For those readers closely following the money trail, we're delighted to provide the latest set of 2009 Municipal Election Campaign Financial Disclosure reports, which were filed with the Ogden City Recorder's Office on October 6, 2009. We're limiting our scrutiny to the reports of those candidates who are still in the running for the 2009 General Election. For our more detail-oriented readers, you can peruse each of the latest financial disclosure reports here:
• 2d Report of Contributions & Expenditure for Candidates - October 6, 2009We're publishing these reports in raw form, without editorial comment, except to note that it's quite apparent to us, after giving these document a mere quick once-over, that the realtor-backed Boss Godfrey Ticket has once again raked in another hefty and unholy pile of filthy lucre, during this latest reporting period. As a matter of fact, it appears that "Man of People" David Phipps (with the exception of one donor) is entirely bought and paid for by the real estate development lobby.
As an added bonus, one of our readers has prepared and submitted a graphic summary of campaign contributions to date, displayed in handy table form (Click to enlarge image):
We invite our readers to slice, dice and ginsu-knife these documents, and come back to offer your opinions as to whether you think it's possible that the evil real estate industry can actually buy a majority of seats on our beloved Ogden City Council.Update 10/10/09 8:45 a.m. MT: The Standard-Examiner carries its own story on the second round of campaign finance disclosures this morning. Have a look at Mr. Schwebke's story here:
• Ogden council candidates disclose financial statementsTake it away, O Gentle Ones.
53 comments:
Keep Hains away from the tip jar. He would spend himselves to hell in order to get his-selves to heaven.
At first glance, I find it interesting that both Garner and Dean have "raised" more money than the incumbents against whom they are running.
In reality, Garner, Dean, Hains, and Phipps are ALL funded by the SAME entity, the Godfrey machine, as Godfrey tries once again to buy a bunch of his lowlifes onto the council.
He runs people like the notorious Phipps, an empty suit who Godfrey moved to Ogden and got to rent a house so Godfrey could run him. His qualification? He will be a reliable Godfrey vote on the council.
For all his handbasket-to-hell ambition and selves-touted successes, Godfrey is not the Puppet Master; he is not even a real boy.
Look to who pulls the Mayors strings to see who would most benefit from a mass sell-off of city real estate.
Because, that is the master plan, you know; has been all along, even pre-thwarting of Peterson's Folly: to sell off a few future-billion dollars worth of city property to people who would then develop it for their personal gain who would then increase the city tax base.
Problem is, that land belongs to our granchildren, not to whomever is the current McCheese and Large Landholder. It matters not who you retain to fudge the books, you shall not touch the nest egg. You are an elected publicservent and administrator, not a auctioneer or tzar.
And you? You are a landowner whose right to do what you wish with Malans we would defend with our blood. So close to the pinnacle, you know of the responsibilities, so stay true. Enjoy.
But really, both of you. Back off.
Ogden Resident,
but Phipps and family have only lived in Ogden since December 2008 - not quite the requisite 12 consecutive months prior to the election, as the rule book states MUST be the case
just sayin
BB
I donated what I had left (~$71) to Bart Blair.
BB: How do you know when Phipps moved to Ogden?
BikerBabe-
I think you are on to something. When did Phipps actually move to Ogden? I wouldn't be surprised at all if it has been less than a year. Anybody know the date he would have to have been living in Ogden by? November (election date?)?
It seems Phipp's residence is owned by Bill Spain of Provident Partners of Scottsdale, Arizona. Wasn't he the one kowtowing to Godfrey during a council session several years ago: "I can sell hundreds of vacation homes in Ogden", or something to that effect?
Well, it looks like he's renting a home to a vacationer.
Zippy, I am so glad you asked! The Candidate Guide to Elections for 2009 on page 9 states the following:
"Qualifications for Candidacy
Anyone wishing to file for candidacy must meet the following qualifications:
• Be a United States citizen at the time of filing;
• Be at least 18 years old;
• Be a registered voter of Ogden City;
• Be a resident of Ogden City or resident of a recently annexed area for a period of 12 consecutive
months immediately preceding the date of election."
