No doubt about it folks, gentle reader and frequent WCF contributor Dorothy will be sorely missed
It's our bittersweet pleasure this morning to direct our readers' attention to a fine Cathy McKitrick piece, paying tribute to our friend, Ogden community activist and and frequent Weber County Forum contributor Dorothy Littrell, "who passed away July 6 — at the age of 83 — and was laid to rest July 19. But for many, her legacy lives on":
As an added bonus, we'll link the full text version of Grandma Dorothy’s 10 rules to live by, which appears only in abbreviated form in the SLTrib left sidebar:
This latter expanded document provides considerable additional insight into Ms. Littrell's exceptional character, wethinks. No doubt about it folks, gentle reader and frequent WCF contributor Dorothy will be sorely missed around these parts.
Showing posts with label Dorothy Littrell. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dorothy Littrell. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Friday, July 08, 2011
Another Valiant WCF Soldier Moves On to "the Great Unknown"
This is a message from the Littrell family:
We are saddened by the passing of a great woman, our mother, Dorothy E. Littrell.
She passed on Wednesday morning at 2:28a.m.
Services will be held Tuesday, July 19, 2011 at 1:00pm, at Leavitt's mortuary, 836 36th Street, Ogden, Utah 84403 (801) 394-5556.
Her obituary will be published in the Ogden Standard Examiner on Sunday, July 10 and Sunday July 17.
We realize that an e-mail may seem impersonal, but given the number of friends and contacts she had, individual contact would be very cumbersome.
We thank all of you for being her friends. She will be sorely missed.
Love to all,
Paul, Molly and family.
Update 7/10/11 9:00 a.m.: The Standard-Examiner carries Dorothy's obituary this morning:
We are saddened by the passing of a great woman, our mother, Dorothy E. Littrell.
She passed on Wednesday morning at 2:28a.m.
Services will be held Tuesday, July 19, 2011 at 1:00pm, at Leavitt's mortuary, 836 36th Street, Ogden, Utah 84403 (801) 394-5556.
Her obituary will be published in the Ogden Standard Examiner on Sunday, July 10 and Sunday July 17.
We realize that an e-mail may seem impersonal, but given the number of friends and contacts she had, individual contact would be very cumbersome.
We thank all of you for being her friends. She will be sorely missed.
Love to all,
Paul, Molly and family.
Update 7/10/11 9:00 a.m.: The Standard-Examiner carries Dorothy's obituary this morning:
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Get the Real Poop!
I am changing my list of required financial publications so I will get the real poop!
By: Dorothy Littrell
No more Wall Street Journals for me!
Read this, from the Rolling Stone e-magazine, no less!
Read up!
Dorothy
No more Wall Street Journals for me!
Read this, from the Rolling Stone e-magazine, no less!
Read up!
Dorothy
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Double Talk And Cheating From the Federal Reserve
Government officials who are going along with this trick to obfuscate the truth deserve to be put away for the rest of their lives
By: Dorothy Littrell, CPA
It is very important that you understand what has just been done to you financially by U.S. government officials going along with the Federal Reserve Board members:
The Federal Reserve is still bankrupt but a change of reporting liabilities covers up that fact. This change of accounting shows the Fed's losses not as a loss but in effect a liability owed to the U.S. Treasury. That way the Fed's Balance Sheet does not show a Negative Net Worth.
More deceit on the taxpayer so the government can keep doing what it has been doing, which is printing and spending money. This accounting terminology change only delays facing and solving the financial situation the United States government has created for all of us and our unborn children.
The actual facts have not been changed but only recategorized to continue on the same destructive path. Now interest rates will stay at less than 1% while U.S. debt continues to quadruple.
It is obvious that U.S. policy will to be to continue as is until the rest of the world refuses o buy U.S. debt which is the inevitable conclusion. There is no way the Federal Reserve is going to have profits to assign to this reclassification to ever eliminate it from the Fed Balance Sheet.
I hate what we accountants come up with in the way of creative "double-talk" and reclassification in order to mislead and confuse the true facts for the person who does not understand what is really going on.
Government officials who are going along with this accounting terminology maneuver to obfuscate the truth deserve to be put away for the rest of their lives. Instead, they will probably be considered heroes.
Update 1/22/11 2;30 p.m.: Per Dorothy:
Could the Federal Reserve Become Insolvent?
The U.S. Federal Reserve's journey to the outer limits of monetary policy is raising concerns about how hard it will be to withdraw trillions of dollars in stimulus from the banking system when the time is right.
I cannot overstress the importance of this article relating to your financial future. You must become aware of the latest accounting change by the Federal Reserve.
As a CPA I consider it fraud on the part of the Fed to make this change. I have seen nothing in the AICPA governing rules for Certified Public Accountants that acknowledges this change nor approves it.
-Dorothy
By: Dorothy Littrell, CPA
It is very important that you understand what has just been done to you financially by U.S. government officials going along with the Federal Reserve Board members:
The Federal Reserve is still bankrupt but a change of reporting liabilities covers up that fact. This change of accounting shows the Fed's losses not as a loss but in effect a liability owed to the U.S. Treasury. That way the Fed's Balance Sheet does not show a Negative Net Worth.
More deceit on the taxpayer so the government can keep doing what it has been doing, which is printing and spending money. This accounting terminology change only delays facing and solving the financial situation the United States government has created for all of us and our unborn children.
The actual facts have not been changed but only recategorized to continue on the same destructive path. Now interest rates will stay at less than 1% while U.S. debt continues to quadruple.
It is obvious that U.S. policy will to be to continue as is until the rest of the world refuses o buy U.S. debt which is the inevitable conclusion. There is no way the Federal Reserve is going to have profits to assign to this reclassification to ever eliminate it from the Fed Balance Sheet.
I hate what we accountants come up with in the way of creative "double-talk" and reclassification in order to mislead and confuse the true facts for the person who does not understand what is really going on.
Government officials who are going along with this accounting terminology maneuver to obfuscate the truth deserve to be put away for the rest of their lives. Instead, they will probably be considered heroes.
Update 1/22/11 2;30 p.m.: Per Dorothy:
Could the Federal Reserve Become Insolvent?
The U.S. Federal Reserve's journey to the outer limits of monetary policy is raising concerns about how hard it will be to withdraw trillions of dollars in stimulus from the banking system when the time is right.
I cannot overstress the importance of this article relating to your financial future. You must become aware of the latest accounting change by the Federal Reserve.
As a CPA I consider it fraud on the part of the Fed to make this change. I have seen nothing in the AICPA governing rules for Certified Public Accountants that acknowledges this change nor approves it.
-Dorothy
Monday, March 29, 2010
U.S. Taxpayers Get Hosed Again At a Rate of Fifty Extra Bucks Per Day
Dorothy is doing her very best to educate you people. Please listen up!
By Dorothy Littrell
I wonder how many U.S. citizens realize that their share of the national debt is going up $50.00 plus PER DAY at the present rate of interest - That is $50.00 plus PER DAY for EVERY person in the U.S. Of course, that is based on the U.S. Budget Office calculations which have never been right for the majority of the 50 years I have been trying to make sense out of them...
And, of course, fewer than 50% of Americans are paying for the over 50% of Americans who are not paying for their share.
The current rate of interest will continue to go higher and higher of necessity because we have just increased our debt load by $billions for just the Obama Healthcare package - And this is assuming that the rest of the world will continue to buy our Treasury notes which I won't touch. It is evident that no one in Washington D.C., especially Congress and our President, has taken Accounting 101 because they seem to have no clue about the effect of compounded interest rates:
I'm doing my very best to educate you people.
Please listen up!
-Dorothy
By Dorothy Littrell
I wonder how many U.S. citizens realize that their share of the national debt is going up $50.00 plus PER DAY at the present rate of interest - That is $50.00 plus PER DAY for EVERY person in the U.S. Of course, that is based on the U.S. Budget Office calculations which have never been right for the majority of the 50 years I have been trying to make sense out of them...
And, of course, fewer than 50% of Americans are paying for the over 50% of Americans who are not paying for their share.
The current rate of interest will continue to go higher and higher of necessity because we have just increased our debt load by $billions for just the Obama Healthcare package - And this is assuming that the rest of the world will continue to buy our Treasury notes which I won't touch. It is evident that no one in Washington D.C., especially Congress and our President, has taken Accounting 101 because they seem to have no clue about the effect of compounded interest rates:
• The Gartman Letter March 29, 2009
Please listen up!
-Dorothy
Monday, November 02, 2009
Two More Strong Election-Oriented Editorial Pieces From the Standard-Examiner
The SE advances a plan to get out the vote; and a regular SE guest contributor delivers a helpful civics lesson
There are two strong editorial pieces in this morning's Standard-Examiner, each of them propounding the laudable theme of "getting out the vote" for tomorrow's Emerald City Municipal Election.
First, the SE editors bemoan the low turnout in last September's northern Utah municipal primary elections, singling out the city of Layton, which generated a turnout "well below 10%." Ogden City voters did even worse, of course, with turnout of only a measly 9%:
So the Standard has come up with a great idea, we think, an old-fashioned election day phone tree.
Not a bad idea indeed. Yes, gentle readers; we do recommend that you take a little time out of your busy election day tomorrow, to contact your friends and neighbors. And we don't care who these folks vote for, so long as it's Bart Blair, Jesse Garcia, Doug Stephens and Susan Van Hooser.
This morning's SE also features another most excellent "Top of Utah Voices" guest commentary from the ever-savvy Allison Barlow-Hess:
... "don't forget your identification!"
With our 2007 general election still fresh in our minds, Ogden voters are all still stinging from the memory of the Matthew Godfrey campaign's November 4, 2007 election day dirty tricks, whereby (among other things,) Boss Godfrey operatives submitted blanket voter challenge lists and engaged in other voter suppression efforts which resulted in the issuance of an astounding 700 provisional ballots. Who among our gentle readers can forget the travails of Dorothy Littrell on election day 2007, who was required to make three separate trips to her polling place to finally obtain the issuance of her provisional ballot? We're sure there were others in similar predicaments, of course, who didn't receive publicity; and nobody can be sure either whether Ms. Littrell's vote ever got counted, or how many challenged voters simply walked away from their neighborhood polling-places without voting at all.
In the end, and after a lengthy investigation, the Utah ACLU issued this press release and this blistering 17-page report, with findings that the misconduct of Godfrey's operatives had indeed "marred the 2007 municipal election." Of course by that time the damage had been irreparably done, and there were in truth no available post-election remedies.
Let's play it smart this go-round, Emerald City lumpencitizens. When you show up at the polls tomorrow, (torches and pitchforks in hand,) be sure to be "packing" two forms of ID... at least one with your picture on it.
A word to the wise ought to be sufficient.
Who will be the first to comment?
There are two strong editorial pieces in this morning's Standard-Examiner, each of them propounding the laudable theme of "getting out the vote" for tomorrow's Emerald City Municipal Election.
First, the SE editors bemoan the low turnout in last September's northern Utah municipal primary elections, singling out the city of Layton, which generated a turnout "well below 10%." Ogden City voters did even worse, of course, with turnout of only a measly 9%:
• OUR VIEW: Urge others to voteYes, fellow lumpencitizens, we can and should do much better than that.
So the Standard has come up with a great idea, we think, an old-fashioned election day phone tree.
Not a bad idea indeed. Yes, gentle readers; we do recommend that you take a little time out of your busy election day tomorrow, to contact your friends and neighbors. And we don't care who these folks vote for, so long as it's Bart Blair, Jesse Garcia, Doug Stephens and Susan Van Hooser.
This morning's SE also features another most excellent "Top of Utah Voices" guest commentary from the ever-savvy Allison Barlow-Hess:
• Vote, but don't forget your identificationMs. Barlow-Hess has whipped together a fine civics lesson on the importance of participating in the local election process, and for good measure puts the focus on the ethic of regarding the voting franchise as a civic duty rather than a right. But Ogden voters must not skip over this important nuts-and-bolts admonition, offered by Ms. Barlow-Hess:
... "don't forget your identification!"
