Veteran's Day Parade Tomorrow A.M.

Join your blogmeister tomorrow in downtown Ogden to thank our U.S. military veterans, reservists and active-duty troops for their service to our country

Although we've been hog-tied with personal business for most of the day, there's one more immediately upcoming local event we'd like to spotlight this evening, before it's too late.

In that connection, the Standard-Examiner published a heads-up article this morning, highlighting tomorrow's Ogden City Veteran's Day Parade, which begins its march through the streets of downtown Ogden around 11:00 a.m.. For details, SE journalistic legend Charlie Trentelman provides this most excellent writeup:

• Patriotic parade steps off Saturday

We've attended this parade every year since its inception on November 6, 2006, when the original parade route proceeded east on Ogden's Historic 25th Street, then north on Washington Boulevard, and then west on 24th Street, and then south again to Ogden's Lindquist Park. We published an article memorializing that event and we have the pictures to prove it.

For unknown reasons, the Boss Godfrey administration has now designated a route through Ogden backstreets which completely avoids the traditional heart of our city. Perhaps for subconscious reasons Boss Godfrey wants to again remind parade attendees of his most conspicuous financial failure -- The Junction -- inasmuch as tomorrow's parade route essentially wraps around that grand monument to mayoral hubris and stupidity.

We'll be standing along the parade route tomorrow nevertheless.... tiny digital camera in hand. If you spot a fairly large teary-eyed powerlifter-type draped in a giant Hawaiian shirt, standing along the parade route and occasionally snapping a crisp U.S. Army-style military salute, be sure to step up and say hello; odds are that'll most likely be your blogmeister.

Let's all also step up and support our active troops, reservists and veterans tomorrow. They've sacrificed and continued to sacrifice so much... and they've done it and continue to do it for all of us.

Powder Mountain Update: Fundraiser Scheduled For Next Friday Night @ Union Station

Fundraiser: Music, dinner and melodrama

During the past two months we've maintained our lazer focus on Ogden City politics, and the 2009 Ogden City Municpal Election in particular. Over that time however we've unfortunately neglected another topic near and dear to hearts, the still-ongoing Powder Mountain Township legal standoff. Although the court case is still languishing in the appeals process, there is one upcoming event about which we'd like to alert our readers. Specifically, the brave Powdervillians, that valiant group of Ogden Valley Citizens who are financing this litigation, which is aimed at freeing these folk from the oppressive thumb of the Powder Mountain Developer's company township, have scheduled a fundraising event at Ogden's Union Station for the evening of Friday, November 13. Check out the Ogden Valley Forum blog for further details. (Click image to enlarge):

• Fund Raiser Reminder!

We've also spoken this morning with Chelse Maughan, one of the event's contact people listed within the above OVF article. She informs us that the event will also include 6:00 p.m. social hour, a silent auction, and a melodrama performance for which a group of dedicated performers have been feverishly rehearsing for the past several months. And when you read the word "melodrama," by the way folks, take our word that this won't be your great grandpappy's silent film melodrama, although we will predict a similar theme and thrilling plot tension. This one will be humorously and specifically geared toward the situation in Ogden Valley instead, with the above mentioned caveats. Dinner will be catered by Union Grill/Roosters btw (yum), and tickets are on sale for a bargain price of $100 apiece.

Weber County Forum readers demonstrated considerable generosity during the Powdervillians' last fundraising drive, and we encourage WCF readers who'd like to pitch in on this latest effort to contact Ms. Maughan via the contact information furnished on the OVF blogsite.

We regret our tardiness in reporting this event. Call it a case of Ogden City elections tunnel vision. We do hope however that at least a few of our readers will still add this event to next week's calender. And if you can't make this event, how about arranging to send a few dollars to Ms. Maughan anyway? Emerald City Lumpencitzens aren't the only Weber County residents fighting like badgers against insatiable developer greed:


Perhaps it's again time for our always-generous WCF readers to offer our besieged neighbors to the east a further helping hand.

Update 11/16/09 7:56 a.m.: Be sure to check out Kimball Wheatley's post-event report:

• Ogden Valley Powderville Fundraiser is a resounding success!

Thursday Morning Open Topic Thread

A couple of non-red meat items to kick off the day's discussion

There's not much in the way of "red meat" news in Emerald City this morning, so we thought it might be a good idea to set up an open topic thread. But first, here are a couple of "white meat" items worthy of note, hopefully to get some reader discussion going:

1) Gentle reader OgdenLover helpfully shines the spotlight on Kevin Baumgartner's online letter to the Standard-Examiner editors in a comment section down below, wherein Mr. Baumgartner calls upon Boss Godfrey "to make room for new volunteers, fresh ideas, and give everyone an opportunity to serve our community..." and to tender his resignation... as Godfrey enters his tenth year of "service" to our community:

• Mayor Godfrey has been here a long time

What's good for the goose is good for the gander... right? Still... we guess that we're not going to hold our breath for a man like Godfrey -- a man of highly questionable public morals and ethics -- to abide by his own self-professed principles, such as they are.

2) For those who aren't thoroughly burned out on discussion of our 2009 Emerald City election, this morning's Standard-Examiner focuses of one remaining loose end, the Ward 1 Council race. With 18 votes separating incumbent councilman Garcia and the interim top vote getter Neil Garner, this item was the headline story in the top of the "Top of Utah Section" this morning:

• Garcia not ready to concede

We can't say we blame Garcia for his unwillingness to summarily throw in the towel. With 12 ballots still uncounted, a mere 8 more votes would force a complete recount in that Ward. And judging from the comedy of errors reportedly occurring in the Weber County election office counting room on Wednesday morning, a full recount, both on general principles, and under the particular circumstances, looks like a complete "no-brainer" to us.

In this connection a couple of tangential practical questions leap out at us:

For instance, how long would it take and how much would it cost to employ, say three human beings, to do a manual recount of 741 Ward 1 votes?

And here's something to ponder, we think: Have we as a society become over-reliant on machines? With a reported $60 thousand fee to machine-count 6,000 or so ballots for the full election, did the citizens of Ogden even come close to getting their money's worth? We're betting we could have hired May Smith's fourth grade class to have done the whole job for as little as a dime per ballot.

The obvious answers to our queries also leap out at us.