So, in answer to your last question: 12 consecutive months months immediately preceding the date of election = either September 15 or November 3, 2009.
From the Phipps Family blogsite:
10/12/2008, in the 4th paragraph is stated: "still don't know when moving."
10/30/2008, in the 2nd paragraph is stated: "currently staying at David's parents house in Ogden valley while we do some work on our new home"
11/23/2008, in the 2nd paragraph is stated: "We are still staying at David's parents, hoping to move into our house the first week of December"
and, finally, on 12/8/2008, in the 1st paragraph is stated: "the furniture is in, the toilets work, the kitchen is stocked and unpacked, the floors swept and mopped ... tomorrow we'll be in"
just sayin
BB
It appears the same dialogue about Phipps is happening here and on yesterday's thread.
I watched him for about 5 minutes up at Weber the other day. He sure reminded me of mayor godfrey. Same kind of look, same kind of rapid fire delivery, same style of prevarication. It put me in the mind of the old saying: "Birds of a feather flock together".
I can certainly see why the mayor imported this clone to Ogden to run for the council.
I am curious, he made mention a couple of times in the few minutes I observed that his full time job was bringing business to Ogden. Does any one know of any businesses he has actually brought here?
On the residency subject, I will repeat what I wrote on the last thread, it doesn't matter how long he has resided in Ogden, the mayor and his city attorney will be the final deciders on if he is legal or not. It is highly unlikely that they will decide that Phipps does not qualify because of the 1 year requirement. We all know how they decide things. Justice is actually anything the two of them want it to be - in Ogden. My suggestion if you want true equity - move out of Ogden. I would if I could, and I will as soon as I can.
BB: Fascinating. I wonder where the Phippses voted in November 2008.
Barry,
He works for NAI Utah, in their Layton office; he is the Ogden Area Agent in the Land Agents Division. Not sure what that has to with bringing in business - but that is where you find his smiling face.
just sayin
BB
Maybe Phipps was recruited a year ago by his Ogden realtor/developer buds to run for this City Council position after he wrote that letter to the editor praising the mayor and Ogden? That would explain why they moved into what's his name's house and attempted to establish residency (although they apparently had difficulty-based on their family blog postings). Also explains why his donors are out of towners. Appears to be a carpetbagger to me.
It is getting good fellow posters.
Thaine is soooooooooo pissed at David.(Phipps). Says he's getting heat because David is coming across like a fast talking con artist.
Wonder who's leaning on Thaine?
Ha-Ha
Ahem. David Phipps IS a fast talking con artist. Maybe Thaine should have picked a candidate who'd be more palatable to savvy Ogden voters. Phipps is a "suede shoe" used car salesman type, if ever there was one. Just the kinda guy to completely annoy Ogden voters when they meet him "in person."
Comment bumped to top shelf
BB
Pretty interesting angle you have come up with here on the 12 month residency requirement.
When reviewing the candidates guide to elections I also noticed that when one is filing to run for the election they must sign an application wherein they solemnly swear that they are a "Resident of the municipality or a resident of a recent annexed area for a short period of 12 consecutive months immediately preceding the date of the election."
What does "a short period of 12 consecutive months" mean in this context?
By signing this could Phipps be guilty of a false swearing offense in addition to being disqualified?
If he is disqualified does the next person in vote totals from the primary then move up to the general election ballot? (That would be our favorite Mom Jennifer)
Who is the election authority and what is the process to file a complaint on this?
Who has standing to complain?
There seemed to be provisions for attorney fees to the prevailing party if a complaint is filed, is that correct?
Who investigates the details if the candidate denies he is in violation?
Who ultimately decides if there is a violation?
Is there a lawyer in the house?
