By Curmidgeon
I'd like to direct my fellow WCF Readers' attention to two interesting news items, which don't quite fit in with the topics downthread:
First, The SL Weekly's latest issue features a long story implying that Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff [who received over $185K from various call-center companies last campaign] has been going easy, and arranging very low fines etc. for Utah call centers caught by Utah government engaging in fraudulent practices. [I thought the article suggestive, but not conclusive.] But these two paragraphs caught my eye. Here's the first:
The only public record of the $30,000 donation comes from MOA’s 2008 Year-End PAC contributor report. Shurtleff’s report does not mention the receipt of either donation. There’s no indication of the $30,000 at all. According to the State of Utah Lieutenant Governor’s Office which warehouses candidates’ campaign finance filings, without speaking to the specifics of this incident (since no complaint has been filed the office has not investigated) the missing expenditure on the report means either Shurtleff never reported receiving the money or he went back to the electronic report filing and deleted any note of ever receiving the money. Here's the first:And here's the other:
According to Joe Demma, chief of staff for Lt. Gov. Gary Herbert, there is only one office that can really investigate and enforce compliance for negligent campaign finance filings—the Attorney General’s Office.Secondly, The City Weekly is currently running a letter to the editor from Tom Owens of Farmington, who is I think is a sometime poster here at Weber County Forum. The letter deals with Hizzonah Mayor Godfrey, and with what Mr. Owens thinks is the City Weekly's unwarranted praise for Ogden's 25th Street as a party zone. It is interesting, the letter, for both its content and for Mr. Owens'.... vigorous? spirited? pungent? all of the above?... composition thereof. Worth a look.
23 comments:
Not true. The County Attorney's can prosecute and so can City Attorney's.
But no republican will prosecute republicans.
We can attest, our 25th street is most assuredly a party zone.
First, wait for an moderately auspicious sky.
Second, gambol yourselves down 25th street, watching above for the blue sigil.
Third, you do know the password to enter, right?
We love this town.
Interesting tradeoffs between having the government's head attorney elected or appointed.
At the federal and municipal level they're appointed. This frees them from having to raise campaign contributions, which is good. But it prevents them from playing any role in investigating or prosecuting the chief executive.
At the state and county level they're elected. This gives them enough independence to investigate and prosecute the executives if necessary, but makes them susceptible to direct bribes through campaign contributions.
Watch for MacKay to get both above and below the table campaign finance contributions from Froerer and the Utah Realtor Assocation...FNURE, Utahns for Private Property Rights, and similar shill PACs by the URA. Assuming he gets the nod as a Democratic candidate for the County Attorney post.
His family and extended family members own more than 800 acres in and around Huntsville and several buildings and real estate in Ogden.
And the whole clan does not know or care about conflicts of interest, ethics, or anything akin to moral behavior.
Curmudgeon
"vigorous? spirited? pungent"???
Shit-O-Dear man, at my age I would take any one of the three!
MacKay is the right man for the job.. They own most of the land up there because they settled the land and worked and protected it...
Just what the hell have you done?
No republican works the land.
Republicans just give campaign contributions to their republican buddies, so the government will buy property and say its for open space...Then a few years later they'll give the property those that gave them campaign contributions.
Then republican officials will tell the public that the land is worthless.
Democrat:
You wrote: MacKay is the right man for the job.. They own most of the land up there because they settled the land and worked and protected it...
MacKay may or may not be the right man for the job. Couldn't say. But if he is, it's not because he's a MacKay or because his ancestors settled the land or worked it or protected it. If he's got good qualifications for the job, they have to be based on his own experience, record and work. His DNA is neither a reason to support him for the post, nor is it a reason to oppose him.
What happens if the Three names goes to the county commission and there is three commissioners and if each one like one of the three differently then it would be a stale mate. who then gets to pick the attorney?
Actually they gambled on wheat futures back in the early 1900's, David O. and his brother. They never "worked the land nor saved it". But they did damn near lose it and caused the mortgage on the land to quadruple.
Sound familiar? Democrat?
I'm usually a fan of Tom Owens but his rant on Godfrey and the 25th Street bar's ordinance change is not correct ...
I met with the Mayor and expressed concern regarding "his" proposed ordinace change. Mayor Godfrey told me to my face he was not in favor of more bars on
25th Street and Blaine Johnson was the one pushing for the ordinance change on behalf of Thaine Fischer's unleasable Star Noodle building ...
Prior to the planning commission meeting and the CC meeting,(we)the
25th Street bar owners polled the 25th Street property owners and merchants and pretty much had a major majority against the change.
Planning squashed the ordinace change and the CC also voted it down. Ironically, Johnson also voted nay. I would like to think the Mayor spoke with him on our behalf and let him know the 25th Street feeling ... like I said, I would like to think that ...
Mr. Owens is correct in citing Mayor Godfrey for putting an end to the StreetFest and I'm on public record calling that decision a bunch of bullshit ...
Bill Parker
For Tom O.
Ole Tom was fishing out of his boat when he heard a small voice saying "Pick me up."
Looking around the old Tom finally saw a frog repeating its plea, "Pick me up and kiss me and I will turn into the most voluptious and beautiful seductive woman you have ever seen."
Tom reaches down, picks up the frog and puts it in his shirt pocket.
When ole Tom checks on the frog still in his shirt pocket it repeats its offer.
But old Tom says, "No thanks. At my age I'd rather have a talking frog."