Discuss the above suggested topics, or bring up a subject all your own. It matters not what we discuss here on Weber County Forum for the rest of the day, but for heck's sake, let's get on-board and discuss something.

The near dead silence on this morning's board is getting on our nerves, dang it!

The Deseret News Kickstarts a New Discussion About Two Citizens' Initiative Petitions Which Are Well Worthy of Your Attention

Arrange to affix you signatures to the Utahns for Ethical Government and Fair Boundaries Redistricting Initiative Petitions via the contact information listed below:

The Deseret News carries a good editorial this morning, once again touting the Utahns for Ethical Government (UEG) citizen legislative ethics initiative petition drive, which we've been promoting here on Weber County Forum for the past few months. Lois M. Collins's lead paragraphs provide the gist:

It doesn't matter whether the debate is taking place online in the comments accompanying a news story or in a debate at the University of Utah's Hinckley Institute of Politics.
When the topic under discussion is an initiative that would reform ethics rules for the Utah Legislature, both sides throw off heat and passion.
The initiative, a 21-page handbook of behavior being put forth by a group called Utahns for Ethical Government — which includes some former lawmakers among its ranks — has opponents saying that it goes too far and pries too deeply into lawmakers' business.
The group, which hopes to gather enough signatures to put the measure to voters in the 2010 election cycle, counters most of the criticisms at Utahethics.org, where you can also read the proposal for yourself. I hope people will do precisely that.

For the benefit of those WCF readers who've not yet signed the petition, here are the the two centrally-situated Ogden locations where you can sign a petition:

Joyce Wilson (Weber County)
979 27th
Ogden, UT
801-941-1613

Ogden-Weber UniServ (Weber County)
939 25th St
Ogden, UT 84401
801-399-3746

During our last discussion of this topic, by the way, several of our readers brought up the subject of the Fair Boundaries Redistricting Initiative, another separate grass-roots-oriented citizen effort designed to set up a fair and independent redistricting commission and eliminate an obvious conflict of interest: elected officials drawing their own gerrymandered voting districts. In that connection we'll take this opportunity to broaden the discussion, and direct our readers to the fairboundaries.org website, where a wealth of information about this second citizen's initiative is available. In addition, the website provides the following contact information of individuals in Weber County who can assist you in arranging to place your signatures on this latter petition:

Elizabeth Barboza, 909-615-2433, ebarboza@aol.com This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Trent Alvord, 801-394-7697, trentalvord@gmail.com This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Weber State University Wildcats Football, Volunteer Contact: Mark Sage, mark@fairboundaries.org

If there's anyone with our WCF readership, by the way, who has either of the above petitions available for signing, please post your contact information in our lower comments section, or send it to us via our right sidebar email link, so that we can add it to the information we've posted above.

Now that Emerald City election issues are for the most part resolved, it's a good time to focus our attention on other pressing political matters; and in our opinion there now no other matters more worthy of our readers immediate attention than the two citizen's initiative measures listed above.

That's it for now, gentle readers.

Who will be the first to comment?

2009 Ogden City Municipal Election Results

Real-time vote tallies delivered to our readers through the technological marvel of electrons zipping along through little wires

As promised in today's earlier article, and as we've done every year since the founding of Weber County Forum in 2005, we're once again delighted to provide a real-time feed from the Ogden City Recorder's ballot counting room, through the modern technological marvel of electrons zipping along through little wires. In that connection, Here's the link to the Ogden City Recorder's most excellent online election results reporting site:

• 2009 Municipal General Election Real-time Tally

Expect this feature to be at least semi-functional upon closure of Ogden polling places around 8:00 p.m., although as we learned during the reporting on last September's Primary Election, the so-called "live" vote tallies may be subject to annoying human-caused lags and delays.

Once again, we've set up this link to open a new browser window, thus enabling our readers to click back and forth between the Ogden IT Department's most excellent IT work product... and the ever-savvy remarks which we expect to emerge in the comments section beneath this article.

While we're waiting for Ogden City Recorder Cindi Mansell's real-time/online scoreboard to light up, we'll invite our ever savvy readers to indulge in a little WCF style pre-vote-count palaver.

The floor's open O Gentle Ones.

Exciting, ainnit?

Who will be the first to comment?

Update 11/4/09 2:44 a.m.: Here's the final tally and a thumbnail analysis per gentle reader night owl, who stayed up late to compile the important data:

All districts have reported and the results are:

Van Hooser 3577
Hains 2551

Stephens 808
Dean 561

Garner 381
Garcia 363

Blair 4670

Can't tell whether these numbers might still change tonight, but the only outcome that seems potentially in doubt is the Garner-Garcia race.

So what say our other WCF readers about all this?

2009 Ogden Municipal Election post-count aftermath(?):

Remember the old ax... "a picture is worth a thousand words..."

Once again we pose the query: What say our other WCF readers about all this?

Election Day: The Polls Are Open

A rare opportunity to elect a veto-proof majority of fiscally conservative council grownups

Here we go folks. Our sidebar countdown clock has clicked down to zero. The glorious day we've all been anxiously awaiting has now arrived. Your neighborhood polling places will be open from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.; and with a little diligence on our part... and if all goes well, we Emerald City lumpencitizens will show up en masse, repeat the same type of grass roots sweep we accomplished in the last non-mayoral municipal election in 2005, and elect a new slate of fiscally conservative grownups to reinforce the sensible council majority we already have.

With strong independent candidates like Bart Blair, Jesse Garcia, Doug Stephens and Susan Van Hooser on the ballot, we have an opportunity for the first time ever to elect a veto-proof majority to our already strong council. This is something we'll definitely need during the next two years, as our Big Spending Mayoral Administration cranks up its anticipated full court press to implement the long list of yet-undelivered projects Boss Godfrey promised his cash contributor cronies since at least as far back as 2007.

Once again, we strongly endorse Blair, Garcia, Stephens and Van Hooser. With community-minded citizens like these on the council, there's little danger that our wonderful town will be sold down the river to the greed-minded, fly-by-night real estate development hustlers, who've once again invested so many thousands of dollars in Boss Godfrey's "Bulldoze the Golf Course and Turn Ogden into a Giant Kiddie Amusement Park Ticket."

