Yesterday's Emerald City News Today

Tell us it ain't true, Virginia: The ever-financially tight-fisted Boss Godfrey uncovers possible "double dipping" in Emerald City?

Fascinating story in yesterday's Standard-Examiner. The ever-financially tight-fisted Boss Godfrey alleges that somebody at The Marshal White Center may have been "double dipping." Read the troubling details here:

• Did Ogden employee double dip at center?

The story is still young enough that nobody's naming names yet, but we found these Ace Reporter Schwebke paragraphs to be highly illuminating:

"You can't work the same hours and get paid by two organizations," he [Godfrey] said.
John Patterson, the city's chief administrative officer, said the double payment had been going on since September.
The city's personnel policy prohibits employees on the clock from moonlighting for another organization. "Employees may not receive any income or material gain from others outside the city for materials produced or services rendered while performing their jobs with the city," the policy states.

(Okay, we know you've probably already guessed where we're going with this.)

What about Ogden Police Chief/State Senator Greiner? As our six-figure salary-compensated police chief, he's supposed to be available to do his job 24/7, No? He's supposed to be constantly "on the clock," isn't he? Yet as everyone knows, he spends at least 45 days per year lolling around the state legislature, and probably at least an equal amount of time attending committee meetings and caucuses when the legislature is out of session, even while drawing his full Ogden City salary. So will Mr. Schwebke soon be reporting that Boss Godfrey is cracking down on Chief Greiner... for his own "double dipping?" It seems to us that what's good for the goose is also appropriate for the gander.

And what about our newly appointed Community & Economic Development Director Scott Waterfall? Has he continued to draw his own Ogden City six-figure salary while still simultaneously working in his highly lucrative law practice? Strangely, nobody seems to have seen either hide or hair of him since his appointment in October. Has he resigned from his law firm and closed up his law practice? Is he busting his butt behind the scenes serving Ogden City alone? Or is this another egregious example of double dipping?

And please don't tell us that these anti-double dipping rules only apply to the "little people."

We'll add that we''re sorry to be tardy in highlighting yesterday's Std-Ex article; but we'll also note in passing that we believe we were unfairly criticized in the Std-Ex comments section yesterday, for failing to promptly highlight this most troubling double dipping story.

For the record, we've had the audacity to take most of the weekend off, as we often do (whether anyone notices it or not.)

And to be slightly more specific... let's just say that we've been "hiking the Appalachian Trail," and leave it at that. Okay? [Grin].

Have at it, O Gentle Ones.

Standard-Examiner: Double Dipping at Ogden City Police Department! - UPDATED

Greiner says: "I didn't do anything wrong"... And the beat goes on...

By: Biker Babe

Anonymous complaint cries: Double Dipping at Ogden City Police Department!

• DOUBLE-DIPPING - Anonymous complaint accused Ogden Police Department of manipulating rules for retirees

City Atty Williams says: "We were very careful to comply with all laws"... when he really means: "We were very careful to find all the loopholes and maximally utilize them for our (and FOM's) benefit."

And of course Greiner says: "I didn't do anything wrong."

And the beat goes on...

js,

BB

Update 3/29/11 10:23 a.m.: For those readers who've been standing by with abated breath, awaiting the posting of the above-linked "double dipping" story to the SE Live! (free) site, we're delighted to inform you that the story is now up in all its glory:

• Anonymous complaint accuses Ogden Police Department of manipulating rules for retirees

Have at it, O Gentle Ones.

Salt Lake Tribune Editorial: End Double Dipping

Another Northern Utah newspaper jumps aboard the anti-double dipping bandwagon

We'd like to highlight a good strong editorial in this morning's Salt Lake Tribune, in which the Trib editorial board jumps aboard the bandwagon, in condemning the peculiar Utah practice of public employee double dipping:

• End double dipping

As our regular readers will of course recall, the Standard-Examiner carried its own editorial on the subject about six weeks ago.

We're delighted to find our northern Utah print media lining up to advocate the legislative abolition of this egregious and costly practice; and we'll thus be keeping our eyes peeled for a similar Deseret News editorial piece in the near future.