Now it's real interesting, on his own blog he establishes that he'll begin residency sometime in December. He filed and ran for office only 7 months later. How's Gary Williams gonna make 7=12? That would be an amazing cure even for the legally challenged fakir Williams and his leger demain dujour.
Perhaps the Grand Wazoo ain't really all that Grand or even a Wazoo.
Janelle Phipps is in breakdown mode. She's realizing David is up to his neck in deceit. She's terrified he's doing things that will land him behind bars. Thaine wants her quiet and out of the picture. Backers are quite upset over her family blog revealing a time frame casting a very big shadow over David's campaign residence truthfulness. Needless to say, things are tense.
I personally feel bad for Mrs. Phipps. She's perhaps the only honest one in the group.
Where do they get these guys and do they not ask simple qualification questions before putting someone forward for their cause?
I hate to rain on this parade, but I don't believe the important date is when someone moves in to a residence, but when one establishes it as her/his legal residence. Do you know when Phipps signed a lease and when the take possession date was? That, it seems to me, is the important info. Not when they actually moved in.
He met the two basic prerequisites needed to get the backing of the firm...he's a real estate agent and he's for growth..
There are more people scaling the downtown ice tower than there are people in Phipps home on 25th
What a croc!!
Wildcat-
Doesn't seem right to me! If all it takes is signing a lease to meet requirements then anyone would be able to run for office anywhere during any election, regardless of where they reside.
It's Godfrey's world. He'll spin it any way he wants.
Just signing a lease wasn't good enough for the voters whose residency was questioned during the last Mayoral election, was it?
Unfortunately, that is probably all that is needed for candidacy.
Here's the problem with talk of removing Mr. Phipps or his being ineligible to be on the ballot: Mr. Phipps won a place on the ballot in the primary. His opponents can raise all kinds of questions about just how much of a resident is he, really, as part of their campaign against his election, and that's fine. But any attempt to have him removed from the ballot would run into the same problem that Ms. DL's attempt to have Godfrey removed ran into: Mr. Phipps is on the ballot because the voters of Ogden put him there. It'd take a lot more than when a lease was signed, or when the moving van arrived, or how many nights how many of his family sleep in Ogden, for any judge or election commission to overturn the will of the voters, expressed at the polls, that Mr. Phipps should be on on the November ballot.
The plainly expressed will of the voters is a serious matter in a free country. And so it should be.
Unless of course, they were knowingly deceived
Curm:
It's "Theft by Deception" any way you look at it. theft of votes, that is.
just sayin
BB
I see where Reagan Outdoor Advertising has contributed $100.00 to many candidates. Does this mean they will recuse themselves when polices regarding outdoor advertising come before the city council? Will only council members who have not taken campaign cash be allowed to vote on these questions? Having observed how the mayor works i wonder if he is not considering laws or regulatioins favoring outdoor advertising and this is just a method to remove council members who would oppose changes favorable to outdoor advertising?
AWM:
If lying on the campaign trail was an enforceable disqualification for holding public office, the Utah Legislature couldn't seat a quorum most legislative sessions.
Ditto Congress.
The theory on which our system works is that voters will take the time to inform themselves about both issues and candidates, and so be able to discern the honest from the dishonest on a ballot. That's the theory anyway.
Does it work that way in practice as a rule? Probably not.
In the previous election cycle, Reagan Outdoor Advertising sent unsolicited checks to candidates with a note along the lines of "thank you for participating in democracy in action" It's my recollection that they were sent to all candidates in Council and Mayoral races in Ogden. Much of the policy regarding billboards (moving, location, amortization, etc) is set at the state level. In the nearly six years I have served on the Ogden City Council, I can only recall one minor billboard-related issue coming up.
Councilwoman Wicks:
Thanks for the clarification. Information I didn't know before, but do now. Appreciate it.
Curm:
Surely it's at least a little worse when the candidate lies under oath.
