Salt Lake Tribune: A Bar Too High

An invitation to WCF readers to roll up their sleeves and hit the streets to put the UEG petition drive over the top

It's the political equivalent of pole vaulting over the Wasatch Front. The Legislature has set the bar way too high for citizen ballot initiatives, making it nearly impossible for the people to exercise their constitutional right to make laws.

Salt Lake Tribune Editorial
A bar too high
April 20, 2010

Fine editorial in today's Salt Lake Tribune, chastising the State legislature for restrictive regulations undermining the right of the people to enact laws through the constitutionally provided citizen initiative process and urging the legislature to "lower the bar":

• A bar too high

Do we believe today's editorial will spark action in the legislature to lower the ridiculous high signature numbers bar? Fat Chance!

This morning's editorial follows up Friday's disappointing news wherein Kim Burningham, leader of the initiative group Utahns for Ethical Government, conceded publicly for the first time that the UEG drive probably fell short in at least some Utah districts:

• Ethics initiative probably out for this year's election

Sadly, we learn from the latter story that our own Weber County was one of the areas where the UEG petition drive probably came up short:

In Weber County, an estimated 4,400 signatures were submitted, far short of the 7,250 that would be needed to reach the 10 percent threshold, even if every one of them is valid.

Happily however, gentle readers, the UEG is not ready to simply throw in the towel. The UEG website will soon resume accepting electronic signatures; and petition sponsors inform us that within the next week or so, the organization will be seeking extra Weber County volunteers to assist in the commencement of a stepped up hard-copy Weber County signature drive. Even in the event that petition sponsors failed to meet the April 15 deadline with the requisite signatures to place the initiative on the November 2010 ballot, they'll now be shooting for a new mid-August deadline, to qualify the initiative for the 2012 ballot.

In that connection, we invite any WCF readers who'd like to roll up their sleeves and volunteer to hit the streets to put the Weber County petition drive over the top, to contact us via our email contact link in the upper right sidebar. We'll be compiling a list of those readers who'd like to get involved, and will attempt to help coordinate our WCF volunteers to work with UEG sponsors, in assisting during the next four months toward the UEG's renewed petition signature gathering effort.

Duty calls, Weber County proponents of robust ethics reform in Utah. If we seriously desire true ethics reform in our state legislature, this may well prove to be our last chance.

Message Bills Redux: Blowback From The Oval Office?

Are the Utah legislature's "message bills" and the Obama Adminstration's cancellation of Utah aerospace industry contracts causally connected?

During the past Utah legislative session, the northern Utah (and national) press has devoted a substantial amount of ink to the series of "message bills" which gushed out of the Utah legislature during the last general session, heightening the awareness of Utahns to the 2010 legislature's agenda to draw a line in the sand and stand up to the encroachment of the federal government upon the "sovereign rights" of Utah, as reserved to the citizens by theTenth Amendment. Northern Utah media chimed in on the topic recently here and here; and the topic even graced the pages of the New York Times late last month. The national cable news media have also been whipping up a political frenzy and bringing the "States Rights" movement to the national public forefront too, as the lower Fox News video attests:


Did ya's catch the part about the "civilist war?"

The Standard-Examiner carried a recent editorial on this subject, offering the opinion, in a nutshell, that despite all the legislative sound and fury, these "messages bills"... "will ultimately "fall on deaf ears."

As to that proposition we're not quite sure; and in that connection we'll direct our readers' attention to a troubling story which appeared in the Std-Ex on Friday:

• Obama plan leaves ATK outside looking in

Similar stories also appeared last week in the Deseret News and the Salt Lake Tribune.

So what about it, gentle readers? Is the Obama administration's decision to cut one of Utah's top employers (ATK) out of the federal funding loop a mere coincidence? Has the Utah legislature's strident anti-federal states rights posture truly fallen on "deaf" oval office ears, as the Std-Ex suggests? Or is it possible that what we are now witnessing a demonstration of a cause-and-effect nexus between Utah legislative "sword rattling" on the one hand, and federal government retribution on the other? Is it inconceivable that the Obama Administration is replying to us with a strong "message" all its own? Is anyone willing to rule out the possibility that federal officials are now playing hard-ball in response to the state legislature's hard anti-federal stance? Do these initial state/federal menuverings signal the initial skirmishes in advance of what to come to be a new Utah War, Part Deux? If so, we all hope all conscientious Utah citizens have their emergency food supplies all stocked up. You DO HAVE an emergency food stash, right? And don't forget to load up the truck with them Utah-manufactured guns, just in case.

So many questions.. so few answers.

Let's hear it from our gentle readers.

Update 4/19/10 2:45 p.m.: Quickie quiz... Who is the greatest patriot in American history? Check out our WCF cheat-sheet:

1) Thomas Jefferson
2) James Madison
3) George Washington
4) Patrick Henry
5) Hunter S. Thompson
6) Carl Wimmer
7) Other

Just for fun, take our poll:

• Best American Patriot Ever

This poll will also be planted in our right sidebar for the next coupla days or so.

Another New Blogger In The Weber County Blogosphere

Be sure to check out Jennifer Neil's online efforts

Here's a little something for a slow news day:

It's with great delight that we announce that yet another Weber County Forum regular has fired up a brand new blog. Check out Jennifer Neil's online efforts at...

• The Lovely Jennifer

We've also added Jennifer's blog link in our right sidebar.

Welcome to the blogosphere, TLJ... and happy blogging!

Hopefully this will give that pink pageload counter of hers a nice kick-start.

Channel 4 News: Demo Rep Neil Hansen Files A Criminal Complaint Against GOP House Majority Whip Brad Dee

Ya gotta love Neil for having the guts and the integrity to go against the old boy's club rules, and point out the dog crap on the pretty green lawn when he sees it - Ozboy

By: Get Down Sit On A Bench

Wow, Did anyone see the ABC4 News at Ten? This is a juicy one that you need to see about the Great Brad Dee.

Here is the web page for it:

• Utah legislator files criminal complaint against House Majority Whip

Here is the video:


Here are the Facebook pages:

• Bill Hansen, - Facebook Wall
• Tell (Governor Herbert), to keep his paws off Our Pensions!

Thoughtful and temperate reader comments are invited, as always.

Update 4/18/2010 7:21 a.m.: The Standard-Examiner is all over this story too:

• Hansen files criminal complaint against Dee

Standard-Examiner: Ogden Will Appeal Hatch Act Ruling That Police Chief Must Resign

Isn't it time for Boss Godfrey to demand Chief Greiner's resignation?