Meanwhile we'll reiterate a closing comment from our 11/20/09 WCF article on the subject:

Note to our "fiscally conservative" state legislature: Are you listening?

Standard-Examiner Editorial: Time to Stop Double Dipping

Note to our "fiscally conservative" state legislature: Are you listening?

We don't want the day to completely slip away, without shining the spotlight on a fine lead editorial appearing in this morning's Standard-Examiner. In a most craftsman-like fashion, editorial page editor Doug Gibson draws a bead on a quirky Utah political practice which we've extensively ranted about here on Weber County Forum, public employee double dipping:

• OUR VIEW: Time to stop double-dipping

We're delighted to see the Standard-Examiner jumping aboard the editorial bandwagon on this; and we applaud the SE's no-nonsense proposed legislative approach:

Look, this is a no-brainer change to make and any Utah legislator who opposes it deserves to lose re-election. Utah is the only state in the Western United States that lets retirees come back to work with a salary, pension and a 401(k). The result is Utah has lost $400 million over the past eight years and will lose $900 million over the next 10 years. We just can't afford to bleed money like that, particularly during this tough recession.
We have no objection to a public worker retiring, drawing benefits and then moving into the private sector. That is not costing the state money. But public-sector double-dipping is, and it needs to stop.

Note to our "fiscally conservative" state legislature: Are you listening?

Tuesday Morning Emerald City News Roundup

Legislative ethics and public employee double dipping are the hot topics of the day

There are a couple of quite interesting items available through the northern Utah print media today, both of which deal with fixing the corruption in Utah government:

First, the Standard-Examiner carries a top notch editorial, urging Utah voters to sign the petition for a "2010 ballot initiative that will do what the Utah Legislature has failed to do for so long — enact ethics reform with teeth."

Among the proponents of this pending voter initiative measure is the Fair Boundaries Coalition, which is promoting the establishment of a non-partisan committee which would oversee the redistricting process to follow the decennial census in 2010. The redistricting element is a matter which has of course been earlier discussed here at Weber County Forum.

With Kim Burningham and David Irvine leading the charge, it's immediately clear that this citizen initiative drive won't be an amateur act. We wholeheartedly agree with the Std-Ex that "it’s time voters got the chance to impose strong ethics regulations on lawmakers via the initiative process."

Keep your eyes on WCF. We'll be closely monitoring this story, and will provide information on how to sign the initiative petition as this matter progresses.

Secondly, the Salt lake Tribune carries a story on a topic that's also near and dear to out WCF hearts, public employee double dipping. Here's the gist, from this morning's Cathy McKittrick story:

The nearly $3 billion projected shortfall in the state's public employee retirement fund has city, county and state officials scrambling to find where to cut costs and shore up the pension plan that covers 156,000 current and retired workers.
Some lawmakers are eyeing double-dippers as a great place to start -- referring to those employees who have retired, are collecting a pension and have come back to work for the same or a different state agency.
"The biggest problem with double-dipping is that we're required by state law to pay them their 401k in the same amount" as had previously been contributed to the pension fund, said Sen. Daniel Liljenquist, D-Bountiful, who co-chairs the Legislature's Interim Retirement Committee.
That mandate is now costing the state somewhere between $10 million and $17 million annually, Liljenquist added.
"Where do you reach the point to cut off a rich benefit like that?" he asked. "To my knowledge, no other state does that. It's very lucrative and it makes sense to tie that down."
Placing restrictions on public employees who retire and rejoin the government work force without continuing contributions to the pension fund is one option being explored to address the retirement shortfall.

While it's probably true that the legislature can't do much about existing 401(k) plans which are already vested (the same may be true with regard to vested pension benefits) , we're hoping that the legislature will, at the very least, put new safeguards in place to prevent this problem from arising in the future.

In closing, we'll adopt the savvy remark from one SLTrib reader in the article comments section:

I strongly disagree with the concept of double or triple dipping. As far as I'm concerned the folks who do this are abusing the system and its wrong. If a person is going to retire from government employment, fine...retire. Thank you very much for your service. But as stated by other readers, its not right that a person be allowed to retire from a state position just to come back 6 months later and get rehired in the position he or she just retired from. That makes no sense. The legislature needs to fix this...now!