Others:
There's no way that Phipps will be removed from the ballot. But his chances of winning the election are diminishing daily, as we learn more and more about his integrity lapses. First he claims to be endorsed by people whom he hasn't even asked for endorsements. Now we learn that he claims to have lived in Ogden a month longer than he actually has. I suppose next he'll say he would have no conflict of interest as a commercial realtor with access to confidential RDA plans an appraisals.
Comment bumped to front page.
Dan,
Make that two months - the City Recorder's office has on record that he has a lease agreement for the 1083 25th property signed and entered into on October 3, 2008.
Phipps family blog happily announced moving in on December 9th, 2008 - with toilets working and kitchen stocked.
He says on his own website that he moved his business to Ogden a while ago, but then his FB campaign page says he works for NAI Utah in Layton - NAI Utah in Layton's website says he works for them, too.
I think godfrey has somone working in the Underground somewhere (Siberia maybe) , making taller clones of his own self with red hair ....
Sorry for the picking of the time nit, but ...
just sayin
BB
BB: I reckon the time from November 3, 2008 (the cutoff date for eligibility) to December 9, 2008 (when the family actually moved in according to the blog). So it's a little over one month but well short of two.
Mr. Curmudgeon
I think the issues in Dorothy's ill fated law suit were very much different than those surrounding Phipps. The major one being the potential false swearing on Phipps' official city application, as well as he alone is involved and not all the candidates. I think that is why the judge in Dorothy's case reacted so strongly, Dorothy singled out the mayor and did not sue all the candidates that were apparently guilty of the same offense. The judge took this as the use of the court for partisan political purposes.
I don't think it would be difficult for a competent authority with investigative powers to determine if Phipps was in fact a resident of Ogden before December. I also imagine there must be some language in the law somewhere that defines what constitutes residency.
The problem of course is that this seems to be a city ordinance that has potentially been violated, and as we know the mayor and his city attorney are notorious for interpreting city codes to favor scofflaws that are fellow members of the Godfreyite movement regardless of how outrageous their assaults on decency and the law are.
I think Dan and others are right, this is a good political issue but it isn't going anywhere legally. Hopefully a significant number of Ogden voters will become aware of these dirty games the Godfreyites are once again engaged in.
Oz: The eligibility requirements are actually in state law, but the definition of residency is far from clear and worse, the law says any challenges must be filed within 5 days after the filing deadline. Probably Phipps could still be prosecuted for lying under oath, but no prosecutor in Utah would bother.
Oz:
You wrote: "I think Dan and others are right, this is a good political issue but it isn't going anywhere legally. "
That's pretty much what I said too. I think.
On a broader point: I think the prior residency requirements for being a candidate should probably be dropped. If someone moves to Ogden the day before the deadline expires to file for the election, no reason he shouldn't be allowed to file and run. If the voters want to put him in office, why shouldn't their wishes be honored?
If other candidates want to make a point of his or her newbi-ness and lack of experience in matters Ogden, they can and almost certainly will. But if the voters nevertheless prefer the newbie... well, I see no reason to tell them they can't have him. Or her.
Hell, Oz, I've lived places where I thought it would have been a damn good idea to elect someone who had just unpacked, and thus who was not already plugged into the local good-ol-boys network, and whose answer to every question about what the city [or school board] was doing was not "Well, that's just the way we do things here."
i agree with ozboy in that this is more a campaign issue than something to go after in court.
i dont think ive ever seen a bigger melt down.
i feel that when the voters learn and they will that this guy really doesnt live where he claims to be living that the entire city will turn against him.
a candidate that is now on record of lying not once but at least twice to the voters and who cant even figure out what council seat race hes for.
really who wants someone representing them that doesnt even really live in their community.
once this is widely known hes toast.
Curm
That carpetbagger thing seemed to work in New York for Hilary Clinton, and many years before her - Bobby Kennedy.
