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Friday, August 22, 2008

The Standard Examiner Steps up Again


The editorial in today's Standard Examiner is right on point once again
regarding the Powder Mountain issue with Weber County. We appreciate the
unbiased assessment provided by the editorial staff.

No one knows where this saga will go next, but the citizens of Weber
County and Ogden Valley can take heart at the fortitude recently
displayed by the Weber County Commissioners and the Standard Examiner.

Larry and Sharon Zini
Ogden Valley

Blogmeister Update 8/22/08 @ 9:28 am

This is a classic Editorial and we would be remiss not to include some of its passages for all to view front and center. Of course, just click on the link above embedded within the original post to read this masterpiece in its entirety. Here are some classic quotes chosen at random:




  • The utter freakishness of the town-incorporation law passed by the Legislature in 2007 continues to defy common sense in Weber County.

  • Their [Commissioners] reasoning: Maybe it’s possible to put a shine on this lump of ... coal.

  • ...only one Top of Utah incumbent legislator, Rep. Sheryl Allen, R-Bountiful, did not vote for House Bill 466 — she wasn’t present when the vote was taken. Every other member of the House and Senate in the Top of Utah voted in favor of this bill.

  • ...HB 466 was such a grotesque piece of legislation, it allowed significant manipulation by petitioners/developers

  • Commissioner Jan Zogmaister’s sarcasm was apropos when she remarked that if those people [Powder Mountains list for Mayor and Council] were appointed, a family reunion could constitute a quorum of city government.

  • This process is a joke. The developers are taking advantage of the oneyear gift provided by a developers’- lapdog Legislature.

And the best saved for last, with our emphasis added:



  • What we’d like to know about the whole affair is this: Did all the lawmakers who voted in favor of this bill get something in return from the developer lobby? Or did they vote in favor of it because they were too incompetent to understand what they were doing? Either way, are these the people voters want representing them at the Capitol?

We at the forum have said it before, but if someone in the private sector had created a mistake such as the Legislature did for us, they would be kicking sand all the way to the unemployment line.


The November elections are rapidly approaching, and we say throw the bums out!

UPDATE @ 10:05 am

Our old friend Rudi has been busy this morning. Don't miss his take where he states, "Std-Ed editorial board launches a no-holds-barred editorial barrage..."

9 comments:

Valley said...

We agree. The "Petition Sponsors" must be loving all the negative press. Surely it will help with their search for investors (tongue in cheek, of course).

Anonymous said...

The "Petition Sponsors" deserve all of this. Their arrogance really showed out at the WC Commission meeting. The three dumbbells that were supposed to represent their interests, further aggravated the Weber County Commissioners by their attitude and lack of candor.

As has been the case all along, Powder Mountain and their reps were ill prepared and defensive.

Anonymous said...

Not only defensive as squirt states, but offensive too, as in an offensive odor. In other words, they STINK!

Anonymous said...

Can you imagine the arrogance of Mark Arnold, Lee Daniels and Mr. Bates who didn't even have the guts to attend the meeting? Or maybe their lawyer cronies told them to stay home and thumb their nose from a distance.

Anonymous said...

FINALLY! An editorial worthy of a decent News organization. Great job Standard Examiner! This is what we the people want and expect from the print media. Backbone. Journalistic integrity with the fortitude to call a spade a freak'en shovel without regard to commercial politics or owner profit concerns. Independence in a word.

The ONLY problem with the Standard Examiner editorial is that they put the shoe on only one foot...the developer lobby. When the truth be known, the Realtor Association and Developer lobby are part and parcel of the very same animal. Both greedy hands wash the other.

Although the Standard Examiner editorial staff did a fine job of exposing at least one of the hands responsible. But they chose to leave "wiggle room" for the Realtor Association, which provides millions in advertising, and thus helping to keep the print media afloat.