That's it for now, gentle readers. Who will be first to comment?

Sunday Morning Emerald City News Roundup

Plenty of interesting tidbits in today's Standard-Examiner

For our readers' eager consumption, we'll reel off these morning items one-by-one:

Undeterred by the closing of his flagship restaurant and the imminent departure of his political benefactor from the Ogden political scene, Friend of Matt (FOM) Mel Kemp still sees a bright future for the Ogden-Hinckley Airport, with multimillion dollars in private aviation development purportedly looming on the horizon:

• Clearance for development upgrade at Ogden airport

Big changes coming up at the Dinosaur Park, as multi-gazillionaire park founder Bob Marquardt resumes management:

• Ogden cedes dinosaur park's reins

Spot-on SE editorial this morning, on the topic of OPD double dipping, wherein the SE editorial board focuses in on the key operative principle, in a manner most laser-like. Quadruple-dipping Chief Greiner should write down this paragraph (so he doesn't forget it):

If a police officer is not serious about retirement, then their benefits should be delayed until he or she retires. In short, if a lieutenant retires, there should be no double-dipping; a qualified sergeant -- and Ogden has many -- should be promoted.

Read the full editorial here:

• OUR VIEW: The OPD's 'ceiling'

Seems everyone in Emerald City recognizes the problem with this double-dipping scam... except our morally and ethically challenged OPD top brass. The question we guess is whether someone in authority, (the City Council for instance,) will ever get around to doing something about it.

The floor's open for your comments, O Gentle Ones. Time to let 'er rip.

Standard-Examiner: Issue of Repeated Double-dipping at Ogden Police Department Leads to Grievance

Isn't the current system of "recycling" "retiring" OPD top brass just plain wrong?

The Standard-Examiner follows up on its March 27, 2011 story this morning, and reports that aggrieved OPD Sgt. Blaine Clifford, "[a]n Ogden police sergeant who contends he was unfairly passed over for promotion in 2007 because of a double-dipping system is again taking his grievance to the city's Civil Service Commission":

• Issue of repeated of double-dipping at Ogden Police Department leads to grievance

The commission is scheduled to hear Sgt. Clifford's complaint on May 11.

So what about it gentle readers? Isn't this system of "recycling" "retiring" OPD top brass, at the expense of up-and-coming rank-and-file police officers just plain wrong? And shouldn't this issue be resolved once and for all by our Ogden City Council?

Have at it, O Gentle Ones.

Who'll be the first to throw in their own 2¢ concerning this issue?

Two Morning News Stories Spawn Election Issues

Some good questions to ask Ogden's mayoral candidates

By Curmudgeon

Two stories up this morning, one in the Trib, one in the SE, that suggest, I think, some good questions to ask Ogden's mayoral candidates.

The Trib one is about Ogden's new police crime center monitoring the city's cameras, and plans for increase surveillance. Particularly interesting are the last paragraphs which report that several studies show such monitoring has no appreciable effect on crime rates:

• With new crime center, Odgen police are watching you

The other, in the Standard-Examiner, is on double-dipping in the Ogden PD --- i.e. people who retire and are rehired at the same jobs so they pull both pension and pay checks for the same job. The Ogden Civil Service Commission declined to assert jurisdiction in the Sgt. Blaine Clifford matter; and now the case appears destined to be headed back to the District Court:

• Double dipping unresolved at Ogden Police Department

Definitely worth a read. Drop a quarter if you have to and take a look. And youir blogmeister will be most certainly looking for statements about double-dipping from the candidates.

Jon Greiner: National Poster Child of Double-dippers?

