Standard-Examiner: Judge Reinstates Ousted Riverdale City Council Candidate Gary Griffiths

Notwithstanding Friday's 2nd District Court setback, at least one Riverdale City official remains unrepentant

Justice finally prevails in Riverdale City, despite City officials' 2013 municipal election blunder, according to this morning's Mark Saal story.  Here's the lede, folks:

OGDEN -- It's official. We think.
Barring an unlikely appeal by the city of Riverdale, Gary Griffiths will be sworn in Monday evening as the newest member of the Riverdale City Council.
On Friday afternoon in an Ogden courtroom, 2nd District Judge W. Brent West ruled that Griffiths' financial disclosure statement was not filed late, and he declared Griffiths the winner of one of the two council seats up for grabs in November.

Read up:

• Judge reinstates ousted Riverdale city council candidate Gary Griffiths

Notwithstanding Friday's 2nd District setback, at least one Riverdale City official remains unrepentant: 

Despite the decision, outgoing Mayor Bruce Burrows said he still feels "comfortable" with Herrick's decision on the deadline date.
"I show support for, and an appreciation for, the job she did under a difficult situation," he said.

Considering the fact that the City of Riverdale has been raking him over the coals for the past two months, Griffiths is handling it all in a spirit of good sportsmanship, wethinks:

Griffiths says he harbors no ill feelings over the incident and looks forward to working with the council, as well as with the city recorder.
"She's a perfectionist, and she wants to do the right thing," Griffiths said of Herrick. "She came up to me (after the hearing), shook my hand and said, 'It will be a pleasure serving with you.' That meant a lot to me. It was very classy of her."
And, it's a good sign, Griffiths said.
"Because she'll be administering the oath (of office) to me on Monday."

Hmmm... a "classy" city bureaucrat, especially one who can't do simple arithmetic, would have offered an apology, don'tcha think?

Standard-Examiner: City Council Candidate Sues Riverdale For Being Disqualified From Race

The Riverdale City Council would be calendering a motion at the earliest available date to reinstate Mr. Griffiths to his elected council post, if the Council had a lick of sense

The Standard's Mark Saal reports the latest development in the 2013 Riverdale Municipal Election SNAFU.  Yep.  Just as we predicted, Riverdale City's ham-handed mis-handling of  the November City Council race has landed the City in 2nd District Court:

• City council candidate sues Riverdale for being disqualified from race

"They (Riverdale City) broke several laws, and we're addressing each of those," (ousted candidate Gary) Griffiths said in a telephone interview Friday.

Weirdly, Riverdale officials however seem committed to "gambling," that their actions, which nullified Mr. Griffiths' election, will be upheld, apparently under a twisted mis-application of "contract" theory.

Seems that Riverdale City's blunders continue to be compounded, inasmuch as the plaintiff, Mr. Griffiths, may be statutorily entitled, assuming he does prevail in court (a sound assumption, we think), to "costs" and "attorney fees," in addition to reinstatement to his council seat:

(9) (a) A private party in interest may bring a civil action in district court to enforce the provisions of this section or an ordinance adopted under this section.
(b) In a civil action under Subsection (9)(a), the court may award costs and attorney fees to the prevailing party.

Gamblers that they appear to be, Riverdale City officials should keep in mind the primary rule of "smart" gamblers:

You got to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em
Know when to walk away, know when to run.

Turning to the legal and equitable merits of this case, we believe the Standard-Examiner editorial board said it best:

In short, Riverdale goofed on its interpretation of the deadline for signed filings. Its initial response -- to allow Griffiths to be a candidate -- was correct. Herrick's decision to change that after the vote has led to a man unfairly losing his election to city council. If Griffiths decides to challenge Riverdale's decision, it's our opinion he will have an excellent case.
Riverdale should simply admit it made a mistake and restore Griffiths' election victory.

The Riverdale Council would be calendering a motion at the earliest available date to reinstate Mr. Griffiths to his elected council post, if the Council had a lick of sense.

Given the City's shamefully arrogant and stubborn behavior to date however, we certainly won't be holding our breath.

Standard-Examiner Editorial: Riverdale Goofed, Restore Griffiths

A slam-dunk remedy for Riverdale City's unfathomable incompetence and hubris

Yep. The Standard-Examiner editorial board "nails it" this morning, concerning Riverdale City's ham-handed bungling of its 2013 Municipal Election City Council race:

In short, Riverdale goofed on its interpretation of the deadline for signed filings. Its initial response -- to allow Griffiths to be a candidate -- was correct. Herrick's decision to change that after the vote has led to a man unfairly losing his election to city council. If Griffiths decides to challenge Riverdale's decision, it's our opinion he will have an excellent case.
Riverdale should simply admit it made a mistake and restore Griffiths' election victory.

