By Curmudgeon
A pretty good editorial in this morning's Standard-Examiner:
• Why Give Up $215,000?Good question. From the editorial:
Apparently Jon Greiner will remain as Ogden's chief of police and the city will pass up $215,000 in future federal grants -- its penalty for Greiner's violation of the Hatch Act when he signed off on federal grants while campaigning for his state senate seat....The SE editorial board got that right. Pretty good editorial overall, except that it continues the SE's long-standing policy of tip-toeing ever so g-e-n-t-l-y around the name of Hizzonah, Mayor Matthew Godfrey when attributing responsibility for the mess. Instead, the editorial talks vaguely about the responsibility of un-named "Ogden City Officials."
Greiner was clearly guilty of violating the Hatch Act, according to Judge Lana Parke's 22-page ruling, which agreed with the U.S. Office of Special Counsel....
Parke wrote, "By choosing to disregard Office of Special Counsel's warning, Chief Greiner voluntarily and knowingly placed himself at risk of prosecution...."
There is no need to keep Greiner as Ogden's police chief. Contrasted with the loss of $215,000, Greiner is expendable...
As I understand it, Ogden's police chief is appointed by and serves at the pleasure of the Mayor. All Mayor Godfrey had to do was ask his crony, Jon "Double Dip" Greiner for his resignation as police chief, and Ogden would be spared forgoing nearly a quarter of a million dollars in what the SE rightly identifies as "the people's money." Presumably Mayor Godfrey could still save the public's money by asking for Double Dip's resignation. He should. But he won't.
If I were of suspicious turn of mind, I might be wondering about now what Chief Double Dip Greiner has on Hizzonah that has guaranteed the Chief his continuing job at an additional and needless cost of nearly a quarter of a million dollars in the public's money.....
