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May 15th, 2008

Delaware Politics - Tom Gordon

OK, kids, I need your help. Please try to refrain from mocking me.

Every year I tune into the NCAA basketball tournament and wish I had been following all season. Same with college football. Unfortunately, there are so many teams and divisions that I become overwhelmed and give up. It’s kind of the same thing with local politics.

As I’ve stated in the past, my political interest has been embarrassingly limited to the national level which, ironically, has less of an impact on my life than what’s going on locally. Because of Mat, I have recently begun paying attention to and, in some cases, getting involved with local races; however, I am still painfully uninformed in terms of Delaware politics/politicians as a whole. I would like to be better informed, but there are so many different stories and opinions about each politician and it’s hard to figure out who’s who and what’s what.

Take, for instance, Tom Gordon. I met him at a Young Democrats Movement party last week. Though I never followed the story closely, I had heard his name quite a bit during that Freebery dust-up and assumed that he was some kind of a criminal. When I met him and heard him speak, I was actually pretty impressed. I had no idea he had so much to do with our parks and libraries. I think I could vote for him.

So, here’s where you guys come in. You know this stuff inside and out. Sometimes I read this blog and I’m completely blown away by your in-depth knowledge of the issues and the players. Over the coming days, I’m going to ask you to school me. I’ll give you the name of a local politician, you give me the lowdown.

Let’s start with Tom Gordon.

Posted by Dominique in General

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 15th, 2008 at 8:41 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the comments RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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165 Responses to “Delaware Politics - Tom Gordon”

  1. R Smitty says:

    An aging relief pitcher for the Phillies.

  2. John Galt says:

    Tom Gordon was certianly the best NCC Executive in the last 25 years.

    That fact that he had so many people out to get him should say volumes.

  3. R Smitty says:

    Left top post of the New Castle Co Police to become the NCCo Executive back in…? 92? Brought Freebury with him from there.

    I have heard incredible amounts of varying and conflicting opinion. A common theme was his (and hand-picked staffers) attitude towards people or groups. If you were a part of his vision (part of his posse), you were golden. If you weren’t, you’re life was miserable dealing with the county, if not a waste of effort. You played to get along. “Player” does not necessarily mean anything shady or illegal, it’s you got along or didn’t.

    He led the county in arguably some of its best years of revenue. Transfer tax revenue increases (the quantity increased, not the rate) were a major factor. Nancy Willing would probably be best to explain this part, but I believe zoning and rezoning became much friendlier under his watch. Developer-friendly council members certainly aided in the bidding. Two particular ex-council people now married to each other leap right on out. Do the math on that. Anyway, it was a much, much happier time for pro-developer types in his watch, something that we are paying the price for today.

    That’s my piece for now. Going to bed early tonight.

    Oh, those two council persons, I won’t say their names, but they rhyme with Dancin’ and Flobberts.

  4. Savy Politico says:

    If Gordon runs I’m voting for him; hope you’ll join me.

    Those ‘legal’ hassels were just that (in my opinion).

    Coons is a cold fish who keeps raising fees….shoot I could run the county if I had unlimited access to $$$$$$$ and a council full of rubber stampers.

  5. amie says:

    tom gordon is an asshat. i have my first hand experiance reasons for saying so that i’m not going to mention. were i still in de there’s no way he’d get my vote.

  6. J. Lyman says:

    He belongs in jail. I’m standing with Coons on this one.

  7. James says:

    Ten words: He’s a Democratic Dick Cheney, but with disgusting hair plugs.

  8. Call It says:

    OK here is my take: I was too young to follow what was going on with Mr. Gordon when he was going through his scandal (was it even a scandal?).

    BUT…

    I lived directly across the street from him for the first 11 years of my life. He employed my aunt, which may be a bias, but fuck it, the guy was a nice man to me. When I asked to have policemen (he was New Castle County Police Captain or Commissioner or something) come talk to my 2nd grade class, he made sure there was one there. His late son and I played basketball together in his driveway, and the Gordons always offered water or some juice. This may sound like trivial shit, but these are the kinds of things good neighbors do, and Mr. Gordon was definitely a good neighbor. Now that I am bit older, I look back at the small things he did not only for me and my brothers, but for the state of Delaware and I can honestly say that I appreciate it all. He is a good dude and that’s about all I have to say.

  9. Brian Shields says:

    Dominique, I’m right there with ya on local politics. I am new to the scene too and don’t know the players in the game. So, I’ve just been sitting back and observing, occasionally throwing a comment in here or there if I can get away with it.

    Good luck weeding through the political bias. It’s heavy.

  10. Observer says:

    Gordon did not raise taxes and left office with a giant surplus.