In closing, we'll highlight a fantastic photo sent to us yesterday by one our gentle readers. It shows an Ogden City-situated campaign lawnsign planted in the yard of one of our more creative Ogden neighbors. As you head off to the polls this morning (torches and pitchforks in hand,) we hope you'll all etch this image indelibly into your minds:


We'll keep this thread open through the day folks, for election day news and other election-topical updates. If problems arise during today's balloting, we hope our readers will check in with their real-time comments and reports. During the last election, Weber County Forum served as an online clearing-house for information relating to the dirty tricks which were being perpetrated by Godfrey campaign operatives; and we'll be happy to serve the same function again, if necessary, during today's election.

The polls are now open, people!

VOTE!

We'll also set up a separate thread later this evening, by the way (we've preset it to automatically post @ 7:30 p.m.) , with a link to Ogden City Recorder's Office live online vote tallies. In the meantime... the floor is open for your intra-day election comments.

A Few Back-burner Items in Advance of Tomorrow's Municipal Election

The results of our online website ratings poll; and some belated info from Ward 3 candidate Stephens

OK folks. Now that we're on the threshold of tomorrow's critical municipal election, wherein the Emerald City Lumpencitizens are once again compelled to stand up for their conservative fiscal values and important institutions of our community, against an onslaught of greed-head real estate agents, developers, Godfrey Administration BIG SPENDERS and other filthy politico-corporatist trash, there are a few back-burner items that we need to bring to the forefront.

First, we're delighted to release the final result of that "Best Ogden Campaign Website Poll" which we put up in our WCF right sidebar a couple of weeks ago, Here we go:

Here are the final tallies, with 52 votes logged, in voter preference order:

Bart Blair 16 votes (overall vote percentage: 30%)
Jesse Garcia also 16 votes (overall vote percentage: 30%)
Susan Van Hooser 9 votes (overall vote percentage: 17%)
Patrick Dean 7 votes (overall vote percentage: 13%)
Doug Stephens 2 votes (overall vote percentage: 4%)
David Phipps (who's now disqualified) 2 votes (overall vote percentage: 4%)
Neil Garner 1 vote (overall vote percentage: 2%)
Mark "Stinky" Hains 1 vote (overall vote percentage: 2%)

It'll be interesting to correlate tomorrow's actual voter tallies with our readers' ratings of each candidate's website, we think.

And here's something equally interesting. Both Doug Stephens and Neil Garner each received at least one first place vote for their website, even though neither of then actually has a campaign site on the web. In that connection, we contacted Doug Stephens. He confirmed he has NO website, but he did send us this info, which we've incorporated into Doug's WCF Candidate Roster page:

• Information about Doug Stephens Candidate for Ogden City Ward #3

Pretty good informational stuff, we think, from our seasoned Ward 3 incumbent candidate, whom we're strongly endorsing for tomorrow's election.

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%:

• OUR VIEW: Urge others to vote

Yes, 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 identification

Ms. 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?

One Standard-Examiner Editorial Page Our WCF Readers Won't Want to Miss

If we didn't know better, we'd swear the Standard-Examiner is finally in touch with the true sentiments of the lumpencitizens of Emerald City

Fantastic Standard-Examiner editorial page today. We'll award today's editorial page effort a solid "A" grade. On second thought... let's make it an A+:

First, the editorial board rebounds from yesterday's disappointing performance and issues glowing recommendations for the two hands-down best qualified candidates for the two open At-large council seats:

• OUR VIEW: Blair for Ogden council
• OUR VIEW: Van Hooser for Ogden council

Next, the Standard carries this smashingly on-point guest commentary from outgoing Council At-large seat incumbent Dorrene Jeske. Ms. Jeske pulls no punches this morning, lambastes the big spending tendencies of Boss Godfrey and lays blame for council/administration problems (overblown as they are) exactly where it belongs... squarely in the secretive and uncommunicative Godfrey administration's lap:

• Retiring councilwoman: Ogden needs a strong city council

Next in order, well shine the light on these two reader letters, which we'd swear (if we didn't know better) would demonstrate that the SE editorial board is truly in touch with the sentiments of the average Joes and Jills whose taxes pay Emerald City's bills:

Ogden resident Carolyn Becker capably expands upon Councilwoman Jeske's discussion of the bogus "lack of communication" issue, and then makes a strong pitch for the election of independent-minded council candidates:

• Vote for Garcia, Blair and Van Hooser

And WCF readers won't want to miss Ogden resident Harland L. Genta's letter, which draws a strong contrast between the responsiveness of council incumbent Jesse Garcia, and his missing-in-action opponent Neil Garner, with respect to one recent Ward 1 neighborhood incident. Once again Councilman Garcia demonstrates (as he's done so many times in the past) his commitment to dealing with Ward 1 problems directly and decisively, whereas challenger Garner couldn't even be bothered to respond:

• Garcia works to make neighborhood safe

We'd been wondering what kind of Ward 1 councilman Mr. Garner would make; and we do believe SE reader Harland Genta has helpfully provided us a most revealing forecast.

A Weber County Forum Tip O' The Hat to the Standard-Examiner, for putting together this great editorial page, for publication on the biggest circulation day remaining before Tuesday's election.

That's it for now.

Who will be the first to comment?

WCF Halloween Special: Has Halloween Become Overcommercialized?

A recent poll of American 5th graders shockingly finds that 63% could identify the cartoon character Jack Skellington, while only 14% could identify Al'ghol, the ghoul that dwells in burial grounds!

In The Know: Has Halloween Become Overcommercialized? Have fun tonight kids... But watch your backs. And please get back to us with your comments, if you spot Al'ghol, errr we mean Boss Godfrey tonight, trick or treating and stealing souls (campaigning for Hains, Garner and Phipps, in other words) in his usual Eddie Munster costume.

Consultant to South Salt Lake: Don't Bond For Market Station -- A Lesson For Ogden City Voters Too

Keeping Ogden from sinking deeper into the debt hole the Godfrey administration has dug for it will depend on the independence of the Council members we elect Tuesday

By Curmudgeon

The SL Trib has a story up this morning which is well worthy of a good close look, as Ogden voters stand poised on the eve of Tuesday's municipal election:

• Consultant to South Salt Lake: Don't Bond For Market Station

It seem a grand development project [mixed condo and retail project --- sound familiar?] planned near a coming street car station has fallen into financial problems. Fortunately for the City of South Salt Lake, the city did not put the taxpayers on the hook as guarantors of the bonds for the project [as Ogden did].

