UPDATED: The Standard-Examiner also belatedly gets into the act, with its own story appearing on its live website late last evening
Good news for those of us following the series of Envision Ogden political corruption stories which Dan S. earlier provided in our robust Envision Ogden Article Collection (scroll down). At long last a member of the Northern Utah print media has finally picked up on the story. Check out the just now breaking Salt Lake Tribune/Chris Smart writeup below:
• Ogden city attorney: Campaign funding problem 'cured'Interesting legal theory that Ogden City Attorney Gary Williams advocates. If one of Boss Godfrey's friends submits a false campaign financial disclosure statement, and then sits on it for seventeen months, the problem is miraculously cured by suddenly filing a truthful statement.
Notably, It's now been five weeks since the Standard-Examiner rejected Dan Schroeder's proposed op-ed on this subject:
• Campaign Finance Reform Needed Right Here in Ogden - A Guest Commentary that the Standard-Examiner refused to printHard to believe it took so long to get this far. But persistence does pay off. Any bets on how long the Std-Ex will continue to ignore this story?
We'll urge our gentle readers to get involved in this story, and to post their own remarks in the comments section under this SLTrib article. If you're not already registered to post in the SLTrib comments section, please do so. It takes about thirty seconds, tops.
Now that this story is out in the open, it's important to make sure that it doesn't get buried again.
And when you get done posting on the Trib website, don't forget to leave a few comments here.
Update 3/31/09 7:30 a.m. MT: Too funny. After completely ignoring this story for over five weeks, the Standard-Examiner hurriedly published its own Scott Schwebke writeup on its live website last night, only hours after publication of the above Salt Lake Tribune story. Shamed into it, we guess. Here's the link:
• Ogden city attorney: No action, campaign finances amendedIn this connection, we urge our gentle readers to visit the Std-Ex site and to offer your ever-savvy comments there, for the benefit of the Std-Ex's online readers. Unlike the Tribune site, which requires a rudimentary online registration process, the Std-Ex site permits immediate posting under your chosen screen name, hampered only by a simple and user-friendly word verification system, designed to screen out bot-generated comments spam.
Have at it, O Gentle Ones.
What a pleasure it is, to see this story finally out in the open.
66 comments:
Who are the officers or powers at be that made these decisions from Envision Ogden? It seems some heads should roll for breaking the law. Who should or could file charges?
This could be addressed in civil court, as a class action.
Against who? By who? It seems Envision Ogden have great liabilities and have broken the law. I am sure they knew exactly what they were doing and wanted to hide it obviously. I understood that Envision Ogden was an extension of Lift Ogden.
What does it matter? Until a prosecutor in an appropriate (with jurisdiction) court of law decides to press charges, won't this just go away. Of course the OGDEN CITY Attorney will do nothing. What about the State AG or the County Prosecutor???
Am I correct that (technically) Lt. Gov. Gary Herbert would be the first to review this decision?
Not that anything would be done, but still...
Just a couple of thoughts:
A prosecution by AG Shurtleff isn't so far fetched as it might seem. Shurtleff's rumored to be running in convention against Sen. Bennett in 2010; and putting the prosecution of a couple of corrupt city politicians under his belt prior to his election run might actually be a good thing for his candidacy.
Moreover, everyone in the know understands that Governor Huntsman loathes Godfrey, so it's unlikely that Shurtleff would get any resistance to such a prosecution from the executive branch.
GOP senate whip Scott Jenkins is Godfrey's cousin, of course. However, Jenkins is a newcomer to GOP legislative leadership, and an up and comer, so the question would arise as to whether Jenkins would waste his political capital, especially if the prosecution was to be limited to Eccles and Johnson, who would be pretty much expendable, from Jenkins's point of view.
If ever during the past few years there was a propitious time for the AG's office to go after a few minor players like Eccles, Johnson, FNURE and Envision Ogden, the time is probably NOW.
If the prosecution were to be broadened to include Godfrey after a thorough investigation, it's quite questionable whether Jenkins would have the political muscle or will to stick out his neck at this point in his political career.
Yes. It's probably time to put this situation squarely under Mark Shurtleff's nose.
I have to say I love the timing on this.
Godfrey recieved monies from Envision Ogden as well as Jeremy Peterson, Godfreys plant to up end Neil Hanse in the House race in Ogden.