With our 2007 general election still fresh in our minds, Ogden voters are all still stinging from the memory of the Matthew Godfrey campaign's November 4, 2007 election day dirty tricks, whereby (among other things,) Boss Godfrey operatives submitted blanket voter challenge lists and engaged in other voter suppression efforts which resulted in the issuance of an astounding 700 provisional ballots. Who among our gentle readers can forget the travails of Dorothy Littrell on election day 2007, who was required to make three separate trips to her polling place to finally obtain the issuance of her provisional ballot? We're sure there were others in similar predicaments, of course, who didn't receive publicity; and nobody can be sure either whether Ms. Littrell's vote ever got counted, or how many challenged voters simply walked away from their neighborhood polling-places without voting at all.
In the end, and after a lengthy investigation, the Utah ACLU issued this press release and this blistering 17-page report, with findings that the misconduct of Godfrey's operatives had indeed "marred the 2007 municipal election." Of course by that time the damage had been irreparably done, and there were in truth no available post-election remedies.
Let's play it smart this go-round, Emerald City lumpencitizens. When you show up at the polls tomorrow, (torches and pitchforks in hand,) be sure to be "packing" two forms of ID... at least one with your picture on it.
A word to the wise ought to be sufficient.
Who will be the first to comment?
Monday, September 29, 2008
Bloomberg: U.S. House Rejects $700 Billion Financial-Rescue Plan
Banking cartel bailout rejected by a vote of 228 to 205
By Dorothy Littrell
Three cheers for the Republican House members who defeated the $700 billion bill that was meant to save the Wall Street schemers who created our financial mess with the aid of the financial schemers in other countries:
U.S. House Rejects $700 Billion Financial-Rescue Plan
The Grass Roots spoke, and GOP House members responded (along with the needed number of Democrats. Ed.) That restores my faith in our system which I had lost long ago..
We have not become completely brain dead.
If the presidential candidates have any smarts they will take this message to heart.
By Dorothy Littrell
Three cheers for the Republican House members who defeated the $700 billion bill that was meant to save the Wall Street schemers who created our financial mess with the aid of the financial schemers in other countries:
U.S. House Rejects $700 Billion Financial-Rescue Plan
The Grass Roots spoke, and GOP House members responded (along with the needed number of Democrats. Ed.) That restores my faith in our system which I had lost long ago..
We have not become completely brain dead.
If the presidential candidates have any smarts they will take this message to heart.
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
A Heads-up for Ogden Economics Wonks and Investors
I.O.U.S.A.: LIVE with Warren Buffett, Pete Peterson & Dave Walker plays in Ogden tomorrow evening
From the stellar investment website agorafinancial.com, via gentle reader Dorothy Littrell:
Fathom and Roadside Attractions present I.O.U.S.A.: Live with Warren Buffett, Pete Peterson & Dave Walker in an exclusive one night event in select movie theatres nationwide on Thursday, August 21st. This event will include the critically-acclaimed documentary, I.O.U.S.A., and a LIVE discussion about America’s economic crisis and what we can do to change course. [...]Check out the trailer:
From the producers of Wordplay and the studio that brought you Supersize Me, the must-see documentary I.O.U.S.A. uncovers the source of critical economic concerns that touch the lives of every American. A tapestry of archival footage, hard data and candid interviews woven together, it paints an authentic profile of today’s economic condition. Solutions for how we can impact this nationwide crisis and evolve into a more fiscally sound nation for future generations are offered by the documentary’s powerful conclusion.
“May be to the U.S. Economy what An Inconvenient Truth was to the environment.” - Reuters
Thursday, December 27, 2007
Creeped Out in Emerald City
By Monotreme
I am creeped out by the fact that the Standard-Examiner seems to have the same obsession with the failed Dorothy Littrell election lawsuit as the mayor.
I've heard the mayor complain loud and long that Dorothy Littrell is responsible for everything bad that happens in the city. If the crime rate were rising, then she'd probably be responsible for that. It's an odd idee fixe, but if you're going to be the Hero, you need an antagonist, right?
Where, oh where, was the news peg in today's story? "Lawyers want money"? Wow. That's a revelation.
Wake up, Standard-Examiner! When you publish stories that appear to have been ground out of the Mayor's personal diary, it just makes you look like more of a lapdog for the city administration.
I am creeped out by the fact that the Standard-Examiner seems to have the same obsession with the failed Dorothy Littrell election lawsuit as the mayor.
I've heard the mayor complain loud and long that Dorothy Littrell is responsible for everything bad that happens in the city. If the crime rate were rising, then she'd probably be responsible for that. It's an odd idee fixe, but if you're going to be the Hero, you need an antagonist, right?
Where, oh where, was the news peg in today's story? "Lawyers want money"? Wow. That's a revelation.
Wake up, Standard-Examiner! When you publish stories that appear to have been ground out of the Mayor's personal diary, it just makes you look like more of a lapdog for the city administration.
Thursday, November 08, 2007
"Protecting the Integrity" of the Emerald City Election Process
More "tall tales" from the Godfreyite camp
By Jim
This is a new twist.
According to this morning's Salt Lake Tribune article by Kristen Moulton, there are 2000 absentee ballots and 700 provisional ballots out now.
The provisional ballots are to be counted starting today.
The absentee ballots will not be counted until later, to allow mailed ballots to arrive.
Godfrey is now taking responsibility for "five or six" challenges to voters. His Dorothy Littrell and Jesse Garcia obsession continues unabated.
He claims no knowledge of the other 140-odd voters who were challenged by his renegade supporters over whom he has no apparent control. Lots of freethinkers over in the Godfrey camp, I suppose.
(Note to the meaning-impaired who have recently occupied this forum: when I say, "140-odd", I mean "about 140 and I can't be bothered to look the exact number up or calculate it". I don't mean "these people are odd". Many are my friends and neighbors who are trying to figure out how they ended up on a Nixonesque "enemies list".)
This morning's Standard-Examiner also contains two articles on the election.
This Charles Trentelman piece includes the first extensive interview with Blake "She'll never believe that, dude" Fowers, who explains some of his motivation behind the challenged voter list.
Apparently, Mr. Fowers' keen powers and Spidey-Sense have picked up a lot of fraudulent voter names, and he was just doing his duty as a citizen when he submitted those names to election officials. No political dirty tricks, no sir. Not retaliatory tactics. It's the same community spirit we see in those who are willing to follow police officers' wives and run down license numbers, and go tackle Evil Bicycle Thieves,
I have a suggestion. If the Godfrey campaign really believes that voter fraud was taking place, then they should have been satisfied with the relief they received, which was the checking of identification at the polls. Presumably, everyone who voted on a provisional ballot was allowed to do so only after they produced the required forms of identification. So, that process should have satisfied their civic-minded intent.
So I'm certain, since I believe that the Godfrey campaign's Mr. Fowers is only interested in the integrity of the process, I'm absolutely certain that there will be no further challenges to those provisional ballots and all ballots will be counted as-is without additional legal challenges.
After all, if attorneys under Mr. Godfrey's employ are challenging the provenance of provisional ballots at this point, it will be hard to support Mr. Godfrey's claim that he had nothing to do with the 147-name challenge list or with Mr. Fowers.
If, on the other hand, Godfrey-paid attorneys continue their obstructionist tactics, then it only reveals the true intent: to gum up the electoral works and pervert the intent of the voters of Ogden.
I mentioned a second Std-Ex election article, and here it is. It's similar to Kristen's, but with different numbers. What ought to be apparent... nobody seems to really know how many ballots remain uncounted.
By the way, I hope some of our recent visitors continue to hang around the blog. I have enjoyed posting my views and having them met with ad hominem venomous attacks. As Yogi Berra might have said, if he spoke Latin, "it's res ipsa loquitur all over again". I enjoy hearing opposing views and letting the quality of thought in them speak for itself.
Update 11/9/07 11:10 a.m MT: Kristen Moulton has a story up in the Salt Lake Tribune on election complaints being filed with Weber County and with the County attorney's office.
Update 11/9/07 9:24 a.m. MT: From this morning's SLTrib - "Gloria Berrett, county elections administrator, said Friday afternoon that she and County Clerk Alan McEwan, have decided to seek legal advice concerning the ballots. She declined to say why advice is being sought. However, election workers plan to continue working through today and on Monday, a legal holiday, to scrutinize provisional and absentee ballot envelopes. They want to ensure that only those verified as legitimate will be counted."
We just got off the phone with Gloria Berret, in connection with the above SLTrib article update. Ms. Berret informs us that the verification process mentioned in Kristen's article involves authenticating voter signatures only. This has proven to be a tedious process, due to the large number of provisionals.
Ms. Berret also informs us that election officials have not sought additional legal advice, beyond initial consultations with the Weber County Attorney's office earlier this week.
By Jim
This is a new twist.
According to this morning's Salt Lake Tribune article by Kristen Moulton, there are 2000 absentee ballots and 700 provisional ballots out now.
The provisional ballots are to be counted starting today.
The absentee ballots will not be counted until later, to allow mailed ballots to arrive.
Godfrey is now taking responsibility for "five or six" challenges to voters. His Dorothy Littrell and Jesse Garcia obsession continues unabated.
He claims no knowledge of the other 140-odd voters who were challenged by his renegade supporters over whom he has no apparent control. Lots of freethinkers over in the Godfrey camp, I suppose.
(Note to the meaning-impaired who have recently occupied this forum: when I say, "140-odd", I mean "about 140 and I can't be bothered to look the exact number up or calculate it". I don't mean "these people are odd". Many are my friends and neighbors who are trying to figure out how they ended up on a Nixonesque "enemies list".)
This morning's Standard-Examiner also contains two articles on the election.
This Charles Trentelman piece includes the first extensive interview with Blake "She'll never believe that, dude" Fowers, who explains some of his motivation behind the challenged voter list.
Apparently, Mr. Fowers' keen powers and Spidey-Sense have picked up a lot of fraudulent voter names, and he was just doing his duty as a citizen when he submitted those names to election officials. No political dirty tricks, no sir. Not retaliatory tactics. It's the same community spirit we see in those who are willing to follow police officers' wives and run down license numbers, and go tackle Evil Bicycle Thieves,
I have a suggestion. If the Godfrey campaign really believes that voter fraud was taking place, then they should have been satisfied with the relief they received, which was the checking of identification at the polls. Presumably, everyone who voted on a provisional ballot was allowed to do so only after they produced the required forms of identification. So, that process should have satisfied their civic-minded intent.
So I'm certain, since I believe that the Godfrey campaign's Mr. Fowers is only interested in the integrity of the process, I'm absolutely certain that there will be no further challenges to those provisional ballots and all ballots will be counted as-is without additional legal challenges.
After all, if attorneys under Mr. Godfrey's employ are challenging the provenance of provisional ballots at this point, it will be hard to support Mr. Godfrey's claim that he had nothing to do with the 147-name challenge list or with Mr. Fowers.
If, on the other hand, Godfrey-paid attorneys continue their obstructionist tactics, then it only reveals the true intent: to gum up the electoral works and pervert the intent of the voters of Ogden.
I mentioned a second Std-Ex election article, and here it is. It's similar to Kristen's, but with different numbers. What ought to be apparent... nobody seems to really know how many ballots remain uncounted.
By the way, I hope some of our recent visitors continue to hang around the blog. I have enjoyed posting my views and having them met with ad hominem venomous attacks. As Yogi Berra might have said, if he spoke Latin, "it's res ipsa loquitur all over again". I enjoy hearing opposing views and letting the quality of thought in them speak for itself.
