By Jesse Garcia
Chair - Ogden City Council
Ogden is a great city, and I love it. I have found serving on the Ogden City Council during the last 13 years, to be challenging and fulfilling work.
As you know, our city council has a combination of representatives for particular geographic parts of the city and other seats that are at-large. This combination assures that all parts of our community are represented. I have been extremely proud to advocate for the heart of Ogden as well as the great West Side of our City. While doing so, however, I have always tried to remember that every elected representative has the obligation to strive for changes that will benefit the entire city, not just for a few.
This lesson has impressed me even more when I was chosen by my fellow representatives to chair the Council. From that position, I have had the opportunity to work closely with our city's executive branch and to help represent the city, as a whole, in the state and country. The give and take with the various elements of our community who seek to shape its future, including leaders is education, the business and finance, and religious institutions, has been one of the greatest learning experiences of my life. I am so grateful for the chance Ogden has given me.
That's not to say there have not been sacrifices, as there often is for public service. Many of you know some of the things my family and my self have experienced in the last 14 years. My children have been harassed as to why I am on the Council. My family and I have been cussed at by people, some calling in the middle of the night, others sending e-mail messages, demanding to know who I think I am holding elected office. They angrily ask if I am American. When I last ran for Mayor I heard things like we can't have a low life Mexican from the west side be the Mayor of Ogden.
I am not in politics because I am Mexican. I do this because I love our city, state and country. I believe that being of Mexican descent is a blessing and makes me a part of the rich blend of cultures Ogden and Utah now enjoy.
I have great respect for the design of our government that separates powers between a legislative branch that envisions a bright future and an executive that works to make that dream a reality. Although that system is sometimes contentious, that's the way it is designed to work. In the heated exchange of ideas, the strongest ideas survive while weaker ideas are set aside.
The debate should always remain respectful and courteous, however. Unfortunately, the public debate has turned personal and vindictive lately. People feel that the stakes are so high that their goals justify strategies involving questionable ethics.
Although I agree that the issues our city faces are fundamentally important, I have strived to fight for what I believe is right in ways that I would be proud to tell my children. I believe that all city employees must maintain high professional and ethical standards. I believe that the city must have and must follow appropriate investigative procedures to assure that city employees are held to the highest standards for the benefit of our city. Despite that, I have never encouraged any city employee to try to "dig up" negative information on other city employees. When such information was presented to the council recently I directed that it be turned over to the city's attorney.
I have also been a supporter of our city's employees who give so much of themselves to protect and improve our community. I believe that civil servants should feel secure in their jobs so long as their job exists and they continue to perform well. I have never threatened a city employee that if he or she did not support me I would try to have their employment terminated. Nor have I ever directed or asked anyone else to do so.
It is common knowledge that when city administrations change, a new mayor will often replace her or his top political advisors with a new team. That is what the current administration did, and presumably, that is what the next administration will do. It would be perfectly understandable that some top advisors in the current administration are concerned about their future employment, but that would be a question they would have to answer. Other than indicating that I have been considering a second run for the job of Ogden City Mayor, I have done nothing to solicit any member of the current administration to work in an administration I might lead.
That brings me to the purpose of this press conference: announcing my future intentions.
I find myself in the enviable position of being happy where I am, contemplating a change for another opportunity. After giving serious consideration around the end of 2006, to running, During January, I found myself leaning away from running. I decided late in January to remain in the City Counsel, rather than trying for the position of Mayor. That position has not changed, nor do I anticipate that it will.
I didn't announce immediately because I did not want to encourage the thinking that I had been pressured out of the race, rather than deciding for my own reasons. The recent criticism focused at me almost had the reverse effect it may have been intended to have-- prompting me to run, after all. To allow myself to be manipulated in that way, however, would be as bad as the reverse--so I am sticking to my decision.
I feel that I have to announce my intention now, however, because I realized that other qualified potential candidates may be discouraged from running because they assumed I would run. My hope is that a strong pool of highly qualified candidates will choose to run so the voters of our community will have the best possible choices to lead Ogden's executive branch into the future. Our community deserves nothing less.
In the meantime, I look forward to continuing to serve Ogden in our City Council. Many challenging problems demand careful and thoughtful stewardship. Promising opportunities must be assessed to determine whether they will truly enrich our community or are merely fool's gold that threatens to squander our children's future. At this time, I feel I can best serve the community in my current position on the City Council.
I want to thank all those who have encouraged me to run for Mayor. Your confidence in me has been a great inspiration. I also want to thank the city employees who work tirelessly for the sake of our community.
Thank you.
Jesse M. Garcia
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