Gary Willaims is an incompetant fat low bid attorney. This should help to end his carreer also. Or should I say cure?
It's like stealing money, sodomnizing, and repenting two years later, and then everything is okay.
sheesh!!!
The SE has a story reporting Williams claim that nothing is or every has been amiss up now too. Link here.
In which Mr. Schwebke "forgot" to mention that neither FNURE nor Envision Ogden were registered as political action committees at the time, as required by law.
Or that Envision Ogden did so later, but too late for the election (unless we apply the "let's get in a time machine and 'cure' the birth of Hitler to stop World War II because I believe in deus ex machina" provision that Mr. Williams apparently invokes whenever needed. Shades of the "magic pony" provision.)
Or that no one seems to know who or what FNURE is, except that it used Mr. Johnson's law firm as its address. You would think Mr. Johnson would recognize those Magic Ponies from when he passed them in the hallway of his rather small office building.
Or that they were scooped by both WCF and the Trib.
Other than those little details, it's a great news story.
Do you really think that Gov. Huntsman will do anything about this? Keep dreaming and keep voting for the republicans and keep on bitching...
You all elected these crooks.
We would like to thank Dan Schroeder for bringing this matter of how corrupt the Mayor’s campaign machine is to the attention of the public and for all Utah and the world to see. It is very sad for a City to have such a corrupt leader and a couple of city council members. (Not all council members are corrupt, I know that at least three of them are trying to keep Godfrey under control). It is also sad (I hope State and County leaders are hanging their heads in shame) when State and Weber County officials, who are elected and entrusted with keeping elected officials honest and obedient to election laws, look the other way when those laws are broken.
We, too, are glad that the Salt Lake Tribune looked into the corruption that has run rampant in Ogden because the owner’s of The Standard Examiner, the local newspaper, aka the “Suits of Sandusky, have been corrupted by Mayor Godfrey and have told their editors to support him. It is really sad when the city administration has the the local newspaper in its pocket. The SE used to be an honest newspaper and did investigative reporting on corruption of government entities until “The Suits of Sandusky” bought the newspaper.
I’d like to shed some light on the subject of election corruption and answer some questions that have been asked.
1. Envision Ogden is a committee that was organized by Mayor Godfrey and is chaired by one of his blind followers, Abe Shreeve, a realtor in Ogden.
2. Lt. Governor Gary Herbert oversees all Utah elections and was notified about the illegal actions that took place in the mayoral race in 2007. He just referred the concerned citizen who reported them to him with documentation to Weber County D.A., Mark DeCaria. The illegal donations to Johnson and Eccles campaign funds just came to light or they would have been reported also. Information was presented to DeCaria which he took “to study” and probably turned over to Godfrey.
“Native,” let’s hope the new Weber County D.A. has more balls than DeCaria and does some housecleaning in the Weber County Election Department and the Ogden City administration! It is sure needed! Then maybe Ogden won’t be the laughing stock of Utah any longer.
Monotreme, said that there is something rotten in Weber County. For the last 8 years there is also something rotten in Ogden!
It would also be nice the Trib bring into light the electioneering accusations from the 2007 election. I am referring to hundreds of voters turned away because their residency was put into question. I thought at one time I read (here) that Godfrey supporters were involved in that debacle. Including Geiger. Not to mention Geiger's charges of stealing/removing Hansen campaign signs. I think all of these issues would be great fodder in any investigations brought against Godfrey and his election team from 2007. Come on A/G, Lt Governer, whomever is necessary, lets show the world what Godfrey is all about.
Monotreme,
The Lieutenant Governor's office has no jurisdiction over municipal election campaigns. So they didn't get involved it was learned that Envision Ogden contributed to a legislative candidate (Jeremy Peterson) in 2008. They then sent a stern letter to EO, which promptly responded by filing its papers with the LG. But those papers didn't disclose any of its activity in 2007, and there's some question as to whether it is legally required to do so.
The IRS disclosure rules kick in only when an organization handles more than $25,000 in a given year. So Envision Ogden fell under these rules in 2007, but FNURE apparently didn't.
Oops: they didn't get involved until it was learned that EO contributed to Peterson...
Dan S.
