Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Breaking: Has Jon Greiner Officially Dropped Out of the Senate 18 Race?

Assuming the data on the Lt. Governor's web page is accurate, it appears that Chief/Senator Greiner may have made his decision

The Deseret News is running a chirpy story this morning, touting the 2010 legislature's passage of new legal provisions requiring that 2010 General Election candidates disclose possible conflicts of interest.

The DNews invites its readers to navigate to the Lt. Governor's newly-designed page where all such statements are listed and displayed. The list contained thereon purportedly "includes all candidates who have filed a declaration of candidacy for the 2010 election":
2010 Candidates
Being the curious type, we scrolled down the page to Jon Greiner's Senate District 18, where we stumbled upon this interesting notation:
Jon J Greiner (W) - District 18
In the legend at the top of the same web page we find this additional explanatory notation:
(W) = Withdrawal
Back on 3/25/10 we posted this article, noting that Senator/Chief Greiner was faced with a difficult choice, i.e., either to resign his Ogden Police Chief job, or withdraw from the State Senate race. Assuming the data on the Lt. Governor's web page is accurate, it appears that Chief/Senator Greiner may have made his decision, leaving the Weber County Republican Party with the politically flip-flopping D'oh Boy himself (Stuart Reid) as the only legally declared candidate for the 2010 Senate 18 Republican nomination.

Speaking as a warhorse Weber County Republican, your blogmeister will offer that it only hurts when we laugh.

We will make an effort this morning to contact Jon Greiner, to verify whether the Governor's information is indeed correct; and we'll be sure to report back here by way of an update with any new information we are able to glean.

Nevertheless, we're going to take a wild guess, at least for the moment, and assume that even for a few of our WCF GOP readers, Democratic party candidate Betty Sawyer is looking like a mighty attractive Senate 18 alternative right about now.

Don't let the cat get your tongues, O Gentle Ones.

Update 3/31/10 11:40 a.m.: Thanks to a tip from gentle reader Mass Media in our lower comments section, we learn that the Standard-Examiner went online @ 11: 10 a.m. with a Scott Schwebke story confirming Greiner's withdrawal form the Senate 18 race:
Greiner drops re-election bid for state senate
It only hurts when we laugh, as we said.

Update 3/31/10 11:55 a.m.: In response to our attempt to reach Senator Greiner for confirmation of this story earlier this morning, we're now in receipt of Jon's detailed and candid explanatory public statement, which he graciously transmitted to us by email only moments ago:
Jon Greiner Statement of Withdrawal of Candidacy
We'd also like to express our appreciation to Sen. Greiner for promptly getting back to us with this.

22 comments:

Ray said...

Well if true, it's about time the triple dip decided to revert back to a double dip. However,I'm afraid Ogden taxpayers will still be on the hook for the substancial fine levied for the Hatch Act violation.

I smell a dead rat said...

It does seem true that Boss Godfrey informed Stewie Reid that Greiner would most likely not run again, so the little pecker will still have a Rat in place and pray that all of the faithful will do as they are directed, and punch the "R" when they vote.

Sad day if the rat gets elected.

Mass Media said...

It's true. The S-E posted a story on this over an hour ago

Bob Becker said...

And Ray is right. The fine would only be erased if Greiner resigned as police chief, not if he resigned as state senator. Ogden will still be on the hook for about a quarter of a million in fines [plus of course the legal fees of having fought all this on Greiner's behalf for the last several years]. Ogden, however, will not have to forgo future fedfunds for its cops if Greiner is no longer Senator.

Bet Hizzonah is happy Chief Jon "Double Dip" Greiner [R-Ogden] is staying on as chief. I mean, with Greiner gone, who'd Hizzonah have to call up to trace the license plates of city employee's wives he was following around downtown [in his Junior G-Man phase] because they were campaigning against he re-election?

As for Reid, he has found his ethical home in the Weber County Republican Party. Nuff said about that.

Bob Becker said...

OK, now I am officially confused. [That's ok. It's often my state when reading the morning news here in Glenbeckistan.] The SE story on Jon Double-Dip Greiner says this:

"Despite Greiner's withdrawal from the Senate race, he still must quit as police chief or the city will have to forfeit more than $215,000 in future federal grants."

Ah... how do you forfeit future federal grants of a specific amount? Apply for them with the intention of not receiving the money if you get the grant? Am I missing something here?

Previous reports suggested that the quarter of a mil was a fine Ogden would have to pay [forfeiting grant money it had already received during the period Double Dip Greiner was illegally serving as both Ogden City police chief and Republican State Senator] unless Greiner resigned as chief. And, if he remained chief and Senator that Ogden would not be eligible for future fedfunds for its cops.

But Mr. Schwebke's story today suggests that if Double-Dip remains police chief, Ogden will have to forfeit a quarter of a mil in future fedgrants to its cops. How do you forfeit a grant you haven't won yet?