Interesting new developments in the Jon Greiner Hatch Act matter within this morning's Standard-Examiner story, which reports that Ogden City will appeal Administrative Judge Lana Parke's decision that Senator/Chief Greiner violated the Hatch Act by signing off on a half-dozen federal grants that were in place during his Senate campaign:

OGDEN -- The city will appeal a judge's ruling that Police Chief Jon Greiner must resign or the municipality will be forced to forfeit about $215,000 in federal grants because of a Hatch Act violation.
John Patterson, the city's chief administrative officer, said he's confident Administrative Law Judge Lana Parke's decision last month to side with the U.S. Office of Special Counsel against Greiner will be overturned.
"There are procedural and substantive issues we want to raise through appeal, and we expect to prevail," he said.

There are a couple of elements within this morning's story which we believe to be particularly worthy of note:

1) In an April 2 story the Standard-Examiner reported that the Ogden City taxpayers had not been bearing the costs of this very expensive ongoing litigation, and that our insurance premiums would not even go up, as a result of the Ogden City's protracted legal maneuverings:

The Utah Risk Management Mutual Association, the city's insurance carrier, is paying Jim Bradshaw, a lawyer defending Greiner, and Stan Preston, an attorney representing the city administration, Patterson said. [...]
The Hatch Act case shouldn't increase the city's annual insurance premium with URMMA, Ball said. Premiums are based on the city's size and number of employees and not on individual claims, he said. The city's URMMA premium in 2009 was about $210,000.

To that reassuring news we breathed a sigh of relief in this April 2 WCF article. Unfortunately for the taxpayers of Ogden City however, Mr. Schwebke this morning reveals new and conflicting information. It turns out, as Scott Schwebke reports, that we were earlier misinformed about who will ultimately bear the burden for the costs and fees associated with this litigation:

The Utah Risk Management Mutual Association, the city's insurance carrier, is paying Jim Bradshaw, a lawyer defending Greiner, and Stan Preston, an attorney representing the city administration.
However, as part of URMMA's recapture loss program, the city will be required to fully reimburse the organization for defense costs, Patterson said. For each year that Bradshaw and Preston provide legal representation, he said, the city will be given five years to repay URMMA.

No surpises here, we suppose. Over the course of the five years we've been following the antics of the Boss Godfrey Administration here at Weber County Forum, we've grown painfully accustomed to receiving such false information.

Special thanks to Ace Reporter Schwebke for digging a little deeper into this issue, and setting the record straight.

2) Like all appellants commencing appeals, Ogden City Administration officials express confidence that they will prevail on appeal. Mr. John "Pureheart" Patterson generally refers to various "procedural and substantive issues":

John Patterson, the city's chief administrative officer, said he's confident Administrative Law Judge Lana Parke's decision last month to side with the U.S. Office of Special Counsel against Greiner will be overturned.
"There are procedural and substantive issues we want to raise through appeal, and we expect to prevail," he said.

Among those "issues" which Mr. Patterson mentions are these:

a) Parke prohibited the city from putting Assistant Police Chief Wayne Tarwater on the witness stand during a hearing in October. Tarwater would have testified that he oversees federal grants for the police department, Patterson said.
b) Greiner's signature on grant applications is a mere formality and a requirement for funding, he said.

We don't know whether Ogden City will prevail in this case on appeal. If an upper court determines that these alleged defects deprived Mr. Greiner and Ogden City of a fair trial in Judge Parke's court, an upper court might well "overturn" Judge Parke's decision. In a very real sense, an appeal in this matter amounts to a complete crap-shoot.

But lets cut through the legal mumbo-jumbo, folks. Even in the event that this matter is "overturned" on appeal, here's the likely remedy: The upper court will simply order a trial de novo.

And what's the meaning of this to the Emerald City taxpayers?

It means that even if the matter is sent back to the trial court for a brand new trial, attorneys Bradshaw and Preston will still be billing on the clock, and the city's already back-breaking legal bill, (which we've now learned will ultimately be borne by the dumb taxpayers), will continue to mount up.

So we're compelled this morning to ask whether it might be a more wise and fiscally-prudent course of action for the Ogden City Administration to simply demonstrate "the better part of valor," and throw in the towel:

Isn't it time for Boss Godfrey to demand Chief Greiner's resignation?

Yeah... moral victories are great... but such victories ought to be evaluated according to at least a rudimentary a cost v. benefits analysis we believe. And yes. We know Chief Greiner is a fine police chief, folks. But is he so indispensible to the Ogden City Police Department that we're willing to continue to bear the hundreds of thousands of dollars in costs, fees and forfeitures which have accrued, and will inevitably continue to accrue from the stubborn pursuit of this quixotic Hatch Act litigation?

Don't let the cat get your tongues, O Gentle Ones.

Utahns For Ethical Government Update

Bullet-point Post-Press Conference Report from the UEG's Utah Hero Kim Burningham

The lower text summary comes from UEG's Utah Hero Kim Burningham, via an email we received at 12:56 p.m. today:

Introduction

· Thanks to The supporters, the public, and to the executive committee and other key workers
· Overwhelming message: the public wants ethics reform (door to door, Arts Fest SG, Taylorsville library, Kent’s Market in Brigham)

Introduction to three main issues
1. Where we stand at the conclusion of April 15
2. Our delight at the temporary restraining order decision of the federal court
3. Our plans for the future * * *

Where we stand at the conclusion of April 15
· 77,000 signatures tabulated and delivered
· Other signatures turned in to local clerks: the number unknown
· Electronic signatures:
a. Many, whether the courts will determine they are allowed is unclear.
b. Wave of the future, but we suffered serious problems
1. In submission: in one location, they even refused to accept the copies of electronic signatures that we provided.
2. In keeping the web site open for people to sign
3. In long waits.

Our delight at the temporary restraining order decision of the federal court
· Yesterday in Federal court: request for a temporary restraining order
· Ultimately granted by Judge Waddoups, with an April 28 date set for the actual hearing
· I regard this decision as a victory for the rights of the citizens to privacy,
a. The right to remove names is not changed and appropriate.
b. But the decision to disallow public revelation of the names is akin to the sacred right of the secret ballot
c. This TRO is a move toward limiting harassment of petitioners throughout the State

Our plans for the future
· The game is not over!
· The drive to put the ethics reform initiative on the ballot has two deadlines
· Relative to deadline number one: April 15
a. In order to get on the 2010 ballot, yesterday’s April 15 deadline was our goal.
b. As I have explained, the actual outcome of that goal is not clear and will not be fully known for weeks.
1. The expectation that we would reach our goal in 26 of 29 districts is particularly challenging
· Relative to deadline number two: mid August
a. The law also says that an initiative effort has one year from the filing date to gain the necessary signatures (to put the issue on the ballot in November 2012 - Rudi).
b. deadline #2: We have four more months to make that goal!
c. At minimum, we are ¾’s of the way to that goal

Conclusion
a. Too close to call—we may not know the actual results exactly for some time
· However, the most challenging aspect of the requirements for passage of the initiative: the requirement that we reach the 10% goal in 26 of 29 Senate districts.