The developer has now asked South Salt Lake to float a $9.5 million dollar bond to buy land from him at the site in order to allow him to pay off most of a $10.5 million dollar debt to America First Credit Union, which is about to foreclose on the loan.

And what did South Salt Lake do? It hired a consultant. [Ogden voters please note: its consultant was not the developer.] And South Salt Lake's independent consultant has told the city not to go into millions in debt to bail out the developer.

The story is well worth reading as an illustration of how competently managed cities handle development without putting the taxpayers' on the hook for millions. And it offers, I think, a good example of why it is important on Tuesday to elect independent council members for whom fiscal responsibility and fiscal conservatism are not empty phrases to be trotted out at election time and then forgotten.

The administration's bad judgment, endorsed by a rubber stamp council six years ago has loaded Ogden down with millions in new debt to bankroll privately owned commercial developments --- we're paying $750,000 a year right now to service the bonds the Mayor assured his rubber-stamp Council the city would never have to pay --- and the Administration wants to offer millions more in public funds to help bankroll a new hotel project at the Junction. Given that, electing council members of proven independence who will not simply become yes-men for the administration's latest multi million dollar obsession is important.

Ms. Van Hooser has proven her independence during her two years previously on the Council. [Her opponent, Mr. Hains, is yet another realtor PAC "yes man" for the Godfrey Gaggle, it seems.] Mr. Garcia has proven his independence in office as well. Mr. Stephens too on key votes has shown the kind of independent judgment Ogden needs on the Council, and he's also demonstrated throughout his tenure a commitment to finding middle ground and workable compromises when such are possible. [They aren't always.]

Keeping Ogden from sinking deeper into the debt hole the Godfrey administration has dug for it will depend on the independence of the Council members we elect Tuesday. I hope voters will keep that firmly in mind on election day.

Once again, take a look at the Trib story here. There is much to be learned from it, I think.

WSU Wildcats v. Montana Grizzlies Game Day Thread - UPDATED

This could indeed be THE BIG WSU college football week of the season -- but make no mistake -- it's NOT about revenge

No need to overemphasize the importance of today's Game. If our WSU Wildcats can hang a loss on league rival Montana, our Wildcats can bring themselves even with Montana at in the "games lost" column and have a shot at controlling their own conference championship destiny from here on out. Here's this morning's teaser from the Standard-Examiner, which hammers a theme we've been thinking about all week ... this isn't really a revenge game, but rather just another waypoint in our beloved Wildcats' game-by-game quest to finish the conference season with only a single loss. We thus believe Jason Asay got it exactly right:

• 'Cats just want a Saturday win at Montana

As an added bonus, here's the pregame buzz from the Grizzlies' home town newspaper:

• Griz, Wildcats ready to roll

So here we go again, setting up another WSU Wildcats dedicated game day thread, whereby we WCU Wildcats fans can comment while viewing today's game, (which will be broadcast online on the Big Sky TEEVEE around 1:00 p.m.,) or whilst listening via the live audio broadcast from KLO radio, WSU's flagship sports radio station.

Have at it, Wildcats fans!

We'll of course be back with the final score later.

Update 10/31/09 11:39 a.m.: Thanks to the recent flurry of comments from SEVERAL sharp-eyed WSU fans downthread, we're now delighted to report that today's game will also be broadcast on KJZZ TV. Special thanks for keeping us on our toes, WILDCAT, Sticky Residue and KJZZ. We're developing a new appreciation for those in the media who compose TV/radio sports-broadcast logs. Thanks for setting us straight, and doing it forthwith!

Update 11/1/09 6:00 a.m.: For those WSU fans who may not have heard the bad news... Final score: Montana 31, WSU 10. Jason Asay provides the post-game lowdown:

• Missoula meltdown / Griz take advantage of Wildcat turnovers

For an excellent writeup on what remain of WSU's hopes for a post-season playoff slot, be sure to check out Mr. Asay's companion story here:

• Wildcats' playoff chances still alive after loss, but margin for error is slim

The Gondola-Examiner Issues Its First Two Emerald City Council Endorsements

What a shame that the lumpencitzens can't vote at regular intervals to fill the Standard-Examiner publisher's seat

Three days before the 2009 Ogden City Municipal Election, just as earlier threatened, the Gondola-Examiner finally comes out this morning with its first two Ogden City Council endorsements. It appears to us that the core pro-Godfrey management faction at the Godfrey House Propaganda Organ of old remains alive and well:

• OUR VIEW: Dean for Ogden council
• OUR VIEW: Garner for Ogden council

(Be sure to view the Standard's candidate interview videos, which are embedded in each of the respective pages.)

In making these endorsements, and rejecting two seasoned sitting council incumbents, the Standard appears to be engaging in its own political crapshoot, preferring the "devils they don't know," over the the "devils they do." These endorsements come as no surprise of course. Councilmen Jesse Garcia and Doug Stephens are two conscientious council members who've fairly consistently voted as members of the fiscally conservative council majority. These two have always been an anathema to publisher Lee Carter, and the carpetbagging Suits from Sanduskey, who'd prefer a council majority which would borrow and spend the taxpayers of Ogden into economic oblivion.

What a shame it is, we believe, that the lumpencitzens can't vote at regular intervals to fill the Standard-Examiner publisher's seat. Alas, that's not how the system works.

That's it for now, gentle readers.

Who will be the first to comment?

Is At-Large Seat "A" Council Candidate Mark Hains in Violation Of Ogden City Campaign Finance Disclosure Ordinances?

Hains's own campaign finance reports reveal $3000 in donations from a single political action committee entity

by Dan Schroeder

Lest Mr. Phipps grab all our attention...

There's a very interesting entry in the disclosure form just filed by Mark Hains, a candidate for the Ogden City Council At-large "A" Seat. He reports receiving a $1500 contribution from the Utah Association of Realtors (UAR).

The problem is, he already received $1500 in August from the Northern Wasatch Association of Realtors (NWAR). And according NWAR's own disclosure statement (available from the Lt. Governor's web site), NWAR received 100% of its money from UAR. In other words, NWAR is not an independent organization--it's just the local arm of UAR.

In my opinion, this means that Mr. Hains has actually received $3000 from UAR, in violation of the $1500 contribution limit, Per Ogden City Code Section 1-8-3.

