Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Secret Donor Finally Covers Boss Godfrey's Back

The Standard-Examiner reports that Godfrey's mysterious anonymous donor is now johnny on the spot to cough up as much as $70 thousand in cash this very day

Well, let's see now. It's only been only nine days since we reported that Boss Godfrey had failed to come through with that secret $62,949 donation that Godfrey had promised, way back in February of this year, to cover moneys misappropriated by the administration from Ogden City capital improvement funds during 2008. And yet, lo and behold, the Standard-Examiner reports this morning that Godfrey's mysterious anonymous donor is now already johnny on the spot, ready to cough up as much as $70 thousand in cash today, almost enough to cover the additional $8,950 in accrued interest paid to Weber County, when Ogden was compelled to refund the original $200 thousand Ice Tower RAMP grant:
Secret donor to pay for ice tower / $64,949 reimbursement to Ogden for engineering, design work
That's what we call results! Howbout a Weber County Forum Tip O' The Hat to Dan Schroeder this morning, for blowing the whistle on this heretofore uncured Godfrey administration loose end, and helping Boss Godfrey get back on a slightly more straight and narrow path?

What say our gentle readers about all this?

28 comments:

Thomas Tusser said...

"Secret donor to pay for ice tower / $64,949 reimbursement to Ogden for engineering, design work"

A fool and his money are soon parted.

what would jesus say said...

Directly from Godfrey's campaign funds? Hmmm

I believe Dan caught them with their panties down in public again.

Bob Becker said...

I found the following from the article particularly interesting:

The city council first learned about the ice tower design and engineering expenditures in January while reviewing Ogden's annual financial report, members of the council's staff have said.

Bill Cook, the city council's executive director, said he was unaware until contacted by the Standard-Examiner on Tuesday that a reimbursement for the work would be provided today.


So, once again, the Council and its staff have to discover, well after the fact, and in this most recent instance from the SE, what the Godfrey administration is up to. And so, once again, the Mayor's claims that he is running and open administration fully committed to keeping the Council [and public] fully informed and in a timely matter is exposed as a steaming pile of horse poop.

And the beat goes on....

Dan Schroeder said...

Let's be clear: The problem here isn't merely that the administration didn't keep the council informed. The problem is that the administration spent funds that it was not authorized to spend, and is now trying to cover for it after the fact.

OgdenLover said...

I'm wondering if the donor's name being kept secret until after the funds are received, means that Godfrey is still scrambling to launder the funds. I'll believe that the money is repaid (isn't this another case of after-the-fact "curing"?) when I actually see it.

Bob Becker said...

Dan:

But it's not a question of "either/or." It's a matter of "both/and" --- both spending money it was not authorized to spend and not keeping the Council and public informed of what it was doing.

Bill C. said...

Ogden Lover, once again we have to ask the Question: Is Gary Williams really so incompetent, or does he condone all this administrations illegal activities?

Dan Schroeder said...

Curm:

Well, it goes without saying that if the council authorizes the spending, the council also knows about the spending.

Wm III said...

Dan said,

"Well, it goes without saying that if the council authorizes the spending, the council also knows about the spending."

What part of this isn't understandable?

If the council authorized the spending - they knew about it - isn't that correct?

It should be ...

Dan Schroeder said...

Wm III,

Just to be clear: in this case the council did not authorize the spending. I was merely saying that if they had authorized it, then there would be no further need for the administration to tell them about it.

Wm III said...

Dan,

I dig ...

Thanks

david s. said...

Dan did jog this issue it is true, but I would suggest that it is not a "heretofore uncured" loose end, but a "still uncured" loose end.

I for one will be interested to see how Godfrey channels the money to Jeff Lowe, so Jeff can "donate" it back to Godfrey.

david s. said...

I'm also glad that Godfrey has the UofU working on a method to cool the ice tower and adjacent bank more economically.

Thank goodness. It's about time somebody looked at that question - how to cool things more economically.

Now the laws of thermodynamics are also about to fall to the dynamic vision of Mayor Godfrey!

streetsmarts said...

David;

There's some speculation on the street that this "anonymous donor" may be Dr. John Lowe, Jeff's Lowe's cousin, one of the few members of the Lowe family who have enough dough to throw that kind of money around without thinking too much about it.

ozboy said...