I researched the duties and responsibilities of the Lt. Gov. and he oversees ALL elections for the state of Utah.
Weird: If you follow Curmudgeon's link (above) to the S-E article you see two comments below the article (one from me). But if you get to the same article from the S-E live homepage, it has a different headline and there are no comments under it. I just tried reposting my comment there, and it still doesn't appear.
XangoLady: Cite your exact source, please.
Here's mine: U.C.A. 20A-11-101(33):
"Public office" means the office of governor, lieutenant governor, state auditor, state treasurer, attorney general, state or local school board member, state senator, state representative, speaker of the House of Representatives, president of the Senate, and the leader, whip, and assistant whip of any party caucus in either house of the Legislature.
This definition excludes county and municipal elections from the LG's jurisdiction.
(In 2008 the Legislature passed a law requiring the LG's office to post disclosure statements from local elections, or post links to them if they're posted on local government web sites. But the LG still doesn't have jurisdiction to enforce the provisions of local campaign finance disclosure laws.)
Dan:
It appears to be two separate articles, the way the S-E webpage is set up. The headlines are different, for example.
I would think you and Flatlander need to go in and repost your comments to the "new" article.
I should perhaps add that the state-level disclosure law doesn't have particularly sharp teeth either. As far as I can tell, it doesn't even have a provision that prohibits making contributions in the name of another. I actually called the LG's office and asked about this. They guy assured me that such a contribution would be illegal, but couldn't point me to where the law said so.
On the other hand, at least the state requires registration of PACs, which Ogden City doesn't. So thank goodness for the IRS or we never would have learned the source of FNURE's funds.
Monotreme: I tried reposting under the new article and my comment failed to appear after I clicked "submit".
Very interesting, Dan. As you can see, I've done an article update, embedding the link which curmudgeon provided last night.
As a precaution, I've download the page to storage, in the event the Standard pulls the page.
I suppose the solution would be for flatlander and you to repost your comments to the new page. Frankly however this situation is bound to cause confusion.
Looks like it was a glitch in the IP department. Last night's Scott Schwebke story is once again linked from the Std-Ex main news page, with the comments of flatlander and Dan S. intact. The newer story has now vanished into thin air.
Probably miscommunication between the day and swing shifts.
Have at it, O Gentle Ones.
Thanks, Rudi. Let's see if any of the postings end up on the Op-Ed page.
Strange how Mr. Schwebke's article fails to mention the salient and legally relevant facts in the case.
It's like reading the Washington Post, circa 1973, and seeing the headline "Break In at Watergate: President Says It's 'Not a Big Deal'." The ghost-like nature of FNURE is not even hinted at in the S-E article, yet it's a huge part of the Trib's version.
This story is particularly disturbing knowing all of the players have been involved with other questionable entities, American Can Building, Ogden Community Foundation, Envision Ogden, and Friends of Northern Utah Real Estate.
It irks me to think that they are so arrogant to use City owned properties to perpetrate their slimy agendas, preying upon unsuspecting donors and contributors to promote Ogden as a recreation hub. I am pissed that they abused my tax dollars to fund their political agendas.
After reading through the documents posted, I see that the Mayor also benefited from Envision Ogden also with the use of funds for his last Mayoral race.
I suspect that the reason that Gary Williams resists an investigation is that he is also a member of the secret Envision Ogden society or board member/advisor.
What I would like to know is: who is on the board for these so called foundations, is there any way to get a list of who is on their boards?
I hope, but wont hold my breath, that a long over due investigation is finally performed, and heads begin to roll over this latest screwing of the Ogden citizens.
It appears that Gary Williams is hiding information, and Blain Johnson is outright lying about who Friends of Northern Utah Real Estate is.
How can you trust a known liar?
Why has the local news paper the Standard Examiner, waited for so long to finally do a story, half assed I must admit, about this news that citizens really should know about?
If a person wants more details, one should source the facts on the internet web site Weber County Forum. It’s no wonder news papers are going under left and right through out this country.
Mono:
As Dan S. noted, the SL Trib story omitted key information as well. If you read both the SE and the SLTrib stories, you'll pick up most of the key issues involved, but you won't get all of them from either story alone.
Gotta love Williams: says Schroeder didn't offer evidence; except Johnson and Eccles admit it!