Ouch! Definitely not the kind of story that Boss Godfrey likes to see splashed all over the front pages of the national media

On the heels of yesterday's reader comment revelation that Ogden Police Chief/Senator Jon Greiner had made made the pages of USA Today, in connection with a multi-state effort to ban the practice of of public employee "double dipping," the Standard-Examiner's Mark Shenenfelt chimes in with a brief article directly addressing this subject on his Why are you Crying blog:

• National poster child of double-dippers

Now that the USA Today story is in the national spotlight, Mr. Shenefelt wryly speculates that this may not be exactly the kind of story that Boss Godfrey likes to see splashed all over the front pages of the national media:

Greiner also is a state senator, and he’s unapologetic about his arrangements. Greiner and his salary-and-retirement deal also have been defended by Mayor Matthew Godfrey. But I’m guessing Greiner’s double-dipping case going national is not the type of “recreational high adventure” fame Godfrey wants Ogden to keep getting in the top press.

By Golly, we believe Mr. Shenefelt is exactly right; and we encourage WCF readers to mosey on over there to have a look. When you get there, be sure to also check out the growing list of savvy reader comments lodged beneath Mark's article.

It will be interesting to see whether this story receives further development on the national stage, no?

Standard-Examiner: Grievance Against OPD Heard Again

We'll be keeping our fingers crossed that the Commission will boldly embrace its jurisdictional responsibilities in this matter, and unequivocally step down hard, once and for all, against this facially-immoral "double-dipping practice"

Following up on its April 24 story, the Standard now reports that OPD Sgt. Blaine Clifford's grievance matter, objecting to the "Ogden Police Department's practice of allowing selected high-ranking officers to "double dip" salary and pension," was heard yesterday by the Ogden City Civil Service Commission:

• Grievance against OPD heard again

For the sake of Sgt. Clifford, we're delighted that the Ogden City Council, back in 2006, wisely preserved the Civil Service Commission, even in the face of mean-spirited Utah legislation which allowed for its dissolution.

We'll be keeping our fingers crossed that the Commission will boldly embrace its jurisdictional responsibilities in this matter, and unequivocally step down hard, once and for all, against this facially-immoral "double-dipping practice."

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

So what say our gentle readers about all this?

Sunday Morning Emerald City News Roundup

Plenty of interesting tidbits in this morning's S-E

By Dan Schroeder

Plenty of interesting tidbits in today's Standard-Examiner:

Trentelman tells us what a nice guy Sen. Knudson is even though he voted for HB477 twice. No sympathy for Sen. Reid, however:

• HB477 is dead; we can keep fighting or move forward

Schwebke tells us that there's an open space plan under consideration, but doesn't tell us much about it:

• Ogden may alter open space plan

Grondahl depicts our mayor running down a sports field in spiked shoes, trampling everyone in his wake:

• Grondahl Cartoon

Saal ridicules WCF (no such thing as bad publicity, right?), and speculates on the mayor's goals for his last nine months in office:

• Ogden City, we are at your disposal

And the fine-print agenda list includes a tiny item informing us that on Tuesday the council will voluntarily hand the mayor even more power to divert funds to his pet projects:

• Agendas

Update 4/3/11 8:30 a.m.: The SE editorial board slams the Ogden Police Department's "dysfunctional" "double-dipping culture":

• OUR VIEW: Double-dipping at the department

Finally, Pending Legislation to Outlaw Double Dipping

So why do we pay these "gummint" guys so much?

By Danny

We've talked before about how gummint employees often have it much better than the public who pay their salaries.

Now, somebody in Utah is trying to do something about it, by addressing pensions and double dipping:

• Gummint Pension Reform in Utah

Predictably, the gummint employees are screaming to keep their disproportionate benefits.

But the truth is, these gummint jobs could all be filled tomorrow, including in Ogden, by people who are at least as qualified as those we have now. The jobs could be filled if they had no benefits at all, and had lower pay, especially the higher-end jobs. So why do we pay these guys so much?

Standard-Examiner Editorial: Retirement Reforms Needed

An invitation to our board "experts" to "edumacate us" on these matters

This morning's Standard-Examiner again carries another strong editorial, this time applauding State Sen. Dan Liljenquist, R-Bountiful, for "his efforts in the Legislature to shore up Utah's state retirement system, which took a $6.5 billion hit from the recent recession":

• OUR VIEW: Retirement reforms needed

Senator Liljenquist has introduced two remedial public employee retirement bills in the State Senate, SB43 and SB63; and we believe the Standard this morning does a pretty good job of boiling it all down to the basics:

SB43 ends the odious, budget-busting practice of double-dipping, where a state employee covered by the retirement system collects both a paycheck and a pension. That is costing our state about $900 million over 10 years. It must end. [...]
SB63 moves employees hired after July 1, 2011 to a retirement system that de-emphasizes pension benefits and instead shifts the future risks of retirement from the state to the individual.