The remedy for such a violation is for Mr. Hains to return the additional money and file an amended disclosure statement. (Please, let's not demand that he be disqualified.)

2009 Emerald City Election Update: A Thoroughly Embarrassed David Phipps Speaks With the Press

Phipps hints he may seek emergency relief from his election disqualification through the courts

Scott Schwebke has augmented yesterday's brief report this morning, concerning Council Seat "B" David Phipps's disqualification from the November 3 election, with a fleshed-out story, reporting that Mr. Phipps may have not have entirely thrown in the towel in this matter, and that he is instead considering scheduling an emergency hearing, seeking a court order overturning his statutorily mandated election disqualification by Ogden City Recorder Cindi Mansell:

• Late-filing Ogden candidate David Phipps disqualified, 'embarrassed'

Phipps argues that he was confused about the drop-dead Thursday filing deadline, (even though it had already been extended by one full day, and none of the other council candidates seem to have had any trouble making the deadline.) Phipps also readily admits that he's "... struggled with focusing on details," and remarks that explaining to his campaign contributors this latest campaign blunder (in a long string of campaign blunders) "hasn't been an easy thing."

Notably, Mr. Schwebke contacted one of Mr. Phipps's most generous campaign donors and elicited this delicious quote. Let's just say that Mr. Ostermiller is a true master of understatement:

Mike Ostermiller, chief executive officer of the Northern Wasatch Association of Realtors, which gave $1,500 to Phipps' campaign, said he is disappointed Phipps has been disqualified over the missed deadline.
"I hope he can figure out a way to stay on the ballot," he said Thursday.

For some odd reason, we're conjuring up this psychic image of Mr. Ostermiller and the rest of Mr. Phipps's real estate development donor-friends, gathering together and gently urging Mr. Phipps to "get his head together" and find some way to get his bumbling derriere back into the race:


We'll be standing by watching for the latest effort of the ever-inept Mr. Phipps to again make a comic public spectacle of himself.

Rules? Rules are only meant to only apply to the little people. As everyone ought to know by now, all loyal Godfreyites are exempt from the rules.

And the beat goes on...

Update 10/30/09 10:03 a.m.: For the benefit of our gentle readers, Elected Official has submitted a comment and a statutory citation to applicable provisions of the Utah Code:

• Utah Code, Title 20A -- Election Code

Update 10/31/09 11:27 a.m.: A day late and a half-dollar short, the Salt Lake Tribune has now picked up on this story too:

•Phipps disqualified in Ogden Council race

To the Trib's credit however, this morning's story does however provide this interesting new information:

"After speaking with attorneys, Phipps said there is little chance to appeal the ruling."

What the heck. Phipps coulda thrown himself on the mercy of the court, and pleaded the "I'm an Idiot" defense, right?

And so ends the short political career of perhaps the greatest political screw-up in Ogden history.

Breaking: Boss Godfrey's Hand-Picked Realtor Carpetbagger Ejected from the City Council Race

2009 Ogden Municipal Election ALERT!

By Jennifer Neil

This just in:

• Phipps disqualified from Ogden election

OGDEN -- City council candidate David Phipps has been disqualified from Tuesday's general election because he failed to file a campaign finance disclosure statement in on time.
Phipps, who was running against Bart Blair for the council's At-large Seat B post, told the Standard-Examiner he missed Wednesday's 5 p.m. filing deadline at the city recorder's office by 40 minutes.
Phipps, in an e-mail to the Standard-Examiner, congratulated Blair who has effectively secured the council seat.
"Ogden politics is an interesting thing. People are constantly trying to pressure new candidates to one side or the other, and the lines continue to be drawn", Phipps said. "I was excited to show Ogden residents that I was willing to stand up to both sides when I felt they were wrong. I desperately hope that Mr. Blair won't just follow the anti-everything administration camp, but that citizens from both sides will have a voice. I congratulate him on a well- run campaign and I support him in any efforts to bring unity back to Ogden. I love this city and will continue to help in its economic growth downtown so all of us can enjoy our downtown again."

J Neil

The Third Set Of Emerald City Council Candidate Financial Disclosure Reports Are Now On File

Seven out of eight of them, anyhow

Let us point out this timely 2009 Ogden municipal election story in this morning's Standard-Examiner, reporting on the third set of council candidate financial disclosure statements which were due for filing in the city recorder's office by 5:00 p.m. yesterday. According to Mr. Schwebke's story, all council candidates confidently met yesterday's extended 5:00 p.m. deadline; but we're not so sure of that. According to one of the deputy clerks with whom we spoke this morning, only seven of the necessary eight financial reports were on file as of 9:05 this morning; and one conspicuously failed to make the deadline. We don't know who the recalcitrant candidate is. We didn't ask... although we have heard unconfirmed rumors.

Adding insult to injury, of the seven candidate statements who did actually meet the filing deadline, only four are as yet displayed on the city website.

Undaunted, we'll move on. And in that connection we'll do what we intended to do when we first snatched up our SE hard-copy edition from our front porch early this morning, and pored over Mr. Schwebke's story. For those who've been following our WCF Council Candidate Roster pages, btw, here are the latest updates:

• 2009 Ogden City Municipal Election Cumulative Financial Disclosure Reports

We've also added these latest reports to the individual candidate pages, which are nested within our Weber County Candidate Roster.

There you have it folks; short and sweet. We'll of course continue to update these pages as additional reports come online. Although we're not happy to release data that's still half-baked, we're tired of sitting on our thumbs this morning, waiting for Boss Godfrey's IP people to do their jobs.

That's it for now folks.

Don't let the cat get your tongues.

KSL News: Hard Times for Utah

Government budgets much worse than anticipated

By Danny

It looks like times will be getting a lot harder in Utah:

• Government budgets worse than anticipated

From the article:

Sales and use taxes, which fund general government and higher education, slumped 23 percent, nearly $100 million.

Income taxes, which pay for public schools, slid downward $40 million.

Taxes on corporations, the franchise tax, were in free fall, plummeting 73 percent.

Bob Springmeyer, President of Bonneville Research said, "That's one that I think is probably the most scary. That means that businesses are way down, that means employment is going to be down."

More from Springmeyer: "I think we're going to have a budget bloodbath this next legislative session."

Wednesday Afternoon Standard-Examiner Mailbag.

