Standard-Examiner Ogden Ward 3 Endorsement - Our View: Bitton for Ogden City Council

A WCF rant and a brief questionnaire

Tick, tick, tick, etc.

As the little digital clock doohicky in our right sidebar ticks down inexorably toward Tuesday's 2013 Ogden Municipal Election 7:00 a.m. polling date, we'll jump on the opportunity to shine the light on Ogden election politics once again this morning, by linking the "Fourth and Final" installment of the Standard-Examiner's city council endorsement special article series, in which the SE editorial board goes w-a-a-y out on a limb and (surprise of surprises) "picks" the political newcomer over and above the experienced 2-term Ogden Council incumbent, in the ever-important "North-side" Ogden Ward 3 City Council race.

To the Standard's credit they do "let 'the incumbent' down easy", shall we say?

This was a very competitive race. Both candidates are qualified to be on Ogden's city council. Doug Stephens, the incumbent, has served with distinction. Both of these candidates would likely have been endorsed in other council races. However, they are pitted against each other, and Bitton merits the nod. 

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Read up, folks.  It ain't every day that our home town newspaper throws a member of the Ogden political establishment under the bus:

• Our View: Bitton for Ogden City Council

As to our own opinion on the subject, we agree with the Standard up to this point:  Both Stephens and Bitton are highly-qualified candidates.

Here's where we differ, however. Although we agree that Stephens and Bitton are both top-notch candidates, unlike the Standard, we don't believe you need the S-E editorial board, or even a cranky blogmeister, to tell you what you're supposed to think. We believe, under the circumstances, that the Standard's posture in re council recos is extremely useless, self-centered and overbearing, and that the Standard ought to have refrained from making a reco in this very close race.

So in that connection we'll once again refer you to our WCF candidate profile pages, to which we've devoted dozens of hours over the current municipal election cycle to rounding up all the best web links, articles and other materials to enable you to make your own best choices.  Make your own minds up, O Gentle Ones:

• 2013 Ogden City Council Candidates - Turner C. Bitton - Ward 3
• 2013 Ogden City Council Candidates - Doug Stephens - Ward 3

One more oblique side-note before we close up shop for the day and turn the floor over for your comments. Specifically, we're wondering how many of you, upon clicking the above Bitton endorsement link, caught the weird juxtaposition of these two weirdly-placed page elements, i.e., 1) the Standard's Bitton "un-paid" endorsement on the left, and 2) Stephens' "paid" campaign ad on the right:

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Here's a little quickie quiz, folks, lodged to elicit your ever-savvy impressions of how these jaggedly cognitive-dissonant page elements wound up side-by-side on the same page this morning:

• Pure serendipity;
• Savvy ad buying by the Stephens campaign;
• Despite the Bitton endorsement, the Standard "threw Stephens a bone"; and/or;
• All or none of the above. 

That's it for now, O Gentle Ones.

Please don't hesitate to offer your savvy answers to the above "questionnaire." 

Over and Out!