We've railed against the "odoriferous" double-dipping practice endlessly on Weber County Forum of course; so for what it's worth, we'll naturally join with the SE foursquare in strongly urging the passage of SB43. This one certainly seems to be a no-brainer... at least to us.

As for SB63, which would, as we understand it, essentially substitute a defined contribution plan in place of the current budget-busting defined benefit retirement system for all "new hires," we're still sitting on the fence, but strongly leaning in the direction of supporting this latter bill too.

In that connection, we believe the SE makes a pretty persuasive point with this:

[SB63]... transfers an economic reality to public employees that most private-sector employees have been dealing with for years -- that it's up to us to have a secure retirement. The days of a pension taking care of us are nearing the end.

So what about it WCF readers? Is it time for our state public retirement system to fall into place with the economic realities of the private sector? Or are there hidden nuances that operate in favor of taking a little more time studying this... or in even perhaps preserving the current system?

And we already know current public employees are already making lots of noise about this; but we're wondering what all the shouting is about, since these above Liljenquist-sponsored revisions would only ostensibly effect "new hires." We don't lay claim to having any particular expertise in matters concerning public employee retirement however, so we invite our board "experts" to edumacate us on these matters.

All WCF readers are invited to chime in, of course; but we'd particularly like to elicit come commentary from readers in the Utah public employment sphere.

Have at it, O Gentle Ones. The world-wide blogosphere eagerly awaits your ever-savvy comments.

Update 2/15/10 1:36 p.m.: Well, Lo and Behold, and in response to our reader invitation, we already have some extended commentary available (submitted via email) from retired Ogden Firefighter and former City Council Candidate Dirk Youngberg, who suggests that Sen. Liljenquist's SB63 needs a little more thought, and isn't quite ready for prime-time:

• Knee Jerk Reaction to the Market?

We'd hoped to provoke a robust response to this afternoon's WCF write-up, and indeed that seems to be exactly what we're getting!

Who will be the next to chime in on this topic and further contribute to our online enlightenment?

Audit Calls For End to Rehiring Retirees

Double dippers may cost state retirement system $900 million in coming decade

"It was evident in the cases we reviewed that retiring was, with few exceptions, simply a maneuver to begin drawing both a pension and a salary," the audit said. "Returning to work soon after retiring suggests the retirees had not genuinely intended on ending their public service careers."

Utah State Auditor
Getting retirement and salary
November 12, 2009

"The retired in place system is valuable because it allows municipalities to rehire police chiefs or sheriff for the same job at a lower rate within the pay scale." [...]
"Then you have the same person that you pay less and the same amount of service and job experience," he said."It's a good incentive for citizens and cities because it allows cities to renegotiate salary and benefits packages."

Chief Jon Greiner
Getting retirement and salary
November 12, 2009

Ogden City's Chief of Police and State Senator Jon Greiner again gets his mugshot plastered onto the front page of this morning's Standard-Examiner with this AP/SE Staff story, which reports that the the State Auditor's office has recommended a ban on the practice of "double-dipping," a unique Utah quirk, whereby some well-connected government employees are legally-entitled to "retire in place," and then go on collecting a salary in addition to state retirement benefits.

Several eye-popping facts emerge from this morning's Std-Ex story:

• The state retirement system covers state and local governments, as well as public and higher education employers.
• The audit said allowing rehired employees to collect pension benefits has cost the state more than $400 million in the past eight years and will cost nearly $900 million over the next 10.
• Utah is the only western state that allows retirees to return to work with a salary, pension and 401(k) plan. The audit recommends requiring employers to make contributions to the state retirement fund instead of personal 401(k) plans.

Both the Salt Lake Tribune and Deseret News are also all over this topic this morning too, with stories which do not, (unlike the one in this morning's Std-Ex,) directly focus on Ogden's police chief as the poster boy for the egregious Utah practice of allowing certain good ole boys (and gals) to spend a virtual lifetime wallowing in the public trough.

