Std-Ex editors pinned the blame in the next Godfrey fiasco squarely where it belongs, rather than "parceling it out" to un-named "others."
Einstein was right. The Std-Ex editors need to try a more forceful approach. The current milquetoast tactic (8 years of gentle begging) makes them look worse than just plain dumb.
That's our take on today's editorial; and what say our gentle readers about all this?
