Ogden City Attorneys: Ogden Residents Incapable of Rational Thought

Once again, our community suffers negative repercussions, due to the acts of a ham-handed mayor who has driven the citizenry to a condition of near civil war

By Monotreme

I would be interested in seeing some discussion of the legal argument regarding this morning's Tim Gurrister story:

• Ogden residents kept from this jury?

The case concerns a wrongful death suit against Officer Matt Jones, who was at the center of the Vangate incident that WCF readers will remember from July 2006.

Editor's addendum: Once again, our community suffers repurcussions, due to the acts of a ham-handed mayor who has driven the Ogden citizenry to a condition of near civil war.

Reaching Into Our Pocketbooks for Free Speech

By Rudizink

Although we've had continuing inquiries about the now-pending Matt Jones/Vangate Matter, we've been reticent to discuss new developments to which we are privy, due both to pendency of Mark Decaria's independent investigation, and also because of the "quiet" perpetuation of a related OPD "internal investigation," which seems also to have remained on-going (according to trusted sources,) despite representations by Boss Godfrey's office that all issues related to the "Vangate" matter would be handed-off to the County Attorney's office. With two teams of lawyers working the civil rights violation and employee rights sides of this case respectively on behalf of Officer Jones, we thought cautious discretion was in order re further reporting on this story.

For newcomers to Weber County Forum, or regular readers whose memories of the Vangate matter may have slightly faded over the course of the last several weeks, you can find a thumbnail Scott Schwebke fact summary in last Sunday's Standard-Examiner update article, wherein our beloved Std-Ex Ace Reporter also reveals that a release of Mr. Decaria's legal "findings" regarding the whole array of legal issues springing from the Vangate debacle is imminent.

Regular WCF readers are aware, of course, that the facts of this case are far more complicated than the Std-Ex's Ace city-beat Reporter was able to report in the above article. This was, in fact one of the most fact-complicated and rapidly-developing stories within recent memory in the Land of Oz. In the course of a mere several weeks, the Ogden Police Benefit Association deftly managed to disseminate their pay-plan inequity story across the news media from coast-to-coast, reveal Boss Godfrey's nefarious citizen-predatory ticket quota, threaten the political careers of several local neoCON politicians, and persuade a seemingly asleep-at-the-wheel city council that "doing the right thing" was the best public policy of all. (Bumbling Boss Godfrey helped out a little bit with his own efforts, of course.)

In the interest of saving bandwidth however, we'll resist the temptation to re-tell the whole story, and refer our readers instead to this recently-compiled Special WCF Vangate Article Collection, which sets forth in chronological order the events of this story as they developed.

And in the interest of cutting to the chase, we announce the placement in our right sidebar of a graphic link to the Matt Jones Legal Defense Fund. Thanks to the efforts of the Ogden Police Benefit Association, a formal trust fund has now been established, toward which First-Amendment dedicated townsfolk can demonstrate their gratitude to Emerald City's Finest, by reaching into their pocketbooks and assisting in the defrayal of the legal fees that have so far accrued, and continue to accrue, as Matt Jones defends himself against the smear campaign that has been launched by the miniscule-minded neoCON on nine

Although Officer Jones' civil rights lawyers have taken his case on a contingent fee basis, his employment lawyers work for an hourly fee -- and the clock continues to tick.

Our gentle readers have been very generous in the past in their willingness to contribute to noble causes, and we hope they will be equally generous in the instant case, which involves the issue of free speech, a bedrock right of American Freedom.

The Print Media Chimes in Again On "Quotagate"

"Will Ticket For Food" - Click to enlarge image

By Rudizink

We've received numerous reader inquiries via email on the subject of yesterday's Boss Godfrey press conference, requesting more information on this event. Weber County Forum registered a near-record number of page loads yesterday, so it's obvious that many gentle readers are attentively following developments in the the ongoing Vangate/Quotagate saga.

In the interest of keeping our readers abreast of the most recent developments on this topic, we link two print media articles, appearing in today's Salt Lake Tribune and Standard-Examiner, respectively.

Kristen Moulton provides a nice fact summary, together with useful background information in this article; and Scott Schwebke contributes the Standard-Examiner's two-cents here.

We'll leave it up to our gentle readers to analyze, compare and discuss the versions of the facts presented in these two articles.

