Thursday, October 31, 2013

Standard-Examiner: Our View: Neil Garner for Ogden City Council

Will Council challenger Stevens "pull a rabbit out of her hat" on Tuesday? We guess we'll soon find out

Mr. Mac Certified?
Following up on yesterday's WCF story, we'll make note of this morning's still "warm off the press" Standard-Examiner  second 2013 Ogden City Municipal Election city council pick. Yep. It's that clean-cut guy from the west side, who disdains campaign websites, social media and any activity which any activity which might might remotely smack of running a "modern" campaign... and as an added bonus... obviously buys his "conservative business attire" at Mr. Mac's:
Additional "qualifications" which the Standard didn't mention? Well, he did collect the obligatory $1500 campaign donation from the Northern Wasatch Association of Realtors, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the "Biggest and Baddest PAC in the Land,"  which renders him eminently suitable for a second council term in real estate development-driven Ogden City, we suppose:

Click to enlarge image

Furthermore, Councilman Garner also does have important West Side support, where it counts, of course:

"West Side" Garner Support
With the Standard's endorsement, and all of these other advantages, let's just say that Garner's Council challenger, Pamela Shupe Stevens, who's raised a grand total of zero campaign dollars during her own "quixotic" and "uphill" campaign, has her work cut out for her this week, as the clock for Municipal Ward 1 voting winds down to a little over four days, with the Standard, as a practical matter, very possibly having already "nailed" the prospective winner of this one.

Will Ms. Stevens "pull a rabbit out of her hat" on Tuesday?

We guess we'll soon find out.

Update 10/31/13 2:05 p.m.: Uh-oh!  Looks like Candidate Stevens has yet another "disadvantage" to overcome:
Happy Halloween, everyone...

13 comments:

Dan S. said...

And now I see that the S-E has also endorsed Marcia White. That's 3 for 3 so far for the establishment candidates. If the pattern continues, they'll also endorse Doug Stephens over Turner Bitton. And Doug Gibson would really have to hold his nose to write an endorsement of an unabashed Democrat like Bitton. But in the past, if there's been any pattern to the S-E endorsements, it's been their attempt to avoid patterns. So I ain't makin' no predictions!

rudizink said...

Yeah, Dan. I caught wind of the M. White endorsement a few minutes ago myself. Stand by folks. Although I'm going to be outta town on business for the balance of the afternoon, I plan to post a full article on the Standard's Seat "A" endorsement as soon as possible, probably early in the evening.

Dan S. said...

Meanwhile, Courtney White and Pamela Stevens have been disqualified for not filing their campaign disclosures on time: http://www.standard.net/stories/2013/10/31/two-ogden-city-council-candidates-disqualified


Looks like this is a placeholder article and I hope there will be a more complete explanation soon. But my recollection is that this is a matter of state law, not local ordinance.

Dan S. said...

Here's the citation: http://le.utah.gov/code/TITLE10/htm/10_03_020800.htm

rudizink said...

Yeah.
It'll be interesting to see how this all shakes out. I've been in
communication with Mr. White, and informed him of a situation (in 2005,
as I recall) , when council incumbent Kent Jorgenson had failed to file
his financial papers in time, but was
kept on the ballot due to a decision by then City Attorney Norm Ashton,
that Kent's late filing was "excused" due to inadvertent error. Here'
the applicable Ogden Ordinance, for everyone's reference: http://www.sterlingcodifiers.com/codebook/getBookData.php... There's definitely precedent here; and as I understand it, Mr. White's omission was due to inavoidable "press of business."

Dan S. said...

I wasn't aware of Jorgenson's situation--can you provide details or a link? The more recent precedent, of course, is when David Phipps was disqualified four years ago--also while running against Blair. In any case, the municipal ordinance is irrelevant, given that there's an applicable Utah statute.

rudizink said...

Thanks, Dan. Looks like the City ordinance is modeled after the state statute.

rudizink said...

Being aware of the pending situation, I spent some time this morning looking for a WCF story on the subject. Unfortunately I came up dry; and I don't remember whether I wrote about the topic at all. In any event, general rules of Utah Civil Procedure provide broad latitude regarding omissions involving "inadvertant error" and "excusable neglect," even if not specifically set forth n the Utah Statue which you cite. Unfortunately, I'll be out of town on business for the next few hours, so I won't be able to devote any time to this until later this afternoon.

Dan S. said...

Rudi, I'm guessing that this was in 2005, when Jorgenson was defeated by Glassman? We could always just ask Kent what happened, and/or ask the city recorder for a copy of the relevant document(s).

rudizink said...

Yep.

rudizink said...

Yep. Norm Ashton would probably remeber the situation too, as I personally hammered him pretty hard on the issue.

Actuary321 said...

I remember one year (first year) the requirements were emphasized that there were a number of municipal candidates in Utah County that were removed. They went to court and were all put back on by the judge. Can't seem to find anything in my google searches though. I think there might have been issues with whether it had been clear that they would be removed and that was clarified by the things clerks required them to sign when filing to run.

Actuary321 said...

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/525034645/12-candidates-ousted-for-missing-deadline.html?pg=all

An article from 2003 about candidates being removed.

Here is a Utah Supreme Court case saying that strict compliance is required.

http://caselaw.findlaw.com/ut-supreme-court/1369138.html

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