  11. Nancy Willing says:

    R Smitty,
    The developers have it much easier now since they have Coons and Clark actively gutting Gordon’s Unified Development Code.
    Read the web site of the Committee of 100 and you’ll see which county law that everyone in the building trades are working so hard to change from his time in office.

    Gordon hired Vic Singer as well, to chair the planning board and there is no one as honest as Vic.

    We need Gordon back.

  12. R Smitty says:

    Nancy…(serious question - not being snarky) wasn it during his time that the land use area started slinging permits out like frisbees? Was it maybe just that the process streamlined and they had better control on how, what, where, and when?

    To other comments:
    I will level. In person, I have heard Gordon is very nice and considerate. He’s certainly had some seriously rough events in his personal life, that as a parent, rips my heart.
    In administration, though, I stick by what I said in comment #3 (my second comment) above. If you weren’t on his “team,” you weren’t $hit.

  13. jason330 says:

    I had heard his name quite a bit during that Freebery dust-up and assumed that he was some kind of a criminal.

    Your assumption is correct. He is a criminal. Gordon and Freebery were both indicted on federal corruption charges. Sherry Freebery is barred from seeking future public office because she is a convicted felon and Gordon ended up pleading guilty to two misdemeanors.

    That is a fact. On all of this “he built some parks and libraries” stuff is true, but think of the context.

    The economy was booming thanks to Bill Clinton, so Gordonberry got a free ride.

    The bottom line is that they were the worst kind of craven and corrupt political operators. (Freeberry’s defended herself against the charges of using on duty NCC cops to make fundraising calls by basically saying, “So what?” I’m sure Nancy will correct me if I am wrong about that.)

    Letting these people anywhere near the county government would be a huge mistake.

    Also - It is funny to hear Nancy lumping Clark in with Coons since I’ve heard that Paul Clark is Gordon’s biggest booster right now. She knows more than me about the nitty-gritty of NCC though, so if she says Clark is anti-Gordon I’d give that some weight.

  14. Observer says:

    My understanding is there was one or two emails or letters that was campaign related that did Gordon in.

    The same thing Ted Blunt got wrist slapped for.

  15. jason330 says:

    It is safe to say that he was being punished for his imperiousness in addition to his actual crimes.

    As Smitty points out, there was vibe to the Gordon Adminstration that was overbearing and arrogantly domineering which everyone hated except the NJ’s Ron Williams who is a well known moron.

  16. G Rex says:

    “Gordon did not raise taxes and left office with a giant surplus.”

    Too bad that “surplus” was a total fabrication, since most of it was already allocated to a host of special interest projects designed to win his seat for Sherry.

  17. amie says:

    Working in real estate at the time I had plenty of experience with the gordon/freeberry “team”. While I’ll leave the personal stuff out, I can tell you what I witnessed as a campaign volunteer and a land use management consultant.

    Having very little political involvement, preference or passion, I worked on a friends campaign for county council and was amazed at the dirty tricks (any boy were they dirty) of the administration at the direction of those two. I actually saw county officers in county cars in county uniforms campaigning, putting up signs for the preferred opponents campaign and taking my friends down.

    My friend was a former county land use employee who left after witnessing the bastardization of the then new UDC. After he and others left, there were actual government programs put into place to interefere with the new business he was part of. It was kind of like the “once your in, your in till you die and don’t ever think of crossing me” kind of mentality with these two.

    I also was dating a county cop who filled me in on some really hot(gross) gossip that I can’t verify but boy did it make my tummy turn…

    Has anyone tried to rent the Hockessin PAL. See the hoops you need to jump through to get in that place?

    And why was that project given a C/O when the curbs were cut wrong and the handicap space was all out of whack yet the radison was asked to fill 2 floors with foam? Can we say double standards?????

  18. anon says:

    Tom Gordon has my vote. I know Tom personally and have seen how effectively he lead New Castle County. He lobbied for and got the property tax split with the state. Employees for NCC would treated fairly and paid for their efforts. The libraries and parks we have have to be credited to his leadership.
    For the record, Jason, an indictment is not a conviction. One day the shit will hit the fan about stuff that goes on in County government under this administration and council and your rose colored glasses will fade to black.
    This is what Gordon was nailed on after all the grandstanding: IN THE UNITED STATESDISTRICTCOURT

    FOR THE EASTERNDISTRICTOF PENNSYLVANIA

    UNITED STATESOF AMERICA,

    Plaintiff:

    )

    )

    )

    )

    )

    )

    )

    )

    )

    . v. Criminal Action No. 05-541-JPF

    THOMAS P. GORDON,

    Defendant.