Let us continue the discussion here.

We offer our thanks, BTW, to gentle reader Trueogdenlover, who helpfully furnishes today's most excellent graphic header.

We've been vacillating between the terms Vangate and Quotagate, but don't consider ourselves to be married to either of these descriptions. Reader suggestions are welcome on this subject. Just what kind of "gate" is this story anyway? Who knows? Perhaps we can start up a dark humor version of last year's "Name the Mall" contest.

Comments (or suggestions,) anyone?

Update 8/10/06 8:47 a.m. MT: The Godfreygate disaster continues to unfold, with another article in the Standard-Examiner, and yet another on the KSL website.

Although several city councilmembers are reportedly feeling warm and fuzzy about Boss Godfrey's referral of this bag of snakes to Mark Decaria's office, the gentle viwers in KSL Newsland ain't buying Godfrey's spin at all.

Update 8/10/06 12:24 p.m. MT: Gentle reader Dian now brings this fact-illuminating Brandy A. Lee article to our attention, in the comments section below. A WCF hat tip both Deseret Morning News reporter Brandy Lee, and to our always-alert & gentle reader Dian, who seems to have been especially on-the-ball in finding all the good stuff this morning.

Don't let the cat get your tongues.

To Protect, To Serve, and To Tax -- Updated

By Matt Mossbarger

One of the main roles of government is protect its citizens from harm. The Nation has the military; municipalities have the police and fire departments. Somehow though, in Ogden, the role of government is not necessarily to protect as much as it is to “generate revenue”. The golf course is on the auction block because it does not meet the aforementioned criteria of generating revenue.

No one is talking about selling the police department though, because it can generate big bucks for the city. In the city’s Performance Evaluation Standards for police officers, definite quotas have been set. The City Council then pegged the merit raises for police officers to a 4 or greater on their performance evaluations. What do the merit evaluations have to do with city revenue? Tickets… and lots of them, and lots of money from those tickets.

Police officers must now write more tickets in order to get a raise in salary. In the pursuit of a meager 5% merit increase after years of no increase, police are now required to write a certain number of tickets according to their job title. Patrol and Master Patrol officers, whose main job it is to keep us safe from burglars, thieves, murderers, and drugs, are now required to write 5 citations a week with 3 to 5 of those citations being hazardous condition citations (drunk driving, reckless driving, etc.). Traffic and Master Traffic Officers are required to write 8 tickets per day. How much money is that?

The force has 13 Traffic Officers and 48 Patrol Officers. If everyone wants their raises, there must be a total of 240 tickets from the Patrol Officers and 624 from the Traffic Officers per week. Tickets come in all flavors and sizes, but the average ticket is estimated at $80. The city stands to gain big money from those tickets: $69,120 per week, $276,480 per month, or $3,317,760 per year.

The reason this became such an issue this year is that the city now has the methods and means for getting the whole pot of money. The city’s recent establishment of a Municipal Justice Court allows it to keep all the tickets and revenue in house. The state used to get much of the revenue, but the money can now remain solely with the city. The city now has all the pieces in place for a “revenue generating” machine.

This affects the average citizen of Ogden in many different ways. In fact, an outright tax on the citizens would have been more kind. The citizens, now fair game for tickets no matter how small the infraction, are facing higher insurance costs, loss of productivity while waiting for the officer to write the ticket, and increased crime. Increased crime? Oh yes. The police cannot patrol as much as they used to because they are too busy writing tickets for the city. The city is also only adding officers in the Traffic Division, even though we need more narcotics and patrol officers and detectives, who are overloaded with cases.

The police have been trying to combat the problem through making the citizenry aware of this change in policy. In exercising their First Amendment Rights and guarding their integrity, the officers are placing their jobs on the line. In one alleged incident, an officer’s wife was recently seen by Mayor Matthew Godfrey while she was getting out of a panel truck that had billboards protesting this change in policy. Allegedly, the Mayor then watched the officer’s wife as she met her husband, who was there to take her home. The Mayor then admitted following the off-duty officer and his wife, who were in a personal vehicle, for a few blocks, because “I thought I recognized the officer” as recorded on Fox 13. Two hours after being followed, the officer was met at his home by a lieutenant who relieved the officer of his badge, car, gun, and all other police equipment. The officer is now on “administrative leave” and, also allegedly, calls to the Mayor’s Office the next morning unveiled the fact that he had been “fired”. The story appeared on Fox 13 the next day.