Now that the state legislature has its back pressed to the wall with the severe state tax revenue shortfalls resulting from the ongoing 2008-09 Great Recession, will our legislators act swiftly and decisively to enact the State Auditor's recommendation into Utah law?

We'll volunteer to say won't be holding our breath.

Saturday Afternoon News Roundup

Invitation to embark upon yet another Saturday open topic thread

Lacking any bonafide red-meat news this weekend, we thought it might be useful to set up an open topic thread. Before we turn the floor over to our gentle readers however, we'll lay out a few topical discussion ideas. Here are several items that either caught our eye in this morning's news, or which we bookmarked earlier in the week:

1) As the U.S. economy plunges deeper into recession, we find two Deseret News articles this morning, demonstrating that the Utah economy is by no means immune to the recessionary market forces which currently plague the national economy:

• Utah records $100 million in red ink
• Foreclosure rate in Utah jumps more than 113%

2) With respect to the ongoing political debate concerning the propriety of Utah public employee retirement "double dipping," the Utah Court of Appeals has issued a pro taxpayer ruling regarding Utah public employees who simultaneously hold down multiple state jobs:

• State employees can't double dip on retirement

3) City Weekly's Salt Blog hammers bicyclists who fail to obey the rules of the road:

• Stupid, stupid bicyclists

4) The KUTV website has a heartwarming story about how one ex-gangsta turned his life around, and became a proud and productive member of Ogden's Finest:

• Former gang member is now an Ogden cop

Feel free to chime in on any of these selected topics; or start up a conversation all your own.

Consider this our Saturday open topic thread. Last one out, don't forget to turn out the lights and lock up.

Returning the WCF Spotlight to the Jon Greiner Hatch Act Predicament

If you haven't yet voted, click the poll link below

With a mere 10 days remaining before the deadline for the filing of a U.S. District Court appeal, there's more action on the Jon Greiner Hatch Act story this morning, as the Standard-Examiner editorial page features this emotionally charged letter from one irate South Ogden City resident, who writes "in support of upholding the Hatch Act and firing Chief Jon Greiner." Although Ms. Francis goes a little overboard in conflating Greiner's Hatch Act predicament with Ogden's (perfectly legal, although ethically questionable) "double-dipping" problem and although she makes what we'd consider to be entirely unfounded accusations about "dishonesty and misuse of federal and state tax dollars for himself and his special handful of unlawful officers," we'll nevertheless put the focus on Ms. Francis's morning letter, because we believe she is correct in her major premise (taking into account the evidence that that Greiner had "signed off" on a half-dozen federal grants during his 2006 Utah Senate campaign), i.e., that the federal Office of Special Counsel has made the prima facia case for Greiner's violation of the Hatch Act, and that Mayor-elect Mike Caldwell should "do the right thing and let Greiner go":

• Greiner thinks he's above the law

And while we're on this topic again, we'll also shine the spotlight on several of the other Greiner/Hatch Act topical letters which are lighting up the S-E online website, but which haven't found their way to the S-E hardcopy edition, (at least not yet.)

In this brief and concise 12/14/11 S-E submission, Harrisville resident William Hart raises the "indispensability" issue, and further opines that Ogden's "good ole' boy system is inefficient," and that OPD leadership could benefit from "fresh management" and "renewal":

• Greiner isn't indispensable

As to Mr. Hart's points, we're absolutely certain that lower ranking Ogden police officers, who've been stymied in their efforts to move up the OPD career-advancement ladder, couldn't be more in agreement.

And last but not least, we'll direct our readers' attention to this truly crazy cranky online letter, penned by prominent Ogden businessman and sometimes real estate developer J. Kelly Goddard, who takes strong exception to the Standard's strong December 14 editorial and accompanying Grondahl editorial page cartoon. His solution to the Greiner dilemma? Round up a crowd of his pro-Greiner rich guy "mover and shaker" friends to "buy" our home town newspaper and then "shut it down." If you're thinking that Mr. Goddard fancies himself as part of the 1%, you'd be most certainly right, wethinks:

• Paper too biased regarding Greiner issue

In truth, we're not quite sure what to make of Mr. Goddard's letter. What about it, WCF readers? Is Goddard simply engaging in a little "hyperbolic venting," or should Standard-Examiner management genuinely consider this a not-so-veiled threat?