Update 11/9/07 11:10 a.m MT: Kristen Moulton has a story up in the Salt Lake Tribune on election complaints being filed with Weber County and with the County attorney's office.
Update 11/9/07 9:24 a.m. MT: From this morning's SLTrib - "Gloria Berrett, county elections administrator, said Friday afternoon that she and County Clerk Alan McEwan, have decided to seek legal advice concerning the ballots. She declined to say why advice is being sought. However, election workers plan to continue working through today and on Monday, a legal holiday, to scrutinize provisional and absentee ballot envelopes. They want to ensure that only those verified as legitimate will be counted."
We just got off the phone with Gloria Berret, in connection with the above SLTrib article update. Ms. Berret informs us that the verification process mentioned in Kristen's article involves authenticating voter signatures only. This has proven to be a tedious process, due to the large number of provisionals.
Ms. Berret also informs us that election officials have not sought additional legal advice, beyond initial consultations with the Weber County Attorney's office earlier this week.
Saturday, October 06, 2007
The Standard Examiner Blows Its Top
Don Porter viciously (and unjustifiably) attacks a long-time Emerald City citizen-activist
This morning's ridiculous Std-Ex" editorial" was the Standard-Examiner's worst "hissy-fit" yet. (We believe you coined the term, Curm, in reference to the Std-Ex). It was in fact a full-blown bull-goose loony temper tantrum, wrongfully directed toward one of the most community-minded folks in Emerald City.
Ms. Littrell was making the news, and effecting substantive change in Ogden, long before anyone in this town had ever heard of Susie Van Hooser, Curmudgeon... or even Rudizink for that matter.
This half-baked article is littered with gross mis-statements, false conclusions and exaggerations:
Std-Ex accusation #1: "The lawsuit is ridiculous and a waste of time. Like a similar, meritless complaint filed by Littrell against the mayor in September, it will be dismissed."
Fact: No previous lawsuits or other court actions have been ever been previously filed in this matter. The Std-Ex just flat-out lied about that.
As for the merit of this lawsuit... that's for the court to decide, innit?
Std-Ex accusation #2: "Some of the 61 plaintiffs in the lawsuit say they had no idea they were taking Godfrey to court. They told Standard-Examiner reporter Scott Schwebke they thought they were signing a petition".
Fact: The prefactory language on the authorization document that each of these plaintiffs signed clearly disclosed that each of these prospective plainiffs were signing a document authorizing their names to be used for specific purposes in a legal proceeding to remove Boss Godfrey's name from the ballot. The language (IN BOLD TYPE) is crystal clear:
"I HEREBY WISH TO INCLUDE MY NAME AS AN OGDEN CITY REGISTERED VOTER AS A PLAINTIFF IN THE PROCEEDINGS DOROTHY E. LITTRELL HAS INSTITUTED PURSUANT TO OGDEN MUNICIPAL CODE 1-8-5D FOR AN EXTRAORDINARY WRIT TO REMOVE THE NAME MATT GODFREY FROM THE BALLOT IN THE OGDEN CITY ELECTION TO BE HELD NOVEMBER 6, 2007 FOR THE FAILURE TO COMPLY WITH THE OGDEN CITY MUNICIPAL CODE BY THE PEOPLE TO RE-ELECT MATTHEW GODFREY."
Here's the "legal definition" of "petition," by the way:
Petition
Robert Cato, who's the Standard-Examiner's "case in chief" ADMITS he didn't read the document he signed.
We're still wondering why he even talked to the Standard-Examiner.
Sheesh!
Accusation #3: Heres' the worst of all:
"But there is another reason we condemn these political obsessions. This lawsuit feeds into an assumption that many of Godfrey’s opponents are motivated by a dislike, even hatred, for the mayor. That assumption is untrue, of course, but small-minded, petty actions by a few, such as the lawsuit, provide oxygen for the stereotype of the “angry, obsessive anti-Godfrey” activist.
"And that’s not good for Ogden. What the city needs, in this final month of the campaign, is a full discussion of the issues and differences between the mayor and his challenger. There are many points to discuss: economic development, bringing more businesses to Ogden, protecting the environment, the future of Historic 25th Street, the future of the gondola, construction around The Junction, how to most effectively fight gangs and crime, the higher rate of poverty in Ogden, effective community policing ..."
Nobody that we know of in the Ogden city activist community truly "HATES" the erstwile Mayor, as the Std-Ex editors suggest.
To invoke a quote from our own patron Saint, St. Augustine, one of the top five revered saints who've provided wisdom to Christian society within the last 1500 years:
"Love the sinner; NOT the sin."
Oust Boss Godfrey in November! We'll "give him our St. Augustine love" later.
And to the editors of the Standard-Examiner we say this: Why not just go and do what you've already decided to do -- endorse Boss Godfrey?
Update 10/7/07 11:08 a.m. MT: Emerald City Gang of Six holdover councilmember Rick Safsten "one-ups" yesterday's Std-Ex editorial hit-piece, with this morning's hate-filled and venomous Guest Commentary Op-ed screed, steering the sheer nastiness of the 2007 municipal election campaign into heretofore uncharted waters. We haven't seen good old Rick this far out of control since March of 2006, when the moderator of The Senate Site suggested that Mr. Safsten enroll in an anger management course.
This morning's ridiculous Std-Ex" editorial" was the Standard-Examiner's worst "hissy-fit" yet. (We believe you coined the term, Curm, in reference to the Std-Ex). It was in fact a full-blown bull-goose loony temper tantrum, wrongfully directed toward one of the most community-minded folks in Emerald City.
Ms. Littrell was making the news, and effecting substantive change in Ogden, long before anyone in this town had ever heard of Susie Van Hooser, Curmudgeon... or even Rudizink for that matter.
This half-baked article is littered with gross mis-statements, false conclusions and exaggerations:
Std-Ex accusation #1: "The lawsuit is ridiculous and a waste of time. Like a similar, meritless complaint filed by Littrell against the mayor in September, it will be dismissed."
Fact: No previous lawsuits or other court actions have been ever been previously filed in this matter. The Std-Ex just flat-out lied about that.
As for the merit of this lawsuit... that's for the court to decide, innit?
Std-Ex accusation #2: "Some of the 61 plaintiffs in the lawsuit say they had no idea they were taking Godfrey to court. They told Standard-Examiner reporter Scott Schwebke they thought they were signing a petition".
Fact: The prefactory language on the authorization document that each of these plaintiffs signed clearly disclosed that each of these prospective plainiffs were signing a document authorizing their names to be used for specific purposes in a legal proceeding to remove Boss Godfrey's name from the ballot. The language (IN BOLD TYPE) is crystal clear:
"I HEREBY WISH TO INCLUDE MY NAME AS AN OGDEN CITY REGISTERED VOTER AS A PLAINTIFF IN THE PROCEEDINGS DOROTHY E. LITTRELL HAS INSTITUTED PURSUANT TO OGDEN MUNICIPAL CODE 1-8-5D FOR AN EXTRAORDINARY WRIT TO REMOVE THE NAME MATT GODFREY FROM THE BALLOT IN THE OGDEN CITY ELECTION TO BE HELD NOVEMBER 6, 2007 FOR THE FAILURE TO COMPLY WITH THE OGDEN CITY MUNICIPAL CODE BY THE PEOPLE TO RE-ELECT MATTHEW GODFREY."
Here's the "legal definition" of "petition," by the way:
Petition
Robert Cato, who's the Standard-Examiner's "case in chief" ADMITS he didn't read the document he signed.
We're still wondering why he even talked to the Standard-Examiner.
Sheesh!
Accusation #3: Heres' the worst of all:
"But there is another reason we condemn these political obsessions. This lawsuit feeds into an assumption that many of Godfrey’s opponents are motivated by a dislike, even hatred, for the mayor. That assumption is untrue, of course, but small-minded, petty actions by a few, such as the lawsuit, provide oxygen for the stereotype of the “angry, obsessive anti-Godfrey” activist.
"And that’s not good for Ogden. What the city needs, in this final month of the campaign, is a full discussion of the issues and differences between the mayor and his challenger. There are many points to discuss: economic development, bringing more businesses to Ogden, protecting the environment, the future of Historic 25th Street, the future of the gondola, construction around The Junction, how to most effectively fight gangs and crime, the higher rate of poverty in Ogden, effective community policing ..."
Nobody that we know of in the Ogden city activist community truly "HATES" the erstwile Mayor, as the Std-Ex editors suggest.
To invoke a quote from our own patron Saint, St. Augustine, one of the top five revered saints who've provided wisdom to Christian society within the last 1500 years:
"Love the sinner; NOT the sin."
Oust Boss Godfrey in November! We'll "give him our St. Augustine love" later.
And to the editors of the Standard-Examiner we say this: Why not just go and do what you've already decided to do -- endorse Boss Godfrey?
Update 10/7/07 11:08 a.m. MT: Emerald City Gang of Six holdover councilmember Rick Safsten "one-ups" yesterday's Std-Ex editorial hit-piece, with this morning's hate-filled and venomous Guest Commentary Op-ed screed, steering the sheer nastiness of the 2007 municipal election campaign into heretofore uncharted waters. We haven't seen good old Rick this far out of control since March of 2006, when the moderator of The Senate Site suggested that Mr. Safsten enroll in an anger management course.
Thursday, October 04, 2007
More on Boss Godfrey's Latest Lawsuit
Boss Godfrey and the Standard-Examiner control the campaign discussion agenda for the second day running
We got a few good laughs reading this morning's Scott Schwebke article, "Election suit sparks debate." For the second day in a row we were entertained by the preposterous posturing of Boss Godfrey, the mayoral candidate with the $140 thousand campaign war chest -- and the power of the mayoral incumbency -- posing as the victim, and trying to rope all his opposition into one neat little monolithic camp, marching to the beat of a single drummer.
Although the article wanders all over the field, there is one clear theme that binds the article together, more or less. This theme is set forth in the article subheadline, "Suit wants Godfrey disqualified; some signers say they were misled."
For purposes of this article, we're going to drill down to the single plaintiff who has now decided to withdraw from the lawsuit: Ogden resident Robert Cato. Here are Ace Reporter Schwebke's quotes concerning Mr. Cato's change of heart:
Take a good look at this document, gentle readers, and decide for yourselves whether Mr. Cato was actively "misled." We're not putting the "knock" on Mr. Cato, by the way. Over the years he's been an effective citizen activist, and we consider him to be a friend of Weber County Forum. We do however believe the term "misled" may be a little excessive in this instance; as we do know that Mr. Cato can both read and write. Perhaps, we'll suggest, Mr. Cato merely failed to read the heading on the document that bears his signature.
One of the other interesting aspects of this morning's article, for us at least, was the spectacle of the folks from the Van Hooser camp, dancing to the Standard-Examiner's tune "on cue," and frantically distancing themselves from Ms. Littrell's lawsuit:
We're also going to dip into the comments in a lower article thread, and incorporate some wise words offered by gentle Curmudgeon:
Now that candidate Van Hooser has made her clear statement, we believe it's time for the Van Hooser campaign to remove this non-issue from the front burner, and take control of the campaign agenda. As one gentle reader suggested in the lower comments thread: "Her statement has been made, the Standard should respect that and stick to covering all the issues... Van Hooser should [henceforth] respond to Schwebke and others with a simple no comment. She said her bit already."
Good advice, we think.
And face reality folks. We've known Dorothy Littrell for several years. There's no way she'll "drop" her lawsuit.
Turning back to this morning's article, we're going to highlight our favorite Godfrey quote: "Godfrey said he believes that several of the plaintiffs support City Councilwoman Susan Van Hooser, his opponent in the mayoral race. 'It’s sad,' he said. 'It shows their win-at-all costs attitude.'"
"Win at all costs attitude?" Somehow that phrase has a familiar ring to it, we thought, upon reading Mr. Schwebke's article this morning.