Additional material offered hopefully to pry our normally chatty WCF readers out of their evident drowsiness

Since reader comment traffic is a mite slow today, we thought it might be useful to feature a few of today's Standard-Examiner Letters to the Editor this afternoon, dealing with issues involving Tuesday's upcoming Emerald City municipal election. Now that we've set the stage for this, we'll highlight these "good ones." So here we go:

Ogden resident Jan Hamer gets it exactly right with this, wethinks:

• Conflict between Ogden council, mayor fabricated

And Ogden City resident Cathy Gambles nails it, regarding what Godfrey's greed-head real estate developer ticket (Hains , Garner and Phipps) would do, if elected as a controlling majority on the Ogden City Council:

• Vote for Ogden candidates who respect open space

And then there's this... This Council-member Dorrene Jeske reader letter which we neglected to highlight yesterday... mainly because our newly hired SE paper-boy evidently couldn't pry his ass out of bed to deliver yesterday's SE hard-copy edition to our front stoop:

• Van Hooser, Blair merit support

That's it for now, gentle readers.

One way or the other, we do hope this provocative material will pry you out of today's apparent comments lethargy.

Wall Street Journal: Dude, Where's My Car?

Flaws in the "new urbanism" model?

By Curmudgeon

Interesting and possibly important: Today's Wall Street Journal has an interesting story here about empty-nesters returning to inner cities to live carless lives in urban condos. What caught my eye was this paragraph:

Demographers and economists have predicted that many aging baby boomers would opt for smaller, easier-to-manage dwellings once their children left home. Those predictions helped spur a surge in loft and condominium developments in many U.S. cities, as well as efforts to develop so-called walkable communities.

So far, the bet hasn't paid off. "The developers that anticipated a big increase in condominium living in center cities are sorely disappointed," says Gary Engelhardt, a professor at Syracuse University who's studied the influence of boomers on the housing market. The housing bust has led many people who might have sold their suburban homes to stay put. But even when the market recovers, Mr. Engelhardt says, "I don't foresee a massive movement back in center cities for older individuals."

The reason it caught my eye is that the master plan for re-developing downtown Ogden, and in particular for The Junction, rested largely on anticipating precisely the "walkable downtown condo living" model that the article says has not materialized nationwide as expected.

[And before the Godfreyista Gaggle begins denouncing me for naysaying, let me add that I was encouraged by the "new urbanism" trend that seemed to be underway, and that I am sorely disappointed that the condo plans for The Junction have pretty much collapsed, since so much of the Junction's business plan depended upon their being a certain population of relatively upscale condo-dwellers living there. The empty-nester downtown living idea I and Mrs. Curmudgeon found kind of appealing and are considering it for our next --- and last ever --- move. As an environmentalist, I like the idea as well of reducing driving around that living in a downtown condo with necessary shopping nearby (food, pharmacies, bookstore) in a walkable city with good public transit. But my liking the idea doesn't matter much if the trend doesn't develop and doesn't turn out to be an economically viable one for cities to encourage.]

Again, since so much of the downtown Ogden and Junction development model is based on the "new urbanism" model, I thought the article worth pointing out.

Standard-Examiner: FBI says Ogden Crime Stats Down -- UPDATED

Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics

Regular as clock work, and on the eve of a pivotal Ogden City municipal election, wherein control of the majority of Ogden City Council seats is up for grabs, the Standard-Examiner comes through with another Godfrey administration tout piece, announcing once again that Boss Godfrey has his hands firmly placed on all the right levers and dials, making Ogden City one of the most crime-free towns in the Beehive State. Most of this stuff comes straight out of the mouth of Boss Godfrey of course, so as all WCF readers know, it has to be all true:

• FBI says Ogden crime stats down

Godfrey of course denies that the timing of this story has anything at all to do with Tuesday's election, since he's not personally running for re-election this time around. We'll assume of course that his lips were moving when he uttered this denial, and will thus draw all reasonable inferences therefrom.

Just to kick-start the morning discussion, we'll shamelessly incorporate Dan S.' most cogent comment from the above SE story's comment section, rather than spend another hour or two trying to piece together our own infallible analysis:

We should pay heed to Mark Twain and the many others who have pointed out the deceptive use of statistics. A year ago I carefully analyzed Ogden's crime statistics and reported the results here:

Ogden Crime Statistics... Without the Godfrey Distortions

There are just too many ways to present the data. Which categories of crimes do you include? Do you weight all crimes equally or does a murder count more than a simple assault? Do you report total crimes, or crimes per person? If the latter, what population data do you use? How far back in time do you go when reporting long-term trends?
In recent years, the Standard-Examiner has left all of these decisions to the politicians.
Getting a quote from a skeptical expert is better than nothing, but a true journalist would do an independent analysis of the data (or hire an independent expert to do such an analysis).
The Standard-Examiner doesn't even seem to notice when the statistics in one article contradict the statistics in an earlier article. In July 2008 the S-E published a similar crime-trend graph with different numbers: 72 (not 77) in 2000, and 77 (not 67) in 2006, for instance. (I think the discrepancy for 2000 is from using different population data, while the discrepancy for 2006 is because the city reported a higher number of crimes and later revised the number downward.) Here's a link to the earlier graph:

More Pro-Godfrey Spin from the Standard-Examiner

During his 2007 campaign, Godfrey claimed that Ogden's crime rate had dropped 23% between 1999 and 2006. The graph in this article shows a 16% drop between those years, while the July 2008 graph shows only a 4% drop. Godfrey also claimed there had been a 43% drop in the sub-category of violent crimes over the same time period, but the officially available statistics show little or no change in the violent crime rate.
According to the FBI web site, "the FBI discourages data users from ranking agencies [e.g., cities] and using the data as a measure of law enforcement effectiveness."

Uniform Crime Reports
A Word About UCR Data

(Readers who are seriously interested in the topic of Ogden crime statistics from a historic perspective also ought to take a gander at these articles too.)

So what about it gentle readers? Has Boss Godfrey at last embraced his primary and fundamental mayoral role as a zealot for public safety? Is Godfrey the Crime Fighter truly taking a bite out of crime? Or is it the same old story all over again, with Godfrey once again fiddling with the numbers?

Have at it, O Gentle Ones.

Update 10/28/09 10:02 a.m.: Godfrey's Mormon friends at KSL News are covering this story too, and savvy KSL viewers are all taking Godfrey's "eminations" with a grain of salt... shall we say?