Here's a new screen-shot of the Standard's still ongoing poll, by the way, where the S-E poses the question, "How do you think Ogden should handle the Jon Greiner situation?" Turns out that a whopping 85% (of 160 respondents) go along with Ms. Francis, Mr. Hart and the Standard and believe that Greiner should go:

Click to enlarge image

If you haven't yet voted, click the poll link below:

• S-E poll: How do you think Ogden should handle the Jon Greiner situation?

That's it for now, O Gentle Ones.

Who'll be the first to throw in their own 2¢?

Std-Ex Editorial: Chief Greiner's Predicament

Dual legislative and law enforcement roles place Chief Greiner in a tight spot

The Standard-Examiner editorial board chimes in on the pending Jon Greiner Hatch Act matter this morning, predicting that the State Senator and Ogden Police Chief will prevail in his opposition to the complaint of the federal Office of Special Counsel, which seeks Greiner's removal from the office of Ogden Chief of Police:

The Hatch Act, enacted in 1939, oversees some political acts of state and local government officials. The OSC’s complaint claims that Greiner, as police chief, was responsible for managing and administrating four federal grants while competing for and winning the Senate District 18 seat.
In our opinion, the OSC charge is not accurate. We think Greiner has acted specifically within the law because Ogden city’s chief administrative officer, John Patterson, says he signs off on the federal grants received by the city’s police department.

We believe the Std-Ex is likely correct in its fact analysis and conclusions. In point of fact, it's apparent to us that Chief Greiner and Ogden City have devised a cautious Hatch Act Compliance Program, shielding Greiner from any acts which could be deemed "managing and administrating four federal grants."

Whether the Std-Ex is aware of it or not, there is also judicial precedent in this matter. In 2004, Henderson, Nevada Assistant Chief of Police and Nevada Assemblyman Richard Perkins was served a similar Office of Special Council complaint, under facts nearly identical to those in the Greiner case. The matter was adjudicated by Merit Systems Protection Board administrative law judge William G. Kocol in favor of Perkins. The Las Vegas Review Journal has a good September 14, 2005 writeup concerning that decision:

• Judge rules Perkins didn't break federal law

As a matter of fact, we interviewed Chief Greiner in 2006, during the General Election ramp-up. Greiner informed us at that time that Ogden's Hatch Act Compliance program had been carefully modeled after the Henderson, Nevada program.

We'll thus cautiously join with the Std-Ex in our own prediction that Mr. Greiner will likely prevail in the pending action before the next Merit Systems Protection Board administrative law judge.. with this caveat: The decision of Judge Kocal isn't necessarily binding in a subsequent matter before any other MSPB judge, even in a case with nearly identical facts. The two cases ARE slightly distinguishable on the facts, by the way. Whereas Perkins had been the Henderson City Assistant Chief, who served as "acting chief" only from time to time, Greiner is the full time Chief of Police of Ogden City. Moreover, although the previously decided Perkins case provides precedent, we do not believe it provides binding legal precedent. Unhappily for Chief Greiner, we suspect a decision in his pending action depends as much upon the disposition of the sitting administrative law judge as the underlying facts and law in the matter.

Having said all this, we'll remind our readers that other issues have arisen with respect to this matter. The Std-Ex raises this objection to the duality ofGreiner's legislative and law enforcement management roles:

Ironically, the OSC complaint cannot force Greiner to give up his state senate seat. Even if he did so, it would not resolve the OSC action. Nevertheless, Greiner should reconsider his state senate duties, since they are restricting his ability, as Ogden police chief, to have a say on federal funds for his officers.
We want Greiner involved in all important duties as Ogden’s chief law enforcement officer.

