To kick off this morning's discussion, we'll highlight a couple of this morning's hard-copy edition letters to the Standard-Examiner which are particularly timely today, as we stand poised on the brink of our 2009 Emerald City Municipal Election, which looms a little more than seven days hence.
First, SE reader Dennis J. Hogge thoughtfully adopts a theme from Doris Kearns Goodwin's Abraham Lincoln biography, "Team of Rivals; The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln," i.e., that "an administration that lacks diversity of opinion may not be the most productive or safest," and then offers this savvy observation:
In my opinion, a system of checks and balances should be encouraged, not stifled. The members of the city council should challenge and question the administration on controversial issues. Only then can an equitable consensus be reached. The process requires that the mayor demonstrate leadership, not domination.Next, SE reader Catherine Gerwels reminds Ogden voters of Boss Godfrey's not-so-hidden agenda, i.e., breaking his 2007 election promise, and instead bulldozing Ogden's upper east bench. Here's Ms. Gerwels "money quote":
Upon learning the content of the [mayor's golf course] committee's report, I feel almost 100 percent secure in saying that given the opportunity, Mayor Godfrey will break his pre-election promises regarding Mount Ogden Park. That chance will present itself if the city council becomes stacked with rubber-stamp members whose real goal is to use our park land to line the pocket books of their supporters at the expense of the long-term future of Ogden city and the overwhelming majority of its citizens. A city without parkland is not a desirable place to live and certainly not one that can boast about its outdoor recreation and lifestyle.Four years after Boss Godfrey's 2003-05 "Gang of Six" rubber stamp council was unceremoniously ushered out of office by Ogden voters in 2005, Ogden City taxpayers are still suffering the painful economic after-effects. Is it possible, gentle readers, that a now seemingly apathetic Ogden City electorate could allow another Godfrey rubber stamp council to be voted into office again?
Several more powerful arguments, we believe, to to show up in force at the polls on November 3, (torches and pitchforks in hand) and vote for independent thinkers like Bart Blair, Jesse Garcia and Susan Van Hooser.
And what say our readers about all this?