The message is obvious. Don’t rock the boat; shut up and write tickets. The city of Ogden needs intelligent leadership, and we need to be safe in our streets. The citizens of this community should not put up with this silent tax from the city.

-------------

This article, originally dated July, 29, 2006, appears as a guest editorial in this morning's Standard-Examiner. The author has graciously granted Weber County Forum second publishing rights, for which courtesy we thank him. Links have also been added by your ever-humble blogmeister.

Update 8/8/06 3:43 p.m. MT: We are posting this short update to confirm rumors circulating in the below comments section. Yes -- Boss Godfrey held an impromptu press conference early this afternoon, outside his throne-room on the municipal building ninth floor.

The purpose of this press gathering -- to announce that the Matt Jones internal investigation, together with all other issues pertaining to the Vangate controversy, are now being handed off to Weber County Attorney Mark Decaria's office for an independent investigation.

Among "other" issues specifically mentioned during this press conference -- and to be investigated by Mr. Decaria's office -- all issues surrounding the possible misuse by Boss Godfrey and/or Chief Greiner of the BCI computer database.

According to Mayor Godfrey, Mr. Decaria's investigation will be broad in scope, and will look into possible legal and ethical violations.

That's the gist of it. There were no other significant new factual revelations. Boss Godfrey has apparently told his story, and he's sticking to it.

We are pressed for time this afternoon, but will review our notes, and may possibly update this addendum later this afternoon.

City Council Discovers a Potential Conflict

The Vangate brouhaha is front page news in Emerald City again this morning, with this Scott Schwebke story headline, blaring beneath the Standard-Examiner banner: "Van raises free speech concerns."

The gist of the story is that it's finally dawned on at least one councilmember (namely Councilwoman Wicks) that City Attorney Gary Williams has an inherent conflict of interest in his capacity as legal advisor to the council in this matter, inasmuch as he is also the official legal representative of Boss Godfrey, the individual whose rash actions set this whole mess in motion.

Garcia stopped short of calling the request for an opinion from City Attorney Gary Williams a formal investigation into the July 27 incident involving Officer Matt Jones. Jones could not be immediately reached for comment. Garcia said he would like to know whether the First Amendment free speech rights of Jones and his wife have been violated.

“I would be interested in seeing what’s going on,” he said. “I am getting calls and e-mails daily about it. I want to make sure we have answers.”

Williams, who represents all municipal departments including the administration and City Council, declined to disclose his opinion on the van incident to the Standard-Examiner.

“My legal opinion has to be reserved for my clients,” he said.

An opinion from Williams would help address questions and concerns from residents about the van incident, City Council Vice Chairwoman Amy Wicks said.

“I’m concerned because it has caused a lot of citizens to be upset with what’s happened, and police officers are upset,” she said. “It’s a bad situation that needs to have some resolution to it soon, or it’s going to fester and get worse.”

It’s possible the City Council could hire a private attorney to provide a legal opinion since Williams is in the “awkward” position of representing both the council and administration, Wicks said.

"Awkward" is a gross understatement, we think. Williams is also the guy who'll be called upon to apply his considerable legal talent to bail Boss Godfrey out, euphemisticly speaking, and provide Chief Greiner much-needed political cover.

And in a truly unique reportorial tangent, Ace Reporter Schwebke meanders for a few paragraphs into an examination of the manner in which Vangate may be affecting the ongoing District 18 State Senate race:

Former Ogden Economic Development Director Stuart Reid, a Democrat who is challenging Greiner in November’s General Election, said he considers the chief a friend and declined to comment on the van incident.

“I made the decision that I’m not going to say anything bad about him,” Reid said.

Before we leap to the conclusion that Reid is behaving as a mere patsy for his Republican opponent, we must recall Reid's experience in his unsuccessful 1999 Salt Lake City mayoral election race. Although Reid had been leading in the polls prior to November of that year, Rocky Anderson came from behind and trounced Reid late in the game, after Reid's campaign "went negative." We're sure the memory of this setback is still painfully fresh in Reid's mind, and that whatever he does with respect to the Vangate controversy, he'll do with the utmost caution.

