Following up his July 12 Standard-Examiner story, Mr. Schwebke reports this morning that yet another candidate has entered the race for the Ogden City Mayor's office, this time a local Realtor by the name of Steve Van Wagoner, whom regular readers will remember as an outta town investor with at least a one-time percipient property interest in Ogden's Berthana Ballroom Building. Here's this morning's SE writeup:We'll file this story in our right sidebar election module, which we expect to be filled out with a full list of mayoral and council candidates by the weekend. And in that connection we'll offer yet another gentle reminder that the filing period for municipal races ends at 5 p.m. tomorrow. As we mentioned in yesterday's article, the slate of Council candidates still remains appallingly thin. It's impossible to have a real city council race, when two out of three "races" feature candidates who are running unopposed, if you know what we mean, and we think you do. Yes. Almost every eligible Ogden resident will be running for Mayor by 5:00 p.m. Friday, of that we have absolutely no doubt. What's REALLY NEEDED here in Emerald City however... is MORE Council candidates!
Be sure to click on the graphic in the upper right corner, BTW, just so everyone will be clear about one of our inherent WCF biases.
The floor's open for your wry comments... and council candidate applications, of course...
Update 7/15/11 10:00 a.m.: Wow! We just received word that two-term veteran Council incumbent Councilwoman Amy Wicks filed this morning to run again for her At Large Seat "C," and have accordingly added her candidate info page to our right sidebar 2011 Muni Elections module:
Definitely good news for fans of smart and frugal city government!
28 comments:
You can lead a horse to run to water to drink, RUDI; but apparently in Ogden you can't provoke conscientious Ogden Citizens to RUN.
What a shame that the 2011 Ogden elections seem to be turning out to be a complete BUST!
We should have opposition candidates in EVERY Ogden City Council Race.
Yeah, we know that Boss Godfrey has announced that he's leaving, and that he'll be having the screen door slapping him in ther ass VERY SOON.
C'mon though people! Lets not let apathy control our political fate!
C'mon folks! Regular SE contributor Bob Becker said it best, methinks, beneath this recent SE story:
I hope a few more people file for the various Council seats by close of
filing Friday. I do not like, on principle, uncontested elections,
not for incumbents or for empty seats. Every elected official should
have to campaign for his or her seat, every time. Election by
acclimation [i.e. no opponent] rarely produces good government.
Be nice to have a good selection of candidates for each seat open --- three for each would be good.
Well VanWagoner is cute, young, and he looks more conventional now that he shaved off his "under" Hitler moustache.
Two out of three, and he's John Edwards. We know how that worked out.
Looking at his resume, he also clearly needs a job. He has no experience, meaning that the crony network could fill his skull with crap easily.
"He plans to campaign on ethics in politics while limiting government intervention in the private sector."
Steve, what we want is ethics in GOVERNMENT. Maybe that's what you meant.
Steve is likable, but the best bet is VanHooser.
Steve Van Wagoner seems a lot like David Phipps. The same newcomer candidate under a different name.
will he pull out too late like mr. phipps did?
Seems that maybe folks are wringing their hands over a dearth of candidates a little prematurely. Don't a lot of those with political thoughts rambling around in their heads wait till the last minute to file? If I remember right, there are usually bunches of would be office holders filing ten minutes before the drop dead time. Sure hope that old Ogden tradition holds up, I'm not going to slit my wrists over this until 1 minute after 5PM tomorrow, and only then if no one of integrity and intelligence throws their hat into the ring.
With that said - who the hell would want the job anyway? It is a huge time and energy commitment, a council person has to sit through endless boring and tediously long meetings, they have to spend time with yucky politicians and most revolting of all they have to wear coats and ties if they are men. I mean really, who would want all that for the measly few bucks they get paid. If they do the job right and truly represent the people, they might make 20 cents an hour and for that they get to be the target of hate and contempt regardless of what position they take on any given subject.
My hat is definitely off to those who do serve, especially those that do so as a public service - as opposed to the ones who are in it for the booty they can fleece from the public trough for themselves and their cronies. The good lord knows we have seen far too many of the later and not enough of the former.
Candidates for local elections should declare
So Oz, are you saying that if no one else files in the council race by 5PM today you will slit your wrists?
With that enticement hanging out there maybe all would be candidates will do the public a great service and not file!
One can only hope you know!
provoke may be a poor choice of word ..
js
BikerBabe
Then again, maybe not:
"3. to incite or stimulate (a person, animal, etc.) to action."Reference: Dictionary .COM
Besides Wicks, we have two other new council candidates:
Richard Hyer (long-time planning commissioner) for Ward 2
Jacob Culliton for At-Large C
As of half an hour ago, Gochnour is still unopposed for Ward 4.