And here's where we decided Boss Godfrey "lifted" that unique phrase -- Susan Van Hooser's campaign website. We invite our readers to navigate to her site, and click on the menu item "Information About Susie." There you will find this wonderful Kent Jorgenson endorsement:
While you're visiting Susie's site, we encourage you all to navigate around it. This site is vastly improved since the primary election. Those of you who still have lingering questions about candidate Van Hooser or her platform will find a wealth of information on this site.
Take it away, gentle readers. We're sorry to have been so long-winded.
We got a few good laughs reading this morning's Scott Schwebke article, "Election suit sparks debate." For the second day in a row we were entertained by the preposterous posturing of Boss Godfrey, the mayoral candidate with the $140 thousand campaign war chest -- and the power of the mayoral incumbency -- posing as the victim, and trying to rope all his opposition into one neat little monolithic camp, marching to the beat of a single drummer.
Although the article wanders all over the field, there is one clear theme that binds the article together, more or less. This theme is set forth in the article subheadline, "Suit wants Godfrey disqualified; some signers say they were misled."
For purposes of this article, we're going to drill down to the single plaintiff who has now decided to withdraw from the lawsuit: Ogden resident Robert Cato. Here are Ace Reporter Schwebke's quotes concerning Mr. Cato's change of heart:
However, one of the plaintiffs, Robert Cato, of Ogden, said on Wednesday he was misled into signing a document he thought was a petition.Being the curious type, we contacted Dorothy Littrell this morning, and asked if she wouldn't mind sending an electronic copy of the written authorization (or consent form) that Mr. Cato signed, prior to the filing of the subject legal action. We were curious to know whether it was reasonable for Mr. Cato to have assumed he was signing a "mere petition." Ms. Littrell has quickly complied with our request, and this is the document Ms. Littrell sent us in reply.
Cato said he has asked Brian Barnard, a Salt Lake City civil rights attorney handling the lawsuit for Littrell, to remove his name from the complaint.
Take a good look at this document, gentle readers, and decide for yourselves whether Mr. Cato was actively "misled." We're not putting the "knock" on Mr. Cato, by the way. Over the years he's been an effective citizen activist, and we consider him to be a friend of Weber County Forum. We do however believe the term "misled" may be a little excessive in this instance; as we do know that Mr. Cato can both read and write. Perhaps, we'll suggest, Mr. Cato merely failed to read the heading on the document that bears his signature.
One of the other interesting aspects of this morning's article, for us at least, was the spectacle of the folks from the Van Hooser camp, dancing to the Standard-Examiner's tune "on cue," and frantically distancing themselves from Ms. Littrell's lawsuit:
We think a better Van Hooser reply would have been something like this: "Are you nuts, Mr. Schwebke?" "Why on earth would we introduce a distraction like this into the campaign, when we're sitting in the "catbird seat"?In a statement released late Wednesday night Van Hooser asked the petitioners to drop the suit against Godfrey.
“But we cannot allow minor technicalities to get in the way of discussing the major issues that face our city: public safety, economic growth, fiscal responsibility, and quality of life. I suggest that Ogden’s citizens, the media, and Mayor Godfrey direct their attention away from this ill-considered lawsuit and back to the real issues,” she said.
We're also going to dip into the comments in a lower article thread, and incorporate some wise words offered by gentle Curmudgeon:
What the law suit has done is take the focus of the press, and the public, off Godfrey's performance in office, his continuing belief that "let's build a gondola!" is the best solution for whatever Ogden problem is under discussion, etc. And it has instead shifted press and public attention to matters of who is behind this law suit --- note the Mayor's implication in this morning's story that the law suit is really an attempt by Van Hooser supporters to win at any cost --- and "were those who signed on misled by those who filed the suit" and such like. Every day the press and public spends discussing all that is a day not spent discussing the central issues in the campaign and, finally, which of the candidates represents the best choice to lead Ogden over the next four years. It has taken the spotlight off Godfrey's sorry performance and shifted it to side issues.Curmudgeon is mostly right. But we believe it isn't necessarily "the lawsuit" alone that's allowed this to happen. What has occurred on the pages of the Standard-Examiner demonstrates Boss Godfrey's continuing ability to control the agenda -- for a couple of days at least. And to the extent that the past two days' stories have "rattled" Van Hooser supporters, these folks are themselves complicit in keeping this story alive in Boss Godfrey's House Propaganda Organ, the Standard-Examiner.
Now that candidate Van Hooser has made her clear statement, we believe it's time for the Van Hooser campaign to remove this non-issue from the front burner, and take control of the campaign agenda. As one gentle reader suggested in the lower comments thread: "Her statement has been made, the Standard should respect that and stick to covering all the issues... Van Hooser should [henceforth] respond to Schwebke and others with a simple no comment. She said her bit already."
Good advice, we think.
And face reality folks. We've known Dorothy Littrell for several years. There's no way she'll "drop" her lawsuit.
Turning back to this morning's article, we're going to highlight our favorite Godfrey quote: "Godfrey said he believes that several of the plaintiffs support City Councilwoman Susan Van Hooser, his opponent in the mayoral race. 'It’s sad,' he said. 'It shows their win-at-all costs attitude.'"
"Win at all costs attitude?" Somehow that phrase has a familiar ring to it, we thought, upon reading Mr. Schwebke's article this morning.
And here's where we decided Boss Godfrey "lifted" that unique phrase -- Susan Van Hooser's campaign website. We invite our readers to navigate to her site, and click on the menu item "Information About Susie." There you will find this wonderful Kent Jorgenson endorsement:
I've been an avid supporter of the current mayor since he was first elected. However, I have come to disagree with the mayor, not on the basic goals, but on how these goals are accomplished. We need a mayor who will listen to all the facts, and we can't continue to have a win-at-all-costs attitude.What Boss Godfrey has done in making this cute "win-at-all-costs" accusation is to take a swipe at his former supporter, former Gang-of-Six councilman Kent, whom Godfrey now obviously perceives as having deserted to the "enemy camp." We see this as just another display of Godfrey's petty vindictiveness, now that Kent Jorgenson has come over from the dark side.
Government isn't always the same as private business. To move a community forward you need full disclosure and a democratic process with respect for our partners and the people we serve.
I have every confidence that Susan Van Hooser will work aggressively to keep Ogden moving in the right direction. Whether it's economic development, public safety, or transportation initiatives, Susan has Ogden's best interests in mind.
I urge you to be courageous in this year's election and vote for Susan Van Hooser as Ogden's next mayor.
Kent Jorgenson
Ogden City Council, 2002 to 2005
While you're visiting Susie's site, we encourage you all to navigate around it. This site is vastly improved since the primary election. Those of you who still have lingering questions about candidate Van Hooser or her platform will find a wealth of information on this site.
Take it away, gentle readers. We're sorry to have been so long-winded.
Saturday, September 08, 2007
Notes From Thoughtful Citizens and Godfrey-lackeys Alike
Also a Standard-Examiner election 2007 article
We'll lead off today with a three more excellent election-oriented citizen letters in this morning's Standard-Examiner, each of them offering analysis based on Boss Godfrey's proven performance, during his last four-year mayoral term. We'll then follow up briefly with a few other items.
Marian Evans puts the spotlight upon Godfrey's cronyism, reciting a list of incidences where Boss Godfrey has given special treatment to his special friends, then summarizing Godfrey's litany of publicly-observed misdeeds in her final paragraph: "It appears that Ogden is for sale to the highest bidder, as long as they are friends of the mayor."
Long-time civic activist Rulon Yorgason scores a two-bagger, drilling down on the mayor's thoroughly bogus "Godfrey the Crime-fighter" theme, and then picking up on the Friends of Matt (FOM) topic where Ms. Evans left off, noting the strong correlation between FOMs who have received special favors from Boss Godfrey, and the names appearing on his campaignkickback donors list.
Jackie Piper Slaughter takes us back to Boss Godfrey's secret gondola study debacle, which ultimately became the subject of a scathing Standard-Examiner editorial, strongly criticizing Boss Godfrey and his administration for the secretive and dishonorable behavior revealed in the 29-page series of GRAMA-produced emails, originally obtained by the Ogden Sierra Club's Dan Schroeder and later posted right here on this blog.
It's always a pleasure to read the letters from Std-Ex readers around election time, when thoughtful Emerald City citizens demonstrate themselves not to be the dumb and forgetful pack of sheep that Boss Godfrey and his pack of henchmen and cronies presume them to be.
On the other side of the coin, we find this Godfrey Campaign Letter Mill knock-off, where another Godfrey shill once again thoughtlessly hammers out the preposterous Godfreyite "debt is not debt" theme, with the once again repeated assertion that the Ogden City's Redevelopment Agency debt is really not Ogden City's responsibility.
In that connection we invite the sadly misinformed Mr. Ricardo Robles to read the material in Ogden City's own "Comprehensive Annual Financial Report," which reveals Emerald City's true level of debt, as of June of 2006. This material is of course written by Ogden City's "bean counters," and not Godfrey's paid campaign management team, leaving no doubt which information source we'll choose to believe. Within that report Mr. Robles will find this highly instructive language:
In another letter, Boss Godfrey's Mt. Ogden Golf Course manager does an obvious campaign favor for his Boss, and reports that Boss Godfrey promises (scout's honor) NOT to sell the golf course. What he doesn't talk about, of course, is the acreage surrounding the course perimeter.
And we'll close up today's letters segment with an outstanding missive from mayoral candidate Neil Hansen's son Trever, who offers real life insight into why recently-reported lawn sign vandalism is not a trivial matter, at least from the point of view of campaign workers who expend great amounts of volunteer time and effort to help their candidates participate in our system of democratic elections.
There's also a Std-Ex campaign 2007 article of note. Thanks to the efforts of Dorothy Littrell (and Weber County Forum,) Boss Godfrey has apparently become aware of the legal requirement that he account for the $37 thousand and change left over from his 2003 campaign. His already-bloated $100,000 campaign war chest has thus swelled to an obscene $138 thousand -- three times greater than all other candidates combined -- which no doubt explains the forest of lawnsigns which are cluttering up neighborhoods from Harrisville to South Ogden. Enough with the lawnsigns already, Boss Godfrey. We get the point that you think you can buy this election.
Don't let the cat get yer tongues.
We'll lead off today with a three more excellent election-oriented citizen letters in this morning's Standard-Examiner, each of them offering analysis based on Boss Godfrey's proven performance, during his last four-year mayoral term. We'll then follow up briefly with a few other items.
Marian Evans puts the spotlight upon Godfrey's cronyism, reciting a list of incidences where Boss Godfrey has given special treatment to his special friends, then summarizing Godfrey's litany of publicly-observed misdeeds in her final paragraph: "It appears that Ogden is for sale to the highest bidder, as long as they are friends of the mayor."
Long-time civic activist Rulon Yorgason scores a two-bagger, drilling down on the mayor's thoroughly bogus "Godfrey the Crime-fighter" theme, and then picking up on the Friends of Matt (FOM) topic where Ms. Evans left off, noting the strong correlation between FOMs who have received special favors from Boss Godfrey, and the names appearing on his campaign
Jackie Piper Slaughter takes us back to Boss Godfrey's secret gondola study debacle, which ultimately became the subject of a scathing Standard-Examiner editorial, strongly criticizing Boss Godfrey and his administration for the secretive and dishonorable behavior revealed in the 29-page series of GRAMA-produced emails, originally obtained by the Ogden Sierra Club's Dan Schroeder and later posted right here on this blog.
It's always a pleasure to read the letters from Std-Ex readers around election time, when thoughtful Emerald City citizens demonstrate themselves not to be the dumb and forgetful pack of sheep that Boss Godfrey and his pack of henchmen and cronies presume them to be.