So what about it, gentle readers?

What say you about all this?

Kickstarting a Weekend Open Thread

News has been a little slow today, so we thought it might be desirable to set up an open thread -- something we haven't done at Weber County Forum in a while. For newcomers, an open thread is "open topic."

And we'd like to thank gentle reader Jason Rusch for the creative and highly amusing graphic image that we've embedded in today's article header.

The floor is open. Discuss anything you like. What's on our gentle readers' minds this weekend?

Update/Trip down memory lane 8/5/06 6:59 p.m. MT: One of our gentle readers now emails us a link to Fox 13's recent television broadcast. Caution: Do not try this at home unless you have a broadband connection. If you'd like to save this video to your own hard drive, you'd better do it now, as we're told that it will only remain online for about a week.

Who said it's a slow newsday?

Update 8/6/06 8:29 a.m. MT: This morning's Standard-Examiner edition features several topical items, including a strong editorial, which is highly critical of the actions of Boss Godfrey and Chief Greiner:

But what is the mayor doing shadowing protest trucks and calling on his police chief to run license plates of off-duty cops? And why is Greiner, who's also a candidate for state Senate, complicit in this action?

The actions by Godfrey and Greiner may not have violated the law regarding police administrators running plate numbers through police dispatch. But this much is certain: Godfrey and Greiner are their own worst enemies, and have engaged in the kind of strong-arm tactics that are disproportionate to the circumstances.

Furthermore, this is a cartoonish way to operate city government. Such pettiness leaves Ogden open to mockery, which in this case is entirely justified.

And speaking of matters "cartoonish," Calvin Grondahl outdoes himself, and proves once again that "a picture is worth a thousand words," with this brilliant and truly priceless cartoon commentary.

Last but not least, please don't miss Joan Carter's morning letter to the editor, which meanders from a comical comparision between Boss Godfrey and Peter Sellers' Inspector Clouseau, toward something decidedly "darker."

Comments, anyone?

City Council Ready To Untangle Boss Godfrey's Mess

By Curmudgeon

Excerpts from this morning's Salt Lake Tribune story:

Rising tension in Ogden over police and firefighter pay raises and free-speech rights has City Council members ready to step into the fray.

"Something has to be done," said Amy Wicks, vice chairwoman of the council. Councilmen Bill Glasmann and Rick Safsten agreed.

"This is not good. This is a black eye on everyone: the council, the administration, the police and now the public is affected," Glasmann said.

"This has gone from a disagreement at the bargaining table to too many conflicts and bitterness," Safsten said. "I'm extremely concerned about the status of things."

However, Safsten said he has confidence the chief acted properly. "I have confidence in Chief Greiner," he said.

"I'm getting calls and e-mails and people saying you can't just stand by while the mayor and chief of police are walking all over the police officers," Wicks said. "People think officer Jones ought to be able to express his opinion and his wife should be able to express an opinion."

-------------

Council contact information is available in the Weber County Forum "Government Toolkit," located at the top of our left sidebar. Keep the pressure on our City Council to treat Ogden's Finest fairly. Demand pay equity for our firefighters and police officers, and urge the Council to set up an independent investigation for Officer Matt Jones. Ogden Police Officers have gone out on a limb to inform the citizens of Emerald City about the existence of Boss Godfrey's traffic citation quota policy. We Townsfolk are therefore obliged, we believe, to stand in solidarity with our public safety officers, and to do our part, by vocally letting the council know exactly what we think about this administration's shabby and cold-hearted practices.

And a Weber County Forum "tip of the hat" to Kristen Moulton for scooping the Standard-Examiner yet again.

Update 8/4/06 2:39 p.m. MT: Readers of the KSL News website are having another field day, commenting on today's brand-new Boss Godfrey Super-sleuth story installment. For a few good laughs (about 70 so far,) be sure to check out the KSL Community Comment Board.

Boss Godfrey Sticks to His Preposterous "Cover" Story

They've told us we don't have freedom of speech at the workplace. Now it looks like they're pushing that to off-duty and your family members, as well.

