As a followup to earlier stories this week from City Weekly and the Standard-Examiner, and in advance of Tuesday's press conference, the Salt Lake Tribune throws in its own 2¢ on the Envision Ogden campaign finance scandal story, with this morning's Cathy McKitrick writeup:
• Lawmaker, activist decry slow progress of Envision Ogden probeThere's an interesting new factual wrinkle in this morning's SLTrib story whereby Ms. McKitrick reveals that the DPS Investigations Bureau isn't confining itself to possible state law violations, but is also looking into a broad array of possible offenses under municipal, state and federal law, including possible communications fraud, money laundering and political organization tax law violations.
Despite the flurry of new public attention directed toward this matter, and the ongoing criminal investigation, Blessed Boss Godfrey remains stoic and hubris-filled:
Godfrey said in a Friday e-mail that the ongoing investigation does not worry him.Time will tell on the issue of whether the Utah AG’s Office is a genuine law enforcement office, or a cheesy local government protection racket, we guess, while Boss Godfrey all the while continues to maintain a stiff upper lip.
“It’s nearly two-year-old news that hasn’t moved forward,” Godfrey said, “because obviously their accusations aren’t valid.”
Nice graphic from the SLTrib this morning, by the way, which describes the Envision Ogden/FNURE money laundering transaction in helpful visual form:
Click image to enlargeWe'll keep a keen eye on this story as it continues to develop, folks; but for now lets hear your further comments on the subject.
15 comments:
I wanna see Matthew Godfrey frogmarched!
"Time will tell on the issue of whether the Utah AG’s Office is a genuine law enforcement office, or a cheesy local government protection racket"
My bet is on the later.
Not only that, but I predict that diddly squat will be done by any investigative authority as it pertains to that serial law breaker AKA Mayor Godfrey. The dood is bullet proof as long as he has the cover of trying to rescue Ogden from what he and the ruling "R's" see as an urban hell that is being taken over by the criminal/ethnic/non-believers if he/they don't continue to re-mold it in his/their own image. He also has the complete backing of an obscure, but all powerful, religion who happens to have a lot of influence in these parts and as a result is additionally untouchable as this particular religion also controls every other lever of government in the land of Zion.
Short of raping the Governor's son, sticking up the Bank of Utah in the nude, whipping his little wanger out in the middle of his day glow bowling alley at full crowd and/or smacking his wife in front of a cop at the 24th of July parade, ain't nothin gonna stop him from his God ordained mission to turn Ogden into the wonderful idealic ski town at the bottom of the Gondola. It is his callin dontchaknow!
Honestly, I think we should just trust our Mayor in every decision he makes and should just support that, you know, and be faithful in what happens.
People talk about Ogden's "image".
How's Godfrey's money laundering workin' out for Ogden's image?
All those who gave to Godfrey's and Shreeve's Envision Ogden, let their names live in infamy.
Fresenius Medical Care
McKay Dee Hospital
Nutraceutical Corp
Ogden Regional Medical Center
Qwest
State of Utah
Vectra Management
Weber Economic Development Corp
Wells Fargo Bank
Wolf Creek
Zion's Bank
What were these people thinking??
Hmmmm...
Vectra...Owns the old vacant First Security Building on 24th and Washington
Compare Blain Johnson's qualifications for mayor to post # 41 in blog "Salt Lake Weekly: State Investigating Ogden Campaign Finance Scandal - 2d UPDATE" from Curmudgeon. "And Godfrey has the five characteristics that all but guarantee him re-election"
Blain Johnson's qualifications to be Ogden mayor:
1. He's an attorney
2. He's an attorney being investigated by the Utah State Attorney. (I know, no need to go any further. He is already over qualified, but I will anyway.)
3. He has a serious and "selective" case of CRS. (This is not negotiable for politics)
4. Former city councilman. (had very little or no chance for a second term)
5. "Despite FNURE sharing the same address as his law firm, Johnson denied personal involvement". (In Ogden politics, the ability to stay calm and provide an answer like this is required.)