On the other side of the coin, we find this Godfrey Campaign Letter Mill knock-off, where another Godfrey shill once again thoughtlessly hammers out the preposterous Godfreyite "debt is not debt" theme, with the once again repeated assertion that the Ogden City's Redevelopment Agency debt is really not Ogden City's responsibility.
In that connection we invite the sadly misinformed Mr. Ricardo Robles to read the material in Ogden City's own "Comprehensive Annual Financial Report," which reveals Emerald City's true level of debt, as of June of 2006. This material is of course written by Ogden City's "bean counters," and not Godfrey's paid campaign management team, leaving no doubt which information source we'll choose to believe. Within that report Mr. Robles will find this highly instructive language:
"OGDEN CITY, UTAH NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS - Year Ended June 30, 2006 - NOTE 1. SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES - "The accompanying financial statements include all activities of the City and Ogden Redevelopment Agency (RDA)....We suppose Mr. Robles's letter reveals something about certain less thoughtful other Ogden City folks: Godfreyite lemmings will attach their good names to dang near anything Boss Godfrey sticks under their noses for signature, so long as they can remain within the Godfrey inner circle.
"The RDA was included because the separate governing bodies of both entities are comprised of the same individuals and the City is financially accountable for the RDA."....
"C. Other organizations that, because of the nature and significance of their relationship with the primary government, exclusion from the reporting entity would render the financial statements misleading or incomplete... (Page 50) .
"Total Ogden City Outstanding Debt Last Three Fiscal Years (2004-06): $52,489,706, $56,467,598, $93,029,566" (Page 124) [emphasis added].
In another letter, Boss Godfrey's Mt. Ogden Golf Course manager does an obvious campaign favor for his Boss, and reports that Boss Godfrey promises (scout's honor) NOT to sell the golf course. What he doesn't talk about, of course, is the acreage surrounding the course perimeter.
And we'll close up today's letters segment with an outstanding missive from mayoral candidate Neil Hansen's son Trever, who offers real life insight into why recently-reported lawn sign vandalism is not a trivial matter, at least from the point of view of campaign workers who expend great amounts of volunteer time and effort to help their candidates participate in our system of democratic elections.
There's also a Std-Ex campaign 2007 article of note. Thanks to the efforts of Dorothy Littrell (and Weber County Forum,) Boss Godfrey has apparently become aware of the legal requirement that he account for the $37 thousand and change left over from his 2003 campaign. His already-bloated $100,000 campaign war chest has thus swelled to an obscene $138 thousand -- three times greater than all other candidates combined -- which no doubt explains the forest of lawnsigns which are cluttering up neighborhoods from Harrisville to South Ogden. Enough with the lawnsigns already, Boss Godfrey. We get the point that you think you can buy this election.
Don't let the cat get yer tongues.
Friday, September 07, 2007
Okay -- Emerald City is Only $93 Million in Debt
The bright side... We have the Salomon Center
We'll launch our Friday morning weekend kick-off thread with two Godfreyite letters appearing on today's Standard-Examiner editorials page. As to these letters, Boss Godfrey's preposterous "Debt is not Debt" meme is today's major Std-Ex theme of the day. What's common to both these letters is that the authors are hell-bent to rebut any assertion that Ogden City is burdened with $100 million in debt.
Timm (sic) Thorn's letter, a reply to earlier letters from Tom Owens and Dorothy Littrell, accuses these authors of disseminating false information and distorted facts; and yet Mr. Thorn's letter suffers heavily from exactly the same shortcomings. The author even gets into a little mind-reading along the way:
"...both of whom have revealed their motives in attacking the mayor... Neither of these individuals lives in Ogden...both these individuals know the truth about these matters but have chosen to distort facts... we find a series of letters filled with distortions because of their personal hatred..."
You get the drift. We especially loved the mind-reading aspects. This kid not only knows what Tom and Dorothy say, he intuits their very motivations and secret thoughts. The kid is obviously the second coming of Kreskin. We're assuming this guy is a kid, BTW; no adult could possibly write something so lame.
Contrary to Mr. Thorn's assertions, BTW, and just to set the true facts straight, we'd like to inform Mr. Thorn that Ms. Littrell is both an Ogden City property owner and a resident of our city, as anyone who's been paying attention over the last several years knows. And Mr. Owens is of course also a tax-paying property owner in Ogden (and a native Ogden "home-boy") too, which we think gives Mr. Owens adequate standing to complain about our bumbling excuse for a mayor any danged time he wants.
And then there's Mark Johnson's letter, a rambling and incoherent quasi-explanation of RDA bonding and tax increment financing, which can be summed up in four words buried midway through Mr. Johnson's text: "It is not city debt."
Well we have news for Mr. Johnson this morning; in which we invite him to examine Ogden city's Comprehensive Annual Financial Report. Scrolling down to page 120 we find this entry: Total Outstanding Government (City) Debt - $93,029,566.
Okay... Tim and Mark were partly right. We'll give them due credit for that. Our city's outstanding debt was only a hair over $93 million (as of June 2006,) and not the $100 million that some have suggested.
We'll also highlight this morning's Dan Schroeder letter, in which Dan persistently asks Boss Godfrey which particular foothill areas Godfrey considers "open" for gondola and residential construction.
For the full version of Dan's letter, complete with footnotes, be sure to check out this Ogden Sierra Club link.
And as an added bonus this morning we provide a link to our archive site sound files, where our readers can hear with their very own ears the quite petulant and snarky Boss Godfrey calling the WSU decision process "a farce."
And for those who haven't already heard about it, Ernest Health is coming to town.
That's all folks.
Let's hear it from our always-gentle readers.
Update 9/7/07 3:50 p.m. MT: Dan S. has graciously sent us a report on last night's city council work session, during which the council's main agenda was a discussion of the Mt. Ogden Community Plan. We've uploaded this document to an archive page, which can be viewed here.
We'll launch our Friday morning weekend kick-off thread with two Godfreyite letters appearing on today's Standard-Examiner editorials page. As to these letters, Boss Godfrey's preposterous "Debt is not Debt" meme is today's major Std-Ex theme of the day. What's common to both these letters is that the authors are hell-bent to rebut any assertion that Ogden City is burdened with $100 million in debt.
Timm (sic) Thorn's letter, a reply to earlier letters from Tom Owens and Dorothy Littrell, accuses these authors of disseminating false information and distorted facts; and yet Mr. Thorn's letter suffers heavily from exactly the same shortcomings. The author even gets into a little mind-reading along the way:
"...both of whom have revealed their motives in attacking the mayor... Neither of these individuals lives in Ogden...both these individuals know the truth about these matters but have chosen to distort facts... we find a series of letters filled with distortions because of their personal hatred..."
You get the drift. We especially loved the mind-reading aspects. This kid not only knows what Tom and Dorothy say, he intuits their very motivations and secret thoughts. The kid is obviously the second coming of Kreskin. We're assuming this guy is a kid, BTW; no adult could possibly write something so lame.
Contrary to Mr. Thorn's assertions, BTW, and just to set the true facts straight, we'd like to inform Mr. Thorn that Ms. Littrell is both an Ogden City property owner and a resident of our city, as anyone who's been paying attention over the last several years knows. And Mr. Owens is of course also a tax-paying property owner in Ogden (and a native Ogden "home-boy") too, which we think gives Mr. Owens adequate standing to complain about our bumbling excuse for a mayor any danged time he wants.
And then there's Mark Johnson's letter, a rambling and incoherent quasi-explanation of RDA bonding and tax increment financing, which can be summed up in four words buried midway through Mr. Johnson's text: "It is not city debt."
Well we have news for Mr. Johnson this morning; in which we invite him to examine Ogden city's Comprehensive Annual Financial Report. Scrolling down to page 120 we find this entry: Total Outstanding Government (City) Debt - $93,029,566.
Okay... Tim and Mark were partly right. We'll give them due credit for that. Our city's outstanding debt was only a hair over $93 million (as of June 2006,) and not the $100 million that some have suggested.
We'll also highlight this morning's Dan Schroeder letter, in which Dan persistently asks Boss Godfrey which particular foothill areas Godfrey considers "open" for gondola and residential construction.
For the full version of Dan's letter, complete with footnotes, be sure to check out this Ogden Sierra Club link.
And as an added bonus this morning we provide a link to our archive site sound files, where our readers can hear with their very own ears the quite petulant and snarky Boss Godfrey calling the WSU decision process "a farce."
And for those who haven't already heard about it, Ernest Health is coming to town.
That's all folks.
Let's hear it from our always-gentle readers.
Update 9/7/07 3:50 p.m. MT: Dan S. has graciously sent us a report on last night's city council work session, during which the council's main agenda was a discussion of the Mt. Ogden Community Plan. We've uploaded this document to an archive page, which can be viewed here.
Thursday, September 06, 2007
Thursday Morning Chewies at the WCF Smorgasboard
Lots of stuff to munch on this morning
We find a virtual smorgasbord of discussion-worthy items in this morning's Standard-Examiner -- so many in fact that we hardly know where to start. Well what the hell... maybe we'll just start out here:
We received this wonderful missive in last night's email, along with this amusing pdf attachment:
And speaking of basic incompetence, we would like to direct our readers' attention to a letter this morning, wherein one Godfreyite Standard-Examiner reader takes a unique approach to promoting Boss Godfrey's re-election. Putting the focus on the resumes of the top screw ups in Godfrey's A-team, Emerald City business newcomer Rufus Lohmueller sheds light on the job histories of some of the clowns who've been bungling Ogden City affairs since the very beginning of the Little Emperor's reign. Some of these guys have evidently been booted from jobs all over the globe. We're glad Mr. Lohmueller was kind enough to put the spotlight on this heretofore unknown information, although its effect (at least for us) probably wasn't exactly what the author intended.
In our ever-humble opinion, such a motley collection of job-hoppers has seldom been seen in any municipal government or corporation. When Godfrey is dethroned in January of '08, we'll all be able to breathe a sigh of relief, as this gang of itinerant nincompoops once again seeks new employment opportunities -- elsewhere.
And speaking of spotlights, we now segue into this morning's most articulate Deb Badger letter to the editor, wherein she advocates (what else?) "voting for officials who thrive in the light."
We particularly appreciated Ms. Badger's reference to that heart-warming day in January 2006, when Councilwoman Jeske handed out flashlights to her fellow council-members, symbolizing her hope that Ogden City government would henceforth "thrive in the light."
Ms. Badger does make a good case for the election of candidates Wicks and Van Hooser, by the way, although the same argument, we think, could also be applied to several other candidates as well.
We'll also zero in on Rosemary Hoffman's letter of this morning, wherein she accurately and succinctly draws a bead on the mayoral incumbent's bogus "Godfrey the Crime-fighter" theme. We do hope that this letter will penetrate the consciousness of Emerald City voters prior to the election. God knows the Standard-Examiner hasn't lifted a finger to enlighten its readership about the lies that Godfrey tells us. Hopefully, Rosemary's letter will help in that endeavor, at least with those readers who haven't had the advantage of reading this.
We got a couple of good chuckles reading this Godfreyite letter, wherein a very deluded Stephanie Moore starts out by making the absurd comparison of the methods of the little guy who can't even properly fill out his financial disclosure form, with those of American banking giant (and Ogden home-boy) Marriner Eccles. Then she inaccurately characterises Godfrey's reckless borrowing and spending as "managed debt." After that, Ms. Moore inexplicably launches into an odd manifesto-style rant, accusing Godfrey opponents of carrying "a black banner." We'll go easy on Ms. Moore for now however, and leave it to our gentle readers to rip her letter to shreds.
And last but not least, we were pleased to learn this morning that three new eateries will be arriving at The Junction project. We've been to Iggy's Sports Grill in Salt Lake City, and we're very pleased to find out that this class-act sports bar will be a short bus ride from our own front porch. Located outside the sacred and holy walls of the Salomon Center we suspect it'll be "a happening place" for sports and beer enthusiasts from all over the valley -- especially on Sundays -- when the Rec Center is closed for religious observances. We suspect the Irish pub joint has its possibilities too, although we're slightly puzzled about the whole concept of "Irish Cuisine." A Guinness and a potato, yes?