Our Precious and Dear Leader Lord Mayor Godfrey never lets us down! His business savvy is pure genius as witnessed by this Ice Tower Deal. In true Godfreyite fashion the deal starts out at a hundred and twenty grand and so far has ballooned to a million eight and that is before a dollar is raised, permit issued, or shovel is turned!

Damn, how do these biz wizards do it?

Bill C. said...

Well, which brave lying little matty supporter will swallow his sword in a vain effort to bail out the tiny little mayor. Fact is,(Gary "cure" Williams, you cannot unbreak the law. There should at least be a public rebuking and perhaps he should be subjected to at a minimum,one bushell of tomatoes hurled by all at attendence at a future farmers market.
I don't know if this rises to the level that would cause removal from office, it should but I may be a little biased. For any authority that may be summoned to look at this, I hope they are made fully aware of the fact this is a pattern of behavior for this administration, not an isolated incident. The people of Ogden deserve better, much better than they're getting.
* note to any anon. donor, you can't legally hide forever and the IRS will be made aware. If you think Blaine Johnson had it bad, watch out.

OgdenLover said...

Not really related, but I was curious about the promise of geothermal energy in Ogden, so I found a US government map that shows geothermal sites in Utah. While there are several wells in the area that are less than 68 degrees F, there is only one near the mountains that is between 68 and 122 deg F. While 122 isn't exactly comfortable, it isn't heavy duty geothermal either. So much for another Godfrey snake-oil pitch!

4inchstelletos said...

Listen up everyone.

Math lesson for today.

"Johnny" is right.

J. Patterson + J. Gullo = $70,000
TODAY.

Prove me wrong.

disgusted said...

i suspect the donor is none other than the owner of the building that is to get the benefit from the geothermal heat/air conditioning pump system. also the same guy that the city gave the 4 million dollar parking terrace to for free. btw rather than using the facility exclusively for the benefit of his tenant marketstar which the city was suggesting would move out of ogden if they didnt have the whole facility for all of their employees i now hear he is also leasing out parking stalls to others which is contrary to what the city said would happen.

also wondering if its costing the city any unauthorized money to fund the u of u study.

Bill C. said...

I have a couple of questions for any legal eagles out there. If in fact it turns out to be Mr. Hall, or his Corporation, isn't that like bribing a public official? Is he not also aiding and abetting a criminal?

Bill C. said...

Here is another question.
Since this money is replacing money the mayor illegally spent,is this in fact is a personal gift to the mayor? Therefore there should be a personal tax liability for these funds. No way can it be considered a campain contribution as the Council just adopted a new ordinance limiting the amount a person can contribute to only 2 1/2 times the amount an individual can give to a United States Presidential candidate. $5000 I believe.

Brett said...

The Mayor keeps the Council so well informed that I've heard Councilwoman Jeske say that the first thing that she does every morning is read the Standard Examiner to see what the City is doing.

Nothing like being kept in the dark as the Mayor says he practices openness and transparency in his administration. Actions speak louder than words, Mayor! We know just how much we can believe what he says!

4inchstelletos said...

SE spill the beans.

Dream on said...

I can hardly wait for the backstabbing Gullo to ask for his money back in a couple of years.

disgusted said...

4inchstelletos

you got it right. hat off to you.

Blaine Carl said...

"The backstabbing Gullo"--where the hey did that come from? Gullo is a descent guy, a philanthropist, who puts on American Dream Foundation benefits for the needy of our community. He sits on the School Board.

He does back Godfrey, but so what? He does good for our community. Have some of you sunk so low that a person's politics would override the community good he does.

DREAM ON, what, pray tell, have you done for the community lately? And you others, those of you who were privy to "speculation on the street," now that the real donor has come out, what say you now.

What I see abounding on this blog is two groupings of anti-Godfreyites: those who criticize with logic and dignified writing that's supported by research and fact (Mono, Ozboy, Curmudgeon, et al) and then those who speculate, castigate, not not about research and logic, and hurl personalized and insulting speculations about the Mayor/Administration around as if they're tossing slop to the hogs.

Yep there are those who say something and then there are those who just mutter words, which avails nobody anything except for an occassional laugh.

disgusted said...

Blaine Carl

i never understand the logic of someone that comes to the aid of someone that has done something illegal with the sole intent of trying to cover up the illegal activity. i.e. almost like an accomplice.

Blaine C said...

Disgusted..ever hear of Watergate?

I know 2 wrongs don't make a right, but shit happens, whether we hear about it or not. And you should have heard about that.

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