Chris Kyler, Brian Kohler, and Mike Ostermiller, political science majors and lawyers, literally write and guide the legislation such as HB 466, and make certain any legitimate citizen protections against the Realtor AND Developer interests are killed off before they see the light of day. They use surrogates bought and paid for by the millions collected from Realtor Association dues to spread "influence money around" (they buy legislators) calling the influence pendling "campaign donations" year round and every year. Our ethically challenged and morally bankrupt public servants at virtually every level of Utah government gratefully accept this bribery money enmass. Bramble and Curtis, both powerful legislators even boast about it. The state of the State is SICK! Kyler, CFO/CEO of the URA, even boasted about the Utah Realtor Association bought and paid for influence in a National Magazine. Kyler said "We have people at every level of government; County, commissions, municipal, state executive and legislators."

They paid for and ran Gage Froerer's campaign, for example, just as they do with selected candidates "friendly" to the realtor/developer lobby.

This past election cycle the URA actually solicited candidates to come in for interviews designed to reassure candidate loyalty to their cause...which is of course to falsely inflated real estate values and thus their 6% commissions.

Make no mistake about that. They are basically running an immoral and crooked racket, in my and many people's opinions, and have been doing so since Al Mansel was President of the Utah Senate. Sen. Wayne Niederhauser is his hand picked successor, a Realtor/Developer, and presides over the Revenue and Taxation Committee, among others like Curt Bramble (Senate Majority Leader), John Valentine (Senate President), Gage Froerer, Wayne Harper, Gordon Snow, and others all with direct conflicts of interest.

REALLY! People...I can not make this stuff up. Val says and I agree, we should all vote to throw all incumbents out of office in November, whether at the County, City, Town, and especially at the State level. And we should make certain next year in November that those who are in office now and not up for reelection, are also sent packing.

Although difficult to find, there just has to be truly honest people with character willing to serve, as opposed to "servicing" constituents.

Anonymous said...

Normally, I would disagree and say that just voting against incumbents is counter productive, but in the top of Utah, that will be the only way to clean house.

It is easy to remember, so do it! Vote against every incumbent in office, and we will have change in our part of the state.

Anonymous said...

Viking is right. The best way to eat an elephant is.....one bite at a time.

Start with Dearden (Weber County Commission) and Froerer (District 8 "Representative" to State legislature, and Senator Alan Christenson too if he is up for reelection. He is also clueless and accepts hunting trips and other "gifts" without so much as twenge of guilt.

Even Hansen is beginning to take like all the others do...

There is no guarantee that what challengers we elect will do any better but at least we will send a message that we require ethics reform and campaign finance reforms.

Anonymous said...

You pathetic people. Bitching and moaning but then re-electing Sen. Allen Christensen. This is the guy who is supposed to represent you.

And anyone who has anything to do with any city government is to blame. The lobbyist who got this bill through is the chief lobbyist for the Leauge of Cities and Towns, Lincoln Shirtz.

So Ogden City's Leauge membership dues helped fund Lincoln's ability to pass this bill.

Anonymous said...

How interesting an occurrence that Powder Mountain wishes to become its own township. However, the interest is based upon a foundation of loopholes and aggressive assertions; all of which should not ever be tolerated in any form of government or political union -or should they? The many Ogden-valley[ites] have been up in arms about this news, and should be; however, they have been blinded by the bias and emotionally loaded views of others and are missing some key points, which represent the reality of what is happening. The truth is that Ogden Valley will be developed, changed, manipulated, and altered to fit the interest of a capitalistic system of government, which... all of you people should know is based upon free-market stability and growth! This developer has made some mistakes, but such things are what perpetuated out system of government. To merely say, "that HB 466 is bad" or "HB466 is useless" is not sufficient reason to reject HB466... Even to claim that HB466 is benefiting businesses, is a false claim! How many laws do we have that protect independent syndicates and capitals? The majority! Moreover, many Valley[ites] miss some of the value that this development could contribute to northern Utah tax base, and additionally, the direct economic benefit that it will provide in terms of additional appreciation of real property in the general Ogden valley area. Nevertheless, all that we will continue to here is emotional please that attempt to discredit individuals, foolish statements that don't consider the facts, and vain attempts at so called "logical" arguments that provide no A-posteriori or Priori reason for us to accept them. I think that most Valley[ites] fall under the classification of the "MOB" they want what they can have for themselves, but wont let anyone else assume certain freedoms either.