"Williams' letter also indicates Schroeder's complaint failed to offer evidence that FNURE wasn't the owner of the Envision Ogden funds "
"Johnson and Eccles acknowledged in their amended disclosures they received campaign contributions from FNURE, which got the funds from Envision Ogden"
Ido not expect the city attorney to revisit a years old problem. I am certain than he is busy ignoring more current issues. If a city council candidate doesn't know who shares his business address how can we expect the city attorney to see problems in the mayors conduct. Some people would be curious why some individuals gave money more than one but listed different addresses. Go forth and sin no more.
Any typical mayor would be ashamed of the incompetence of the corruption of this administration.
We cant believe we even know about this.
Whats next, revelation that he took money on the side from some mountain top developer?
Hey Mr. Godfrey, if you are going for corruption, go in low and below the radar.
This embarrasses all the competent-corrupt administrations, nationwide.
Svengali's right. Blagojevich, for example, earned both style points and chutzpah points for his corruption.
Godfrey's corruption is small beer (sorry, couldn't help myself) in comparison.
C'mon, Mayor. Kick it up a notch.
Monotreme,
I do know that Blain Johnson sits on the Ogden Foundation Board, and I believe I saw his name on the board of the AmeriCan Board. The way to find out who serves on what boards is to file a GRAMA request for the information.
The reason we went to lt Gov. Herberts office was because he's in charge of all corporations. Envision Ogden misled all contributers by purporting to be a non profit. They changed their minds after their fund raising events and a call from Herberts office, claiming to be a PAC. We again pressed the lt Gov's office about their non compliance with regulations for PACs and were told they were now going to be a 527, which they don't qualify to be either, to my understanding.
The AG should be investigating all of this agressively, this isn't just about election laws.
Lines I Wish I'd Written:
From Blackrulon:
I do not expect the city attorney to revisit a years old problem. I am certain than he is busy ignoring more current issues.
Nice. Very nice.
Lt Govenor, Attorney General, County Attorney, and the Mayor are all part of this secret combinations that runs this state.
Clearly there is a problem with the law. If Council Chair Wicks is correct and we do want to know who is contributing to whose campaign then our current law - at least as interpreted by Williams -- doesn't cut it, since Williams maintained that there is no requirement for candidate A, who received $ from entity B, to disclose all of the names of the people who gave to entity B. The problem, it seems, and correct me if I am wrong, is that in our case no one knows who contributed $ to Envision Ogden in the 1st place. Correct?
As Wicks mentioned in the SL Trib article, clearly the city ordinance needs to be strengthened. Well Chairwoman Wicks? You are in the perfect position to do just that. I hope to see a new ordinance put before council soon.
Whereas the readership of WCF is all of Weber County Utah, and maybe a bit more.........the READERSHIP of the SLC TRIBUNE is national, and maybe a bit global.
Comments are still going into SL TRIB:
Ogden City attorney:.Campaign funding problem "cured"...........????????????.....
http://www.tribtowns.com/comments/read_comments.asp?ref=12031383&PageIndex=2
Whereas the readership of WCF is all of Weber County Utah, and maybe a bit more.........the READERSHIP of the SLC TRIBUNE is national, and maybe a bit global.
Comments are still going into SL TRIB:
Ogden City attorney:.Campaign funding problem "cured"...........????????????.....
http://www.tribtowns.com/comments/read_comments.asp?ref=12031383&PageIndex=2
Whereas the readership of WCF is all of Weber County Utah, and maybe a bit more.........the READERSHIP of the SLC TRIBUNE is national, and maybe a bit global.
Comments are still going into SL TRIB:
Ogden City attorney:.Campaign funding problem "cured"...........????????????.....
http://www.tribtowns.com/comments/read_comments.asp?ref=12031383&PageIndex=2
Knowing how long it takes Scott Schwebke to do any kind of work, and given his story came out only hours after the Trib's did, we have to assume Schwebke had his story written for some time, and that the corrupt editors at the Standard Examiner simply held it for the possibility that some other paper would break the story and force the SE to do so.
In other words, the SE deliberately spiked this important local story for weeks, risking their own reputation, and undermining their own readers, to accomplish their political purpose - protecting a sleazy ruling class in Ogden of which they feel they are a part.