Ogden Detective Shawn Grogan
Ogden cop linked to protest van put on leave
Salt Lake Tribune
August 1, 2006

I consider it a “gray” area whether officers' off-duty free-speech rights are broad enough to allow public criticism such as those carried by the moving van.

Ogden Chief of Police Jon Greiner
Ogden cop linked to protest van put on leave
Salt Lake Tribune
August 1, 2006

Off-duty officers and their families are free to express grievances regarding salary issues without fear of reprisal.

Brian Barnard
Salt Lake City Attorney
& First Amendment Litigator
Van focus of Ogden inquiry
Standard-Examiner
August 1, 2006

The Northern Utah print media are all over Emerald City's ticket quota/officer suspension story this morning, with articles in both the Salt Lake Tribune and Standard-Examiner. For the convenience of our gentle readers, we provide links to Kristen Moulten's excellent report, and Scott Schwebke's latest reportorial tour-de-force.

Boss Godfrey and Chief Greiner continue to stick to the preposterous story that Officer Jones's summary suspension had "nothing to do" with Super-sleuth Godfrey's Thurday night stake-out, or the suppression of First Amendment rights. And a new wrinkle seems to have been added to the administration's posture: That the OPBA allegedly lied about the organization's involvement with the informational panel van project. The administration continues to pursue its draconian reprisal, and persists in painting itself into a corner which may ultimately result in the filing of a potentially-messy civil rights lawsuit.

As to the accusations of "lying," (and judging from his past performance,) we think Boss Godfrey may indeed be projecting.

And what are our gentle readers thoughts today on the latest developments in this matter?

Update 8/2/06 2:34 p.m. MT: For the sake of the continuing reader discussion, and in the interest of those unfortunates (like that attorney guy in Washington, D.C.) who don't have this morning's Boss Godfrey/NeoCON Propaganda Organ edition readily-available for purview, we link today's Scott Schwebke followup story, which uncovers new and seemingly conflicting "facts" surrounding the Super-sleuth Godfrey Caper, and builds the groundwork for the heartless and scurrilous all-out retaliatory personal attack on Officer Jones that many of our gentle readers have predicted.

Update 8/3/06 10:45 a.m. MT: Not to be left out in the cold in the reporting of this story, The Deseret News' Brandy A. Lee files this story in today's morning edition, which is filled to the brim with interesting tidbits. Among these, Utah State Representive Neil Hansen is now calling for an independent investigation.

And Ace Reporter Schwebke continues his series of reports this morning, affording Chief Greiner further opportunity to dig himself in even deeper. We presume Chief Greiner doesn't subscribe to the old cowboy saying: "When you're standing in a hole -- quit digging."

Speaking of old cowboy sayings -- Boss Godfrey was apparently having so much trouble keeping his story straight that he's now reportedly "Gotten Outta Dodge."

We swear we couldn't make up a story like this if we tried.

Update 8/3/06 11:43 a.m. MT: Gentle and alert reader Dian furnishes us a link to the KSL News website, where a print version of last night's 10:00 broadcast story has been uploaded. Be sure to check out KSL's viewer comments section, where 38 comments have already been logged.

Speak Out -- It Matters

By Dian Woodhouse

The local media's non-coverage of the event described in Saturday's Weber County Forum lead article, in which the Mayor of Ogden City followed individual citizens with, one must assume, negative intentions, given the subsequent administrative leave inflicted on one of them, is a glaring example of how the news media has deteriorated. Thank heavens for Fox News, but that was one story one time, and what do we see on the front page of our local paper yesterday?

A story about two Ogden City Council members having a meeting about The Gondola. To me, today, The Gondola is not important. We discuss frequently the dichotomy between projects and infrastructure, and we are currently under a system where the human infrastructure of this city, our public safety personnel, is in trouble. And no media but this blog and Fox News is saying anything about it.

Do we or do we not have freedom of speech in this country? Do we or do we not have a free press? Do we all care, or don't we, about the possible misuse of governmental powers within our government's own organizations?

The officer now on administrative leave worked under a quota system. It may come as a surprise to some in Utah, but many states have laws prohibiting a quota system in law enforcement. It is viewed, and rightly, not as a motivation to improve performance, but as a motivation to view citizens as a money making opportunity. Someone said that it was like the city administration "putting a price on everyone's head," and that, to me, is pretty accurate.