Whew!
Take it away, O Gentle Ones.
We find a virtual smorgasbord of discussion-worthy items in this morning's Standard-Examiner -- so many in fact that we hardly know where to start. Well what the hell... maybe we'll just start out here:
We received this wonderful missive in last night's email, along with this amusing pdf attachment:
I think this would make an interesting news item.Remember folks, Boss Godfrey is not only Emerald City's #1 screw up, but he also purportedly holds a WSU masters degree in... get this... PROFESSIONAL ACCOUNTING!
Mayoral candidate in charge of hundreds of millions can't add and subtract and fill out his own candidate form.
Dorothy Littrell
And speaking of basic incompetence, we would like to direct our readers' attention to a letter this morning, wherein one Godfreyite Standard-Examiner reader takes a unique approach to promoting Boss Godfrey's re-election. Putting the focus on the resumes of the top screw ups in Godfrey's A-team, Emerald City business newcomer Rufus Lohmueller sheds light on the job histories of some of the clowns who've been bungling Ogden City affairs since the very beginning of the Little Emperor's reign. Some of these guys have evidently been booted from jobs all over the globe. We're glad Mr. Lohmueller was kind enough to put the spotlight on this heretofore unknown information, although its effect (at least for us) probably wasn't exactly what the author intended.
In our ever-humble opinion, such a motley collection of job-hoppers has seldom been seen in any municipal government or corporation. When Godfrey is dethroned in January of '08, we'll all be able to breathe a sigh of relief, as this gang of itinerant nincompoops once again seeks new employment opportunities -- elsewhere.
And speaking of spotlights, we now segue into this morning's most articulate Deb Badger letter to the editor, wherein she advocates (what else?) "voting for officials who thrive in the light."
We particularly appreciated Ms. Badger's reference to that heart-warming day in January 2006, when Councilwoman Jeske handed out flashlights to her fellow council-members, symbolizing her hope that Ogden City government would henceforth "thrive in the light."
Ms. Badger does make a good case for the election of candidates Wicks and Van Hooser, by the way, although the same argument, we think, could also be applied to several other candidates as well.
We'll also zero in on Rosemary Hoffman's letter of this morning, wherein she accurately and succinctly draws a bead on the mayoral incumbent's bogus "Godfrey the Crime-fighter" theme. We do hope that this letter will penetrate the consciousness of Emerald City voters prior to the election. God knows the Standard-Examiner hasn't lifted a finger to enlighten its readership about the lies that Godfrey tells us. Hopefully, Rosemary's letter will help in that endeavor, at least with those readers who haven't had the advantage of reading this.
We got a couple of good chuckles reading this Godfreyite letter, wherein a very deluded Stephanie Moore starts out by making the absurd comparison of the methods of the little guy who can't even properly fill out his financial disclosure form, with those of American banking giant (and Ogden home-boy) Marriner Eccles. Then she inaccurately characterises Godfrey's reckless borrowing and spending as "managed debt." After that, Ms. Moore inexplicably launches into an odd manifesto-style rant, accusing Godfrey opponents of carrying "a black banner." We'll go easy on Ms. Moore for now however, and leave it to our gentle readers to rip her letter to shreds.
And last but not least, we were pleased to learn this morning that three new eateries will be arriving at The Junction project. We've been to Iggy's Sports Grill in Salt Lake City, and we're very pleased to find out that this class-act sports bar will be a short bus ride from our own front porch. Located outside the sacred and holy walls of the Salomon Center we suspect it'll be "a happening place" for sports and beer enthusiasts from all over the valley -- especially on Sundays -- when the Rec Center is closed for religious observances. We suspect the Irish pub joint has its possibilities too, although we're slightly puzzled about the whole concept of "Irish Cuisine." A Guinness and a potato, yes?
Whew!
Take it away, O Gentle Ones.
Monday, September 03, 2007
Four Monday Morning Hat-tips!
UPDATED: A trio of prominent local figures and one intrepid SL Trib reporter demonstrate they know how to use their noggins
Over the course of the past week, there have appeared several election news pieces in the northern Utah print media, consisting of relatively shallow overviews of 2007 mayoral and council candidates and their respective campaign platforms. All of these have been tangentially discussed in lower article comments. However we have previously chosen not to spotlight them, mainly because they came up "short" -- both in length and useful content. If our gentle readers would nevertheless like to peruse these articles, we've made them available in our "Elections Module" in the right sidebar.
This morning however, the Salt Lake Tribune's Kristen Moulton offers us an article with a little more reportorial depth. This morning's report, offering a more fleshed-out view of our 2007 mayoral candidates than in previous articles, goes beyond mere press-release journalism, and actually provides Kristen's own canny and independent analysis.
Among other things, Ms. Moulton implicitly rejects Boss Godfrey's recent claims that his policies have "reduced Ogden City's overall crime rate by 23%, and violent crime by 43%." We thus incorporate below the pertinent parts of Ms. Moulton's text concerning this topic, for our ever-gentle readers' attention:
Ms. Moulton also makes note that the reduced crime rate which is manifest in Ogden, during the course of Boss Godfrey's mayoral tenure, is nothing particularly remarkable, inasmuch it reflects the same decline in crime rate which has been documented all across the entire Beehive State.
The balance of the article is likewise informative as to the other mayoral candidates, and is the first news article during the 2007 election season which in any way differentiates the "pack" of Emerald City mayoral challengers and their views. It's an interesting article, we think; and we thus recommend that our election-minded readers take a close look.
As a second matter of business, we would like to highlight two Standard-Examiner letters to the editor which appeared during the past several days, but which got crowded off the WCF front page due to other competing news and information. In this connection we refer to yesterday's letter by David Smith, and Saturday's letter by Tom Owens.
Each of these letters is a cogent and rational response to earlier letters by Godfreyites Thomas, Cameron, and Justin, three hopelessly-deluded (but entertaining and lovable) Godfrey lemmings who apparently compared notes and concluded that Ogden City is not actually a mid-sized Wasatch Front city at all, but rather a giant corporate megalith, which can only be successfully managed by by a political tyrant whose most recent previous long-term paying gigs were Ogden City slumlord and pizza delivery boy.
Three Weber County Forum Tips O' the Hat go out this morning -- to Kristen Moulton, David Smith and Tom Owens -- three dedicated local folks with obviously well-functioning gray-matter.
And stand by, gentle readers. We expect more fine number crunching on the "Godfrey the Crimefighter" topic from gentle monotreme in the early days to come.
Update 9/3/07 1:54 p.m. MT: It has come to our belated attention that we failed to spot a third letter appearing in the August 31 Std-Ex edition. A special Hat Tip to Ogden's Dorothy Littrell for yet another editorial page appearance. We swear that after Boss Godfrey is kicked to the curb in January 2008, Dorothy deserves her own ticker-tape parade for all her many contributions to honest and citizen-friendly government!
Keep those mails rolling in to Don Porter. The pre-primary letter deadline is September 4.
Over the course of the past week, there have appeared several election news pieces in the northern Utah print media, consisting of relatively shallow overviews of 2007 mayoral and council candidates and their respective campaign platforms. All of these have been tangentially discussed in lower article comments. However we have previously chosen not to spotlight them, mainly because they came up "short" -- both in length and useful content. If our gentle readers would nevertheless like to peruse these articles, we've made them available in our "Elections Module" in the right sidebar.
This morning however, the Salt Lake Tribune's Kristen Moulton offers us an article with a little more reportorial depth. This morning's report, offering a more fleshed-out view of our 2007 mayoral candidates than in previous articles, goes beyond mere press-release journalism, and actually provides Kristen's own canny and independent analysis.
Among other things, Ms. Moulton implicitly rejects Boss Godfrey's recent claims that his policies have "reduced Ogden City's overall crime rate by 23%, and violent crime by 43%." We thus incorporate below the pertinent parts of Ms. Moulton's text concerning this topic, for our ever-gentle readers' attention:
Matthew GodfreyIt is our understanding that Ms. Moulton received last week a press release transmitted from Boss Godfrey's campaign office, touting the unsubstantiated figures which have appeared on Godfrey's campaign website, and in Thursday's Standard Examiner. Notably Ms. Moulton apparently rejected the suspiciously "outlying" figures presented by Boss Godfrey, and instead did her own calculations, relying on statistical data contained in the FBI's usually-reliable Uniform Crime Reports. And equally notably, we find that Ms. Moulton's calculations reveal disparity in Godfrey's figures even more striking than those presented by gentle reader Monotreme in two earlier articles previously published here and here on this very blog.
Godfrey said the fruits of his eight years in office are becoming more evident - safer neighborhoods, more jobs and a revitalizing downtown - and voters can expect more good news if he's re-elected.
Eighteen police officers have been added, and it's having an effect on crime, Godfrey said.
Ogden's total crime dropped 12.8 percent and violent crime dropped 5.1 percent between the two six-year periods of 1994-1999 (before Godfrey took office) and 2000-2005 (the six years after), paralleling a trend in the rest of the state, according to the FBI's Uniform Crime Report.
Ms. Moulton also makes note that the reduced crime rate which is manifest in Ogden, during the course of Boss Godfrey's mayoral tenure, is nothing particularly remarkable, inasmuch it reflects the same decline in crime rate which has been documented all across the entire Beehive State.
The balance of the article is likewise informative as to the other mayoral candidates, and is the first news article during the 2007 election season which in any way differentiates the "pack" of Emerald City mayoral challengers and their views. It's an interesting article, we think; and we thus recommend that our election-minded readers take a close look.
As a second matter of business, we would like to highlight two Standard-Examiner letters to the editor which appeared during the past several days, but which got crowded off the WCF front page due to other competing news and information. In this connection we refer to yesterday's letter by David Smith, and Saturday's letter by Tom Owens.
Each of these letters is a cogent and rational response to earlier letters by Godfreyites Thomas, Cameron, and Justin, three hopelessly-deluded (but entertaining and lovable) Godfrey lemmings who apparently compared notes and concluded that Ogden City is not actually a mid-sized Wasatch Front city at all, but rather a giant corporate megalith, which can only be successfully managed by by a political tyrant whose most recent previous long-term paying gigs were Ogden City slumlord and pizza delivery boy.
Three Weber County Forum Tips O' the Hat go out this morning -- to Kristen Moulton, David Smith and Tom Owens -- three dedicated local folks with obviously well-functioning gray-matter.
And stand by, gentle readers. We expect more fine number crunching on the "Godfrey the Crimefighter" topic from gentle monotreme in the early days to come.
Update 9/3/07 1:54 p.m. MT: It has come to our belated attention that we failed to spot a third letter appearing in the August 31 Std-Ex edition. A special Hat Tip to Ogden's Dorothy Littrell for yet another editorial page appearance. We swear that after Boss Godfrey is kicked to the curb in January 2008, Dorothy deserves her own ticker-tape parade for all her many contributions to honest and citizen-friendly government!
Keep those mails rolling in to Don Porter. The pre-primary letter deadline is September 4.
Friday, June 29, 2007
A Heads-up for Emerald City Citizens
Per WAPO: "Embezzler Offers Ex-Bosses Some Advice"
The Associated Press
Thursday, June 28, 2007; 11:51 PM
Query?
Is anybody with a brain (other than Dorothy Littrell and us) watching the Boss Godfrey store?
Does anybody remember Arthur Anderson, Inc.?
"Think straight, talk straight" was Arthur Anderson's earlier, pre-Enron motto, before they became the embarrassment of the accountancy trade.
SGS & Co.'s recent motto seems to be: "No Comment."
Food for thought?