Like I said, there's a reason newspapers are going out of business. And like I said, it's a reason not for sorrow, but celebration. They are rotten. Good riddance to them.
McCain/Feingold:
Actually we do know all of Envision Ogden's contributors, except those who gave less than $200 (mostly Sneak Peek ticket buyers, I suspect). This information is on EO's IRS disclosure statement.
The problem with getting the information this way, however, is that the IRS requires such statements only for organizations that handle less than $25,000 in a year. So FNURE sneaks under the radar because it handled only $20,700. The City Council could fix this by enacting a local ordinance that requires disclosures from PACs.
Ogden City Attorney Gary Williams says,
"In the last municipal election, nearly every candidate disclosed contributions from organizations including unions, political action committees, third-party campaign committees and other entities without disclosing the source from which the contributing organizations received their funds. Thus, if we interpret our ordinance to require the tracing of contribution funds back to their original source, nearly all are in violation."
Hey Ogden City Attorney Gary Williams! Godfrey flunky and Stupid Man!
There is big difference! Those other organizations are actual organizations, with leaders and addresses, not a fraudulent sham entity existing for the sole purpose of circumventing Ogden City ordinances, like Friends of Northern Utah Real Estate obviously was, with no leaders, no real address, no nothing!!
Go back and read it again, stupid corrupt Godfrey city attorney Gary Williams!
Of course I meant to say "more than $25,000 in a year."
Perhaps I should also add that writing a disclosure ordinance for PACs that doesn't get into constitutional problems can be a bit tricky. If an organization is mostly engaged in other activities besides contributing to campaigns, you can't require that organization to disclose its members or contributors (for free speech reasons). But I'm sure there are other disclosure laws out there that could be used as a model to show how to draw the line.
Hmmm. Tried to post my 2 comments (above) on the SE site. Didn't work. Imagine that. But hey, they say they don't edit comments. Yes, they say a lot of things at the SE, don't they?
danny,
Your comments are there on the SE site; I just responded to one of them.
Danny:
Two points. First, I think your comments are up on the SE site now. The SE site does not always post instantly. It's reasonably quick, but not always instant. I doubt very much the SE is trying to discourage critical comments on their site. They are, as I understand it, trying to increase traffic on the sites, and folks getting into arguments in the comments sections increases "hits" on the page. Which is what they want.
Second: I think Mr. Schwebke has been a reporter for many years. And so he's probably developed a good hand at rapidly writing up late breaking stories fast. I doubt a reporter could stay in the business very long without being able to do that. So I don't think we can draw any sound conclusions about when the story was written from the mere fact that it appeared quickly on the SE site after city attorney's letter became known and the story appeared in the Trib.
Who is writing the checks?
I think The Friends of Northern Utah Real Estate is Bonzy.
EO's financial disclosure statement that Dan referenced is very interesting, especially at the end where the Salomon Center opening event contributions are detailed, monies to SOS staffing for Mayoral signs and to pay the guys who were enthusiastically (NOT) waving them on streetcorners. There were a lot of CC donations - didn't the Skipper get any?
Interesting that a truck repair, emissions and inspection is listed on the EO. Did Geiger need his yellow truck serviced to deliver signs. Also Fat Cats for food $9345that is a lot of junk food. The IRS should audit the whole financial report.
The sad part about all of this is that nothing will happen.
WWJS
Yep, you sure got that one right. Expecting Utah politicians, insiders and sycophants like Williams to investigate themselves is like expecting the Kingstons to investigate polygamy and incest.
I think Rep. Hansen had it right when he talks of integrity, responsibility, and accountability. All of these is what Godfrey is lacking. Why is it the standard examiner talks about these as there guiding principals yet they can not, nor will they though freedom of the press, make the government officials, up hold these standards.
I think that they are all in co-hoots or they would do something about this.
I guess it is going to be Rep Hansen is who we need to turn to. After all he is the only honest politician in Utah by the what the d-news says. Has anyone talked to him about this? Or is he all to aware of it, and is already doing some thing about this.
Lets Get It:
Asking Hansen to work on putting some enforcement teeth into Utah's apparently laughable campaign finance reporting laws would be a very good idea. But expecting the legislative majority to agree to put themselves under tighter campaign reporting rules is expecting them to rein themselves in. Not bloody likely, is it. Look how the Great Ethics Reform Drive dribbled out into a few relatively minor changes around the edges. Good ones, mind you, but a long long way from what every poll reported the public wanted and expected.
