Well here we go again. Once again, just like in the Jon Greiner case, meddling federal bureaucrats interfere with the orderly process of electing a local law enforcement CEO. Here's the lede from this morning's Standard-Examiner front page story:
OGDEN -- The U.S. Office of Special Counsel is looking into a complaint contending that Terry L. Thompson, a Republican Party candidate for Weber County sheriff, is in violation of the Hatch Act because he has supervised federal grants as part of his duties as chief deputy.Read the full Scott Schwebke story here:
The complaint was filed in June by a law enforcement officer who resides outside of Weber County, said Gary Haws, who is Thompson's Democratic Party challenger. Haws declined to identify the individual or provide information about where the person works.
• Hatch Act filed on Weber candidateOne high-ranking Weber County Sheriff's Office spokesman hits the nail on the head:
Weber County Undersheriff Kevin McLeod said ... if the Hatch Act is narrowly defined to include use of federal funding for any benefit, it could be possible that no one in law enforcement could run for partisan office.Here's another good idea: Perhaps Weber County voters should forget the whole democracy thing, and just let Obama's federal Office of Special Counsel personally select all our Weber County public officials from now on, yes?
12 comments:
Hell has frozen over. Our blogmeister and mayor have matching campaign signs in their yards!
Damn it. TT is the person who I want to be in charge, should real trouble come to Weber County.
Thats right, I am voting for a Republican for Sheriff.
Thompson hasn't violated any laws and it's too bad that politics are so nasty. What happened to the days where the people could choose their representatives and leaders by their merits and not have to wade through the mud slinging? I believe this is the reason that many good people don't run for office. Thankfully, a good person, Thompson, has chose to run and I hope he gets in. He would do an outstanding job. I hope people see this publicity for what it is; a political ploy.
I am no fan of Thompson but this is truly a stretch of the Hatch Act.
Although I disagree with Thompson about the federal government should not be involved with local partisan politics - I believe he is wrong there we have far too many shenigans going on in Utah at all levels.
"Haws, who is a Bountiful police officer and resides in West Haven, said Thursday he was providing a copy of the complaint to the Standard-Examiner only because the individual who filed the grievance is frustrated by the pace of the OSC's investigation.
"This isn't a campaign ploy," he said. "I want to beat him (Thompson) on the merits of what I can bring to the table."
Damn that's funny. I'm still ROFLMAO!
Haws is just exactly the kind of lying scum we don't want running the Weber County Sheriff's Department.
No doubt about it; this cheap political dirty trick will backfire big-time against this carpetbagging scumbag Bountiful "police officer."
Hindman:
If you're "no fan of Thompson" you're missing out. He's by far my favorite Weber County election candidate, because of his rare blend of compassion, experience, managerial savvy, high IQ intelligence and just plain olde personal charisma.
I've known him for years; and I can assure you he's always available to respond to queries.
Here's his phone number, (801) 940-7266, which I've gleaned from his campaign website.
Don't be such a fuddy-duddy, Hindman. Ditch your prejudices and preconceptions, and have a chat with your blogmeister's old pal Terry!
Ahem.
I seem to recall on this very blog angry calls for Ogden to remove Chief Greiner from his job because he'd been found in violation of the Hatch Act and the city was having to spend many thousands fighting the charge, and would have to pay six figure fines in the end if the decision that he violated the Hatch Act was upheld through all appeals.
Suddenly with respect to Thompson, it seems the same claim [technical violation of the Hatch Act on the same grounds as Greiner] is being dismissed as unimportant.
Can't have it both ways. If the Hatch Act applies to Greiner and justifies his being removed from office to save Ogden many thousands in costs and fines, it applies to Thompson too. And if it doesn't apply to Thompson, it shouldn't apply to Greiner. Both or neither, but not one and not the other.
[Disclaimer: I know neither Haws nor Thompson; I've not followed the Sheriff's race and have at this point no preferred candidate. But I am a strong advocate of the legal and constitutional principle more formally known as "What's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander." One rule. Applied to all, whether you like 'em or you don't.]
This just shows you that the republican party is the party of hypocrites. I can't be a good Mormon and a republican. I was a republican but then I realized that I too was hypocritical so I repented and changed parties. Now I won't have to stand and clap for the pedophile Garn.
I think it is intersting the quote from the original post "just let Obama's federal Office of Special Counsel personally... " when the original filing for 3 dip Greiner was made under the Bush administration. So, I quess it was Bush's "federal Office of Special Counsel" then? I think it was and is the generic "United States Office of Special Council" regardless of which political party's ox is gored. And as Curm observed hopefully the law is applied consistently regardless of party of person subject of the complained against.
Dan:
Well, let's give the SE a little credit: it attempted to check the Mayor's claim rather than simply accepting it as fact without checking. From the original story: "Officials with America First could not be reached for comment Wednesday regarding fundraising plans."
And the SE at least did not let Hizzonah "get away with" his latest dissembling. Two days after the first story, it ran a no-bones-about-it-the-Administration-filed-false-papers story, as you note. Here's the lead from it:
OGDEN — Contrary to documents provided by city officials to the state, America First Credit Union has no intention of assisting in fundingraising efforts for the Ogden River Restoration Project....
And from further down in the story:
Nicole Cypers, who handles public relations and community outreach for America First, said Thursday the credit union never committed to participating in the campaign.
Hard to mis-read that.
All told, I think the SE did not automatically accept the Administration press releases at face value and it promptly and in no uncertain terms nailed the Administration's dissembling within a day. In light of this latest example of the paper being fed a load of codswallop by the Mayor, let us hope it will be even less likely to accept Godfrey press releases uncritically in the future.
How the Water Quality Board that made the grant feels about having been mis-led by Ogden City is something the SE might want to look into in a follow-up story.
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