Here in Ogden, the quota system is not some clandestine operation known only to law enforcement, as it is in some places. Rather, this quota system is written down and is a part of the merit pay system. In order to get a 5% merit raise, officers must score a 4 or higher on this scale. It's right out there, in writing, and here's part of it:

Traffic Officer:

DUI ARRESTS

DUI arrests when assigned as a DUI car or afternoon traffic car.

Level/Description/Value= 20

1. Assigned to DUI coverage and averages less than 1 DUI arrest per week.

2. Assigned to DUI coverage and averages less than 2, but more than 1 DUI arrests per week. (?????)

3. Averages 2 DUI arrest per assigned week: OR not assigned to afternoon Traffic/DUI car coverage.

4. Assigned to DUI coverage and averages 3 DUI arrests per week.

5. Assigned to DUI coverage and averages more than 4 DUI arrests per week.

CITATIONS

Number of traffic citations, hazardous and non-hazardous, issued per working day.

Level Description Value=20

1. Averages less than 3 non-parking citations per day.

2. Averages less than 4 non-parking citations per day.

3. Averages 4 non-parking citations per day, with 3 of the 4 being hazardous citations.

4. Averages 6 citations per day, with 4 of the 6 being hazardous citations.

5. Averages more than 8 citations per day, with 6 of the 8 being hazardous citations.

(Above question marks mine.)

I have copied the above from the Performance Evaluation Standards (PEP) for Traffic Officers. There are other standards for Patrol Officers, Master Officers, etc. They all involve quotas.

Is it a bit clearer now why this quota system being tied to merit raises is not a good thing? Traffic officers are required by the new merit pay system to view all of us as a means to a bigger paycheck. They will not get that 5% merit raise unless they average more than 3 DUI arrests per week, and 6 citations per day, with 4 of the 6 being hazardous citations.

There are 13 traffic officers who do nothing but traffic. But the paychecks of patrol officers and master officers are tied to the quota system also.

The truck pictured at the beginning of Rudi's Saturday article is part of an effort by the Police Benefit Association to protest this quota system being tied to their paychecks. The wife of the officer currently on administrative leave allegedly was seen driving the truck by Mayor Godfrey. The administrative leave happened roughly two hours after this alleged sighting.

I think it's awesome that the police themselves are protesting this quota system being tied to their paychecks, and that it's baffling that the Ogden City Council is allowing it to continue, and most importantly, that perhaps officers who are speaking out against it on their off duty time are being penalized. If pressure is being brought to bear on those officers who are speaking out against this system, I don't think it wise or honorable that the rest of us just shrug that off and let it happen, and allow it to die a small and quiet death, unnoticed by everyone.

Post on this blog. Email WCF articles on this topic to your friends, by clicking the email icon at the foot of each article. If Weber County Forum is the only medium paying attention to this, let's just keep on doing that.

Update 7/31/06 7:05 a.m. MT: Having been "scooped" again by other local media, the Official Boss Godfrey Propaganda Organ finally (and belatedly) addresses the events reported in Saturday's WCF story in a short front-page article, apparently cobbled together last evening by reporter Janae Francis. "I am not involved in any way, shape or form with this investigation," utters Boss Godfrey... in mid-stutter.

Boss Godfrey Plays the Game of "CYA"

Most regular Weber County Forum readers are at least vaguely aware of a 20-foot moving van that's been sighted at varous points in Emerald City, roaming the streets, or parked at strategic locations, such as the Lorin Farr Park Rodeo Stadium, or the vicinity of the downtown Municipal Bulding. The van is prominently outfitted on the back and side panels with large signs, intended to inform passing motorists of Mayor Godfrey's new traffic citation quota system, which has been discussed at some length in other articles on this site. The above cell-phone photo, submitted by one of our gentle readers, shows the back panel of the van. Similar messages are prominently displayed on the side panels.

According to a very reliable source, this van billboard project is the brainchild of members of the Ogden City Police Benefit Association, and has been funded by the donations of a hundred or so dedicated Ogden police officers. The object of the project is to inform the townsfolk of Ogden that Boss Godfrey has indeed put a price on the head of each and every citizen who navigates the city streets. There's no nice word to describe it. In his dogged obsession to turn every department in Ogden into a revenue-generating profit center, Godfrey has ruthlessly imposed a traffic citation quota system.