You may be right in letting the voters decide, but in the current situation with Phipps in Ogden it seems there are laws on the books and that they are being blatantly violated. As Dan points out there is also the pesky little matter of lying - or false swearing as some one else has stated. So whether a law on residency is justified or not, it seems this situation has crossed the line and involves a blatant assault on the law that does exist. A real bad in a society that is supposed to be based on the sanctity of the laws.
OK Here is the truth about the residency requirements. Where you are registered to vote is where your residency is. If Mr Phipps voted in SLC in the presidential election then that would make him a resident of slc on that day. Seeing that he had not registered to vote in Ogden till some time in late 09 would suggest that he was some where else.
The law is clear on this when it comes to residency and the courts would have to have that presented to them to have Mr. Phipps removed from the Ballot.
Look at the Election laws for this It is found in 20a-4-300 and up.
Are we experiencing a mis-cognition, or would he really be so daft as to misrepresent on the candidacy filing? That David Phipps voted in SLC in the general elections, but swore to 1 year residency at the county office?
That, folks, at least rises to the level of being newsworthy.
I think where his drivers license said he lived is also pertinent. I think there is a state law that allows a very short period to change your address when you move. Also utility bills would be an indicator as well. As to a lease agreement, that most likely would be less valuable because the group he rents from are all tied in with Godfrey and we all know they would lie like hell to cover his butt. What do the neighbors say about when he moved in - especially those that have some one elses yard signs up. It's to bad this sleazy bastard is going to get away with this because no one in authority is going to do a dam thing about it. As Leona Helmsey and Matt Godfrey say - "laws are only for the little people"
Frank said:
As Leona Helmsey and Matt Godfrey say - "laws are only for the little people"
Certainly Matt Godfrey knows what little people think.
Someone up above claimed that Dean is funded by the Godfrey machine. That's not true: Dean is funded almost entirely out of his own pocket. Others can decide whether this is good or bad.
Congrats to Schwebke, by the way, for leading off with the Hains $5000 deficit, and for pressing Hains on this matter. Amazingly, Hains claims to have raised about as much money in the last week as he did over the preceding two and a half months. It sounds like he's intentionally trying to delay disclosing who some of his contributors are. In any case, we should learn more before the election.
Will there be any more campaign financial disclosure statements filed before the election?
Ray:
Yes, another set of disclosures will be filed about a week before the election. Also, from then until election day, any contributions over $750 need to be separately disclosed.
Dan S. Thanks for your reply. What is the penalty for not filing financial disclosure statements on time? Who investigates faailure to file on time?
Ray,
You can look up these details in the ordinance, linked from the city's web site. If you don't file on time the city recorder gets after you, and if you still don't file the city attorney could charge you with an infraction, which carries a fine of up to $500. Oh, and if you file a report that deliberately fails to disclose the true source of your funds, they do nothing until you get caught, at which time the city attorney allows you to amend your report and then declares that the problem is cured. Or at least, that's what happens if you're a FOM. I wouldn't suggest trying this if you're not a FOM.
Dan S
I suspect that if some one were to file a complaint about Mr Phipps' apparent flogging of the filing rules the city attorney would do the same thing he did in the Envision Ogden fiasco you mentioned, that is rule it OK because it is apparent that Mr Phipps is also a FOM.
It is a sad indictment of the political situation in Ogden that Friends of the Mayor are free to flaunt the laws and that all others are held accountable.
I believe that if any of the other candidates who were not FOM's and tried what Mr Phipps is doing, they would be pursued by the city attorney and disqualified from the ballot post haste.
I also think that the only chance for justice in these matters is at the ballot box, and given the history of Utah voters that does not give me a lot of comfort.
I am hopeful that Mrs VanHooser and Mr. Blair will be able to define the issues that are at hand in the coming election, point out that their opponents are FOM's and show the significance of that.
I have not followed the other two races and their candidates as I do not live in either one of those wards. Therefore I have no opinion on the people involved. I hope that the people who live in those areas are diligent in seeking the truth about their candidates.
Post a Comment