Curm;
No doubt that is not enough to be County Attorney. The post above that was slamming MacKay for owning so much land.
Based on what I know of Mackay he has the guts to take down anybody who breaks the law. He has the experience, he has the expertise. He is politically in the middle.
He and his family are very loyal to our community and love our community and our heritage. He is a leader that has worked the fields and helped local neighbors, he has helped feed and clothe the poor and he (speaks truth to power).
If you want the most level headed person with the most qualifications and the upmost integrity.
MacKay is our man. No republican can beat him in 2010.
It's Time For Good:
Well, if all you say is true, particularly about his chances in the ensuing election to the post, what do you think the odds are the all-Republican Weber County Commission will select him out of the three for the job?
Bill P.:
Actually, you've pointed out something I think needs pointing out. There is a tendency, I think, for some to assume among the Godfreyistas [broadly conceived] more unity than in fact exists, as there is a tendency in some to attribute everything they don't like to Hizzonah's nefarious influence, and the failure of every proposal they do like, similarly, to him.
Things are more complex than that. [They almost always are.] Certainly on many key issues, the Mayor, Mr. Johnson and Mr. Fischer and others of "the Godfrey Gaggle" are on the same side of things, and that is often the wrong side. But just as clearly, on some matters, their interests evidently differ, as you note. It would be foolish, then, to assume unity and common interest where they do not always exist.
I don't know any of the protagonists personally, but I imagine that by now some of them at least have noticed that the Mayor manages to shoot himself [and his allies] in the foot with impressive regularly, that he has not proven to be a particularly effective cabal chieftan.
Seems to me the course of wisdom for those who generally oppose the Administration's proposals would be to look for issues on which they share common interests with Hizzonah's usual allies.
But then, I think it'd be a good idea to look for matters on which we share common ground and interests with the Mayor. It would be good for Ogden. We can continue to lock horns over matters we disagree on --- Godfrey's Folly [the flatland gondola], outdoor summer ice towers, and other pie-in-the-sky expensive pipe dreams and the like --- but Ogden would benefit from our identifying issues on which we both agree, and on which we can offer to work together for the good of the city. Granted, Hizzonah has so far shown little interest in finding common ground, but we ought to keep at it. It's important.
Haven't had much luck selling that idea in these parts, but as Mrs. Curmudgeon could [and very often does] tell anyone who asks [and many more who don't], I'm a pig-headed stubborn SOB and so will keep trying.
I think McKay ought to get the job if for no other reason than he is a cousin to the late and great Fawn Brody, arguably Utah's most famous intellect, historian, writer, and biographer of Joseph Smith (No Man Knows My History). Her masterpiece on Thomas Jefferson won her the Pulitzer (or was it the Werlitzer?), and she was kicked out of the "Church" for daring to write a true story about Joesph even though her uncle was President of the Church at the time.
WMill
Please clarify. You wrote that it was "his", meaning the Mayor's, proposal to begin with, yet he was also against it?
You also seem to imply that because the bar owners and other merchants on 25th were against the ordinance change the Mayor and council killed the proposal. Given the mayor's past history of "my way or the highway" and never meeting anyone half way as Curmudgeon points out, do you think the outcome would have been different had the Mayor been for the change even though the merchants were against it? In other words do you really believe the mayor cares what you and your fellow business owners on 25th street want, especially if it is at odds with his own desires?
I'm sure he doesn't need it, but in Owens' defense I would like to point out that it is the mayor's arrogance and hubris that makes it so enjoyable for so many people to "rant" on him as you say.
And D-Bell, did you ever stop and think that perhaps Owens is a "Talking Frog"?
Lionel ...
By "his" I meant most were under the assumption it was the Mayor's idea - that's why we asked to meet with him personally ...
Perhaps you're correct inserting the Mayor could give a rat's ass about us but in this particular situation he took the time to hear us out ...
-BP
Oz: Don't think we've ever seen Fawn Brodie's name on WCF before, and how sweet it is. Thanks.
I highly recommend every one reading this to also read Fawn Brodie's two masterpieces.
Thomas Jefferson "An intimate History"
In which she explores the Sally Hemmings affair thirty five years before modern historians and news papers picked up on it.
Joseph Smith "No Man Knows My History" in which she portrays the Mormon Prophet as a real man, a very complex and impressive one at that.
She also wrote bio's on Thaddeus Stevens and Sir Richard Burton.
And the best of all is "A Biographers Life" the life of Fawn Brody MacKay, by Nowell or Newell Bringhurst.
Fawn Brody was a MacKay but also some how wandered from the flock. She basically took on the MacKay's including her Uncle David O. as the frauds they were...as well as Mormonism itself and Joseph Smith.
Fascinating read which explains much about the MacKay clan, Joseph Smith and Mormonism...warts and all.
The County Commissioners would be well advised to speak to Mr. MacKay's peers and colleagues about his "experience and competence" as an attorney as well as non MacKay relatives or extended family members in Huntsville. It "ain't" pretty.
I suspect the major reason that the 25th street club and restaurant owners were against the ordinance change was self interest. Why would the current bar and restaurant owners support changing the rules and allowing more competition. This was a simple decision to remove competition and protect your own self interests. The mayor has never been a vigorous support of any drinking establishment.
Blackrulon:
Self-interest because over the years we had been denied expanding due to the ordinance ...
We, personally, have been denied twice ...
-BP
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