The Associated Press
Thursday, June 28, 2007; 11:51 PM
OGDEN, Utah -- A secretary who embezzled $1.12 million from a school foundation has advice for her former bosses: Hey, get better auditors.Not surprisingly, Schmitt Griffiths Smith is the same company that audits Emerald City, BTW!
Denise Aughney said her crimes would have been discovered years ago if someone would have looked closer. She pleaded guilty in April to theft, money laundering and forgery and was sent to prison June 7.
In an April 28 letter to the Weber School District, Aughney wrote: "I would hope that some things have changed and new policies are in place, that this is not so easily done again."
If auditors "had done their job this could have been caught during any of the seven years. I never changed any information during an audit to hide my crimes," she said in the letter, obtained by The Salt Lake Tribune.
Aughney took trips to Las Vegas, Disneyland and Hawaii and purchased a Camaro and a Waverunner, among other items. She wrote checks from the Weber School Foundation to cover credit card bills.
Schmitt Griffiths Smith & Co., the firm that had conducted audits for the district, declined to comment."
Query?
Is anybody with a brain (other than Dorothy Littrell and us) watching the Boss Godfrey store?
Does anybody remember Arthur Anderson, Inc.?
"Think straight, talk straight" was Arthur Anderson's earlier, pre-Enron motto, before they became the embarrassment of the accountancy trade.
SGS & Co.'s recent motto seems to be: "No Comment."
Food for thought?
Saturday, June 23, 2007
Dueling CPAs
Dorothy Littrell throws down the gauntlet to a fellow CPA
Back on May 3 of this year, we started off a discussion with an article reporting about the departure from the Godfrey administration of Boss Godfrey's financial guru, Scott Brown.
As discussions are wont to do on this blog, the conversation meandered a wee little bit; and in no time at all our readers were talking about the mountain of public debt which Boss Godfrey has accumulated during his seven-year mayoral tenure. Our reader interest in this topic had been sparked by a Standard-Examiner article published one day earlier, wherein Boss Godfrey had gleefully announced a 9-year plan to pay down Emerald City's "$20 million debt".
Midway through the article comments, one of our helpful and attentive readers sent us a pdf file, entitled Ogden City Comprehensive Annual Financial Report Year Ended June 30, 2006, reporting on Emerald City's audited financial condition as of mid-2006.
We promptly uploaded it to our storage site and linked it in the comments thread, and further reader discussion ensued. Most of us were quite shocked, when we learned -- right there on page 124 of the budget document -- that the lumpentaxpayers were on the hook for at least $93 million in municipal debt, rather than the $20 million which ever-truthful Dear Leader had mentioned only one day earlier. These higher 2006 figures of course did not reflect the cost of the Junction project. We haven't received the final bill for that boondoggle yet.
Shortly thereafter, David Smith, one of our more articulate and conscientious WCF readers, "went public" with this disturbing and dissonant information, in this letter, which appeared in the May 13 Std-Ex edition.
And a little over a month later, the Std-Ex published this stern Boss Godfrey administration retort, penned by none other than Emerald City Financial Manager (and CPA) John Arrington, saying to the good people of our fair city, in essence, that "David Smith doesn't know what he's talking about." "RDA debt really isn't really city debt," Mr. Arrington said (presumably with a completely straight face.)
For those readers who are wondering why we're doing a re-hash of this series of events, we just wanted to refresh your recollections and bring everybody up to speed.
And in this connection we now link the latest letter in this revealing series of correspondence, which appeared this morning in the Std-Ex letters section. Our own gentle reader Dorothy Littrell throws down the gauntlet to her CPA colleague in today's letter; and we provide a short "teaser" excerpt below:
Editor's special sub-topic note: There's been some discussion in previous threads about the Std-Ex editors' propensity to unilaterally edit readers' submitted letters. We talked to Ms. Littrell earlier this morning; and she's definitely "steamed" that the Std-Ex chopped the "meat" out of her originally-submitted letter. At the request of Ms. Littrell, we publish the full text of Ms. Littrell's letter, in its originally-submitted form.
We'll let our gentle readers be the judges. Did the Std-Ex editors substantially alter the meaning of Ms. Littrell's letter?
What about it, gentle readers?
Back on May 3 of this year, we started off a discussion with an article reporting about the departure from the Godfrey administration of Boss Godfrey's financial guru, Scott Brown.
As discussions are wont to do on this blog, the conversation meandered a wee little bit; and in no time at all our readers were talking about the mountain of public debt which Boss Godfrey has accumulated during his seven-year mayoral tenure. Our reader interest in this topic had been sparked by a Standard-Examiner article published one day earlier, wherein Boss Godfrey had gleefully announced a 9-year plan to pay down Emerald City's "$20 million debt".
Midway through the article comments, one of our helpful and attentive readers sent us a pdf file, entitled Ogden City Comprehensive Annual Financial Report Year Ended June 30, 2006, reporting on Emerald City's audited financial condition as of mid-2006.
We promptly uploaded it to our storage site and linked it in the comments thread, and further reader discussion ensued. Most of us were quite shocked, when we learned -- right there on page 124 of the budget document -- that the lumpentaxpayers were on the hook for at least $93 million in municipal debt, rather than the $20 million which ever-truthful Dear Leader had mentioned only one day earlier. These higher 2006 figures of course did not reflect the cost of the Junction project. We haven't received the final bill for that boondoggle yet.
Shortly thereafter, David Smith, one of our more articulate and conscientious WCF readers, "went public" with this disturbing and dissonant information, in this letter, which appeared in the May 13 Std-Ex edition.
And a little over a month later, the Std-Ex published this stern Boss Godfrey administration retort, penned by none other than Emerald City Financial Manager (and CPA) John Arrington, saying to the good people of our fair city, in essence, that "David Smith doesn't know what he's talking about." "RDA debt really isn't really city debt," Mr. Arrington said (presumably with a completely straight face.)
For those readers who are wondering why we're doing a re-hash of this series of events, we just wanted to refresh your recollections and bring everybody up to speed.
And in this connection we now link the latest letter in this revealing series of correspondence, which appeared this morning in the Std-Ex letters section. Our own gentle reader Dorothy Littrell throws down the gauntlet to her CPA colleague in today's letter; and we provide a short "teaser" excerpt below:
I call his attention to page 50 of the last Ogden City Independent Auditors’ Report as of June 30, 2006 which states:We at Weber County Forum await Mr. Arrington's anticipated public response with abated breath. We love to watch professionals "duking it out," whilst dressed in expensive worsted-woolen suits.
"The accompanying financial statements include all activities of the City and Ogden Redevelopment Agency (RDA).
The RDA was included because the separate governing bodies of both entities are comprised of the same individuals and the City is financially accountable for the RDA."
I challenge him to restate his comments in another Letter with full disclosure of all current Ogden City debt whether General Obligation debt, RDA debt, Lease Revenue Bonds, Tax Increment Revenue Bonds, Special Assessment Bonds, Section 108 debt, Enterprise Fund Revenue Bonds, Defeased Bonds or Lines-of-Credit which totalled $91 million plus as of last June 30th.
I suggest that Ogden City officials read page 50 of the Audit Report signed by Schmitt, Griffiths, Smith & Co. on November 27, 2006 so they will quit insisting that RDA debt is not Ogden taxpayers’ debt."
Editor's special sub-topic note: There's been some discussion in previous threads about the Std-Ex editors' propensity to unilaterally edit readers' submitted letters. We talked to Ms. Littrell earlier this morning; and she's definitely "steamed" that the Std-Ex chopped the "meat" out of her originally-submitted letter. At the request of Ms. Littrell, we publish the full text of Ms. Littrell's letter, in its originally-submitted form.
We'll let our gentle readers be the judges. Did the Std-Ex editors substantially alter the meaning of Ms. Littrell's letter?
What about it, gentle readers?
Sunday, June 10, 2007
American Government 101 Primer
A free remedial tutorial on the subjects of Civics, Ethics and Logic
By Curmudgeon
Did Bob Geiger, head of Lift Ogden and vocal supporter of the Godfrey administration, cut too many classes in Civics 101? Sadly, that seems to be so, based on the remarkable letter he wrote to the Standard Examiner and which appears in Sunday's paper.
Mr. Geiger is unhappy because Ms. D. Littrell has raised questions about whether Ogden complied with the terms of a $900K development grant it got from the state to convert the American Can building into a High Tech business incubator and educational facility. Ms. Littrell thinks Ogden did not comply and should have to return the money to the state. "Why", Mr. Geiger asks, "would a local resident want to reject nearly $1 million in state funds for our city?"
OK, Mr. Geiger, get out your pencil, listen carefully and take notes this time. There are several points involving basic civics that you should have picked up in high school, and certainly in college, or even along the way as you became a citizen activist yourself.
(a) The grant to Ogden was state money, raised by taxes. If there is a question about whether the money was improperly obtained or used, then any resident of the state is fully entitled to ask those questions. If I discovered that, say, Provo got a million dollar state grant to improve traffic safety in the city and instead used the money to build a public skating rink and marriage gazebo in a downtown park, I'd be pounding out letters to the AG and my state representatives pretty quick. The fact that this particular grant benefited Ogden is not a sound reason to ignore how the grant was used if you suspect it was used improperly. "It may have been improper, but it benefited us so asking questions about it is unwarranted" is hardly a standard of public ethics I'd want to prevail statewide. Nor, Mr. Geiger, would you if you put you partisanship aside for a moment and thought about it.
(b) There is absolutely nothing wrong with a citizen, in this case Ms. Littrell, asking questions about whether the city used a state grant properly. Citizens are supposed to keep an eye on what their government does and to ask questions about government conduct. Yes, truly, Bob. That's what citizens are supposed to do. [Civics 101 yet again.]
So, Ms. Littrell raised a question about the city's use of the money. The agency that gave the city the money then quite properly took her question seriously and investigated the matter. [That's what government entities are supposed to do, Bob, when citizens have questions. Really it is. You could look it up.] The governor's office of economic development then passed what it turned up on to the Attorney General and asked for an opinion about the matter, which he rendered. Damned if I can find anything wrong in that process, Bob... except of course for your apparent belief that Ms. Littrell should not be asking questions about Godfrey administration actions because... well, apparently because she had the temerity to ask questions about policies you liked. But that's they way things are in a democracy, Bob. Americans have a long tradition, reaching back to the 1760s of being, occasionally, downright uppity with respect to their governors, and asking questions, sometimes embarrassing questions, and demanding answers to them. Sorry you'd apparently prefer us to be a nation of sheep, but that's not the way democracy has worked, as a rule, here in the USA. Get used to it.
(c) In his letter, Mr. Geiger identifies a Mr. Tom Owens as "a local obstructionist." Mr. Geiger explains that one of the things that makes Mr. Owens "an obstructionist" is that he "placed a bid on the Bootjack LLC property" which the city sold instead to Godfrey crony Mr. Chris Peterson. Of course, what Mr. Geiger left out of his letter is the fact that Mr. Owen's bid for the property was $30,000 more than Mr. Peterson offered for the property. Mr. Geiger also does not tell his readers that the city sold the land to the Mayor's crony for $30K less than Mr. Owens offered for it. If Mr. Geiger really thinks offering more for city land when it's put up for sale than a politician's crony offers for it constitutes obstructing Ogden's progress, then all I can say is, next time Ogden puts up public property for sale, I hope we get several, in fact dozens, of "obstructionists" offering more for the land than the Mayor's cronies are offering. We should be so lucky.
Finally, Mr. Geiger goes off on a "guilt by association" rant, claiming that Mr. Owens and Ms. Sharon Beech and Mr. Dan Schroeder have said nice things about Dorothy Littrell and [he claims] have "trivialized" Amer Sports decision to move to Ogden. He notes that all appear as supporters of Smart Growth Ogden, and that it's sad that [by implication] SGO is involved in "trivializing Amer Sports as a precursor to cheering the rejection of a $900,000 investment in Ogden."