And there remain still other and further issues. Potential conflict of interest, anyone? And what about the retirement double dipping issue? We know it's technically lawful... but is it right? And what about the argument that these Hatch Act restrictions, if rigorously applied, infringe upon Greiner's fundamental constitutional rights? Then there's the peripheral question of who exactly picks up Greiner's legal fees, whether or not Greiner prevails. Interestingly, in the Perkins case, it was Chief/Assemblyman Perkins himself (not the Office of Special Counsel OR the taxpayers of Henderson City) who eventually got stuck with the tab.

We think The Std-Ex's Calvin Grondal gets it mainly right. Right or wrong, Chief Greiner remains in a tight spot. It's a practical... as much as a legal problem, we think.

The WCF discussion floor is open. Don't let the cat get your tongues.

Reviving the Streetcar Discussion With A Couple of Back-Burner Items

Neck-snapping WCF segue: One gentle reader report that Jon Greiner was a rattled guest this morning on Faux News

Just to keep the conversation going during the ongoing annual December (pre-Christmas) re-meat news lull, we thought we'd take the opportunity to direct our readers to a couple of back-burner news items, related to a topic which has generated considerable previous discussion here on Weber County Forum... Yesiree... let's have Streetcars as the main topic of the day.

In that connection we'll first refer to this December 5 Salt Lake Tribune story, which reports that Salt Lake City officials are taking the lead in planning a streetcar system which would serve key waypoints in Salt Lake's central downtown area:

Salt Lake City wants to make the dusty black-and-white picture books of downtown bound to life.
Mayor Ralph Becker imagines a 21st-century version of the city's old streetcars snaking through the capital's urban catacomb.
And, now, consultants hired by the city have four potential routes that -- depending on federal funding -- one day may make it possible to traverse the business district on wheels without a car.
"The administration sees it as a key element in catalyzing development in downtown," says Becker spokeswoman Lisa Harrison Smith. "It's definitely a high-level priority."
Subject to tweaks, the proposed alignments would zip streetcars from the Salt Lake Central transit station south to 900 South, east to 500 East and right through downtown's heart -- passing by the Salt Palace Convention Center and planned City Creek Center. The lines would be designed to swell ridership on the Utah Transit Authority bus and rail network and serve as a "circulator," ferrying people between downtown TRAX stations and the FrontRunner hub.

What's significant here, we believe, is that it's Salt Lake Officials, Mayor Ralph Becker in particular, who are driving the selection of Salt Lake's preferred transportation corridors. Unlike the situation in Ogden City, where UTA bureaucrats are attempting to interpose their own priorities, without deference to the desires of the citizens and officials "on the ground," UTA is evidently taking a hands-off attitude with Salt Lake planning, and allowing "the locals" to plan their own Transit Oriented Development modes.

It might be helpful if Ogden's own Mayor would get aboard the 25th/26th Street transit corridor bandwagon, don't you think? It's been reported that he's indeed leaning that way; and we hereby invite Boss Godfrey to jump aboard with both feet. What a delightful novelty it would be to witness Ogden's Mayor working WITH the lumpencitizens for once.

And for those of us who might believe that Ogden is alone in being singled out by UTA as a city where local priorities seem to be take a back seat to UTA's own bone-headed plans, we provide a link to this 11/27/09 Standard-Examiner story, which reports that the city of Clearfield also finds itself in a similar boat.

Next, we'll shine the spotlight on this 11/25/09 Utah Heritage Foundation blog article, wherein Utah's premier historic preservation/neighborhood development organization goes unequivocally record in support of Ogden's 25th/26th Street east-west transportation corridor.

We'll invite our readers to address the above-suggested topics, or treat this article as an open-topics thread. But before we turn over the floor, we'll offer another (patented) neck snapping WCF segue:

We received a report this morning that Ogden's own Jon Greiner was a guest this morning on Fox News (the national cable version,) being interviewed on the topic of public employee double dipping. Our reader tipster reports that our Senator/Chief of Police appeared to be a mite uneasy about the line of questioning. If anyone else would like to chime with more information on this, we're sure our Sunday afternoon Weber County Forum readership would be most grateful. We've been unable to verify this tip ourselves; perhaps our ever-alert readership can provide some help

That's it for now folks.

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