Friday, April 03, 2009

Std-Ex Letter: Ogden Municipal Elections Should Be Investigated

Time for the judiciary to step up to the plate and do their job

We were hog-tied all day yesterday with personal business, thus relegating our blog posting chore temporarily to the back burner. So we'll belatedly direct our readers' attention to a highly Weber County Forum-topical letter appearing on the Standard-Examiner website yesterday. It's brief, so we'll incorporate it in full. We've also taken the editorial liberty of adding a few of our own links:
Ogden municipal elections should be investigated
It is well beyond time that someone properly investigated the shenanigans which went on in the 2007 Ogden City municipal elections.
There were certainly numerous well-documented ethical violations committed by Mayor Godfrey and his favored political allies -- lying about crime statistics, manipulating the electoral challenge system, destroying campaign signs, funneling campaign donations through a fictitious organization, intimidating and smearing the reputation of political opponents, selling real estate through backdoor deals.
Whether or not there were actual criminal violations is not for me to decide. That is for our legal system to decide. It is time for the judiciary to step up to the plate and do their job. It doesn't matter what they find or don't find. There is plenty of smoke. The taxpayers and citizens of Ogden deserve to know if there's a fire.
Jim Hutchins
Ogden
Ideal fodder for today's reader discussion, we believe, as we head off into another Emerald City weekend.

15 comments:

no more whining please said...

Gary Williams has already looked into these matters and determined that his friends are all NOT GUILTY. End of discussion.

Evie said...

And Judge Parley Baldwin gave a message that any citizen daring to go to court in the Second District court about abuse in Ogden would be decimated financially.

Ruby Brown said...

And Officer Jones found out that any city employee daring to question the mayor on any level would not only be fired but have their reputation smeared as well.

Anonymous said...

And small city citizens discovered what happens when you wave millions in the face of someone who was power hungry enough to run for office in the first place.

Charlie P said...

And all the small single unit and non-problematic apartment owners in town found out about being stomped on when the mayor and his friends at the apartment association discovered the big dollars to be had with the so called "Good Landlord" program.

Weeping for America said...

Prosecutorial coverups are endemic in Amerika. Amoral prosecutors will never bite the hand that feeds them, nor the hands of the corrupt who preceded the present political puppetmasters. Here's more evidence:

Holder Pledges Caution in Prosecuting Public Corruption Cases

I weep for the downfall of America, which is now just one giant Ponzi scheme, operated to the detriment of the taxpayers.

Curmudgeon said...

Weeping;

Well, given the apparent prosecutorial misconduct in the Ted Stevens case, which impelled Holder to have the conviction vacated, perhaps caution in pressing public corruption cases is a good idea, at least for some time. It may take a while for the shoot-from-the-hip ethic [politely so called] that marked the Justice Department under eight years of Bush's appointees to fade. As good editors advise eager reporters: "It's more important to get a story right than to get it first. Applies to prosecutions too, I think. Yes, even those for public corruption.

watching it happen said...

Oh! How I would love to talk to a honest prosecutor, but there is not one, no not one that will look at the evidence that I have and that is because they are all in the same bed, political party. This is what happens when absolute power has and did corrupt absolutely.
If any one knows of an honest prosecutor that is willing to not only do the right thing here but will in the end put to rest the truth of all that has been said. I plead for you to help me find that one guy in the system that is willing to do the job. Any one out there know?
If any ones knows of such a person. Just let it be known who that person is. So I can turn over all the documentation to them.

P.S. Who is the chief deputy county attorney? Will he not be in charge till the democrats find a new county attorney?

Bill C. said...

I'm starting to wonder if Mike (jackass)Dowse wasn't misquoted when asked why they would move here. He mentioned the 3 m's, I think he said, mountains of money for the mayor.

blackrulon said...

I had the misguided hope that the prosecuting attorney was to find out the facts, present the evidence and try to obtain justice in prosecuting cases. Really there is no need to tell me how naive that idealistic dream and hope has become. But on the other hand we are home to the instant cure for all election questions.

Mike Ridgway said...

With special thanks and apologies to Monty Python:

Boss Godfrey: I am your Mayor.
Peasant Lumpencitizen: Well I didn't vote for you.
Boss Godfrey: You don't vote for Mayor of Ogden and expect to actually win.
Woman: Well how'd you become Mayor, then?
[Angelic music plays... ]
Boss Godfrey: The Elders of the True Church, their torsos clad in the purest starched samite, held aloft Excalibur from the bosom of the water, signifying by divine providence that I, Blessed Matthew Godfrey, was to carry Excalibur. That is why I'm your Mayor.
Peasant: Listen. Strange politicians, lying around in smoke-filled rooms, and cutting secret deals with one another is no basis for a system of city governance. SUPREME EXECUTIVE POWER derives from a MANDATE FROM THE CITIZENS -- not from some farcical gentlemen's agreement.
Boss Godfrey: Be quiet!
Peasant: You can't expect to wield SUPREME EXECUTIVE POWER just because some control-freakin' tart threw a sword at you!
Boss Godfrey: Shut up!
Peasant: I mean, if I went 'round sayin' I was going to be Mayor just because some pompous bint had lobbed a scimitar at me, they'd put me away!.
Boss Godfrey: Shut up! Shut up!

danny said...

Jim Hutchins, will you please run for office this fall?

Jim Hutchins said...

I'm flattered, Danny, but no. I have no talent for politics, as those that know me can attest.

sceptical said...

It's the same old story, Jim. Smart and rational people won't run for local political positions in the first place, partly because they have REAL jobs, and can't spare the time.

That leaves us with the private industry of otherwise unemployables, like Boss Godfrey, whose best free market employment gig was that of a Pizza Delivery boy:

What's wrong with the people in Ogden? When you add up non-MOMO votes, Godfrey Godfrey should have been creamed in 2007.

Looking at the Standard-Examiner website is illumanating. Pitbull regulation and and a dippy Mayor couda been stories are still the Most commmented and read stoies fom the Standard-Examiner.

what would jesus say said...

449 lousey votes.

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