Check out this morning's "strong" editorial here:

• Our View: Riverdale goofed, restore Griffiths

The Standard gets it exactly right, of course.

We'll be keeping our fingers crossed that Griffiths will insist on his "Day in Court," in what will surely serve as a slam-dunk remedy for Riverdale City's unfathomable incompetence and hubris.

Riverdale City Disqualifies 2013 Municipal Election Council Race Winner - Updated

Next stop... Ogden's 2d District Court?

Riverdale City Arithmetic

No sooner do we close the books on the 2013 Utah Municipal Elections, than we receive some red meat information from one of our sharp-eyed WCF readers, highlighting a still-lingering problem in one neighboring Weber County Municipality, where Riverdale City officials have set the stage to disqualify one city council candidate from the November 5 race which he actually won, by a narrow 18-vote margin, over the next runner-up. Here's the set-up, via the text of an email we received last night from Gentle Reader Actuary321:

This is going to be breaking in the news tomorrow (hopefully) but Riverdale's City Recorder has decided that having received numerous complaints including 3 formal complaint from Riverdale Municipal Candidates, she has decided that she is no longer comfortable with her decision to allow Gary Griffiths to stay on the ballot even though he missed her deadline of the 28th of October (as opposed to every other city and the states deadline of the 29th) for filing of the Financial Disclosure documents.
You can find the election canvas information including her letter to Mr. Griffiths at the following link:
Riverdale November 19, 2013 City Council Agenda/Packet

From the above-cited council packet, we've extracted this letter, by which City Recorder Herrick delivers the bad news to Mr. Griffiths.

The fundamental problem here? The Riverdale City Recorder's and Attorney's offices staff apparently lack the technical expertise to perform a simple, automated days-between-dates filing deadline count. That's how we see it, at least. Whereas the applicable Utah code section (Utah Code 10-3-208) provides that "(ii) Each candidate for municipal office who is not eliminated at a municipal primary election shall file with the municipal clerk or recorder a campaign finance statement: (A) no later than seven days before the date of the municipal general election," Riverdale City Recorder miscalculated Mr. Griffith's drop-dead filing date,  incorrectly calculating October 28 (one day too early) as Mr. Griffith's last day for his finance disclosure filing, rather than October 29, which would have been correct last date.

This election glitch was earlier highlighted in this November 8, Standard-Examiner story, of course, wherein intrepid S-E reporter Mark Saal reported that both Utah Lieutenant Governors office officials and "Jennifer Morrell, Weber County elections director, confirmed that Griffiths didn't miss the deadline":

• Financial disclosure deadline confusion prompts questions in Riverdale election

Those readers who'd like to dig a little deeper into the contorted facts can read Riverdale City Recorder Ember Herrick's full S-E comments section fact recitation and rationale right here:

• Riverdale City Recorder Ember Herrick Standard-Examiner Comment

It appears at this point that Riverdale City election officials may be hanging their shabby hats on this document, by which those gummint folks seem to be arguing that Griffiths may have "waived" his right to the protection of the above-cited state statute and instead agreed to conform to the earlier "botched" October 28 deadline date:

• Official Signed Acknowledgement of Candidate Requirement & Due Dates Financial Disclosure Statements

Next stop (assuming Mr. Griffiths has the requisite "spine"):

Next Stop: 2d District Court (Ogden)

We''ll continue to keep a close eye on this story of course, and and will be sure to let you know how it all wraps up.

Update 11/20/13 8:30 p.m.: Better late than never, the Standard is all over this epic fiasco this morning.  Mark Saal reports that state elections director Mark Thomas believes that Riverdale City is likely to lose in court, and that Mr. Griffiths has already "lawyered up":

• Griffiths disqualified by Riverdale board of canvass; lawsuit may be coming

As an added bonus, check out yesterday's opinion letter from Utah Lt. Attorney General Spencer Cox, which provides additional "ammo" for Mr. Griffiths' impending lawsuit:

• Spencer Cox 11/19/13 Letter

Yep; the ball's now in soon-to-be Riverdale City Councilman Griffith's court.

Comments, anyone? Ferris?