Too funny.

Rep. Hansen Apologizes to Phipps

Let's not over-focus on the technicalities surrounding Mr. Phipps's residency

Fascinating story in this morning's Standard-Examiner, wherein Scott Schwebke reports that House District 9 Representative Neil Hansen has graciously issued an unsolicited apology to Ogden City Council Seat "B" Candidate David Phipps, for his perceived overreaction to information he received from the Salt Lake County Elections Office on or about October 14. This information of course launched a Weber County Forum article on the subject the following day, and provoked a most robust discussion in our lower comments section. Read this morning's full Scott Schwebke story here:

• Ogden lawmaker apologizes for accusations about candidate

We applaud Representative Hansen for taking the ethical high road on this, and for recognising and correcting his own mistake. While we believe Rep. Hansen's action in obtaining and releasing the information that Mr. Phipps had voted in his old Sugarhouse precinct in 2008, (even while claiming simultaneous residency in Ogden) was entirely proper, we also agree that Rep. Hansen is right, and that he may have at least slightly overstepped the bounds of political civility in offering this quote in Mr. Schwebke's Oct 19 2009 Standard-Examiner story:

"There is some dishonesty about his residency and there needs to be some accountability," Hansen said, adding he obtained the records on behalf of a constituent whom he declined to identify."

And just to set the record straight, it's the above statement which Rep. Hansen appears to be apologizing about... and we believe that's the only statement he needs to apologize about.

Rep. Hansen has plenty of political juice in Ogden, and we congratulate him for recognizing that drawing ultimate conclusions about Mr. Phipps's honesty or lack thereof is not his proper role, and that the opinion of a politically-influential state legislator, if left un-retracted, could carry undue weight. The role of determining ultimate legal culpability is reserved for the proper legal authorities of course, as Rep. Hansen remarks in today's SE story:

Hansen said in a phone interview Monday it isn't his place to judge whether Phipps is an eligible candidate and hopes an investigation will be launched promptly to sort out his residency.
"That's between him and the legal system," he said.Hansen said one issue that needs to be sorted out is if Phipps, as he claims, was a resident of Ogden at the time of the 2008 election, was it legal for him to vote in Salt Lake City?Conversely, Hansen said, if Phipps was a legal resident of Salt Lake City, did he meet residency requirements to file for city council?.

What Rep. Hansen neglects to mention however is the court of public opinion, another legitimate venue to weigh conflicting claims on the eve of a municipal election. While we congratulate Rep. Hansen for his magnanimous gesture in apologising to Mr. Phipps for comments which were arguably excessive, we also doubt that Rep. Hansen would criticise Ogden voters for themselves weighing the facts which Rep. Hansen initially laid out.

And in that connection we do believe questions regarding Mr. Phipps's residency are crying out to be resolved. And we do believe the circumstances surrounding Mr. Phipps's November 4, 2008 Salt Lake County vote reflect on Mr. Phipps's character and fitness for office. The citizens of Ogden are certainly entitled to weigh the facts on their own, without resorting to the the opinions of any State Legislator, although we'd also view it as advisable to avoid drawing any firm conclusions until all the evidence is in.

Having said that, we'll issue a caveat: Let's not go overboard on this. The issues regarding Mr. Phipps's residency will ultimately be resolved. As Mr. Schwebke reports in this morning's story, third-place seat "B" candidate Jennifer Neil has already filed a complaint in this matter; and during the course of the proceedings which will result from this procedural step, we recommend that we all stand back... and let the wheels of justice grind on. The residency issues will all get sorted out, one way or the other, we believe.

And in the same connection we'll refer to a Dan Schroeder comment lodged under the above-linked Oct 19 2009 SE story. Remember, there are plenty of other troubling issues surrounding Mr. Phipps's candidacy:

For the time being at least, let's not over-focus on the technicalities surrounding Mr. Phipps's residency.

There are plenty of other fish to fry, no?

Monday Morning Standard-Examiner Mailbag

Spotlight on two thoughtful and timely SE reader submissions

To kick off this morning's discussion, we'll highlight a couple of this morning's hard-copy edition letters to the Standard-Examiner which are particularly timely today, as we stand poised on the brink of our 2009 Emerald City Municipal Election, which looms a little more than seven days hence.

First, SE reader Dennis J. Hogge thoughtfully adopts a theme from Doris Kearns Goodwin's Abraham Lincoln biography, "Team of Rivals; The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln," i.e., that "an administration that lacks diversity of opinion may not be the most productive or safest," and then offers this savvy observation:

In my opinion, a system of checks and balances should be encouraged, not stifled. The members of the city council should challenge and question the administration on controversial issues. Only then can an equitable consensus be reached. The process requires that the mayor demonstrate leadership, not domination.

Next, SE reader Catherine Gerwels reminds Ogden voters of Boss Godfrey's not-so-hidden agenda, i.e., breaking his 2007 election promise, and instead bulldozing Ogden's upper east bench. Here's Ms. Gerwels "money quote":

Upon learning the content of the [mayor's golf course] committee's report, I feel almost 100 percent secure in saying that given the opportunity, Mayor Godfrey will break his pre-election promises regarding Mount Ogden Park. That chance will present itself if the city council becomes stacked with rubber-stamp members whose real goal is to use our park land to line the pocket books of their supporters at the expense of the long-term future of Ogden city and the overwhelming majority of its citizens. A city without parkland is not a desirable place to live and certainly not one that can boast about its outdoor recreation and lifestyle.

Four years after Boss Godfrey's 2003-05 "Gang of Six" rubber stamp council was unceremoniously ushered out of office by Ogden voters in 2005, Ogden City taxpayers are still suffering the painful economic after-effects. Is it possible, gentle readers, that a now seemingly apathetic Ogden City electorate could allow another Godfrey rubber stamp council to be voted into office again?

Several more powerful arguments, we believe, to to show up in force at the polls on November 3, (torches and pitchforks in hand) and vote for independent thinkers like Bart Blair, Jesse Garcia and Susan Van Hooser.

And what say our readers about all this?

