We'll extend an invitation to any Weber County Forum readers who attended this event to step up and share any anecdotes, observations and/or impressions which Ms. McKitrick may have left out
The Salt Lake Trib's Cathy McKitrick provides a story on last night's "Meet Your Next Mayor" 2011 municipal election event, with brief thumbnail summaries of the main campaign themes of at least some of the seven Ogden City mayoral candidates who made the effort to be in attendance:
Ms. McKitrick also reports on the impressions of several of the 80 Ogden residents who showed up for this campaign kickoff event, including remarks from Wayne and Sheila Crosby, who told Ms. McKitrick that they like Brandon Stephenson "because of his business background." What they neglected to mention... Mr. & Mrs. Crosby are Mr. Stephenson's in-laws. Brandon is married to their daughter, fercripesake. Why they failed to bring up this significant potential candidate bias is anybody's guess. Probably slipped their minds, we suppose. We'll leave it up to our readers to decide of course whether this disconcerting failure to disclose their familial relationship with Mr. Stephenson reflects in any way on the integrity of the candidate himself.
There's nothing up on this story from the Standard-Examiner yet; but we'll be keeping our eyes peeled, just in case Mr. Schwebke wakes up from his coma, and files something, even a little bit late.
We'll also extend an invitation to any Weber County Forum readers who attended this event to step up and share any anecdotes, observations and/or impressions which Ms. McKitrick may have left out.
Have at it, O Gentle Ones.
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18 comments:
Steve Van Wagoner was a pandering fool up there with his "clap your hands" routine. It was incredibly awkward for all the attendees to have to go along with it. And honestly, how is putting a "made in Ogden" stamp going to create more jobs (as he said it would)?
Brandon Stephenson sounded incredibly unprepared. I was almost insulted.
Susie did good and so did Mike Caldwell. They sounded polished.
Jason Goddard spent more time talking about his grandpa and daddy than he did himself.
John Thompson. Wow. I'm not sure what he said. His appearance is so disheveled he appears out of touch with reality. The guy could be a genius but I would never know because I'm too focused on whether he hides food in that massive beard/afro he wears.
Ahh..we must not forget poor Neil Hansen. Probably a nice enough guy but he is out of political gas. He seemed only focused on improving curb and gutters, probably because that is where all of his ideas in the legislature have ended up for the last 12 years.
MADE IN OGDEN , is a plan that will attract all levels of jobs. We have geography on our side as we are centrally located on the CANAMEX trading corridor and the other rail lines . I have talked with existing businesses and one company is poised to expand over 1000 jobs with a plan like this. We must bring manufacturing back to the states if we want to continue to compete in a global economy, and Ogden is the absolute perfect place to make this happen.
This is a plan and we must get community input and let city council participate to make it great. This is just a brief introduction to the vast amount of possibilities this program has.
Below is info from my site.
MADE IN OGDEN is a local manufacturing and production concept where:
We build it.
We ship it.
We support and service the product manufacturing needs for small to large scale businesses across the world.
Although local customers are the most important, we no longer live in
an isolated economy and we need to take advantage of the global
economy.
Our companies need more business and the world holds these customers.
It is time to bring manufacturing back to the United States and Ogden
is in the absolute perfect position to serve as a hub for innovative
solutions. Instead of company incentives based off of future promises of
employment, together let’s explore an official MADE IN OGDEN seal so
companies that are developing products and goods can be proud of placing
the seal on products that are made here, sold here, and shipped around
the world letting everyone know that we mean business.
By supporting this concept we can insure better quality control over
products because we have a diverse work force. We can develop jobs that
are long term, with consistent pay, creating opportunity for
advancement.
The myth that you can develop a product overseas for less, is just
that, a myth. Not only are those products being developed with
substandard human conditions, the products may also contain poisons and
other materials known to be harmful to our society. For those that have
developed a product out of the country you know the challenges of making
sure all details are being followed once you leave the plant. It is a
costly balancing act that is weakening our position in the world. I
believe if given a choice Americans would rather buy products with the
official MADE IN OGDEN seal.
Visit http://votevanwagoner.com for more info.
Van wagoner, don't start with the same BS godfrey has been doing for the last 12 years. DO NOT say you have a company lined up with a 1000 jobs for Ogden without naming the company.
I don't think the "Made In Ogden" notion is necessarily a bad one. Branding like that can pay off, for products, for companies, for cities. Different industries pay a fortune for branding campaigns [e.g. "Florida Orange Juice"] and have been for decades, and they seem to think they're worth it, so I wouldn't necessarily dismiss the idea out of hand .
But it's not a jobs program, and other than spreading Ogden's name as a potential manufacturing site for companies looking to locate or relocate, I don't see how it will actively create jobs here. And saying we shouldn't be offering tax incentives for the creation of future jobs is all well and good, but when other cities are offering mega-bucks in incentives for companies to bring jobs to them, I don't see how offering a "Made In Ogden" official logo instead is going to be effective. If Mr. W. thinks we should be more aggressive and effective in marketing Ogden to manufacturers, that's fine with me. Whether he has an effective plan to make that happen is another matter.
Your last paragraph, about his claiming companies he won't name are willing to bring mega jobs to Ogden being warmed-over Godfrey sleight-of-hand is right on the money. If the company can't be named, then voters should simply discount the claim until it can be named and it confirms. If wishes were horses then beggars would ride.