On the possibilities of reform, note this AP story running on the SE web edition:
SALT LAKE CITY -- Gov. Jon Huntsman has signed a bill into law to prohibit judges from awarding attorney fees to people who successfully sue the government over issues of broad public concern.
Some say the bill will inhibit efforts to keep government accountable, but county attorneys statewide support the measure.
Rep. Brian King, D-Salt Lake City, sent a letter signed by more than 30 House members from both parties to Huntsman urging him to veto the bill.
So if you sue the state, and win, you no longer have your attorney fees paid by the losing party, in this case, the state. This means without deep pockets behind you, no matter how good a case you think you might have against the state, you're not likely to sue because winning could bankrupt you.
This is what you get when you you elect Republican governors and Republican legislators.
I'm sick of U political hacks. Ogden is not a better place because of you. Your are gang-banging taggers! I wish your parent would have to pay to clean up the crap you spray around this town. The toll you are paying for this non-story will be your political downfall. I'm not sure you guys can afford another loss in court.
Dear Binford, this is not a civil matter. If thoroughly investigated and pursued there could be multiple criminal indictments. Williams narrow veiw is to be expected, he would be reluctant to look at the possibility of prosecuting his friends and associates with crimes like conspiracy to commit fraud, money laundering and such. I wonder if any RICO applications apply, depending on who was involved from the formation of Envision Ogden and what has subsequently been revealed.
All politics are local, if we really want to clean up our national political scene it makes sense to start right here at home. Enough progress on the homefront could really send a message to those in higher levels of government.
You are obviously a very sick man, Binford.
SEEK HELP!
Binford,
Don't be so up set about the people that tag issues, Have you seen the building in central Ogden that have be tagged by you real gangs?
Sick of U must be a blogger that is banned by Rudi here. Same old childish gibberish against the nay-sayers. Maybe worried his wife might loose her cushy job with the city. Or someone that can run to the mayor and tell him I stood up for you.
Almost all on WCF want honest and open government no matter who blows the whistle or brings it out into the open. We need better ordinances to prevent this kind of secret donors, un-registered PACS, and back door meetings and agreements.
What, they ban and shun folx here?
It seems pretty wide open to us.
We personally find that difficult to believe; one would really have to act with extremely poor manners; really, very poor.
But then, we love this town.
Binford,
Just like the rest of Ogden, when something is going on you head to the WCF to get the news. If there weren't credibility to what's written here there wouldn't be 60 comments on a story posted yesterday.
Thanks for checking in again for the real news in town.
Binford,
By the way, maybe if Dan S. or some of the other bloggers here were still on any of the city community councils they volunteered years of dedicated service to, they'd have less time to "tag".
The mayor has made sure that this is the only place people who may have an opposing opinion on just about any topic can express it.
I can name at least a half dozen volunteer commissioners and committee members that have served longer than those that were removed because of "tenure" or other ridiculous reasons.
Organized resistance against someone who rules without the open input and community dialog is the oldest AMERICAN tradition.
It will be interesting if we find that the Mayor himself was in on the orginization and founding of Envision Ogden, making key decisions and controling involvement. This makes sense after the Community Foundation flap, he needed a vehicle for continuing his mischief, but this time appearing more out of the loop, at arms length so to speak.
I sense Sick of U is one of the parties involved in both these little endeavers and fears some buried skeketons may be resurected, it's is getting close to Easter.
Sick of U and Binford, if not the same person, are at least very closely related.
I personally asked Steve Conlin about Envision Ogden a long time ago. He explained that when he read about EO in the newspaper (that would have been 12 February 2007), he immediately bought the domain name envisionogden.com on speculation. He then turned the domain over to the EO folks in return for them giving ad space to Sun Valley Mortgage. He said that was the whole story of his involvement, and I have no reason to disbelieve him.
Dan,
Thanks for posting that. I will make one small correction. I still own the domain name. I just point it to the site. I haven't had any contact with anyone from the site in over 18 months. Aside from one meeting with them to do that, I had, or have, no other involvement.
Thanks,
Steve Conlin
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