Van Hooser has formally filed for mayor; Bischoff has not.
Rudi,
Any chance that Matty will again throw his hattie into the ring at 1700 hours? If not, happy hour starts at my house at 1701.
LOL. It's a City Council feeding frenzy. I also have it on good authority tha Jennifer Neil has now filed for the Ward 2 Council spot.
Watch Out OneWho Knows!!
According to this Provo Herald story, happy hours are banned in Utah:
Valentine continuing work on Utah's liquor laws
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!!
Amidst all this strum und drang regarding frenzied last day filings, permit me to harken back to a topic much discussed on this blog some time ago: Pickleball. Recall much heart burning about Mr. Gullo's [I thought and think] gracious offer to shell out $60K for construction of four Pickleball courts at Mt. Ogden Park. Many predictions that no one would use them, etc. I am pleased to report that according to the latest issue of the Salt Lake City Weekly, that has not happened:
" “A year ago, we had six people show up to play,” Gullo replies. “There are now 133 members in the Ogden Pickle-Ball Association.”
The CW story discusses Ogden's courts, and the infiltration of Pickleball southward to Salt Lake City. Link here:
http://www.cityweekly.net/utah/article-14294-pickle-play.html
Have to admit, I kind of like the idea of SLC playing catch-up with Ft. Ogden here on the northern fringes of the Realm.
On a more topical note, pleased to see TLJ has again thrown her hat in the ring, by which she has significantly improved the slate of candidates from which we will select our new Council members.
Holy last minute entries, batman!
Now the real work begins :)
One of the major concerns with the pickleball courts was the ongoing costs. it does take city recreation/taxpayer money to maintain the courts and to winterize them properly. The manner in which Gullo did the project with city workers and equipment also raised red flags. Any change or additional to city recreation should follow the established procedure for sucvh projects. It is nice that they are being utilized but Ogden taxpayers will foot the bill for their upkeep. This is especially ironic considering Godfrey often complained about the costs of maintaing city parks and especially Mt. Ogden golf course.
Van Hooser
Gocknour
Wicks
Neil
We're covered. Good candidates in all races. Thanks to them.
Glad to see you filed, Ms. J.
did bischoff file?
Ogden City Municipal Election Candidates 2011
Looks like Rudi has updated the candidate rosters listed in the upper-right sidebar.
so do the primary's narrow it down to 2 regardless of political affiliation?
Right. Everything is officially nonpartisan, and the top two vote-getters in the primary go on to the general election.
OK, so it looks like we're going to have a good old fashioned Pier 6 brawl for the Mayor's office, and contested races in all the up or open Council seats except Caitlin's. She has a walk-in.
With that many in the Mayor's race primary election, small numbers can make a significant difference in deciding which two go on to the final election. If you're part of an interest group, public policy group, civic organization, lobby, etc. in Ogden City, now's the time to start talking with the candidates. Believe me, before the first primary, they'll be listening. After that, when it takes much bigger numbers to make a difference, maybe not so much.
Tell you what I'll be looking for: any sign that a candidate has a wet finger in the air, trying to catch the shifting breezes of public opinion in order to know what to say, any hint of a "tell me what you want me to say and I'll say it!" attitude, Romney style. I want to know what all these folks think about various public issues that matter to me.... not what they think I want them to think. I can't and don't expect every candidate, or any candidate, to agree with my views on every issue [ and thus be right 100% of the time]. But I want to be sure they mean whatever it is that they're saying. I want to be sure there's some there there.
Let the jousting begin.
After all the free publicity Blain Johnson has received from this blog, I'm surprised he's not taking another shot at city council to try and vindicate his possibly tarnished image. I'm sure he's attempting to lay low and hope this "dark cloud" sweeps by and allows him to ride off into the sunset. To Blain and all of the other participants of FNURE and Envision Ogden, I want to assure you there are some of us who will make sure these possibly purposeful, calculated, unethical and selfish acts will not be soon forgotten. Mayors, city council, city managers and other staff will come and go but this important piece of Ogden City history will not be swept under the carpet anytime in the near future. After the abundance of testosterone and arrogance left by this administration, it's time for a "gentle, logical and healing influence of a woman". VOTE FOR SUSIE!
BlameJohnson
I can get behind that idea. Mrs. VanHooser is an excellent candidate and came close to unseating the dirty little devil last time around. Maybe this time will be the charm for her. I have no idea where she would try to take the city, but I think she is an honest, well intentioned and hard working council member. Just having some one honest in that office would be breath of fresh air.
I also like Niel Hansen for the same reasons, although I can't quite see how he could win the all important east side and shadow valley crowd.
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