I wouldn't presume to answer for Mr. Owens, Mr. Schroeder, Ms. Littrell or Ms. Beech, all of whom are fully capable of defending their views. Nor am I authorized to speak for SGO. But I would note that I've been a strong supporter of SGO from its inception, I continue to work with the group now, and to my knowledge, SGO has issued no statement "trivializing" Amer Sports coming to Ogden, nor has it taken a stand on the $900 grant Mr. Littrell asked questions about.
Which leaves Mr. Geiger arguing this: that SGO must approve of everything Ms. Littrell or Mr. Owens or Mr. Schroeder or Ms. Beech does or says on any public matter because they all support SGO on the issues it advocates. SGO defends its views on issues on which it has taken a stand. But to ask it to be responsible for statements it has not made on issues it has not addressed seems more than a little unreasonable. I'm sure Mr. Geiger would find it unreasonable if people insisted he defend statements he had not made on issues he had not addressed.
But just for fun, let's apply Mr. Geiger's logic [politely so called] to his own views. Mr. Geiger apparently thinks it is wrong for a citizen to offer more for city land up for sale than the Mayor's cronies offer for that land, that doing so is "obstructionist." Mr. Geiger is, I'm informed, a veteran of the Marine Corps. From which we can conclude, using his reasoning, that all Marine Corps veterans support selling public land to politicians' cronies for less than others would offer for that land, because Mr. Geiger is a Corps veteran and that's what he thinks.
For the sake of elevating public discussion in the city of Ogden, I strongly suggest Mr. Geiger find a little time to take a basic American government course at WSU. The political science department offers them fairly frequently. If Mr. Geiger wants to apply for a grant to pay his tuition for the course, I'll happily write in support of that. I'd consider it my civic duty.
By Curmudgeon
Did Bob Geiger, head of Lift Ogden and vocal supporter of the Godfrey administration, cut too many classes in Civics 101? Sadly, that seems to be so, based on the remarkable letter he wrote to the Standard Examiner and which appears in Sunday's paper.
Mr. Geiger is unhappy because Ms. D. Littrell has raised questions about whether Ogden complied with the terms of a $900K development grant it got from the state to convert the American Can building into a High Tech business incubator and educational facility. Ms. Littrell thinks Ogden did not comply and should have to return the money to the state. "Why", Mr. Geiger asks, "would a local resident want to reject nearly $1 million in state funds for our city?"
OK, Mr. Geiger, get out your pencil, listen carefully and take notes this time. There are several points involving basic civics that you should have picked up in high school, and certainly in college, or even along the way as you became a citizen activist yourself.
(a) The grant to Ogden was state money, raised by taxes. If there is a question about whether the money was improperly obtained or used, then any resident of the state is fully entitled to ask those questions. If I discovered that, say, Provo got a million dollar state grant to improve traffic safety in the city and instead used the money to build a public skating rink and marriage gazebo in a downtown park, I'd be pounding out letters to the AG and my state representatives pretty quick. The fact that this particular grant benefited Ogden is not a sound reason to ignore how the grant was used if you suspect it was used improperly. "It may have been improper, but it benefited us so asking questions about it is unwarranted" is hardly a standard of public ethics I'd want to prevail statewide. Nor, Mr. Geiger, would you if you put you partisanship aside for a moment and thought about it.
(b) There is absolutely nothing wrong with a citizen, in this case Ms. Littrell, asking questions about whether the city used a state grant properly. Citizens are supposed to keep an eye on what their government does and to ask questions about government conduct. Yes, truly, Bob. That's what citizens are supposed to do. [Civics 101 yet again.]
So, Ms. Littrell raised a question about the city's use of the money. The agency that gave the city the money then quite properly took her question seriously and investigated the matter. [That's what government entities are supposed to do, Bob, when citizens have questions. Really it is. You could look it up.] The governor's office of economic development then passed what it turned up on to the Attorney General and asked for an opinion about the matter, which he rendered. Damned if I can find anything wrong in that process, Bob... except of course for your apparent belief that Ms. Littrell should not be asking questions about Godfrey administration actions because... well, apparently because she had the temerity to ask questions about policies you liked. But that's they way things are in a democracy, Bob. Americans have a long tradition, reaching back to the 1760s of being, occasionally, downright uppity with respect to their governors, and asking questions, sometimes embarrassing questions, and demanding answers to them. Sorry you'd apparently prefer us to be a nation of sheep, but that's not the way democracy has worked, as a rule, here in the USA. Get used to it.
(c) In his letter, Mr. Geiger identifies a Mr. Tom Owens as "a local obstructionist." Mr. Geiger explains that one of the things that makes Mr. Owens "an obstructionist" is that he "placed a bid on the Bootjack LLC property" which the city sold instead to Godfrey crony Mr. Chris Peterson. Of course, what Mr. Geiger left out of his letter is the fact that Mr. Owen's bid for the property was $30,000 more than Mr. Peterson offered for the property. Mr. Geiger also does not tell his readers that the city sold the land to the Mayor's crony for $30K less than Mr. Owens offered for it. If Mr. Geiger really thinks offering more for city land when it's put up for sale than a politician's crony offers for it constitutes obstructing Ogden's progress, then all I can say is, next time Ogden puts up public property for sale, I hope we get several, in fact dozens, of "obstructionists" offering more for the land than the Mayor's cronies are offering. We should be so lucky.
Finally, Mr. Geiger goes off on a "guilt by association" rant, claiming that Mr. Owens and Ms. Sharon Beech and Mr. Dan Schroeder have said nice things about Dorothy Littrell and [he claims] have "trivialized" Amer Sports decision to move to Ogden. He notes that all appear as supporters of Smart Growth Ogden, and that it's sad that [by implication] SGO is involved in "trivializing Amer Sports as a precursor to cheering the rejection of a $900,000 investment in Ogden."
I wouldn't presume to answer for Mr. Owens, Mr. Schroeder, Ms. Littrell or Ms. Beech, all of whom are fully capable of defending their views. Nor am I authorized to speak for SGO. But I would note that I've been a strong supporter of SGO from its inception, I continue to work with the group now, and to my knowledge, SGO has issued no statement "trivializing" Amer Sports coming to Ogden, nor has it taken a stand on the $900 grant Mr. Littrell asked questions about.
Which leaves Mr. Geiger arguing this: that SGO must approve of everything Ms. Littrell or Mr. Owens or Mr. Schroeder or Ms. Beech does or says on any public matter because they all support SGO on the issues it advocates. SGO defends its views on issues on which it has taken a stand. But to ask it to be responsible for statements it has not made on issues it has not addressed seems more than a little unreasonable. I'm sure Mr. Geiger would find it unreasonable if people insisted he defend statements he had not made on issues he had not addressed.
But just for fun, let's apply Mr. Geiger's logic [politely so called] to his own views. Mr. Geiger apparently thinks it is wrong for a citizen to offer more for city land up for sale than the Mayor's cronies offer for that land, that doing so is "obstructionist." Mr. Geiger is, I'm informed, a veteran of the Marine Corps. From which we can conclude, using his reasoning, that all Marine Corps veterans support selling public land to politicians' cronies for less than others would offer for that land, because Mr. Geiger is a Corps veteran and that's what he thinks.
For the sake of elevating public discussion in the city of Ogden, I strongly suggest Mr. Geiger find a little time to take a basic American government course at WSU. The political science department offers them fairly frequently. If Mr. Geiger wants to apply for a grant to pay his tuition for the course, I'll happily write in support of that. I'd consider it my civic duty.
Saturday, June 09, 2007
Mark Shurtleff -- Dead Wrong Again
Hey, nobody's perfect, right?
We find a couple of stories of particular interest in this morning's Standard-Examiner:
First, Boss Godfrey's American Can/Governor's Office of Economic Development grant is front page news again this morning, under a right column headline "Ogden's use of $900 of $900 thousand grant OK'd.":
We think gentle reader Ozboy got it "spot on" in his May 30 comment:
In yet another morning story dealing with yet another Attorney General opinion, the Standard-Examiner reveals (surprise of surprises) that A.G. Shurtliff was also dead-wrong on the law regarding the legislature's two twin voucher bills:
We find a couple of stories of particular interest in this morning's Standard-Examiner:
First, Boss Godfrey's American Can/Governor's Office of Economic Development grant is front page news again this morning, under a right column headline "Ogden's use of $900 of $900 thousand grant OK'd.":
OGDEN — The city hasn’t violated the terms of a $900,000 state grant used to purchase the former American Can Co. and shouldn’t be forced to repay the money, according to an opinion from the Utah Attorney General’s Office.It comes as no great surprise of course, to those of us who have been following this story, that Attorney General Shurtleff's office would provide Boss Godfrey with political cover in this politically-prickly matter. Above all else, the Emerald City political wonks who read Weber County Forum are keenly aware of certain "political realities."
The city has attempted to comply with the grant contract even though a provision requiring the American Can facility to become a "high-tech center" hasn’t materialized, Assistant Attorney General William C. Loos said in a four-page written opinion released Friday to the Standard-Examiner.
"It seems that they made a good-faith effort to develop a high-tech center and simply ran into some problems," he said.
We think gentle reader Ozboy got it "spot on" in his May 30 comment:
"The Governor, Republican that he is, is not going to go against and embarrass the Little Lord (also a Republican as Curmudgeon is fond of pointing out) in the months leading up to the election.And gloating in his high-chair on the municipal building ninth floor, Boss Godfrey could not resist dropping in yet another snarky comment, which left us more than slightly puzzled:
The governor may or may not like Godfrey, but he is not going to hang him out to dry - ever - for any reason. That is not how it works in Republican and LDS land. Remember, we do not criticize leaders, even if it's true."
Mayor Matthew Godfrey said he isn’t surprised by Loos's opinion and hopes it ends a strong message to Littrell.We're not sure which "group" Dear Leader" is alluding to here. In our experience nobody acts with more political independence than Dorothy Littrell. Dorothy Littrell -- the member of a group? Take it from us, Boss Godfrey. Dorothy Littrell doesn't do groups.
"I hope Dorothy Littrell and her group (sic) will stop fighting Ogden’s progress," he said.
In yet another morning story dealing with yet another Attorney General opinion, the Standard-Examiner reveals (surprise of surprises) that A.G. Shurtliff was also dead-wrong on the law regarding the legislature's two twin voucher bills:
The referenced confusion, of course, resulted from an earlier Attorney General opinion, which said that the two bills were independant and free-standing. Yesterday's Supreme court decision pretty well makes mince-meat of our neoCON AG's reasoning and rationale re the voucher situation. We think one Utah Legislator/blogger hit the nail squarely on the head in his article of yesterday:SALT LAKE CITY — Utah’s voters will get to decide the fate of school vouchers, the state’s highest court decided Friday.
The court, in a 4-0 decision, said the November referendum language will not be changed and that the creation of a voucher program will depend entirely on the outcome of the vote.
Before the decision, confusion existed as to whether the referendum could really repeal the voucher program because the referendum addressed only one of two bills that created the program.
"Should (House Bill) 148 be rejected by the voters … (House Bill) 174 would be without meaning," Associate Chief Justice Michael J. Wilkins read from the court’s findings Friday before a large crowd at the Matheson Courthouse.
The biggest loser in this chapter seems to be Attorney General Mark Shurtleff whose legal analysis (and political instincts??) appears to have been dead wrong. I guess Carol Lear and Jean Hill got it right. Instead of trying to fire them maybe he should listen to them. Note to State Board of Education: Keep taking your counsel from your long-time attorneys and ignore the Big Bully. The Supremes have got their (and your) back. I have a hunch a majority of Utah voters will too.Ah yes! a reference to the voters; an allusion to the ballot box. That reminds us that there's a municipal election in November.
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