    MISDEMEANOR INFORMATION

    The United States Attorney for the District of Delaware charges that:

    COUNT I

    In or about August and September,2002, in the State and District of Delaware,Thomas

    P. Gordon, defendant herein, did willfully cause New Castle County, Delaware to fail to keep

    and supply accurate payroll records and W-2 forms of D.C., a New Castle County employee, as

    . required and at the times required by Title 26 of the United States Code and related regulations.

    In ~violation of Title 26, United States Code, Section 7203.

    The fine was $250. End of story.

  19. Al Mascitti says:

    “My understanding is there was one or two emails or letters that was campaign related that did Gordon in.”

    Wrong. The administration set up a phone bank in Sherry Freebery’s house (but not in her name, so you wouldn’t see that on caller ID) using county employees to man the phones. They used it to make calls to citizens in an effort to defeat Rich Abbott, their only enemy on council at the time.

    Our brave anonymous correspondent, who at least admits he’s a “personal friend” of Gordon, wants you to believe that “One day the shit will hit the fan about stuff that goes on in County government under this administration and council and your rose colored glasses will fade to black.”

    Maybe. Too bad it will never hit the fan from the Gordon administration; SF made sure to destroy her personnel file as soon as Gordon put her in office. Many who could speak are still scared, because both G and F assured everyone they would be vindicated and return to office. Freebery, as a convicted felon, is ineligible to do so; Gordon’s misdemeanor plea does not bar him from running again.

    Anonymous wants you to believe that “they all do it,” so that excuses Tom Gordon. It doesn’t. And while “an indictment isn’t a conviction,” many of the items in the indictment — none was ever challenged, because there’s evidence on all of them — show that Tom Gordon spent more time playing high-school-level games with his mistress (Freebery) than he did running New Castle County. We won’t even get into the intimidation he indulged in with his bullet-headed bodyguard, who threatened to arrest anyone who dared approach the Great Man in anything but a ring-kissing manner.

    He’s a thug, pure and simple. I don’t have free download privileges at the News Journal, but if you want a full record of all the crap Gordon and his Big Squeeze did while NCC taxpayers footed the bill, start with the indictment — you do have the whole thing, don’t you, anonymous? My favorite part is where Chris Roberts’ secretary comes to Gordon claiming Roberts sexually harassed her — and Gordon makes a pass at the woman! Class personified. Then Sherry offers the claimant $16,000 to go away; the woman’s lawyer says, ‘Oh yeah? I’ve got an answering machine tape that will blow the lid off the Gordon-Freebery affair,” and bingo! The woman suddenly gets a $268,000 settlement. That was your money, Dominique.

    To leave aside the personal sleaze — and I would if public money hadn’t been spent covering it up — the Gordonberry administration was ruled by Chancery Court to have illegally run up what it called a “surplus” and illegally mingled county funds (this is one reason your sewer rates will have to go up; repair money was supposed to be kept in a special fund, and it wasn’t). The Gordonberry administration hired so many people that expenditures were outrunning revenues by the second year of Gordon’s second term, setting up the raise-taxes-or-cut-services dilemma the Coons administration has struggled with. Hell, I could go on all day.

    Should I go into Carousel Farm, where Gordonberry wanted to build a stable for the waste-of-money mounted police. The problem was that a couple was running the horse-riding concession there (for those who don’t know, Carousel was deeded to the county with the proviso it would always offer horseback riding; it was a former du Pont horse farm), so they’d have to be ousted. Freebery proceeded to condemn them in public for failing to make capital improvements to the property (they weren’t required to by the lease, but facts were minor speed bumps to Sherry Freebery, who makes Gordon seem like St. Francis of Assissi), hinted that they were skimming money from the operation — just generally demonized. As an indication of how horrible this couple was, they moved on to run the riding concession at Fair Hill, one of the top facilities in the country.

    That’s what was so bad about them: They couldn’t make a decision without demonizing the people they intended to muscle in on (they did the same thing at Rockwood Museum). I have no doubt that similar stuff went on in other administrations, with a crucial difference: The other administrations weren’t run by ex-cops, who thought nothing of using the power of the state to intimidate their personal enemies.

    If we didn’t live in such a corrupt state, the state attorney general would pick up the investigation and go after them on state charges. But the AG is Beau Biden, and Gordon’s political patron was — you guessed it — Daddy Joe.

    The libraries, on the other hand, are really nice. I rarely met with Gordon that he didn’t emphasize that he wished he didn’t have to spend money on them.

  20. R Smitty says:

    Hey! Even Al got a mention in of half of that same couple I pointed out in comment #3 (my second comment):
    …they rhyme with Dancin’ and Flobberts.

  21. G Rex says:

    Al, you should write a book! It wouldn’t take much effort, just cobble together all your articles from the WNJ. How much money did they waste dressing up Carousel to look like the Wild West? Geez. There’s so much that I know about them that I wouldn’t write down here for fear that he’d actually get elected and take reprisals against the sources. I’m sure there are plenty of people in this county who feel the same way.

