The Salt Lake Tribune's all-star Ogden beat reporter, Cathy McKitrick, provides us a handy heads-up regarding tomorrow's "Meet Your Next Mayor" 2011 municipal election event, wherein "one of Ogden’s eight mayoral candidates has organized [as] the first forum for residents to informally quiz this season’s hopefuls":
Emerald City political wonks should consider this a useful and timely reminder of tomorrow's 2011 campaign event; but Ms. McKitrick's article also provides more eye-opening information:
The Ogden Ethics Project, a grassroots group, has asked the candidates to forego corporate campaign contributions and avoid loopholes allowing donors to exceed current caps of $1,500 to council candidates and $5,000 to mayoral candidates.The fly in the ointment? Boss Godfrey Sockpuppet/2011 Mayoral Candidate Brandon Stephenson, (the very same Brandon Stephenson who's now serving out his third Ogden City Council term of office, all the while having never mustered up sufficient council colleague support during that time even to have gotten himself elected to any minor council leadership post) is now throwing down the gauntlet to those who might wish that the 2011 Ogden Municipal Election might at long last be conducted in an atmosphere of the highest standards of ethical civility. Here's Mr. Stephenson's (possibly unintentionally abusive) Money Quote. And NO, we are not making this up!
I have included the copy of your "Ethics" checklist as you requested. Please also note my personal rebuttal to the absurd suggestion that business campaign contributions are unethical (harrumph!). [Emphasis added].And we also link below Mayoral Candidate Mr. Stephenson's full press statement, along with two PDF attachments, for the benefit of the more detail-oriented amongst our WCF readership:
One thing's definitely sure with this mayoral candidate, "Brandon", wethinks. If you like politicians like Boss Godfrey, ethically shaky souls who believe that all political acts are ethical, so long as they conform to any individual candidate's own possibly twisted sense of political morality, and unless they are barred by specific criminal sanctions... you're gonna love having Sockpuppet Stephenson as Mayor!
That's our take and we're sticking to it.
We "rest our case," in other words.
So who will be the first to comment, hmmmmm.....????
18 comments:
It's commitment; not committment fergawdsake.
I'm noting this taunting language from the completely inept Ogden Mayoral Candidate, the Compleat Dumbass Brandon Stephenson:
"Please also note my personal rebuttal to the absurd suggestion that business campaign contributions are unethical."
I've been looking around for this purported Stephenson rebuttal from Compleat Dumbass Brandon Stephenson.Knowing this Brandon nitwit, it should come as no surprise to digest my savvy prediction, in which """I predict that that Brandon Stephenson will NEVER+ be elected Mayor of Ogden,
Unfortunately, it will depend on which candidate the local bishops support, not which is best-qualified.
Perhaps that's a mite too cynical for my taste, OL.
Time for the gentiles to get down to business with political organizing, dontcha think?
I second that prediction!
Stevenson: "I will always make the choice that I believe is the most honest and open."
What an arrogant dork!
what he believes is Honest & Open might be different than what anyone else b'lieves is Honest & Open ... Godfrey's been doing that for years ... "what, .. was that wrong? NO IT WASN'T NO IT WASN'T NO IT WASN'T!!"
js
BB
I believe you're wrong, Rudi. Brandon Stephenson is not a sockpuppet. Rather, I believe he's merely a real estate industry marionette.
DA, you sure have Brandon pegged right!
We have two running for mayor who could see nothing wrong with accepting corporations and businesses donations along with donations from PALs/PACs. They are Brandon (as Rudi pointed out) and the other one is Jonny Ballard who works for Godfrey (oops! the City) in the Community & Economic Development Dept.
My take on those two is that business will continue just as it has the past 9 1/2 years. And I've had enough! I want a REAL change!
http://apa.olivesoftware.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=U1NFLzIwMDkvMDYvMTAjQXIwMDEwNg==&Mode=Gif&Locale=english-skin-custom
"In fact, this type of thinking is at the core of Ogden’s past economic difficulty…of not being able to
attract business to our community. This sort of mentality, that business is somehow the problem, and that
we have to keep our eye on them or they will take us for all they can…is the problem."
The core of the problem is that in the past businesses have donated profusely to certain campaigns - and garnered favors from those candidates after they were elected, over other more qualified business entities ... another problem is the use of third party "businesses" to launder campaign contribution monies given in secret by certain organizations to certain candidates ... those are a couple of the unethical practices OEP and others such as myself want to avoid in the future ... now since this has happened with such regularity in recent years, any business who donates to a certain candidate with no underlying motive or hope for favor could still be construed later on as having such and a shadow will be cast on the elected official where none is warranted ... so just best to avoid "the very appearance of evil" and get on with it ...
TLJ
No, Dorrene, working for Ogden City is not the same as working for Mayor Godfrey. Or for any other Ogden Mayor.
If you're employed by the City, you work for the people of Ogden. Not the Mayor. This applies to all city employees from bottom to top, whether they're hired or appointed or elected. I will grant you that, sadly, some Ogden City employees, particularly those appointed by the Mayor, have forgotten who it is they work for. But it is not true, nevertheless, that working for Ogden means you work for its Mayor. Public service is not an oxymoron, nor is it trivial boilerplate. It's an important concept, and one that a a great many public servants [at every level from municipal to county to state to federal] take very seriously.
I'm making no statement about Mr. Ballard's candidacy one way or the other at this point. Merely wanted to note that, however much you and I agree on Ogden City matters, and mostly we do, when you suggest that someone working for Ogden equates to working for its Mayor [whoever he or she may be], you're wrong.
You wrote: "I'll also predict that that Brandon Stephenson will NEVER be elected Mayor of Ogden...."
From your keyboard to Flying Spaghetti Monster's ear!
Above post is from Curmudgeon. Sorry. Forget to change name in Post As box.
Curm, I agree that your premise is correct except under the current Ogden administration and then my conclusion is right. I didn't sit through meetings for four years and listen to directors and managers say something completely different from what they had said to me in a one-on-one conversation. I've been told by employees that working for the City is like walking on eggshells because Godfrey is such a "nice" guy (aahumph) . Remember the City Recorder before Cindy? Or maybe you didn't hear the real story? But this is not a normal situation. Don't you remember Officer Jones lost his job when Godfrey saw his wife driving the truck with the trailer and sign about him?
The fact that they say something different in a meeting that Godfrey also attends could be that they were advised of Godfrey's point of view and they wanted to remain employed. I think that the directors and managers are very intelligent people with great creative ideas and most do an outstanding job serving the public.
I'm smiling at your unwillingness to admit that the employees are hobbled under this administration even though it's clear to others and I think that down in your heart you believe it also.
I can't mention what the issues were in order to protect the employees, Curm, and I don't think that you would want to put their employment in jeopardy.
"I'm smiling at your unwillingness to admit that the employees are hobbled under this administration."
I don't doubt that at all, Dorrene and no where above did I say I doubted it. Merely pointing out that a city employee who spoke to you out of the Mayor's hearing differently than he did with Hizzonah listening may well have been doing the best he could to serve the people of Ogden by offering his true take on whatever you were discussing. Speaking honestly when the Mayor was there would likely have cost the city employees their jobs, perhaps they found whatever why they could to provide you with their honest take on things. If that's what happened, I'd say they had it very clear in their minds who in fact they worked for. And it wasn't Hizzonah.
I guess it comes down to your point of view. I see it from a different point than you do. If Godfrey didn't own them, they would be free to tell it how it really is no matter who was listening.
Oh, well, let's hope the next mayor isn't so controlling.
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