Kind of like a judas goat - da mayor - leading the poor council dumb sheep toward infinity
By: Donk
How many of you radicals out there in WCF land are feeling disappointment in the ongoing antics of our Ogden City Council?
It used to be that we could count on three or four on the Council to act like they had good sense; but those days are gone apparently.
We're down to one now and it seems that the rest are cowering behind their titles in abject fear of little old what's-his-name.
Kind of like a judas goat - da mayor - leading the poor dumb sheep toward infinity (bankruptcy is a better word).
Oh well, live and learn I suppose. We can't pick winners every time, seems like.
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9 comments:
Three minutes in a dark alley with Boss Godfrey... that's all I ask.
Caitlin Gochnour has turned out to be a Godfrey shill. She needs to be the first to "go."
Interesting...you elect people you trust to make good decisions after reviewing all the facts and possibilities. Then you castigate them for doing exactly what you elected them to do. All because of your blinding hatred towards one man....
Wrong, "Observer." We elected a council based on the premise that they wouldn't further place us in a cascade of increasing debt.
Instead we got the opposite.
One more reason to roll council heads in 2011.
Consolation: At least none of this council has the benefit from ill gotten proceeds as in the past so they are not "bought and paid for" like a Blain Johnson may have been. That was a vote you could take to the bank!
We won't know the motivation, intentions and thoughts of this city council until the rubber hits the road. (feasibility study complete for the Dome of Dreams)
As I see it, it's not that those on the council are bad people.
Rather, there is a tremendous power imbalance between the council and the mayor.
I'd also add in the influence of the dominant religion, which I think perverts the intent of the mayor-council form of government as applied elsewhere in the US.
In this form of government as applied in Utah, if the mayor wants to do ill, there is very little to stop him.
Disagree, Mono. There is sufficient authority in the ordinances and laws to permit a mayor who violates those ordinances to be held to account. All it takes is the people who are entrusted by the people with the authority to do so to have the courage to do the jobs they're being paid to do. Mr. Decaria comes to mind. The City attorney. The AG. As Dan S. noted elsewhere, what has happened is a consistent failure of nerve. We've elected and appointed to office people without the courage doing their job requires of them. They don't want to get involved. They don't want to make waves. They don't want to endanger their chances for promotion-by-crony.
Gutless wonders in office never serve the public well.
The Council members are in a little different position. They have relatively little authority to act independently, and they have very few resources in terms of staff, money, etc. to act independently of the Mayor [who has a large staff of full time aides to assist him in making his points and advancing his policies]. Nevertheless, the Council does have the power to say "no" to appropriations and expenditures proposed by the Mayor. That, really, is its most significant power. It has occasionally used it, and the public has benefited. [It said no to the City going on the hook for two additional floors to the Junction office block on the SE corner; it said no to putting up a quarter of a million, or nearly so, with no strings attached for Hizzonah's Year Round Outdoor Downtown Ice Climbing Popsicle. It said no to cutting off the MWC in anticipation of grant money that, in the end, never materialized; it refused to agree to selling Mt. Ogden Park to fund the Mayor's damn silly 35 million dollar --- for openers --- flatland gondola scheme.]
But if the Council will not exercise stringent oversight on budget matters --- and recently I'm afraid it has not --- the only recourse is at the ballot box. And Hizzonah has proven himself to be an able and successful campaigner, and an even more able and nearly always successful lobbyist with the Council for his programs.
Curm:
You redefined the question. We were discussing the relationship between council and mayor.
However, my interpretation of the gutless wonders outside the council-mayor axis, see comments above filed under Religion, Dominant, Utah.
Observer....
From the tone of your comments I'm guessing that you are now, or have been in the past, amember of the Council???
Interesting indeed. Frankly, I vote for people that I HOPE I CAN TRUST (I'm often disappointed, btw)this process is called blind faith - I'll get to blinding hatred in a moment.
Anyway, if I observe "common sense" coupled with a genuine effort to represent my needs and viewpoint and the same for others like me (Note, we are sometimes referred to as ordinary taxpaying citizens) well, then you have done precisely what I voted for you to accomplish.
I must take exception to "blinding hatred". I have a strong dislike for "one man" but frankly, hate is a bit over the top. Secondly, I don't believe that my perception has been drastically altered by my dislike for the mayor. I can recognize basic incompetance, visionary wishful thinking and self serving behavior when I see them.
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