Breaking news from the Ogden City Council Chambers, where the selection of our new Ogden City Council leadership is on the agenda. Standard-Examiner reporter Scott Schwebke has been reporting live via Twitter. Check out Mr. Schwebke's tweets here:
• TheNinthFloor (Scott Schwebke)Bottom line: Gochour will repeat as Council Chair; Councilman Garner will serve as the new Vice Chair.
A WCF Tip of the Hat to council members Van Hooser and Wicks, for their highly ethical refusal to participate in the citizen-unfriendly "Straw Poll" process.
As for the other five... looks like the old Gang of Five Council is reborn.
Update 1/5/10 7:18 a.m.: Following up on last evening's Twitter tweets, Scott Schwebke reports in this morning's SE hard-copy edition concerning the "secret, anonymous, written straw poll" election of Gochnour and Garner to their respective 2011 Council leadership posts :
• Gochnour, Garner chosen by Ogden councilIn a very real sense, Mr. Schwebke seems to have genuinely "scooped" himself.
Update 1/10/10 8:00 a.m.: View the full Council video, via the Ogden City website:
21 comments:
More interesting tweets here:
http://mobile.twitter.com/standardex
Oh Great! Here comes a Field House we can not afford...
Ah, so the rigged back-room deal is now over and Caitlin Behind-Closed-Doors Gochnour has secured her slot as Council Chair again, with the so-far docile Mr. Garner in the second chair.
Congratulations again to Council members Wicks and Van Hooser for refusing to take part in the secret proceedings.
Can't help wondering now with respect to every Gochnour decision as Chair from here on what other back room arrangements she'll be a party to that will affect --- nay, determine --- those decisions. Whatever claims she had on the public's trust and confidence are now gone.
Some here have suggested that she's crawled into bed [metaphorically speaking] with the Hizzonah and become a self-serving FOM. If so, she's surrendered her role as an independent voice on the Council [the role all Council members are elected to play under Ogden's frame of government]. Gochnour should keep in mind that old folk-saying, "when you lie down with dogs, you get up with fleas."
If she doesn't understand what that means, I suggest she ask former Council Member Blaine Johnson to explain it to her.
Speaking of Blain Johnson, Mr. "I don't believe I did anything wrong", any updates for the investigation by the state attorney general? The clock is ticking and it can't run fast enough for Blain and his entourage. If this type of behavior is public knowledge and continues to be swept under the rug, how can anyone expect to have confidence in our political or legal system? 2011, the year for justice?
It's great to see Wicks and VanHooser stand up for ethics and openness in gummint. Lord knows the poor put upon tax payers of Ogden deserve some elected officials who have the guts and mojo to do it. Seems like for quite a while now Ogden's only statesmen have been women!
I'm surprised that the Blair fellow didn't come down on the side of transparency on this important issue. Seems like open government was part of his pledge to the voters during the election, wasn't it?
Mr. Garner seems to me to have been a sleeper on the council so far. At least I don't recall him appearing overtly partisan one way or the other as it pertains to the Godfreyite thing. I'm hoping he is a stabilizing presence in the Council leadership.
I also think it might be a bit early to consider Gouchner under the complete thrall of the Wizard of Oz. My Gawd, she couldn't be that clueless, could she?
My hope is that both Gouchner and Gardner will rize to the occasion in these troubled financial times, look for information on important financial matters from completely separate sources than the mayor does, cast an especially leery eye on any proposal the mayor makes over $500 as well as any and all of his financial projections - and along with the rest of the council do some smart things for the citizens of Ogden.
Most of all I hope they remember that they represent the citizens of Ogden, not the mayor, his cronies and the special financial interests who are so easy to be dazzled by with their visions of grandeur on the tax payer's dime.
Perhaps this is a good time to point out that Garner was Godfrey's campaign manager during his 1999 campaign, and was later a member of his transition team. This was reported in the Standard-Examiner around that time and I have a copy of the article in my files but no time to dig it out this morning.
Of course, that was a long time ago. I've heard some good things about Garner more recently and I hope he won't be too subservient to the mayor.
S-E writeup is here:
Gochnour, Garner chosen by Ogden council
In less than a year, we will have our chance to vote. Remember the mayor and council for what they have done for you. All of 2011, there will be reminders, stories, incidents and personal comments that will remind the voting public of the corrupt and dishonest administration, but in the end, the voters can stop them only if they want to rid themselves of the Godfrey gang of thugs. Think about it if you really care. If not, assume the position again and again!