  22. Nancy Willing says:

    As Smitty points out, there was vibe to the Gordon Adminstration that was overbearing and arrogantly domineering which everyone hated except the NJ’s Ron Williams who is a well known moron.
    *
    Jason, you might want to ask the union who just endorsed Gordon. You will find many of them working for Coons. The rank and file county worker is in a state of extreme disgruntlement because Coons brought in DEM campaign workers at the top top positions (even where they hadn’t a whit of experience-think Special Services) and allowed them to take away more in county pension after a few years service than most of the lowly will get after a career’s worth of work.
    Also rumored are no show jobs where the high and mighty are never available.
    Also in play is that Freebery has surfaced as the wicked witch that doesn’t translate onto Gordon.

    The average Joe is looking at the underhanded way Coons paid off his campaign debts to people like Julias Cephas in increments meant to remain unscrutable to the public.

    Coons and Clark are still joined at the hip Jason, everytime Coons’ Land Use Chief Charlie Baker sneezes, Paul Clarks wife leans over to offer him a tissue.

  23. Nancy Willing says:

    The average Joe is looking at the underhanded way Coons paid off his campaign debts to people like Julias Cephas in increments meant to remain unscrutable to the public.
    *
    er, paid them off in public tax dollars

  24. Bill Dunn says:

    Funny this subject should come up today….
    Last night Tom attended the Milltown-Limestone Civic Alliance meeting and although he was cordially accepted as an interested community member and he chose not to speak on many of the topics discussed including some involving County government, I personally was less than enthused to have him.
    I have a personal friend who experienced the rath of the Machiavellian County Exec. and his hench-thing in the past and I, personally, have NO interest in EVER seeing him hold public office again, up to and including county dog catcher.

    Again, my personal opinion….

  25. Dominique says:

    Don’t jump ahead to Coons, guys, he’s next. I’m trying to get each of them in their own thread so I (along with any other newbies) can work it all out. :)

  26. Nancy Willing says:

    Too bad that “surplus” was a total fabrication, since most of it was already allocated to a host of special interest projects designed to win his seat for Sherry.
    *
    I don’t think that will bear out according to Korn’s lawsuit. Rather it was Coons who decided that he could do what he wanted to do with the surplus and then was caught red-handed and stopped by a judge. The surplus was real. Coons was trying to put it into accounts that were illegal.

    Also, most people know that Lisa Goodman has brought the Coons/Gore Industrial Park at Sunset Lake successfully through the land use department so many think that Coons/Gore’s work is done here although there is no doubt that Coons has aspirations for higher office since he is plastered across the DLC/Carper web site.

    Coons was deep in with Nathan Hayward and that relationship was one of the things that sometimes county attorney Bonkowski particularly grilled me on when I was deposed by the Pam Scott-Paul Clarky SLAPP suit for the La Grange farm where Scott is desparately trying to destroy Delaware Heritage in order to put a few more cheap ass houses on this amazing historic property - all with the blessing of Coons’ land use dept.

    Coons has a heart of ferris quartz.

  27. Andy says:

    What about home loan in exchange for the nice Zoning and other perks for the Golf course

  28. Nancy Willing says:

    What about home loan in exchange for the nice Zoning and other perks for the Golf course
    *
    Freebery
    She evidently was living on the Mosely estate with her first state trooper (and armed robber) husband. Mosely allowed a cop to live in her gate house like so many of our landed gentry like to do. They get a free security guard and someone to take the horses out for exercize in exchange for DE state police presence at night.
    Supposedly Sherry got to know the lady of the manor pretty well.

  29. Nancy Willing says:

    Al, The Southern NCC Alliance people have in their possession a letter that was copied from DelDOT when a member went in to retrieve a FOIA of the Pam Scott-Paul Clarky Bayberry Infrastructure Agreement that Nathan Hayward signed off on that allows 100 million of public funds to be spent on Bayberry’s roads.

    The letter was from Hayward to Freebery admonishing her that while he was keeping up his end of the bargain with Pam Scott, Freebery was slipping on her promise to give Scott Bayberry’s sewer because she was having trouble campaigning against Coons in 2004.

    I don’t think Gordon could have not known everything that Freebery was doing but I’d guess that she had an agenda that, frankly, Coons has just picked up and ran with in regards to aquiesence (sp?) to construction and all the billionaires that entails.

  30. Nancy Willing says:

    The woman suddenly gets a $268,000 settlement. That was your money, Dominique.
    *
    all under Coons’ oversight at council president.

    Also, I understand that Abbott was bringing clients’ business before council and not recusing and even though Coons was made aware of it he did nothing.

