Scott Schwebke is apparently back from vacation and provides a 2009 Ogden City Council candidate story this morning, following up on the Trent Toone writeup which we discussed on Weber County Forum yesterday. Read Mr. Schwbke's full story here:
• Ogden council election draws 17Although it's partly a rehash of old news, Mr. Schwebke does cover some new ground, with some interesting speculation obtained from interviews with several Ogden political insiders, as to the possible reasons that 17 hopeful candidates have queued up to fill a mere 4 vacant council slots in the 2009 municipal election. At risk of oversimplification, here are the various theories in a nutshell:
Brandon Stephenson: The crowd of city council candidates in the upcoming election may be due to Ogden's burgeoning reputation as high-adventure mecca and progress under way at The Junction, a retail, residential and entertainment complex downtown, Stephenson said.Regardless of their rationales however, what's obvious is that these 17 candidates have set the stage for what ought to be an extremely interesting and lively municipal primary election run-up. Grab that popcorn and pull up your Barca-loungers, folks. It'll be exciting to watch the fur fly over the next two months, as these 17 candidates jockey for position in advance of the September 15, 2009 primary election.
"Lots of folks (running for office) want to see Ogden move forward," he said.
Jesse Garcia: "There could be some dissatisfaction," Garcia said. "Maybe they don't like what the administration is doing. Maybe they don't like what the council is doing."
Some of the candidates are veterans of municipal committees and may consider election to the city council as the next logical step in providing public service, Garcia speculated.
Cindi Mansell: City Recorder Cindi Mansell said the large number of candidates may be due to the decisions of city council members Dorrene Jeske and Blain Johnson not to seek re-election.
"People see those two seats as completely available," she said. "When an incumbent files, people may think because of name recognition that incumbents are apt to be re-elected, which may discourage some potential candidates."
We'll also again draw our readers' attention to our 2009 Council Candidate Roster, which is embedded in our right sidebar. While Mr. Schwebke was presumably busy interviewing local political pundits, we spent a good part of yesterday afternoon assembling the useful candidate information which was submitted by some of our alert readers under yesterday's WCF article. Thanks to to the assistance of our gentle readers (special thanks to Googleboy), our Council Roster has received a major update. At this point we now have basic contact information available for all 17 candidates, together with an early smattering of additional supplementary information to boot. There's still plenty of additional compilation to be done, of course. Consider this a work in progress.
So keep that info rolling in, gentle readers. We'd be especially interested in gathering candidate email contact information too. Individual candidates are of course invited to provide their own links and other data as well. With the help of all the citizens of Ogden City, it's our goal to be the most information-rich Ogden City 2009 municipal election source on the web... just as we've been in the past.
That's it for now, gentle readers.
Who will be the first to comment?
23 comments:
Where has Stephenson been the last few years? This is the most candidates to file for council seats? As Schwebke points out, there were 19 candidates that filed in 2005. It was pretty apparent then that a lot of them were upset with the administration and what they were doing to Ogden. Brandon seems to be in his own little world -- "most of them want to move Ogden along as the World's outdoor mecca! He's so out of touch with the citizens or just doesn't listen. I know when he meets anyone who has a different opinion than his, he tries to convince them that he is right (for hours) instead of listening to them. He's always got to promote Godfrey's agenda. What an ass!
I understand from the grapevine that Godfrey is grooming Stephenson to be Ogden's next mayor. Potential candidates out there need to seriously consider challenging the jerk.
So, Brandon, all the candidates running in Davis County municipal elections are because Kaysville is a "high-adventure mecca"?
OK Monotreme, what did I miss regarding the Brandon Stephenson/Davis County candidates? I read Brandon's comments and your highlighted story above, as just can't quite put things together to the point that you would make this comparison.
Please enlighten.
Joe,
I think Mono's point is that lots of folks are running lots of places.
Therefore, Brandon's speculations about why many are running in Ogden would need some justification, since his reasons would not apply in those other places.
So we here we have a newspaper reporter, rather than doing any work, just calling up the usual suspects and asking for their opinion. It reminds me of how on NPR the reporters will interview each other as to what they think about the news.
All the more reason not to waste too much time on the major media. It's pablum.
Joe Jones:
Danny's explanation of my rationale is correct.
I personally think that David Wolfgram is about the most Not-Godfrey, in thought and action, of anyone I have ever seen running for any office in recent memory.
He is really a decent and honest man.
I was very glad to seer that he is running. Check him out.
David Wolfgram is a Not-Godfrey?
Decent and Honest?
And running against Doug Stephens?
Perfect.
G`narg is right. A quick Google shows that David Wolfgram is a drummer, kayaker, home brewer and furniture designer.
Links to follow later.
Looks pretty not-Godfrey to me.
G'narg the Malefient & Danny, It is not enough to be merely a Non-Godfrey. What has he done, what does he want to do,what does he plan to change and plan to keep. You cannot govern merely by being against things. Lets hear what his platform is. If merely being Non-Godfrey was enough almost everyone on the WCF could be mayor
Gee Blackrulon,
Who said Wolfgram was "anti Godfrey"? The fella said he was a "not Godfrey".
I kinda liked the "decent and honest" part myself. If so, he beats Doug Stephens right there.
Gentlemen, I understand your premise. But each individual, whether or not they hold office, post on a blog, or whatever, has his or her own opinion as to why candidates run for office. Because Stephenson FEELS the way he does about the number of candidates running for office hardly needs justification. It is, after all, merely HIS opinion, his "speculation" (to borrow your word, Danny).
To me, Stephenson's thoughts as to why the large number of candidates is no different than Cindy's, Jesse's or Jeske's. It's simply one person's opinion about one municipality's race. Nothing more. Why associate that with something so off the board as Davis County?