Basketball game analogy:
a. We have had a scrappy and tight battle to the end of the game
b. But like the basketball game where our team sinks the final bucket,
c. The game now goes to OVERTIME!

Open to questions:

Kim Burningham 801-292-9261 krburningham@utahethics.org

Dixie Huefner 801-359-6705 dshuefner@utahethics.org

Dang! Ya gotta love these hard working and stunningly community-minded UEG people!

Let's all step up and give them three cheers!

And let's all hang in there people, and devote all our efforts to beating down our autocratic Utah legislative tyrants, just as the founding fathers of America beat down the tyrannical King George III, way back in 1776:

"Nothing of importance happened today." - King George the Third - July 4, 1776 diary entry.

Breaking: Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Sued for Fraud on Mortgage-backed CDOs

The SEC finally decides to enforce the law... what a novel idea

Surprise of surprises. It appears the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission may have finally "grown a pair." Bloomberg.com reported about an hour ago that the SEC has sued Goldman Sachs for fraud, in connection with its Collateralized Mortgage Debt Security Scam (click the foregoing link even if you don't click any of the others on this page), which during the past year brought the world economy to its knees. Here's the lede from this morning's beaking Bloomberg.com story:

April 16 (Bloomberg) -- Goldman Sachs Group Inc. was sued by U.S. regulators for fraud tied to collateralized debt obligations that contributed to the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.
The firm’s shares tumbled as much as 16 percent and financial stocks slumped.
Goldman Sachs misstated and omitted key facts about a financial product tied to subprime mortgages as the U.S. housing market was starting to falter, the Securities and Exchange Commission said in a statement today. The SEC also sued Fabrice Tourre, a Goldman Sachs vice president.

Read the full writeup here:

• Goldman Sachs Sued by SEC for Fraud Tied to CDOs

After sitting on its thumbs for over a year, it would appear that the SEC has finally gotten off its neoCON ass, and decided, however belatedly, to discharge its duty as the primary U.S. securities market regulator, and to actually enforce the law.

What a novel idea.

Salt Lake Tribune: Utahns For Ethical Government Lawyers Sue In Federal Court - UPDATED

Godspeed to the UEG lawyers
UPDATED: Temporary restraning order granted; press conference set for 11:00 a.m.

Interesting development on the citizen's initiative petition front, according to this morning's morning's story in the Salt Lake Tribune:

• Suit demands secrecy for ethics petition signers.

In Tuesday's WCF article we assured our readers that Utahns for Ethical Government's (UEG) lawyers were prepared to go to court, although we confess that we had no idea they'd be doing it quite so soon. From this morning's Cathy McKitrick story:

One day shy of the deadline to turn in 95,000 valid voter signatures, attorneys who drafted a pending ethics-reform initiative filed suit in U.S. District Court, challenging the constitutionality of the practice of making petition signatures public.
David Irvine and Alan Smith, two of the key legal minds behind Utahns for Ethical Government, requested a temporary restraining order -- and permanent injunction -- to block the release of signers' names, addresses and, in some cases, their age or birth dates. Current state law allows their release as soon as county clerks have accomplished the task of matching names to registered voters.
"There's a provision in Utah's initiative statute that once you've filed your packets with the county clerk they become a public record," Smith said. "We're challenging the constitutionality of that statute. In effect it chills the First Amendment rights of those who signed the petition."

We'd expected that Utah Republicans who'd signed the petition would experience a certain amount of needling from GOP jack-boots operatives for having deviated from the Party Line. What we hadn't expected was that ethics reform-minded GOP petition signators, in doing so, would be mean-spiritedly accused of having committed the equivalent of an act of political treason:

"We want to protect those who signed our petition from being harassed," Irvine said, noting that some signed just because they thought that people should get to vote on the question.
"The [state] Republican Party has said it will target our folks," Irvine added. "We've had Republicans in Utah County saying 'if you sign you're not fit to run as a Republican.'"

Old-fashioned right wing socialist Brown-shirt Politics, anyone?

Godspeed to the UEG lawyers.

Sign the petition here:

• Utahns for Ethical Government

Please be patient, folks. The UEG website has been up and down this morning, (and over the past day or two as well), due to user overload (which is a positive omen for initiative supporters, wethinks). If you get a page load error the first time around, come back later and try again. Today's the last day for the gathering of signatures by the way, so for those who've dawdled... please be persistent... and don't give up until your electronic signature has been lodged.

Update 4/16/10 6:00 a.m.: The Salt Lake Tribune reports that U.S. District Judge Clark Waddoups granted the UEG's request for a temporary restraining order to keep petition signers' names secret:

• Ethics initiative 'close' to making ballot

We also received an email from UEG representative Kim Burningham about thirty minutes ago informing us that despite intermittent crashes of UEG's website throughout the day, "yesterday also brought great 'highs,'" and "that there is far more news--and even more exciting--that will be clear at the 11 a.m. press conference this morning."

We'll keep our ears open, tune into this morning's press conference and report back with any new developments arising in connection with the UEG petition story.

Gotta admit the suspense is killing us.

Stay tuned, WCF readers.

Open Space Meeting Tonight

Snoozers will be losers

For the benefit of those readers who may not already have put the matter on calender, we'll once again remind you of tonight's public meeting, wherein the Ogden Planning Department will unveil the first draft of Ogden's new Open Space Plan, and open up the floor for public input:

DATE: Thursday, April 15
TIME: 7 p.m. - 10p.m.
PLACE: Megaplex @ The Junction (2nd FL Meeting Room - 23rd & Kiesel)

As gentle reader BAT_girl aptly reminds us, "The more people attend and speak up, the more likely the lumpencitizens will be heard."

Snoozers will be losers.

Standard-Examiner: Ogden City Property Confiscation Committee Declares Four-block Downtown Area Blighted

The sky's the limit when your City Council gambles with other peoples' money, we guess

Scott Schwebke reports this morning on the results of last night's Ogden City Property Confiscation Committee (RDA) Hearing, and reveals that Boss Godfrey-style right-wing crony socialism remains alive and well in Emerald City. Here's the gist:

OGDEN -- By a 5-2 vote, the city council, acting as the municipality's redevelopment agency board, agreed Tuesday night to declare a four-block area in the east-central section of the city as blighted.
City council members who voted against the designation were Susan Van Hooser and Amy Wicks.