    Coons and Clark both sat in front of an impressive array of civics and politicians and told us there was no money to buy La Grange even though they turned around and spent millions buying Glenville and offering storm control amnesty to NCC developments for a free ride. That was your money too, Donna.

    Clark’s wife, meanwhile, was in the midst of orchestrating the purchase of La Grange, but of course Clark denies knowing anything his wife is doing. I hope to get enough proof of that horrid lie one of these days.

  31. Nancy Willing says:

    Our brave anonymous correspondent, who at least admits he’s a “personal friend” of Gordon, wants you to believe that “One day the shit will hit the fan about stuff that goes on in County government under this administration and council and your rose colored glasses will fade to black.”
    *
    This is true, IMHO but you have brought up some things about Gordon, Al, that are less than agreeable. Who is worse? I think that I might try Gordon again. No one is getting any information about what the county is up to because no one wants to wade through it and the WNJ beat reporter never ever publishes anything but the administration’s line. So how could you know what is going on these days, Al?

    It ain’t pretty.

  32. anonon says:

    Is there anybody in state government who is not a crook? There’s a blog for you. Lets have a poll!!!

  33. miscreant says:

    Let me preface this by saying that being an inbred, toothless fucker from south of the canal, I must admit New Castle Co. politics bore the shit out of me.

    But also being the extremely urbane jackhole that I am, I knew Gordon from when he was chief of N.C.Co. P.D. My only impressions of him was that he was an arrogant corksucker who wouldn’t give you the time of day unless it somehow benefited him. He rarely looked at you when you spoke to him - a characteristic I truly abhor. I also recall that look on his face like he was perpetually smelling a fart, which could possibly be attributed to the fact that he was balls deep in Freeberry. I also recall his line officers despised him (and Freeberry). They were dancing on the tables when she got her comeuppance.

    No shit.

    Other than that, I’m sure he was a swell guy.

  34. Al Mascitti says:

    I don’t know what Nancy’s hard-on about Coons is, but some of this is wrong. For example:

    “I don’t think that will bear out according to Korn’s lawsuit. Rather it was Coons who decided that he could do what he wanted to do with the surplus and then was caught red-handed and stopped Who is worse? I think that I might try Gordon again. by a judge. The surplus was real. Coons was trying to put it into accounts that were illegal.”

    This is just wrong. This was not at all about Coons; it was about the bookkeeping under Ron Morris, who was given the heave-ho by Coons.

    “So how could you know what is going on these days, Al?”

    You’re kidding me, right? You think I spent 27 years working for newspapers and didn’t learn how to develop sources?

    “Coons and Clark both sat in front of an impressive array of civics and politicians and told us there was no money to buy La Grange even though they turned around and spent millions buying Glenville and offering storm control amnesty to NCC developments for a free ride.”

    Now we come to something worth disagreeing about. I would love if there was enough money to buy LaGrange. But if we’re going to prioritize, I’m going to go with spending the money helping people who have lost their houses first. Don’t hate me for it.

    “Who is worse? I think that I might try Gordon again.”

    That’s your decision. All I can say is I’ve been following local politics longer than you, and I haven’t seen anyone as adept as Gordon at building a political machine since the old Gene Reed days.

  35. Nancy Willing says:

    Now we come to something worth disagreeing about. I would love if there was enough money to buy LaGrange. But if we’re going to prioritize, I’m going to go with spending the money helping people who have lost their houses first. Don’t hate me for it.
    *
    Try to pay attention Al.
    While Clark’s wife was busy with the purchase of La Grange for her client, Paul Clark gutted the county park fund that was earmarked for La Grange.
    Yes, it was good to bail out an over-development driven-flooded neighborhood. That is beside the point entirely. The majority of that money was reimbursed by the state and the feds, by the way, so the flooded folk were well taken care of without ripping off the county park money. Are you ok with robbing Peter to pay Paul? Was it even legal to take the park money for that purpose?
    My dad, as Chair of the County Park Commission 1950′2-60’s, was the one who fought the state right for our county to apportion some tax money to buy parkland. It is a dedicated fund.

    Now the gig for La Grange is to get someone in place to insist that the sub-division plan includes a public-private arrangement for a finger park through the 236 acres so there is public access to the heritage features.
    There is money to be made for Delaware in the as-soon-as-we-can-get-around-to-it Revolutionary War era tourism industry. Not to mention that we should be preserving our heritage because it is the right thing to do.

  36. Al Mascitti says:

    I agree with you there, Nancy. But we need to talk in private (not on the blogs, I mean) about a few things.