This is some pretty good dialogue, gentlemen. But I can't quite fathom your rational, which is not to say your wrong, of course. I still don't get the tie-in.
Joe:
Thanks for giving me some more of your thoughts. This may be confusing; let me try to explain my sense of humor.
(Always dangerous, trying to explain a joke. But here goes.)
1. The S-E article itself was a sort of pointless exercise. In the news room, your editor will always ask you, "what's the news peg?" Meaning, of course, "what are you going to hang this news story on?" If I had been writing the story, I would have pegged it on the candidates' biographies, or something interesting in one particular race (offbeat or unusual characters, etc.). Mr. Schwebke chose not to do that. Rather, he called up three people, got some opinions about why there were a lot of candidates, and ran with that.
As you say, these opinions are no more or less valid than yours or mine. So, then, why is this a "news peg"? Why didn't he call Monotreme, or Joe Jones, for a similar quote? Speaking only for myself, I would've given him a better one.
2. One reliable feature of the Mayor's supporters is that no matter what the question, they can always be counted on to repeat one of two things: 2a. "it's because of the high-adventure features Ogden has to offer" or 2b. "those who oppose Mayor Godfrey on any issue are naysayers." This was a fairly perfect example of 2a. Councilman Stephenson's answer was a complete non-sequitur. The high-adventure opportunities in Ogden have absolutely NOTHING to do with the number of council candidates.
3. So, one school of humor would point out the non-sequitur by offering up a similarly absurd judgement or opinion. That's what I was going for. If the large number of candidates for municipal offices in Ogden is because of high-adventure opportunities, then why would there be a large number of candidates in Kaysville or Bountiful, cities where the Mayor doesn't constantly repeat the high-adventure meme?
I hope that makes more sense. As I indicated, in general, explaining a joke wrings all of the wit out of it, and for that, I apologize.
Joe,
As Monotreme mentions above (and as I read the article by Schwebke)there were three people who gave their opinion about why there were so many candidates running for office -- Cindi Mansell, Jesse Garcia and Brandon Stephenson. Where did Jeske give her opinion on the subject? I missed that. It doesn't matter, because everyone of us has our own opinion as to why people are running for office. What is important is WHY the candidates say they are running and what they hope to accompllish for the city if they are elected. I agree with BlackRulon: They have to be FOR something -- it's not enough to be against EVERYTHING Godfrey wants. Things would stand still in growth, maintenance economic development, etc., and Ogden would digress more than it did.
Thank god Curmudgeon's on vacation. A break from smarmy lectures.
Monotreme: Humor. Who'd a thunk it? well put. I now understand and my thanks for your explanation. It went right over my head (my duh).
George, I just threw Jeske into the mix as but another example. After all, she probably has an opinion, as do we all.
But I like Monotreme's best. Makes perfect sense.
Smiles.
The people Mr. Schwebke speaks to and quotes can basically be considered as "the usual suspects" He has a deadline to meet and it is easier to rely on the usual people than search out other people. That being said I think he generally does a good job with basic information. He works for a local paper where being curious is not encouraged.
Copper Penny wrote: Thank god Curmudgeon's on vacation. A break from smarmy lectures.
Ah, CP, how kind of you to have noticed. But I wouldn't want you to go into withdrawl just because I took a break, so here's a quick fix:
Mr. Schwebke reported Councilman Stephenson's delight at the large number of candidates. And then he wryly added that Stephenson "isn't up for re-election this year." Zing! Mr. Schwebke has not been known for that kind of deadpan humor in the past. I'm hoping we see more of it as the election season ripens.
Schwebke is so dull and dense that he most likely didn't get the humor you give him credit for!
In re: BlackRulon and George K. on "being not-Godfrey is not enough." Yup. Exactly right.
Someone running for the Council wants to tell me he [or she] will help "stop Godfrey," fine. We're off to a good start. But what then? Besides voting "Nay" on Godfrey's overheated enthusiasms du jour, what will they do once Hizzonah is stopped? What will they advocate in places of his poorly vetted and ill-conceived pie-in-the-sky proposals? Where will they take the city, or try to? Just being anti-Hizzonah is not going to be enough.
Nor should it be.
Bluto:
"Naysayer" meme, 2b, above.
Well, Bluto, if you'd been reading WCF [where some unfortunately put up what I'd agree are "anti-Momon posts," though to dismiss all that appears here that way suggests you haven't been reading here either long or carefully]. But if you had been reading here during the year prior to the Mayoral campaign for example, you'd have heard people discussing many other options to the pie-in-the-sky Godfrey proposals. Why, as I recall, just when Hizzonah was at the height of his "sell Mt. Ogden Park to my real estate buddy for vacation villas so I'll have the money to build part of my flatland gondola" frenzied obsession, others here were suggesting that Ogden would be better advised investing public transit... like, oh, say a streetcar line from downtown to WSU and McKay-Dee instead.
A clear alternative to the silly gondola tourist ride as a transit option for Ogden that Hizzonah was peddling. You asked for an example. Now you have one. There are others.
[No, no, Bluto, really. No thanks necessary. Happy I could help you out on this. ]
Aww, c'mon, Rudi. You have to admit this Bluto fellow was pretty funny.
First, he's over at the S-E website complaining about how his posts get deleted.
Then he makes a post saying WCF is an anti-Mormon blog, implying he as a Mormon is offended.
Then he launches into a potty-mouthed rant.
Then you deleted him. Now he'll be back at the S-E site, telling all and sundry how he was deleted for repeating meme 2b.
You should copy and paste his post to the S-E website and see how long it lasts there.
bluto - I said, go look in the mirror!
TLJ
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