As is typical of Boss Godfrey, he tolerates no discussion or dissent on this issue, especially from city employees who normally cower under his imperial domination. Thus, he apparently donned his Sherlock Holmes hat last Thursday night, and conducted his own stake-out near near city hall. The van was obviously getting under his skin.

Around 7:15 p.m. he got lucky. At that time, the van, which had been parked at 26th and Harrison earlier in the day, was moved by one of the police officers' wives, and parked on the west side of Washington Boulevard (in front of the Municipal Building.) Super-sleuth Godfrey was right behind the van in his own vehicle, gesticulating and glaring at the officer's wife as she exited the van. Whether he spotted the van when it arrived downtown, or followed it from 26th & Harrison is unclear. (His residence is less than a block from the 26th & Harrison location.)

In a nutshell, the keen-eyed and incensed Boss Godfrey ultimately observed the policeman's spouse enter her own private vehicle, and subsequently depart from the Municipal Building area. Godfrey apparently "ran" the license number through the police vehicle ID system. (Whether the use of the computerized system in this instance and for this purpose is highly questionable.)

Finding that the private vehicle was registered to one of Ogden's Finest, Godfrey summarily ordered the watch commander to place officer Matt Jones on administrative leave within an hour or two. A lieutenant from the OPD arrived at Officer Jones' home by 9:00 p.m., to relieve Officer Jones of his weapon, badge, duty belt and Police vehicle. Formal "disciplinary action" is pending. There can be little doubt that this summary action, occuring in the dark of night, was precipitated solely by the previously-described event.

What's important to note is that all of these described activities, whether undertaken on the part of individual police officers, or by interested civilian citizens, have been done on off-duty time with the utilization of purely private resources. Elsewhere in America, public employees have the freedom to engage in off-duty political activity. This is even the law in Utah, per Utah Code Section 10-3-1108. Unfortunately, this appears NOT to be the condition in our bizarre little corner of the planet -- Matt Godfrey World -- where Boss Godfrey rules with an iron fist, by means of whimsical and paranoiac edicts conceived via metaphysical "visions" from his Exalted Throne on Nine.

In an intriguing aftermath to this pathetic above-described melodrama, Boss Godfrey has now apparently discussed this matter with his own legal staff, and has been belatedly informed that his actions taken on Thursday night were highly illegal. In his statement on Fox 13's news segment last night, he backtracks (with a completely straight face,) and NOW takes the position that the summary actions taken against the officer late Thursday night had "nothing at all to do" with the above described events. Whatever disciplinary action that's being taken against Officer Jones is directed at some other earlier misconduct committed by this officer, Boss Godfrey alleges. That's Godfrey's story, at least. Meanwhile, Boss Godfrey and his slavish minions rifle through Officer Jones's personnel file, hoping to dredge up something that will "stick." In military circles it's called "Covering Your Ass."

We've been "sitting" on this story since around 10:00 Thursday night, assembling facts and interviewing people with direct knowledge of this event, and were not yet quite ready to publish an article on this topic. Inasmuch as Fox 13 News "broke" this storly last night though, thus stimulating some discussion in the previous comments section, we are posting an article here, in order to entertain a "dedicated thread" on this topic.

We will update this article as the facts develop. Meanwhile, have at it folks. Please feel free to offer your comments and any additional information to which you may be privy.

Update 7/29/06 12:29 p.m. MT: We have just received confirmation from a highly-reliable source. Boss Godfrey's request for vehicle information was processed directly through police dispatch. Chief Greiner's voice is reportedly identifiable on the tape. This would tend to negate Boss Godfrey's Fox 13 News statement that he actually recognized Officer Jones, and would tend to support the logical inference that Godfrey may have needed to improperly utilize the vehicle identification system, (for purely political purposes) in order to identify Officer Jones's private vehicle. The plot sickens.

Update 7/31/06 7:35 a.m. MT: The Std-Ex finally gets around to reporting on this story, and the story headline gets it right, at least: Ogden officer under investigation; wife accused of protesting ticket policies. Reporter Janae Francis's Sunday evening phone interview with our Mayor apparently left Boss Godfrey on the verge of stammering.