One Who:
Let us hope this time round, when a few months before the vote, Hizzonah announces that he's in negotiations with a major retailer --- or perhaps several of them, possibly from China or Mexico even --- which companies of course he's not free to name, to come to Ogden to fill vacant stores, the SE will not print the claim as "news" without requiring corroborating evidence that there's more to it than the Mayor's campaign hopes. Which --- printing the story without corroboration --- is precisely what the SE did last time the Mayor ran for re-election. Not until months after the vote did the SE begin to wonder, in print, what had happened to the retailers who were, the Mayor claimed and the SE printed during the election season, likely to be here and open by Christmas.
Have the SE's editors learned anything from the way they were played by Hizzonah in the last election?
We shall see.
Hopefully this Council can be shone the light. I know that I haven't been too active a participant over the last year. but that can change, with a little luck.
One thing I know for sure. These folks on the Council need to hear from the people. They need to hear your concerns and opinions. If enough folks show an effort the Council has to at least consider what we're saying despite administrative assaults on their comfort levels.
Great to see you back, Bill.
Amy, words fail, but thanks.
Don’t be too harsh in your judgment of Neil Garner. He must be doing something right if Godfrey swore at him and called him names that shouldn’t be in a Bishop’s vocabulary. He is struggling with the way Godfrey says one thing, but means something else. He’s learning that you don’t take anything that Godfrey says or has presented to the Council at face value. Gochnour doesn’t give her vice chair a chance to do their thing – Godfrey has trained her well! Everything has to be her way or forget it. I think that she’s up for re-election this year. We need to move both her and Godfrey out the door.
Little Mouse:
I'd be delighted to see Councilman Garner develop into an independent voice on the Council. But didn't he vote to approve the back room closed door secret meeting to choose the Council's leadership, including it developed himself? That is not an encouraging sign, having a Council vice-Chair who apparently does not understand the importance of transparency, of doing the public's business in public --- especially when we have a Council Chair who doesn't.
I think Gochnour's approach is intended to reduce the perceived acrimony between the council and mayor. I don't feel that the council under her has been a patsy for the mayor, but I think she is working things out - including telling the mayor what can and can't happen - in private before the footlights come up.
By the same token, this straw poll business, I think, is intended to let the choosing go on secretly, so that when the vote comes up, it can be more unanimous. This way, there are no hard feelings since council members don't know who voted for them and who didn't.
So I don't think it's as bad as what is being made out. That said, I would have voted with Wicks and VanHooser to keep the whole thing out in the open. The appearance of conviviality is less important than is the appearance of openness.
And Gochnour, in working with Godfrey, needs to remember that she is the policy leader and is dealing with the effectual Devil. Godfrey will use this, and anything else, to his advantage whenever he can.
As I read the comments posted about the current council, it makes a person wonder if it isn't better to have a Blain Johnson on board who is bought and paid for so at least you know who and what you are getting? With Blain's acceptance of allegedly attained campaign funds, it was fairly obvious he was in someone's pocket. I believe this recent vote taken for "secret" balloting is just one item to add to a council person's "body of work". Together with the other votes cast it becomes apparent there is some serious "change of philosophy" going on otherwise known as flip flopping. Politicians, can't live with them, can't live without them!
We're screwed.
I got two words for you: Downtown Flatland Gondola.
They have the station, they have the land in the foothills; now they are about ready to pop it out.
Ugly baby, this child of godfreys sick imagination.
um ... Lido,
that's three words
js,
BB
read more recent artickles for Godfrey child-monsters in the making
Actually BB, "Downtownflatlandgondola" is only one word in Godfreyesque - an obscure dialect used only by a small circle of fanatic delusionalists in Northern Utah.
Godfrey has kept money in the budget for the gondola and now he's put it back on the CIP (Capitol Improvement Plan) to be built within five years. He can't be re-elected this year or we'll have the goneola along with the "fieldhouse"!
Would someone please remove the pain in my and Ogden's side?
Curmudgeon. I understand that Garner has said that he really feels that the "secret ballot" is wrong and wants the Council to reconsider it and go to voting for the Council leadership in an open Councio meeting.
Personally, I feel that some of the Council members tried to save Bramdon's feelings and face this year since he made such a fool of himself the previous three years trying to get elected to the leadership. It really was pathetic and your had to feel sorry for him that he acted in such an immature manner.
As for praising Van Hooser for her role in the "anti-straw" deal, didn't she merely voice her objection but participate in the closed ballot vote? Seems I read that someplace.
If that be the case, why put her on the same pedestal with Wicks, who BOTH voiced her opinion (opposition) and ALSO refused to participate in this joke of an election?
Old Suzy can't have it both ways, can she?
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