Maybe some intrepid reporter at the SE can track down the company or companies Mr. W. says are on the cusp of coming here if only we'll offer them an official "Made In Ogden" sticker for their goods. And have them confirm or deny.
If they exist at all.
Which I doubt.
Mike Caldwell made a good presentation but then spent the rest of the time staring at the ceiling while everyone else spoke. Yes, it's a really unusual, ornate ceiling, but he needs to pay attention or at least look at the audience and speakers.
I want to know which of the candidates will take advantage of Mayor Godfrey's experience and expertise by offering him a position in their administration.
Yes indeedy, that's a question that should be posed to every mayoral candidate, at every conceivable opportunity, right up and until the November 8 muni election.
This is complete and total unintelligible gibberish.
Gotta confess I'm already feeling sorry for this poor schmuck, Van Wagoner.
What country was going to make the gondola cars for the overhead gondola line that you and Godfrey were so eager to foist on the taxpayers of Ogden?
Well Mr. Vanwagoner,
All that may, or may not be true, but it appears from the length and detail offered up that you might be a practitioner in the old "Baffle em with Bull Shit" school of politics.
What does any of what you wrote have to do with the real job of mayor - taking care of the infrastructure and running an efficient city government that services the tax payers in a fair and friendly manner?
I think all this "attracting business crap" just gets the city tax payers in a deeper hole with every new and revolutionary deal that comes popping into a politician's fevered little brain.
Godfrey is an example of what happens when a mayor subscribes to the great idea of - "let's ignore basic city services and turn the city government into a big job promoting ponzi scheme built on the tax payer's wallets". The only people who ever benefited from all this Godfrey madness, and hundred million dollar public debt, are a few of his cronies.
If the mayor and council do their jobs competently - and run an honest and efficient city government doing what they are actually supposed to do - then jobs and industry will follow. Ogden, and all it is really great for, will sell itself based on it's merits - if it is governed well.
Community success can actually come without digging hundred million dollar black holes of debt for the city tax payers to fall into. I believe those huge black holes of public debt do more to deter industry from coming to town than it does to attract it
Well we know mr wagoner worked on godfreys last campaign, and caldwell, ballard, and stevensen are godfreyites.
Interesting concept. However I see every month that supporting jobs in Ogden does not apply when paying my water-sewer-garbage bill. Why do we send our payments to Salt Lake City? Why not change to a local bank and create jobs in Ogden? If the city government cannot or will not support Ogden by way of utility payments how will they make built in Ogden a viable working idea?
In other news, Tuesday's council/RDA agenda is on the city web site and the big item is approval of the deal for the parking garage immediately north of the Kevin Garn Hotel. Garn will pay $750,000 for the property but has five years to do so. Meanwhile, the city will give him a grant of $550,000 out of the capital improvement fund (of which $244,000 is coming from sale of the land for the new IRS building). The city will also lend Garn an additional $550,000 out of the sewer fund, which apparently has plenty of cash on hand (hardly surprising as I look at my latest bill). Garn would again have five years to repay this loan.
Sure a S-E reporter will investigate his claims. Will that be before or after the newspaper verifies all of Godfreys claims about multiple business coming to the Ogden area and his claim of creating 10,000 plus jobs while he was mayor. you must be the last person around who still believes that anyone at the paper has any curiousty about the administrations claims. The most worried person about someone other than a Godfrey clone being elected mayor is Scott Schwebke. He finally might have to start being a real reporter instead of simply rewriting press releases and repeating the mayors tall tales.
Also on Tuesday's agenda are approval of the open space plan (revised to restore some of the language describing city recreational programs and facilities such as the Marshall White Center), and appointment of a new Chief Administrative Officer to replace John Patterson. This last item is an obvious attempt by the current mayor to tie the hands of the future mayor. As presented, it is not an interim appointment but a permanent one, which would entitle the appointee to six months severance pay if the future mayor wants to hire someone else instead.
Having Mark Johnson serve for 100 days and then collect a severance package for 180 days on top of it, sounds like more double dipping and lining his pockets before he gets the boot. That deal is better than some of the Mayor's favorite boys like Stuart Reid or Scott Brown or John Patterson or Dave Harmer or Jon Greiner or whoeveryou want. Godfrey is just taking care of his soldiers like he said he would with positions that another adminstration will decide, not his band of forty thieves. Just give Johnson a Hummer and send him out the door. The position should remain open until next January. He does not need another partner in crime at this late stage in the game.
The suggestion was made half tongue in cheek, BR. [But only half.] And there may be nothing to uncover and no way to uncover even the nothing. Mr. W. claims he knows the companies but won't divulge their names. There is no way a reporter can force him to say. And since he's not Mayor, his communications with any such company or companies are not recoverable by GRAMA. Absent a leaker on W.'s staff, how, exactly, provided he continues to keep mum, do you think the information [either the existence or non existence of the companies] could be uncovered ? They don't have subpoena power after all.
Godfrey claiming the same, as he so often did, is different, since he was Mayor at the time and so a vigorous use of the GRAMA statute may have been able to turn something up. But that's not the case, at this point, with Candidate W. Probably worth nosing around a little, but I'd be surprised if a reporter turned something up, particularly if the companies are imaginary, as I'm as many here suspect they are.
For Mike Caldwell for Mayor: Abe Shreve is offering his support ... heads up
don't know if this is a good thing or a bad thing ... [wink ,, wink]
Mike's FB page, just scroll down a bit
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