  37. Wilmington Gazette says:

    Read it in the News Urinal and of course it must be true. The allegations against Gordon where just that…allegations. It is irresponsible of the paper to report on the numerous arrests that are made to sensationalize some stories and never to report back when the case it thrown out because of insufficient evidence. I know of one story, names protected, where a crooked cop successfully demanded sex favors out of several females after fabricating evidence against these females. That cop was placed on desk duty with no contact wit the public. Why doesn’t the paper write about these stories?

  38. Truth Teller says:

    TOM’s the man a good 8 years under his leadership

  39. hurricane says:

    What can not be denied are the accomplishments Gordon achieved in his 8 years in office. He streamlined county government and changed the way it conducts its business to be more efficient and cost-effective. He eliminated unnecessary, political appointments; turned a financial deficit into a surplus; made incredible improvements to county parks and libraries; developed programs and events for the citizens; developed the UDC (Unified Development Code) to reign in out of control developers and builders; he developed an excellent raport with the unions and employees and made the county a place one was proud to work. These are just a few examples of what Gordon’s accomplishments. Coons, on the other hand, has reversed as much of this as he possibly could, and is successfully driving every aspect of county government straight into the ground with his ineptitude. Even Coons’ staunchest supporters have bailed on him, and county employees could not be more miserable.

    It is irrefutable that Gordon was, and will be again, an outstanding county executive.

  40. amie says:

    don’t you mean he bought the UDC???

  41. Wilmington Gazette says:

    I also heard the UDC is under attack too. The UDC up in Brandywine 100 was welcomed with open arms. Property’s there that were zoned at 6,500 square feet were re-zoned for 10,000 square feet preserving open space and reducing development. Everyone in my civic association and community loved the UDC. I am certain Gordon will continue to preserve the UDC not dismember it!

  42. Nancy Willing says:

    developed the UDC (Unified Development Code) to reign in out of control developers and builders
    *
    This is true and it is the main reason that I like Gordon.

    The UDC killers are a combo of Coons and Pam Scott-Paul Clarky with Beverly Baxter of the Committee of 100, Roger Roy, Ralph Reeb, Charlie Baker, Herb Inden, Bob Weiner, the NCC Chamber of Commerce, Jerry Heisler, Ted Williams of Landmark Engineering and every single stinking developer, their attorney and the other businesses that feed off of development have had one purpose since 2004 - TO GUT THE UDC.

    I sat in a year’s worth of Comp Plan Update meetings and took copious notes if anyone wants some juicy quotes.

  43. jen says:

    Gordon was a sleaze and a bully, but smart enough to keep the icing on the cake bright and shiny and new. All of his community good deeds look good, and made him look good, and be remembered fondly. But, as one example, the PAL in Hockessin is an absurdity. These Hockessin kids already have everything–they do not need a PAL, figuratively or literally. The place is entirely underutilized, while other communities have a real need for something like this. You could have built two of these PAL sites in other neighborhoods, instead of the strange oversize Grecian temple in suburbia.

    The librarians HATE Gordon. Many of the NCC cops were glad to see him go. He is imperious and arrogant and “above” all us peons. He is a user of people and an abuser of power.

    Freebury is worse. The whole story about her relationship with Lisa Mosely is incredible. Plus, she was like Mrs. Hitler–quite the bitch: cold, arrogant, bossy, obsessed, domineering.

    New Castle County politics has a long, proud history of sleaze. I could never vote for Gordon.

  44. Al Mascitti says:

    “developed the UDC (Unified Development Code) to reign in out of control developers and builders
    *
    This is true and it is the main reason that I like Gordon.”

    The UDC, while it codified certain procedures, also made it much harder for citizens to have any voice in keeping out development. It was far from an unalloyed positive.

    We also see another Gordon/Freebery method raising its head here: Notice how a couple of names you’ve never seen before have shown up to sing the praises of the Great Man? Typical Gordonberry bullshit, manufacturing the illusion of support.

    “Wilmington Gazette” says “the allegations against Gordon where just that…allegations.”

    The allegations against Gordon were all true; what is at issue in legal proceedings is whether those things were against the law. Significantly, neither Gordon nor Freebery has ever tried to deny any of it. With good reason — there are a lot of tapes out there in which the “allegations” are discussed with others. Or, to quote the one that did make the papers — “She’s got too much shit on me” for Gordon to ever fire her.

    “It is irresponsible of the paper to report on the numerous arrests that are made to sensationalize some stories and never to report back when the case it thrown out because of insufficient evidence.”

    This is laughable. The paper never follows up on most of the stories that appear in the police report. And none of the Gordon/Freebery charges were thrown out for lack of evidence; to the contrary, there was plenty of evidence. The problem was that they weren’t “crimes” in the opinion of the judge.

