Marshall White Center: The Very Dumbest Story to Hit the Standard-Examiner Front Page Within Memory

Unless and until a firm and binding written Marshall White Center proposal is presented for examination by the council and the lumpencitizens, Mr. Godfrey's accusations that some conscientious folks are "flip-flopping" is entirely without rational merit

This morning we'll call our readers' attention to what in our ever humble opinion could be the very dumbest story to hit the Standard-Examiner front page within memory. Ace Reporter Schebke's lead paragraphs provide the thoroughly amusing setup:

OGDEN — Mayor Matthew Godfrey is challenging City Councilman Jesse Garcia’s questioning of the administration’s negotiations with Ogden-Weber Community Action Partnership to operate the Marshall White Community Center.
Godfrey said in a letter that Garcia is familiar with OWCAP’s plans for the center because he has been privy to the proposal from the outset.
“You have known all about OWCAP’s proposal from the beginning. In fact, you knew about it before I did,” Godfrey wrote to Garcia in a letter obtained by the Standard-Examiner. “I have been told on multiple occasions that you have expressed your support for their proposal at Marshall White. I have spoken to you twice about this and on both occasions you indicated you were supportive. Why are you now pretending you don’t know anything about it and are not supportive?
“We involved you very early on in order to find an arrangement that was better for everyone. You agreed (to) work with the community and the council regarding what was happening and why.
“Instead, you decided to rally people against this before an agreement was reached with OWCAP and as far as we have heard you have never brought this up to your fellow council members.”

With his inimitable straightforward style, and in classic west side Ogden vernacular, Councilman Garcia characterises this latest Boss Godfrey screed as exactly what it is:

Garcia said he isn’t surprised by the tone of Godfrey’s letter and described it as a “cover your butt” attempt by the mayor because the administration left the council out of the loop in its negotiations with OWCAP.

Rather than get drawn into the he said/she said catfight that seems to be forming up on the pages of our home town newspaper, we'll just get back to basics.

We spoke with Councilman Garcia this morning, and here's what he told us:

• Although Garcia was generally aware that the Godfrey administration was engaged in ongoing negotiations with the non-profit Ogden-Weber Community Action Partnership (OWCAP), he was never directly involved in negotiations himself, and was therefore not privy to the details of such negotiations. Nor has he ever seen any written proposal;
• Although Garcia had indicated to the administration his general open-mindedness to considering an OWCAP management takeover in concept, his ultimate support would depend of course upon the nature of the proposal which would ultimately emerge from the negotiations. In essense, Mr. Garcia's posture closely resembled that of the Standard-Examiner Editorial Board;
• Garcia felt completely blindsided by Godfrey's proposed 2010 budget, in which Godfrey had removed funding from the Marshall White Center. It was at this point that Mr. Garcia apparently came to the conclusion that he was being double-crossed; and it was then that Garcia decided to publicly speak out.

What should be painfully obvious to even the most rabid Godfrey supporter is that Godfrey's accusation that Garcia was "familiar with OWCAP’s plans for the center because he has been privy to the proposal from the outset" is rubbish. Even Godfrey admits that a final agreement with OWCAP has not yet been reached. At present, a firm, enforceable and publicly-transparent written proposal does not exist, except in vague, Godfreyesque, ephemeral conceptual form. As always, "the devil's in the details," innit?

Keep your eyes on the ball, people. Unless and until a firm and binding written proposal is presented for examination by the council and the lumpencitizens, Mr. Godfrey's accusations that some conscientious folks are flip-flopping is entirely without rational merit.