The Standard-Examiner carries a story this morning, reporting on one of the more predictable developments in the ongoing Envision Ogden Money laundering Saga. Ogden City Attorney Gary Williams has considered the complaint of Godfrey loyalists Mr. Geiger and Mr. Gullo, weighed the evidence and found no violation of campaign finance ordinances on the part of former city council candidate Dirk Youngberg:
• Youngberg 'didn't violate' ordinanceRead the full text of Mr. Williams' opinion letter here:
• Gary Williams 5/9/09 LetterNow that Mr. Williams has disposed of this frivolous Godfreyite sideshow, it seems to us that it would be incumbent upon our Ogden City Attorney to broaden his investigation, and take another look at what we deem to be the "main events," such as the blatantly anonymous contributions to the Eccles and Johnson campaigns through the shadowy anonymous entity Friends of Utah Real Estate, and the questionable use of the Salomon Center for a Godfreyite campaign fundraiser. We won't hold our breath for this however, inasmuch as it's become apparent that Mr. Williams won't look into such matters on his own initiative. Perhaps one of our gentle readers will pick up the ball, and nudge Mr. Williams along, by lodging a new complaint requesting a thorough examination of these issues.
The ludicrous downside to this latest development is quite clear at this juncture, of course. Now that Williams has disposed of the Youngberg complaint, and exonerated everyone (for the time being, at least,) the Godfreyite loyalists will claim a factual equivalency between the Youngberg matter and the the much more complex and labyrinthine Envision Ogden scenario, wherein several troubling issues remain as yet entirely unresolved.
In short, every effort will be made henceforth by Godfrey and his allies to sweep the Envision Ogden story under the rug.
And what say our readers about all this?
16 comments:
If he returns to problems he has "cured' will he first have to declare them not cured? It is wishful thinking that any investigation will come from the same people who covered up the problem.
From the Standard's story on this:
Tom's opinion @ 05/07/2009
No one with half a brain thought that Youngberg broke any laws to begin with.
This "complaint" was just a clumsy attempt by Geiger and Gullo, both Godfrey friends, to create a smoke screen to divert the public's attention away from election crimes committed by the mayor, councilman Johnnson and Eccles in the last election.
The "crimes" were the use of the Solomon Center (publicly owned) by Godfrey to raise funds for Envision Ogden, a phony front for illegal political purposes. Envision Ogden also raised many thousands of dollars from private donors without telling then the political purpose of the funds. In fact they lied to the donors and told them the money was to promote "high adventure" in Ogden. They then compounded the crimes by passing the money through still another secret unregistered entity called FNURE and then into the pockets of Godfrey, Eccles, and Johnson. So far the three perpetrators of these crimes have steadfastly refused to tell anyone just who FNURE is, other than themselves.
All three of these individuals constitute a blight on Ogden politics, and but for the slavish actions of the city attorney would be prosecuted for their actions.
blackrulon is right. Williams will never give a truthful assessment of Envision Ogden's use of city-owned property for a fund raising event to benefit Godfrey's candidates for the city council.
Dirk Youngberg is a friend of mine and I know that he would never do anything dishonest. On the other hand, the Geigers are deceitful, liars, and noisey trouble makers. Just the opposite of Dirk. John Gullo may be civic minded, but he is a big ego-inflated buffoon. His connection with Godfrey shows he has no class nor is he a good judge of character. "Birds of a feather, flock together."
More smoke and mirrors for the corrupt republicans in Ogden.
Godfrey administration used Ogden City property and resources for campaign fundraising and decieved the citizens that the money was for the city.
Anon hit the nail right on the head!
I'm not as articulate as you can see.
When is the smoke and mirror Stardard Exagerator I mean the Stardard Examiner going to print the facts???
I guess this proves Andy Howell and Doug Gibson have no ethics!!!
democrat
You are as articulate as you need to be in pointing out the perfidy of these crimes.
As to Andy Howell and Doug Gibson, I believe you could say their ethics were situational. In this situation they have fallen way behind what we would hope of our news media. In other situations they have stood up to the plate and done the right thing by the their reading public. To be fair to them, they are under the thumb of the Suits of Sandusky who in turn are under the thumb of a very difficult economic collapse in the newspaper business. They cannot let intangibles like "integrity" get in the way of tangibles like "survival". It is my guess that they believe if they come down on the Godfreyites and are to aggressive in telling the public about their crimes, then they will suffer financial consequences from the Lil Lord and the local advertisers that have their noses way up his butt. How Andy and Doug live with that I don't know, I don't envy them their dilemma.
matty is a liar just that simple our republicans voted for the little shit wonder if they are happy with the destruction he has caused in o town
City Attorney Gary Williams:
I challenge you to to do the job your job description calls for in order to salvage something of the integrity you must have had at some point in your career before you became Mayor Matthew Godfrey's City Attorney.
You are a career attorney. The reputation you create in your current position will follow you for the rest of your life.
Do the honorable thing and perform your job honorably.
Disclose the facts pertaining to Envision Ogden and also the facts pertaining to Friends of Northern Utah Real Estate as has been repeatedly requested.
Quit brushing your self with the Godfrey tar brush.
Dorothy
Ya might as well be addressing the above to me! Williams is not going to hear it, and if he did he doesn't have the integrity to act upon it.
He is under the mayor's thumb, owes his very job to him, and will not now, nor in the future, challenge the dark orthodoxy of the Godfrey machine. If he did he would be out the door within a day, and given the current economy, in combination with his incompetence and lack of integrity, would be unlikely to find any other job that would come close to what he dips out of the public trough as Godfrey's legal hack. He is a pettifogger to his core and like his boss has absolutely no class nor competence.
On another note here; why is Harrison Blvd looking so unkempt, weeds, property looking like downtown rentals. Where is the enforcement of shoddy property from 20th to 30th.
When will respect and integrity come back to Ogden...
Curious: It is because the rental owners are renting to illegal aliens.
They are crossing Harrison from west to east.
It is only American property owners who are now holding the line at just east of Harrison.
The west of Harrison is lost for good.
Having lived in the deep South for longer than I care to remember, I can't help recognizing racism when I see it, and it's always ugly. There is no racial/ethnic monopoly on poor behavior. Have you ever heard the term "poor white trash"? Maybe you should look in the mirror.
American too
Amen to that.
American,
I hope the Mexicans kick your racists ass!!! Again!!!
no room for racism in any discussion.
i think the point that american was accurate in suggesting though was that tenants of rental property never take the same level of care of their residents as do home owners. with more rental properties being occupied east of harrison is evidencing this case in point.
an environment that entices real estate speculation rather than home ownership as a reason to buy a home is most likely the root cause.
if the adminstration would stop hyping the potential and rather improve the quality of life in the city we would again see the type of people retuning to ogden that value home ownership.
Dan wrote on WCF about the rentalization of Ogden's east bench back in September of '07.
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