Read the whole sad story here:

• Four-block Ogden area designated as blighted; redevelopment to renew downtown

Fasten your seatbelts and hold on tight to your wallets, folks, as our new council majority of five (Comrades Blair, Garner, Gochnour, Stephens and Stephenson) throw fiscal conservatism to the wind, pick up where the financially reckless 2004-05 Gang of Five Council left off, and embark upon yet another round of foolhardy, borrow-and-spend, tax increment-financed BIG SPENDING.

Sadly, eight short months since the taxpayers bailed out Boss Godfrey's money-losing, tax-increment financed Junction Project Scam, it's blatantly apparent that our dreamy and fleeceable City Council has learned absolutely nothing from the experience.

The sky's the limit when your City Council gambles with other peoples' money, we guess.

Update 4/14/01 12:26 p.m.: Per Dan S:

Meanwhile, a separate SE article provides more detail about what the city has in mind for part of this area: Redevelopment of four buildings on the 2300 block of Washington by an Virginia outfit called Octagon Capital Partners, and a parking garage behind these buildings. The parking garage would have 250 spaces and cost $4 million (i.e., $16,000 per space). It would be built by the city and financed by a 20-year bond, repaid through a special assessment district encompassing properties that would benefit from the parking garage. [2d link added by your Blogmeister]

Thusly, the Boss Godfrey plot sickens!

Ogden City Property Confiscation Committee Hearing Thread

A whole new thread, for the benefit of those who'd like to live blog, or otherwise report on tonight's Ogden City RDA "blight hearing."

We just received this missive in a lower comments thread:

Are you interested in postings from the Ogden City Confiscation Committee hearing tonight?
I'm passing through Ogden and would be happy to do so.
If so, where would I do that? Here?
-Lone Gunman

The answer of course is a hearty "YES;" and in response to this inquiry, we're thus setting up this whole new thread, for the benefit of those who'd like to live blog, or otherwise report on tonight's Ogden City RDA "blight hearing."

Yes, Lone Gunman, we're happy to take you up on your gracious offer!

Have at it, O Gentle One(s).

We'll be standing by for what might well turn out to be a very lively event.

Let's just say "we're all ears."

Update 4/14/10 3:15 a.m.: Special thanks to drive-by podcaster Lone Gunman, who dropped into town last night and offered a spellbinding and gut-busting play-by-play narration of last night's farcical Godfrey Administration blight hearing presentation. Trust us, folks. You owe it to yourselves to check out LG's wry running commentary from last night's meeting, down there in our lower comments section.

Update 4/15/10 3:00 p.m.: Lucky us. The Ogden City Internet Technology Crew have finally gotten around to putting up the video of Tuesday's RDA meeting onto the City website. Check it out! Select the April 13 meeting from the lower video menu:

• Ogden City Council Videos

Watch the Five Boss Godfrey Comrades (Blair, Garner, Gochnour, Stephens and Stephenson) awaken from the dead of sleep at the end of a very long and boring meeting, and then rubber-stamp Boss Godfrey's right-wing socialist land-grab agenda, which was already their plan in the first place.

A Weber County Forum Tip O' The Hat to Councilwomen Van Hooser and Wicks, the only two apparently fiscally-responsible grownups left on the Ogden City Council.

Standard-Examiner Editorial: Allow Online Petition Signatures

It will be a shame if these citizens initiative petition efforts are defeated, by getting too few signatures

Fine editorial in this morning's Standard-Examiner, urging Lt. Governor Bell to reconsider his office's anti-democratic stance, against allowing electronic signatures for the Utah ethics reform and fair boundaries initiatives.

If however, it's necessary to overturn Bell's legally weak posture in court, Utahns for Ethical Government is fully prepared to do that. Remember, people, the Attorney General's opinion letter upon which Lt. Governor Bell relies does not have the force of law, and that such a letter is in fact by its own nature no more authoritative than any other opinion letter which might be issued by any other licensed Utah lawyer. UEG lawyers are prepared for litigation; and they'll soon be seeking declaratory relief in the courts, if necessary.

Citizens' initiative sponsors are still urging Utah voters to continue to go online to affix their electronic signatures to the petitions, pending a judicial resolution of this matter. In the event that these online petitions are ultimately ruled invalid (a low-probability outcome, in our opinion,) petition sponsors will still have your full contact information available, so they will be able to easily contact you to obtain a hard-copy signature.

As of April 2, UEG spokesman issued a press release stating that UEG anticipated reaching somewhere between 60 and 80 percent of its mandated 95,000 signatures of registered Utah voters by April 4, 2010. So with two days remaining, we'll put on one extra pre-deadline (April 15) push and strongly urge those of you who haven't yet signed the petition to do so now, without any further delay.

Once again, here are the links to the UEG and Fair Boundaries online petitions:

• Fair Boundaries
• Utahns for Ethical Government

You can also click on the graphic above, which will take you directly to the UEG's online petition data entry page.

As the Standard-Examiner editorial board emphasizes:

This is a unique opportunity for Utah residents to send a clear message to lawmakers that we are fed up with long-delayed ethics reforms and are taking matters into our own hands. It will be a shame if that effort is defeated, either by getting too few signatures, or having names gathered electronically struck down by the lieutenant governor.

Need we say more?

Big Emerald City RDA Meeting Tomorrow Night!

If you decide to attend tomorrow night's RDA session, be sure to bring along your steely eyes and flaming torches, etc.

For the sake of those readers who haven't been carefully watching their calenders, we'll helpfully provide a quick reminder of an important matter which is set for tomorrow's Ogden RDA Board agenda:

• Ogden City Redevelopment Agency Agenda - April 13, 2010 at 6:00 p.m.

Specifically, the only substantive item on tomorrow night's RDA calender is the Godfrey Administration's latest pet project, i.e., to enact "proposed resolution 2010-1, making a finding of blight (in preparation for a possible subsequent eminent domain condemnation action) in the area encompassing a full 4 downtown city blocks in the heart of Ogden's Central Business District, from 20th to 24th; and east from Washington to Adams Avenue."

We've previously discussed this matter at length on Weber County Forum; and we'll add that we've also heard from one affected downtown property owner who resides in the U.S. south-land, that he'll be driving cross-country (8 hours) to attend this Boss Godfrey RDA Dog-and Pony Show, to defend his individual property rights on Tuesday night.