Can someone clear this up? What exactly is Ogden on the hook for if Ol' Double Dip quits the senate but stays on as Chief?

OgdenLover said...

Curm,
One possible explanation:
If Ogden had been awarded a grant that ran over several years, we could be forced to forfeit those future years of funding.

blackrulon said...

I wonder if Greiner has found a way to resign as a state senate candidate but, similar to resigning as chief of police and then being rehired, be reappointed to that seat if Reid wins and then declines to serve?

nicely done said...

A security guard position will likely open up at BDO....

Keisha said...

Too funny, Rudi! WCF scoops the Standard-Examiner yet again.

Bob Becker said...

OL:

OK. Thanks. Hadn't considered that.

stewie is jumpning up and down now said...

This from the KSL.Com news site:


Ogden police chief withdraws Utah Senate candidacy
March 31st, 2010 @ 1:18pm
OGDEN, Utah (AP) -- Ogden Police Chief Jon Greiner has withdrawn his candidacy for re-election to the Utah Senate.

A judge ruled recently that the Republican violated a federal law during his successful 2006 state Senate campaign by signing off on federal grants that were in place during his run for office.

Administrative Law Judge Lana Parke ruled that Greiner violated the Hatch Act of 1939, which was aimed at corrupt politics.

Greiner could have appealed, but that could have meant Ogden would have had to forfeit federal money or have Greiner step down as chief.

And a city official said Ogden got a letter from the federal U.S. Office of Special Counsel demanding that Greiner withdraw his name for re-election or quit his job and said failing to comply could trigger a new round of legal action.

Greiner withdrew Wednesday. In a statement, he apologized to Ogden residents for any embarrassment.

hose nose said...

I'm surprised that Cracker Jack low bid attorney Gary Williams didnt cure Greiners problems.

Rotor Router said...

Why don't you retire for good and just go away? Set an example for your buddies Godfrey, Patterson, Reid, Johnson and Brookins, so that they will know what to do.

We've been on to you guys for longer than you think, and your time in the spotlight is now over. The turds have left the building!

Silly Season said...

The S-E has more blockbuster info on the fast break Greiner situation on line. The S-E is owning this story.

Anonymous said...

He is a good cop, and our best wishes are with him and his family during this difficult time.

Now he can concentrate on catching even more bad guys.

blackrulon said...

The position of Ogden chief of police is under the Mayors control. The chief serves at the discretion of the mayor. Matthew Godfrey can defuse this problem simply by ask Jon Greiner to resign. There are many qualified candidates who could replace him. Many of them have not even retired from their jobs the first time. Mayor Godfrey often and loudly complains about unnecessary costs to the Ogden taxpayer. How can he possibly justify the expense of fines and loss of federal grant money to the taxpayers of Ogden. Obey the law. Resign as chief of police or be fired. The decision is up to Jon Greiner and Matthew Godfrey.

tar and feather said...

Godfrey is the most transparent person in the world. He's honest and has more integrity than anyone in Ogden.
Godfrey needs to go away ten years ago.

tar and feathers said...

Oh, and he can take his crooked batch of admin employees with him.

Viktor said...

Sure is interesting that a guy with Griener's known lack of integrity wraps himself in a cloak of righteousness in his withdrawal statement. Typical example of Utah Republican arrogance, blame the feds!

The bottom line is that this guy who has taken the oath to defend the constitution on a number of occasions has been thumbing his nose at the laws of the land for the last several years and the tax payers of Ogden have been spending a pile of money in lawyer fees to defend his perfidy.

I got a Ben Franklin that says he will stay on as Chief of Police, will continue to bleed the tax payers of Ogden with his double dipping and to add insult to injury the citizens of Ogden will eat another quarter of million with the fine for his flaunting of the laws of the land. That's a lot of our tax payer money being squandered for a two bit phony who isn't really worth a bucket of warm spit and is a piss poor cop to boot.

peterball said...

I tried to publish this previously so if two show up it has to do with my lack of computer skills.
I read this moring that the city is considering appealing (again) the Hatch Act violation. I took the time to contact the mayor and city counil members to inform them of my displeasure with this and aske that they not appeal and call for Greiner to resign. If we all could do this would could exert some grass roots pressure to insure that no further tax dollars are wasted and we do not have to pay the penalties.

get er' done said...

Reid is so stupid!!!!
Here is a guy that could have had a free ride to the senate and instead he change parties and will have to battle Betty Sawyer in the public.
He could have filed as a democrat and battled her in the convention and probably would have won there and he would have then been awarded the seat. But no, He is so stupid because now he will have to spend the rest of the 50,000 dollar bribe he got from the last go around. Will he now tell us just how he got that bribe. I myself am glad that he is a republican and now he can go down with all the lairs and the deniers of republican party. They all flock together and can go down together.

Monotreme said...

Get 'er done:

Reid is not welcome in the Utah Democratic Party.

I'm pretty sure that when the state party's Executive Director calls you a "snake" in a public forum, that you're persona non grata.

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