In the continuing interest in giving our Weber County Forum readers "Meaty Things" to "chew on," and to rave about the "weirdest" and latest developments in re our sorely "twisted" Utah politics, here a few items we latched upon this morning whilst Googling:
1) Lyin' POS Mike Winder Announces a Run for the Salt Lake County Mayoral Seat.
This is definely too good. This moron, the Mike Winder Guy, who completely made an ass out of himself by hoodwinking the Deseret News over the course of several months under the psuedo "handle" Richard Burwash, now unabashedly announces his candidacy, under the GOP banner, for the Salt Lake County Mayoral Office:
Sodden query: Does Mike Winder have an even bigger "set" than Boss Godfrey? Were Mike Winder and Boss Godfrey somehow products of the same defective "uterus," who were somehow weirdly separated at birth?"
2) Ousted Utah House Member Craig Frank "Comes Back":
Here's the truly strange story from the SL-Trib:
Meet the new boss... same as the old boss...
Lets all sing along, folks!
3) Ogden Train Car Cafe under new ownership.
In an earlier WCF story we mentioned a missive we'd received from yet another sharp-eyed WCF reader who offered this:
MAYORAL FAVORS: Yesterday I heard a bunch of pissed off people talking about Kym and Pete taking over the welcome wagon. A gal that was running it was wondering why rent is half of what she'd been paying, and why do they get the equipment etc., for "free"?We've done a little "light sleuthing" on this story by the way. We called the Choo-Choo Cafe on the phone a couple of days ago, and talked to a young feller who informed us that the cafe was still operating, although "under new ownership."
"Pete" (Buttschard) is the new "owner," the young feller said.
We still don't know the terms of the new deal, but we're now considering putting in a GRAMA request.
We also talked to a couple of Ogden City Council people about this, each of whom not-so-subtly indicated (to our great disappointment) that they "didn't want to make waves," so early into the Mike Caldwell mayoral administration.
So has the Caldwell Administration already violated the provisions of Ogden City Code Section section 4-2A-5", which says:
4-2A-5: COMPETITIVE BIDDING:If so, will the Ogden City Council, weary of dealing with 12 years of Godfrey shenanigans, turn a blind eye to this possible problem?
All purchases of and contracts for obtaining supplies or contractual services shall be made on a competitive basis to the maximum practicable extent. However, when not in conflict with state law, the purchasing agent may waive this competitive bidding requirement when:
1. The cost of the supplies or services is negligible in relation to the costs of purchase by bid;
2. The supplies or services are available from a single source or bidding procedures are otherwise deemed unlikely to produce a competitive bid; or
3. Circumstances indicate that bidding on the supplies or services will not be in the best interest of the city.
We''ll be following up on this and we will definitely get to the meat of it, folks.
We don't want to see the new mayoral administration fall into any Godfrey-style "bad habits," if you know what we mean (and we think you do.)
And no, gentle readers. At this stage of the game at least, we're not charging the administration with doing anything wrong. Not yet, anyway.
14 comments:
I am still waiting for Mayor Caldwell to announce if he is keeping or returning his $3000.00 campaign donation from Gedi Lesham.
I don't think the ordinance applies, since the city isn't hiring the contractor (and in fact, the money may be flowing the other way). But of course, just become something is legal doesn't mean it's ethical. Unless you subscribe to the Godfrey school of ethics, that is.
I also wonder if Roosters or Union Station are the only eateries that supply food to City Hall for official functions.
I'm planning to do a little research on this over the next few days, Dan. Having done some preliminary overview of the Ogden City Ordinances, however, at this stage I suspect that this "welcome wagon" deal may fall under the ordinances related to the hiring of "private contractors," which would trigger the requirement for "competative bids."
I could be entirely wrong about this, of course.
For now, I'll merely report the operative facts as they've been so far revealed, without drawing any further inferences.
This has been and I believe to be the verbage of choice:...
3. Circumstances indicate that bidding on the supplies or services will not be in the best interest of the city.
I think it does...giving someone the chance at a 50% haircut on rent? Shouldn't rents be negotiated? Unless you were a FOM or a FOSB...
I still LOVE "The Who." They're still the most all time lovable dufuses of Rock and Roll!
♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
[sigh]
Believe me. If Caldwell is doing favors for the Buttshards, it's not because Mike is fond of Pete. Half the town already knows what I'm talking about.
In re: Mr. Frank's campaign. I suggest bumper stickers urging voters to "Write In Richard [Burwash]!" A vigorous "Write In Richard!" campaign would be lots of fun, and FSM knows, we could use a few in Utah electoral politics these days.
I don't know if the new Choo Choo Cafe lease was let following the ordinances or not. It may be that the ordinances did not require that it be put up for competitive bids, though I'm hard put to see why the city should not have invited bids. For all I know, the city did invite proposals and selected the one the Administration thought in the best interests of the city. But I can't say.
The problem is, I should be able to say. So should every member of the public who reads the paper. So should every council member.
What I do know is the business of Ogden City should not be conducted behind closed doors, and leases of public property simply announced to the Council and the public as a fait accompli. Doing it behind closed doors and announcing the result as a done deal inevitably raises the question "If this was all done on the up and up, why didn't you want what was happening, and how it was done, known as it was happening?"
It is not a good sign that such questions are emerging in the earliest days of the new Administration. And if the Council was sandbagged on this, or believes the ordinances or even good policy was not followed by the Caldwell administration on this, it will be making a great mistake to let it all pass unquestioned or unchallenged. Recall in the early days of the former administration, when the Council told the Mayor there was not enough money in the budget that year to buy the very expensive rollaway seats he wanted for the amphitheater, and denied his request for funds, he went ahead and bought them anyway, and the Council did nothing. I think the former Mayor's evident contempt for the Council began right there, and remained intact for the decade following.
Taking $3K in "donations" from a developer against whom the city has liens for unpaid charges, and now the Choo Choo deal, containing unknown terms arranged in an unknown manner: Mr. Caldwell I'm afraid does not understand in this day and age... and in this city... how fragile a thing public trust and confidence is, how easily it can be carelessly undermined, and how doing so can create growing problems down the road for the Administration.
Mr. Caldwell can still repair some of the self-inflicted damage. He can and should return the $3K to Mr. Lesham, and he should immediately release the terms of the lease on the Choo Choo Cafe, and explain how the new lease-holder was selected, and why the lease was not put up for public bid, and why the arrangements, whatever they are, were hammered out behind closed doors.
What choo tawkin bout Willis?
I think that was really good analysis, Bob. I'd add only that if Rudi's preliminary reports re the members of the council being unwilling or unable to object to or even discuss the matter are true, they are equally culpable. Mayoral contempt is one thing. Autoemasculation as a default response is another entirely.
There’s an old saying in Ogden— I know it’s in Texas, probably in Ogden— that says, fool me once, shame on, shame on you. Fool me,
you can’t get fooled again.
And I get on my knees and pray...
Why do you expect the S-E to be curious about Ogden government now? Haven't you been paying attention the previous 12 years?
Post a Comment