What a shame it is that an out-of-town investor who put his money on the line, demonstrated his faith in Ogden's future, and purchased an investment property in Boss Godfrey's BossGodfreyWorld, is now compelled to travel half-way across the North American continent to Ogden, to defend his investment against Godfrey and his evil, land-grabbing, money-grubbing, right-wing socialist cabal.

No?

We do believe tomorrow night's meeting will be extremely interesting.

If you decide to attend tomorrow night's RDA session, be sure to bring along your steely eyes, popcorn, torches and pitchforks. Cymbals, cow-bells and megaphones might also be in order too, just to keep the Sleepy Gochnour 2010-11 Council from snoozing through the whole proceeding:

The "Villagers" prepare to "lobby" Boss Godfrey & the Gochnour Council

That's our take; and we're stickin' to it. Other "sadly misguided viewpoints" will also be entertained here on WCF, of course, as a result of our unrelenting courtesy.

So what say our gentle readers about all this?

Standard-Examiner Editorial: Dump Greiner!

If Gentle Curmudgeon were of suspicious turn of mind, he might be wondering...

By Curmudgeon

A pretty good editorial in this morning's Standard-Examiner:

• Why Give Up $215,000?

Good question. From the editorial:

Apparently Jon Greiner will remain as Ogden's chief of police and the city will pass up $215,000 in future federal grants -- its penalty for Greiner's violation of the Hatch Act when he signed off on federal grants while campaigning for his state senate seat....
Greiner was clearly guilty of violating the Hatch Act, according to Judge Lana Parke's 22-page ruling, which agreed with the U.S. Office of Special Counsel....
Parke wrote, "By choosing to disregard Office of Special Counsel's warning, Chief Greiner voluntarily and knowingly placed himself at risk of prosecution...."
There is no need to keep Greiner as Ogden's police chief. Contrasted with the loss of $215,000, Greiner is expendable...

The SE editorial board got that right. Pretty good editorial overall, except that it continues the SE's long-standing policy of tip-toeing ever so g-e-n-t-l-y around the name of Hizzonah, Mayor Matthew Godfrey when attributing responsibility for the mess. Instead, the editorial talks vaguely about the responsibility of un-named "Ogden City Officials."

As I understand it, Ogden's police chief is appointed by and serves at the pleasure of the Mayor. All Mayor Godfrey had to do was ask his crony, Jon "Double Dip" Greiner for his resignation as police chief, and Ogden would be spared forgoing nearly a quarter of a million dollars in what the SE rightly identifies as "the people's money." Presumably Mayor Godfrey could still save the public's money by asking for Double Dip's resignation. He should. But he won't.

If I were of suspicious turn of mind, I might be wondering about now what Chief Double Dip Greiner has on Hizzonah that has guaranteed the Chief his continuing job at an additional and needless cost of nearly a quarter of a million dollars in the public's money.....

County Convention Post-mortem: UPDATED

The Demos renominate Neil Hansen; The GOP indulges in some ugly self-cannibalization

We'll briefly highlight two Standard-Examiner stories this morning, which report on the outcomes of the Democratic and Republican county conventions, which were held yesterday on the WSU campus:

• Incumbent Hansen wins nomination
• Delegates hear from candidates at Weber County GOP convention

Notably, the Democratic convention featured only one contested intra-party race, in which veteran House District 9 Representative incumbent Neil Hansen was again nominated for the 2010 General Election race by a substantial 67% margin, while GOP delegates indulged in a noticeable degree of political self-cannibalization, ousting county-level incumbents by large vote tally margins in two of three contested races .

Another interesting outcome of yesterday's Weber County GOP confab... Senator Bennett got hammered in the straw poll:

Weber delegates, in a straw poll, gave Bennett 22.75 percent of the vote. However two of his challengers polled stronger, with Lee receiving 32.19 percent and Eagar 27.68.

The straw poll was informational only, to be sure. And the polling involved county, and not state delegates. Nevertheless you can also be sure that even this informal result was the cause of some heartburn in the Bennett campaign camp.

That's it for now, gentle readers.

Who will be the first to comment?

Update 4/11/10 1:00 p.m.: Please take note that we've now updated our 2010 Candidates Roster, to reflect the elimination of unsuccessful intra-party candidates in the now concluded Demo and GOP conventions:

• 2010 Weber County General Election Candidate Roster

This roster, which is also linked from our right sidebar, is undergoing near-daily revisions. So be sure to check back frequently for all the latest updates.

Saturday Morning Emerald City Open Topic Thread

Who will be the first to lead the discussion?

Your blogmeister will be tied up for most of the morning on partisan political business, so we'll turn the floor over to our readers to set the tone for this morning's discussion with whatever topics float your boats.

And just to get everyone into the spirit, howbout this Standard-Examiner story, for starters? Seems like a week doesn't go by without someone from the Davis County GOP landing in "hot water." [wink]:

• Weber seizes computers / Campaign vendor for Davis candidate investigated over email

Who will be the first to lead the discussion within this morning's open topic thread?

Have at it, O Gentle Ones.

Standard-Examiner: Both Parties Converge On WSU Tomorrow For Their Respective County Nominating Conventions

Weber County Forum endorses GOP individual property rights advocate Craig Call in House District 6

This morning's Standard-Examiner focuses on tomorrow's Democratic and Republican County Nominating Conventions, where county delegates will attempt to thin the field of candidates in contested intra-party races. This morning's digital and hard-copy editions also provide a handy graphic, summarizing the contested races for each major party:


In yesterday's WCF article we proudly endorsed Terry Thompson for Sheriff and offered this comment, respecting that endorsement:

Seriously though, we're proud to join Sheriff Slater in endorsing Terry Thompson for Weber County Sheriff. Among all prospective candidates for all Weber County 2010 offices, we believe Terry's the most clear standout in any of the county-wide races.

With twenty-twenty hindsight however, and having now examined the above list, we confess we might have been a might hasty in narrowing our "standout" list to merely one single candidate.

And it's in that connection that we'll now shine the spotlight on yet another convention candidate whom we believe deserves a good long hard look. So Weber County GOP Leg. 6 convention delegates, please take note:

Within the State House District 6 race you'll find the name Craig Call. For those of you who are unaware, this is the same Craig Call who founded the Utah Office of the Property Rights Ombudsman and ran it for over ten years. Mr. Call has been a true friend of Utah property owners over the years, and as long-time WCF readers will remember, it was Mr. Call's office which leveled the playing field for Ogden River Project property owner Mike Moyal, with that office's 2007 ruling that Emerald City's then-existent and ill-conceived 6-month River Project property development moratorium was illegal under Utah law.