    “Hurricane” says “What can not be denied are the accomplishments Gordon achieved in his 8 years in office.” Nor can it be denied that Mussolini made the trains in Italy run on time.

    However, let’s examine a couple of these claims in greater depth:

    “He streamlined county government”

    This was part of the Gordon master plan — they took county government from 8 departments down to 5. In the process, they put people like Sherry’s brother Joe Freebery into jobs at the top of these “new” departments.

    “and changed the way it conducts its business to be more efficient and cost-effective.”

    Sure they did. And they used the savings on putting out a 268-page, glossy-paper, full-color paean to the wonders of the Gordon administration. One issue contained nearly 100 photos of the Great Man. They also used it on a cheesy-looking papier-mache Statue of Liberty, office furniture for Sherry purchased outside the normal bidding procedures, and personal Palm Pilots for dozens of staffers, also bought outside normal bidding procedures. Not to mention tens of thousands spent on “official” trips to Orlando, Fla., and Phoenix (I’m afraid I forget a few of the others) for “fact-finding.” Most people know these as “junkets.”

    “He eliminated unnecessary, political appointments”

    This was an attempt to put all their cronies into top jobs in each department that they could never be ousted from

    “turned a financial deficit into a surplus”

    This is the biggest lie of the bunch. There was no deficit when Gordon took office; nearly $100 million was in the sewer fund, which was supposed to be in a separate account. The “deficit” was in operating funds, that is, the county was spending more than it took in on an annual basis. Just as, in its last two years under Gordon the Magnificent, the county spent more than it took in, just as it does to this day.

    “made incredible improvements to county parks and libraries”

    I already explained how they demonized the people who ran the concession at Carousel Park; the shenanigans at Rockwood were even worse. In that case, Tom and Sherry took on the task of demonizing a bunch of little old ladies known as the Friends of Rockwood, all because Sherry wanted a nice conference center along the lines of Buena Vista. They treated the group as if it were made up of people looking to rip off the county. They couldn’t have pulled this one off without the tacit help of John Taylor and Ron Williams of the News Journal editorial board, who fought me every step of the way in trying to report on any of this (I was actually the editor; a guy named Dennis Thompson was the reporter).

    “developed programs and events for the citizens”

    At great cost, it turns out, because their original plan — to use county employees as “volunteers,” when everyone knew the real idea was to curry an atmosphere in which you had to “volunteer” to get ahead with Team Gordonberry. Once this was shot down, events like Rockwood’s Ice Cream Festival — begun as a fund-raiser staffed by actual volunteers — turned into expensive bread-and-circuses giveaways designed to make these two thugs look like great benefactors. Hey, it worked for the Roman emperors, why not give it a try?

    “developed the UDC (Unified Development Code) to reign in out of control developers and builders”

    And then proceeded to run the Land Use department to go after certain bad actors like Joe L. Capano of Built-More Hotel fame while allowing others to go about their business unimpeded; as mentioned above, the UDC solves the problem of crooked councilpersons approving unpopular projects by making it illegal for council to stop any project that meets the UDC specs.

    “he developed an excellent raport with the unions and employees and made the county a place one was proud to work.”

    Wow. This one is so bogus it should fall of its own weight. The truth, of course, is that Gordonberry made nicey-nice to the unions because they could help build back the Democratic county machine; using union workers (police) illegally during elections was a hallmark of their reign. They also gained that “rapport” with contracts among the most labor-friendly in the region, another expenditure that helped throw the county into deficit budgeting.

    “These are just a few examples of what Gordon’s accomplishments.”

    Gee, why stop there? Why not add:

    *Freebery’s attempts to change ethics laws so she would not have to reveal to the public her fiduciary relationship with Lisa Dean Moseley;

    *The hiring of an ex-cop as county counsel, despite the fact that he didn’t meet residency requirements;

    *The attacks on county auditor Robert Hicks when he turned out not to be the stooge they thought he would be;

    *Freebery’s alleged obstruction of justice in a drunken-driving incident involving her adult son (revealed in a lawsuit against Freebery by a cop who wasn’t “on the team.” She denies the whole thing).

    *The Great Gordon Giveway, in which more than $30 million of the county’s money in the bank (misleadingly termed a “surplus” by Gordon and Freebery) was distributed to Wilmington and various charities, which had the double benefit of trying to make Sherry palatable for a political run and denying those funds to the next administration).

    In short, there isn’t the slightest evidence that this couple undertook anything in their lives that wasn’t for personal political gain.

    As long as he remains an active seeker of public office, I see it as my duty to keep reminding people of their true record, rather the one they and their sycophants want to dominate the debate.

  45. amie says:

    AL - I FUCKING LOVE YOU!!!!