6. He has a pulse
7. He's not been caught in a hot tub with a naked minor not his spouse.
8. He will be receiving plenty of free press coverage in the coming weeks/months and name recognition will be his strength over all other candidates. He could easily be a household name in Weber County before the 2011 elections. (his mug shot and quotes could circulate in the media, free of charge)
I Wanna See said "I wanna see Matthew Godfrey frogmarched!"
Yes indeed, IWS. This is a sight all honest Emerald City Lumpencitizens would love to see:
Boss Godfrey Frogmarched
David S:
You wrote: "All those who gave to Godfrey's and Shreeve's Envision Ogden, let their names live in infamy."
Sorry, DS, I disagree. One of the most interesting elements of the story as it's now developing is that many donors, particularly the hospital and bank set, were clearly under the impression that EO was a civic promotion non-profit, and not a political fund-raising PAC. Since that is how EO first presented itself to the public, and how Hizzonah first presented it at the Welcome AMer Sports dinner, it's hardly surprising that organizations donated funds for what they were led to believe by the Administration and its associates was a civic booster group. Plus I think EO had not registered as a PAC at that time, and only did so many many months after the money was donated when its money laundering shenanigans were finally coming to light.
Recall Hizzonah's latest admission to the press that he did not inform people he asked to donate to EO that it was a PAC raising money for political campaigns [including his own] and for the Utah Republican Party. It was up to them to ask me if I was raising political donations, and they didn't, he said.
Ethics, Godfrey style.
David and Curm:
I think there's plenty of blame to go around here.
The criminal liability lies squarely on Godfrey and Envision Ogden for defrauding the contributors, and perhaps even coercing contributions through implications of favored treatment in Ogden's pay-to-play system.
But the major contributors clearly perceived that they would benefit from their contributions, so they were willing participants in the system--even though they didn't know their money would be funneled to political candidates. And to this day, as far as I know, not one of those contributors has come forward and asked that anyone be held accountable for what happened--or even asked that their money be returned. They're too afraid of Godfrey to speak out, and that's one reason why the investigation has stalled.
Off topic and overlooked: Saw in the SE that Recreation Outlet (RO) is opening a store in Ogden. That's a decent addition to our "high adventure" lifestyle market. Certainly more relevant than two tool stores side by side cutting each others throats with their holiday sales. I consider RO the TJ Max of backpacking & camping equipment and have gotten some great deals on name brand (MSR etc) items. I'm optomistic this store will do well.
would be interesting at the very least to see the lease agreement for RO...and "who" ponied up for the finishing of the space....wish them luck...
Slightly edited comment bumped to front page
Hey, Ozboy, you think we could GRAMA Godfrey's patriarchal blessing? Maybe saving Ogden was prophesied as his life's mission, as you suggest.
Dear Brother McConkie
Being that I am the patriarch to at least three hundred or so people around here I have taken the liberty to pronounce my own patriarchal blessing on the pointy headed little bastard. Unfortunately it is not re-printable in a nice family blog like the WCF.
As for the contributors to Envision Ogden, I agree with Curmudgeon to disagree with David S. According to our daily rag, the Standard Examiner, the majority (if not all) of these contributors were giving funds to support an organization that would aid in helping Ogden to progress and grow, both physically and economically. I don't see how any alleged diversion could be construed as being their fault, especially when most of the contributions were made at the Welcome to AmerSports Fund Raiser Dinner. That these funds were later diverted to the Friends of Northern Utah Real Estate bunch, headed by Mr. Abraham Shreeve, or whatever, I'm sure could not have been either foreseen or controlled by the contributors.
Let's use a little reason here. Scams of this nature occur often; just ask some of Bernie Madoff's victims, and to point the finger of blame at them is folly.
Maybe some are still shell-shocked over the tram-gondola fiasco, but those days are over even though the sting lingers on. Place the blame on those responsible for the scam, not on a person or business who was simply trying to enhance good PR and growth to our fair city.
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