Inasmuch as Mr. Call hasn't apparently been deeply involved in Legislative District 6 GOP politics until quite recently, and may be an unfamiliar name to many of you, we're delighted to shine the spotlight on Mr. Call's candidacy. For Weber County Convention delegates, especially those from Leg. District 6, we urge you to visit Mr. Call's campaign website and learn a little more about an individual property rights advocate who deserves local star status, as far as we're concerned:

• Call on Craig for Utah State Legislator

Based on the foregoing, we hereby proudly offer our second pre-convention endorsement... for House District 6 GOP candidate Craig Call.

That's it for now, O Gentle Ones.

Who'll be the first to chime in respecting Mr. Call's candidacy, or concerning any of the other contested races listed in the graphic above?

Sheriff Slater Endorses Terry Thompson For Weber County Sheriff

Weber County Forum is proud to join Sheriff Slater in endorsing Terry Thompson

With the Weber County GOP Nominating Convention looming this weekend, we can't resist throwing in our own 2¢, concerning one of the County races wherein nominations will be made by Weber County Republican delegates on Saturday. Back on March 16, we published this article, wherein we focused on the three contenders running in the 2010 County Sheriff's race:

With the impending retirement of Weber County Sheriff Brad Slater, there are three fresh faces lining up for the Weber County Sheriff's job, with Democrat Gary Haws and Republicans Brett Haycock and Terry Thompson vying for the nomination from their respective County Conventions.

We'll also refer back to this January 12 WCF article, wherein we reported the impending retirement of our current Weber County Sheriff, Brad Slater.

Within the latter article we said this:

We duly congratulate Sheriff Slater for his many years of dedicated and highly competent public service; and we also agree that Sheriff Slater will be "much missed," after his retirement in January 2011.
Sheriff Slater also told us he'll be endorsing his preferred Weber County Sheriff successor, possibly as early as early the Weber County GOP Nominating Convention.
With this in mind, we can't wait to endorse Sheriff Slater's "Pick."

Well... for the benefit of Weber County delegates who'll be in attendance at Saturday's Weber County Convention, the waiting is over. Sheriff Slater has weighed in on the subject:

• Sheriff Slater Endorses Terry Thompson

We'll join Sheriff Slater in endorsing Terry Thompson for Weber County Sheriff, and we'll add that we're not merely doing so merely because he's Brad Slater's pick. Your blogmeister has had the opportunity to work with Terry Thompson over the years on a variety of volunteer projects, and we're convinced his combination of brains, management skill and street smarts make him the ideal candidate to pick up where Sheriff Slater will be leaving off.

If you liked Sheriff Slater's savvy and highly-professional approach to Weber County law enforcement and Sheriff's Office management over the years, you'll love Terry Thompson, we have no doubt.

For more information on Terry, be sure to check out his most informative website:

• Terry L. Thompson For Sheriff of Weber County

And for Facebook fans, here's a little added online bonus:

• Thompson for Sheriff 2010

We don't know about the rest of our Weber County convention delegates (yes, your blogmeister is also an eager county GOP delegate); but we do believe Deputy Thompson's own mugshot would be a danged fine addition to the Sheriff's Department historical photo gallery too.

Seriously though, we're proud to join Sheriff Slater in endorsing Terry Thompson for Weber County Sheriff. Among all prospective candidates for all Weber County 2010 offices, we believe Terry's the most clear standout in any of the county-wide races.

Standard-Examiner: Shell Out For Another Parking Garage?

Horse puckey...

By: enough

Shell out for another parking garage?

• Ogden parking structure sought?

Didn't Godfrey give away a parking garage to Marketstar on Kiesel between 24th and 25th?

And didn't the city build a parking garage on Lincoln between 20th and 21st, and give it away to the American Can owners?

Now another to build on the dime of taxpayers and to give away to whom?

Horse puckey...

Standard-Examiner Guest Editorial: Ogden's Transit Choices

Ogden City Council Members... are you listening?

Fine Standard-Examiner guest editorial this morning by Weber County Forum regular Dan Schroeder, written in his capacity as a Sierra Club volunteer:

• Ogden's transit choices

Dan gets right down to business and efficiently enlightens the Standard's general readership about the various options which are on the table as the Ogden Lumpencitizens and state bureaucrats engage in the "robust (and extended) debate over Ogden's transit future," and also notes the troubling stalemate which has developed in recent months:

At this time the planning process has stalled. UTA has been meeting privately with elected officials, trying to convince them to support the 36th Street alignment. A year has passed since the last public meetings were held. Nobody has attempted to bring all the stakeholders together for frank, honest negotiations.

Sadly, our percipient Streetcar Project has been mostly stalled for much longer than that, as far as we're concerned. In point of fact, both the Godfrey Administration and state bureaucrats have been dragging their feet on this project since clear back in 2005, when the Baker Study was completed.

We don't know how to break up the planning logjam. Perhaps our gentle readers can come up with some good ideas. Perhaps the City Council can take the lead on this.

One thing we do know for sure... we are heading for our day of reckoning, as cheaply recoverable oil becomes much more scarce:

Someone in authority needs to aggressively take the lead on this, we believe.

It would be nice to have local public transit options available, wethinks... before the oil runs out.

Ogden City Council Members... are you listening?

Breaking: The Standard-Examiner Is Starting To Make Sense!

Kevin Garn's cancellation of the SE subscriptions speaks better than anything about Garn's character

By: Oldtimer

Hurrah for Mark Saal for having the guts to write his column on the hot tub:

• We interrupt this column for a little schmoozing

And I also am encouraged that the SE editorials have started making more sense to me..I have been a subscriber since 1968 so I think I am a pretty good judge of the improvement.

Garn's cancellation of the SE subscriptions speak better than anything about Garn's character. Sounds like he is qualified to be somebody's Bishop.

Weber County Forum Kicks Off the 2010 General Election Season

Just to get the conversation going this morning we'll ask our readers: Who are YOUR pre-convention favorites... and your LEAST favorites?

Please take note that we've added a new module to our right sidebar, entitled "2010 General Election," to which we've already added two links. We'll let the addition of this module serve as our Official Kickoff for the 2010 Election Season. The first of these is a full pre-convention list of all candidates who have declared their candidacies for all Weber County races this year:

• 2010 Candidate Roster

With county nominating conventions coming up this weekend,and state conventions happening in May, some of the listed candidacies will inevitably be culled out; and in that connection we'll of course continue to update this list.

The second link takes you to Weber County Clerk/Auditor Alan McEwan's most-excellent Elections Page, which provides a vast array of useful information about everything from voter registration to voter precinct maps:

• Weber County Election Information

As is our normal practice here at Weber County Forum with election modules of this kind, we'll continue to add links to the sidebar. And if history is any guide, we'll expect to be compiling the most robust elections information source in the Weber County Webosphere, as we move more deeply into the 2010 election cycle.