Deseret News: Ethics Debate Heating Up Online

UEG petitions await your signatures at two centrally-situated Ogden locations

Interesting and informative Deseret News article this morning, reporting on the latest developments regarding the Utahns for Ethical Government (UEG) citizen legislative ethics initiative petition drive, which we've been hawking here on Weber County Forum for the past few months. Bob Bernick Jr.'s lead paragraphs provide the gist:

Want to know more about the citizen legislative ethics initiative?Utahns for Ethical Government — the initiative sponsors — and legislators who oppose the measure are sparring through online conversations, allegations and responses.
You can read the 25-page petition online at utahethics.org.
At that site you can also read a response from UEG over what it calls "misinformation" that has been "taken out of context" from the petition itself and from seven public hearings held around the state to get residents' input.
Meanwhile, at least two legislators — Sen. Lyle Hillyard, R-Logan, and Rep. Lorie Fowlke, R-Orem, both attorneys — have written their own legal analysis of the initiative, pointing out what they say are numerous unconstitutional, illegal or otherwise problematic elements in the proposed new law.

This morning's story provides links to two initiative opposition memos, one of which links doesn't work. For the benefit of our gentle readers, here are functioning links to the Hillyard document, and the Fowlkes document respectively. We're sure that those of you with a taste for obtuse legal jargon and chain of of consciousness rambling will find these papers to be much to your liking.

For those of you however who like it short and to the point, we encourage you to read the UEG's 25 issue point and counterpoint brief, as it appears on the UEG webpage page linked above, and which we'll present to our WCF readers in easily-digestible pdf (and printer-ready) form. We believe this document handily covers all the major points.

What's obvious is that initiative opponents are attempting to obfuscate and confuse the issues. As you'll discover from a reading of the above-linked pdf document, it really ain't so complicated as the initiative opponents would lead you to believe.

And for those Emerald City/Weber County residents who've been anxiously waiting to put your signatures on an actual UEG petition, we're delighted to this find further pertinent information. According to information which we've gleaned from the UEG website, petitions await your signatures at the two following centrally-situated Ogden locations:

Joyce Wilson (Weber County)
979 27th
Ogden, UT
801-941-1613

Ogden-Weber UniServ (Weber County)
939 25th St
Ogden, UT 84401
801-399-3746

What are we waiting for, WCF readers?

Let's all put our ethically-challenged legislature's feet to the fire, and make plans to sign the petition this week.

WSU Wildcats Game Day Thread

Lots of pivotal Northern Utah football games to watch today

Order your Delivered Pizza right now. Today's Northern Utah college gridiron action should be most interesting.

OK first here's this one, where The Zoobies face off against the TCU Mountain West Conference "so far best" powerhouse.

Then we have this one, where the Utah Utes go back to last year's moth-eaten gameplan, and try to deal with the Air Force Academy's "goofy" option offense.

But last but not least, here's the Northern Utah real college game of the day, at least in our estimation.

•Wildcats wary of improving N. Colorado.

As per usual, we'll once again set up a dedicated thread, where whereby we WCU Wildcats fans can comment during today's game, which will be broadcast on the Alt net TEEVEE network around 130 p.m., also with a live audio broadcast from KLO radio.

Have at it, Wildcats fans!

Update 10/24/09 7:00 p.m.: Final: WSU 28 NC 20. Here's the first available wire service (AP) story:

• Weber State holds off Northern Colorado 28-20

Ogden Council Hires its Own Legislative Lobbyist At A Definite Bargain Rate

Boss Godfrey's own "sneaky" actions bring on the inevitable consequences

Encouraging Scott Schwebke story in this morning's Standard-Examiner, reporting that our Emerald City Council has now followed up on its earlier-reported course of action and hired its own legislative lobbyist:

• Ogden hires lobbyist for $10,000

This morning's story also provides a fairly remarkable quote from Ogden City CAO John "Pureheart" Patterson, who swears (cross his heart) that he has no idea at all why the council has found it necessary to employ its own lobbyist:

John Patterson, the city’s chief administrative officer, questioned the council’s need to hire Peterson.
“At this point in time, given the friction between the city council and administration, it feels like they have to have a lobbyist to keep an eye on our lobbyist,” he said. “It’s unfortunate. Hopefully, we will get on a better track.”

Quick reminer to Mr. Patterson, who apparently lives in a world of alternate reality all his own ... It was Godfrey's own sneaky actions which brought on this inevitable consequence.

For our own part of course, we've long believed that the Mayor's administration could use a competent "tough love" babysitter, not only within Emperor Godfrey's ninth floor throne room, but also up on Utah's Capitol Hill.

A Weber County Forum Tip O' the Hat this morning to our Ogden City Council grownups, for taking the necessary action to ride herd on the devious and ethically-challenged Mr. Jolley and Mr. Johnson.

Remember, folks, it's Boss Godfrey and his lackeys who've been doing the recent whining about a "lack of Administration/Council communication."

And yes... on the strength of Mr. Patterson's above quote, we're filing this story under the label "Alternate Reality Department."

Friday Funnies: 2009 Emerald City Municipal Election Update

The latest tactic in the 2009 "Lawn Sign Wars"

On or about September 29, the Standard-Examiner published the following Don Carver letter, making note of the proliferation of ghastly Council Seat "B" Candidate David Phipps signs scattered all across Ogden City, on the scores of residential properties owned and/or managed by corporate landlords like Provident Partners Commercial Real Estate:

• Phipps buys election influence

Mr. Carver launched into a quite savvy discussion of the ethical and legal nuances concerning the placement by property management companies of political lawn signs upon the leaseholds of innocent lessees who may or may not support any particular Ogden City council candidate. He then came through with a sensible tactic for politically-involved renters to combat the overreaching of Ogden's greed-driven real estate property management faction:

I would like to call on local residents who've had Phipps' signs foisted on them to contact Blair's people and get a sign supporting him. Post the sign next to the original to clarify who you support. The people of Ogden must speak out for themselves. Do not let a few people interested in buying up our land have the only say.

Thanks to a morning tip from one of our alert readers, it would appear that at least one politically-oppressed Ogden City renter has taken taken up Mr. Carver on his suggestion, adopted Mr. Carver's tactic and decided to fight back (click to enlarge image):


A Weber County Forum Tip O' The Hat to a Gentle Reader and an Ogden renter whose true identities will go undisclosed. Hopefully many other aggrieved Ogden City renters will follow suit.

As our submitting reader remarked, "Phipps may be the only Ogden renter casting a ballot for David Phipps on election day."

Pretty funny, ainnit?

Power to the people, right on!