In the meantime however, we're setting up this module a little bit earlier than usual, in the hope that those of you who serve as your parties' county convention delegates might be able to benefit from the information linked therein. If you'll be attending your party's convention this weekend, be sure to check it out.

Before closing, we'll also invite any candidates (or friends of candidates) whose online links may have been omitted from our Candidate Roster to submit them to us via our email contact link at the top of the right sidebar. We don't want to leave anybody's info out.

That's it for now, gentle readers.

Check out the data currently in our sidebar, and be sure to check back after this weekend's conventions.

And just to get the conversation going this morning we'll ask our readers: Who are YOUR pre-convention favorites... and your LEAST favorites?

Standard-Examiner: Ogden Group Pushes Streetcar Route

And... it seems that a Council Leadership that claims to be all about transparency could give us a little more information

By Disgusted

Two separate points:

One... it now appears that we have another trolley car plan being purposed by Sue Wilkerson and company. Is this an intentional effort to muddy up the water or what?

• Ogden group pushes streetcar route

Second the city has done it again when it comes to keeping us residents in the dark; and the City Council seems to go along with it. Why can’t or won’t the Council provide us residents with a copy of the agenda package so we will know what’s going on with our money?

Case in point is on the agenda for this Tuesday’s Council meeting, “7. Public Hearing: a. Budget Opening and Amendment to Capital Improvement Plan”:

• City Council Agenda - April 6, 2010

The proposed ordinance 2010-11 specifically, (Sorry I intended to include all the wording but I am having cut and paste software communication problems). Basically though all the information provides is that the city administration wants to amend the budget and Capital Improvement Plan because of gross increases in anticipated revenues and the city wants to transfer the money to another departments from the department where the surplus is being supposedly generated as “detailed in the body of the ordinance” and that the some is 3.1 million dollars. No indication of what department it is coming from nor any indication of what department or project it’s going to.

Frankly I’m a little suspect about Ogden City having any kind of surplus when I see that the State of Utah, our very own Weber County and just about every city that surrounds us or city in the state for that matter is cutting back on services and employees because of budget shortfalls. I’m more likely to think that we as residents are having our services cut back further to support Godfrey’s pet projects, or that the city is over charging us residents for some of the services that it is providing, i.e. the administration is using this surplus as a rainy day fund for his projects. Either way, it looks fishy and I want to know more about this.

Seems to me that a Council Leadership that claims to be all about transparency could give us a little more information.

Standard-Examiner Guest Editorial: Washington's Advice Should Guide Us

Letting the voters decide... what a novel concept for "we the sheeple" here in Glenbeckistan

The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism. But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent despotism. The disorders and miseries which result gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual; and sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction, more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation, on the ruins of public liberty.
Without looking forward to an extremity of this kind (which nevertheless ought not to be entirely out of sight), the common and continual mischiefs of the spirit of party are sufficient to make it the interest and duty of a wise people to discourage and restrain it. [Emphasis added].

George Washington
Washington's Farewell Address
1796

This morning we'll highlight a fine Guest Commentary in today's Standard-Examiner, within which frequent SE contributor Rick Jones cleverly incorporates words from Washington's farewell address to argue against the "spirit of party," and in favor of the Fair Boundaries and Utahns for Ethical Government citizen inititive petitions, as desirable reform measures, which would "lessen the ["frightfully despotic"] power of political parties and "factional" partisanship" in our Utah legislature:

• Washington's advice should guide us

For a startlingly recent example of the "continual mischiefs of the spirit of party" which are so painfully evident in our Utah legislature, Weber County Forum readers need only look back to March 4 of this year, when House Representative Gage Froerer candidly informed us that that the beleagured citizens of Powderville could probably get their voting rights back... simply by coughing up a cool twenty-five grand to a "lobbyist" with "influence" amongst the members of the real estate development-partisan State Senate Leadership Faction.

Time's running short folks. These petitions need to be submitted to the Lt. Governor's office by April 15. Once again, here are the online citizen petition links:

• Fair Boundaries
• Utahns for Ethical Government

And for those readers who are still reluctant to sign the petitions, due to the raft armada of confusing misinformation which has been disseminated by the evil (or naively misguided) opponents of real ethics reform in Utah, please consider this:

If these two petitions DO receive the requisite 95,000 ballot-qualifying signatures, these initiatives WILL NOT automatically become law. Rather, they will be merely placed on November General Election ballots, which means that ALL UTAH VOTERS will then be able to decide whether these initiatives are worthy of our vote.

Letting the voters decide... what a novel concept for "we the sheeple" here in Glenbeckistan.

Just sign the petitions, folks. If you later change your minds, you can simply vote against the ballot initiatives in November.

Standard-Examiner: The Lumpencitizens of Ogden aren't On the Hook For a Single Dime of Greiner's Hatch Act Lawsuit - Not Yet Anyway

Write your City Council and the Little Lord on Nine and let them know that the Taxpayers of Ogden City will not stand for the expenditure of a single Ogden Taxpayer Dime on the further pursuit of this litigation

For the third day running, Scott Schwebke reveals, in a new Standard-Examiner story, important new information about the circumstances surrounding Senator/Chief Greiner's Hatch Act litigation. Various stories have reported that the taxpayers of Ogden may have been picking up the tab for this protracted litigation; and WCF readers have expressed their fears that the taxpayers may have been hit hard in the process. This morning's Scott Schwebke story delves into the details regarding the source of funds for the financing of this lawsuit, and (among other things) offers this somewhat heartening information regarding the Emerald City Lumpencitizens' current financial exposure, as the Ogden City Administration considers the possibility of taking the matter up on appeal. Up until now, according to Mr. Schwebke's report, it appears that Ogden City's "risk management carrier" (not a true insurance company) has been picking up the entire tab, which is good news for Ogden taxpayers, we believe:

The Utah Risk Management Mutual Association, the city's insurance carrier, is paying Jim Bradshaw, a lawyer defending Greiner, and Stan Preston, an attorney representing the city administration, Patterson said.
Bradshaw and Preston could not be reached for comment Thursday regarding how much URMMA has paid them.
Jim Fisher, claims and litigation manager for URMMA, declined to disclose amounts paid to Bradshaw and Preston because the Hatch Act case is still active
Ron Ball, Ogden's risk manager, said Thursday he doesn't know how much has been spent on legal fees because attorneys used by the city typically bill URMMA directly..

Ogden City risk manager Ron Ball also offers this interesting additional observation, which anticipates a question we're sure many of us would be asking, even in the event that Ogden City might not seek future relief through the appellate court(s):

The Hatch Act case shouldn't increase the city's annual insurance premium with URMMA, Ball said. Premiums are based on the city's size and number of employees and not on individual claims, he said. The city's URMMA premium in 2009 was about $210,000.

Whether Mr. Ball's assurances are accurate we do not know, but our own experience with insurance companies who've paid out substantial claims leaves us in some doubt. Does URMMA have contractual or statutory authority to raise Ogden City's premiums going forward? Can URMMA simply exercise the power cancel Ogden City's coverage? In our view Mr. Schwebke has insufficiently researched this question; and we're not entirely satisfied that Ogden City taxpayers will be held entirely harmless for the costs and expanses of the unsuccessful litigation to date.

Nevertheless we'll go out on a limb and say "so far, so good" (we hope), even though we don't have a hint about the true costs of this litigation.

A second set of separate questions also arises as Ogden moves forward, considers keeping Greiner in place as Ogden City Police Chief and contemplates filing an appeal, of course:

Is URMMA, (which is a state-funded risk management fund, and NOT a true insurance company) contractually or statutorily compelled to continue financing this litigation, in the event that Ogden City officials unilaterally decide to pursue an appeal? According to this morning's story, Administrative Law Judge Lana Parke made a "finding of fact" that "Greiner violated the Hatch Act because he signed off on (initialled) a half-dozen federal grants valued at more than $1 million already in place during his successful 2006 campaign for the state Senate." As a general rule, appeals based on allegedly erroneous findings of fact are usually a tough uphill fight. Here's a brief summary of the problem from Answers.com:

On appeal, a question of fact is treated differently than a question of law. If an appellant alleges that the fact finder incorrectly decided questions of fact, an appeals court will give deference to the fact finder's decisions. The fact finder gets to see and hear all the evidence and thus is in a better position to make factual determinations than is the appeals court. If an appellant claims that the trial judge incorrectly decided a question of law, however, the appeals court will examine the trial judge's ruling more carefully. Essentially, it is more difficult to overturn a verdict based on a question of fact than a verdict based on a question of law. [Emphasis added].

Our guess is that the underlying administrative court case turned on Judge Parke's finding of fact, and that unless there exist other fatal errors of law in the underlying trial court matter, the State funded URMMA will not be inclined (rationally, at least) to further underwrite an appeal of this matter.

This raises this additional question, of course. In the event that URMMA declines to provide further funding for this lawsuit, and the Ogden Administration nevertheless decides to keep Greiner on the City payroll and move forward with an appeal, WHO will be on the hook to finance this litigation henceforth?

You got it folks! Vous!

Write your City Council and the Little Lord on Nine and let them know that the Taxpayers of Ogden City will not stand for the expenditure of a single Ogden Taxpayer Dime on the further pursuit of this lawsuit:

• Contact Local Officials

You know what to do... do it on the internet...

We'll also note in passing that we believe, unlike many WCF readers, that Chief Greiner has been well justified in pursuing this litigation, so long as he remained in the Senate race. We believe that acts of civil disobedience in the face of government tyranny are part of the fabric of liberty in America; and up until now we've believed Chief Greiner has "fought the good fight." Now that The Chief has however voluntarily removed himself from the Sen 18 race, and acquiesced to an overbearing federal agency (the Office of Special Counsel) in depriving Weber County voters of the opportunity to vote for him in November, this can no longer can be rationally deemed in any manner to be "the lumpencitizens' fight," in our opinion.

Having said that, we'll turn the floor over to our gentle readers.

Jon Greiner Senate Withdrawal Redux

It's becoming increasingly apparent that party labels don't mean very much to the legislative "leaders" up on Capitol Hill

We'll spotlight three new items from the northern Utah press, who are all over the Jon Greiner Senate race withdrawal story this morning:

1) The Standard-Examiner provides two more stories centered upon Jon Greiner's withdrawal from the Senate 18 race, in a consolidated three-part series which also incorporates the earlier SE story which we discussed yesterday morning:

• Greiner stops Senate run after Hatch Act ruling; Ogden may appeal

Among the tidbits of new information provided in this latest SE update is this:

OGDEN -- Jon Greiner will remain as police chief despite an administrative law judge's ruling that he must resign or the city will be forced to forfeit more than $215,000 in federal grants because of a Hatch Act violation.[...]
In addition to allowing Greiner to keep his job as police chief, the city may appeal the Hatch Act ruling, said John Patterson, the city's chief administrative officer.[...]
Even if the city doesn't appeal the ruling by an April 20 deadline, forfeiting the grant funds totaling two years of Greiner's salary is worth it, Patterson said.
"He's an excellent chief. Crime is at a 30-year low," he said. "We really think it's worth it to retain someone who has had excellent performance."

Whether the City Council will go along with the forfeiture of nearly a quarter-million dollars in federal grant money as the price of keeping Greiner on the city payroll is uncertain, as this Councilwoman Susan Van Hooser comment suggests:

City Councilwoman Susan Van Hooser questioned whether Ogden can afford legal costs associated with an appeal or the six-figure loss in federal funding.
"It puts the city in a real predicament about what we should do," she said.
"What's the cost going to be? Sometimes you have to let things go."

2) The Salt Lake Tribune is also carrying the story too, and reports that Stuart Reid has finally made contact with Weber County Republican officials (whom long time Democratic Party insider Reid didn't know from Adam less than a week ago), and that Weber County GOP Chairman Matt Bell plans to schedule a question and answer session with the Weber County Republican Executive Committee (the 18-member governing body for the County GOP), to allow Reid to pitch his "conservative" credentials, (such as they may or may NOT be):

• Greiner drops out of Senate race

3) The Deseret News is also on top of the story too, with this morning writeup which reports that real estate development-oriented elements within the State Legislative Republican majority, namely neoCON Senate President Michael Waddoups R-Taylorsville, and Sen. Howard Stephenson, R-Draper can hardly contain their glee at the idea of welcoming another fellow real estate developer crony (Reid) into the Capitol Hill Good Ole Boys' Club:

• Ogden state senator drops re-election bid

No surprises there, wethinks. It's becoming increasingly apparent that party labels and party core principles don't mean very much to the "faux" GOP legislative "leaders" up on Capitol Hill, and that the most important trait for any new prospective state legislator, as far as these right wing socialist people are concerned, is a strong affinity for the all-powerful Utah real-estate development lobby.

That's our take; and we're stickin' to it.

So what say our gentle readers about all this?