  46. Dominique says:

    OMG, Al. I am truly blown away. I don’t know what I appreciate more, the details, the fact that it’s all so well-written, or the humor you inject (’Built-More Hotel’ made me cackle).

    Should I vote for Coons because he’s the lesser of the two evils?

  47. miscreant says:

    I never thought I’d ever write these words… Nice work, Al.

  48. Del Dem says:

    Dominique if you’re looking for an unbiased view of Tom Gordon you’d be well served to ignore anything written by Al Mascitti. Al Mascitti despises Tom Gordon, his hatred of Gordon clouds his judgment. If Gordon was the man Mascitti portrays Senator Biden wouldn’t have spoke so highly of Gordon at the state convention, and mentioned Coons as an after thought as “Ohh our current County Executive”

    Mascitti advises you to read the indictment, stating: “if you want a full record of all the crap Gordon and his Big Squeeze did while NCC taxpayers footed the bill, start with the indictment ”

    I read the indictment, as well as each published court order, and most the newspaper articles on the case. If this is the first federal indictment you’ve ever read you may not realize how unusual it is. However when you’ve read numerous indictments, this one stands out. It’s clear that US Attorney Colm Connolly was including information that was irrelevant to any federal charge even if true. That’s unusual. When you cut through the gratuitous, salacious and often slanderous statements that don’t relate to any of the federal charges it’s clear the actual crimes that Gordon was charged with were minor. However how much attention would a claim that a county employee addressed a handful of invitations while at work at NCC offices, and mailed them from the office get? There wasn’t even an allegation that the County employee did this during her work time (as opposed to during her lunch break). And the only way it became a federal crime was because the invitations were mailed (i.e. US postal service), if they were hand delivered, or delivered by UPS or Fed Ex, then no federal charges could be brought. If the charges had been stated in that manner, most people would question the wisdom of bringing criminal charges, and would see through the prosecution. But when you hide the actual facts that form the basis of the criminal charge in a indictment full of gratuitous, salacious statements intended to grab headlines, you get the desired effect, which is the public assumes that horrible conduct occurred.

    Mascitti continues:

    “My favorite part is where Chris Roberts’ secretary comes to Gordon claiming Roberts sexually harassed her — and Gordon makes a pass at the woman!”

    When I read that part of the indictment I admit I thought Gordon was scum, I didn’t know Gordon, and didn’t take the time to think of how absurd the claim was. However, much has happened since first reading the indictment, and I, and no doubt Mascitti knows that allegation in the indictment was false. Mascitti ignores the fact that the district court judge threw it out stating the claim (he didn’t say whether it was true or not, because under the law it didn’t matter if it was true or not) was irrelevant, and HAD NO PLACE IN A FEDERAL INDICTMENT

  49. Dana Garrett says:

    For the record I want to say I love the libraries. I think they were very well done.

  50. GWB says:

    Dana,I kike the Libraries also and the Parks. so vote Gordon Just hear him out.
    There is no question Al has a personal thing with Gordon.

  51. Al Mascitti says:

    I agree, Del Dem, a lot of that stuff was specious. But it was also true (the one you deny is a he-said, she-said affair, but you have no idea what the documentation on that is).

    I have nothing personal with Gordon, despite the fact that he went to my bosses and tried to have me silenced. He’s a nice guy, at least to my face, and I sincerely feel bad for some of the personal tragedies he has had to face.

    You don’t know me from Adam, and you don’t even have the balls to sign your name. You ought to at least have that much courage if you’re going to lie about me.

    There was only one crime as far as I was concerned — Sherry Freebery took 2.5 million dollars from someone and refused to reveal it on her finance form, going so far as trying to have the law changed and purging the ethics committee to hide it. You can stand on the legal crap all you want, sport — I know what he did, he knows what he did and for all I know you do, too. Every single other thing in the indictment is unchallenged by him, and for good reason — it’s on audiotape. He’d better pray to God that never gets out.

    By the way, the fact that Biden loves him so ought to show you what a sleaze Biden is. You know, the Joe Biden who got a $300,000 overbid from an MBNA executive on his house (ask Celia at DelGrapevine about that one; she reported it).

    Biden’s Norm Oliver’s man, too. You getting the idea yet? How about U.S. Judge Joe Farnan, another Biden man, and the one who was “in business” with Freebery, speculating on Sussex County land, a potential conflict of interest considering what he might learn in bankruptcy court?

    I haven’t mentioned the county hiring of relatives of Tony DeLuca, Bob Stickels (former Sussex county exec and most powerful voice in the county, despite being unelected), Bill Oberle — you still aren’t getting the idea? It’s an incestuous little cesspool, and when that’s the case, you know who has all the access to the good stuff? That’s right, the cops — especially a couple of “public officials” who frequently forgot they weren’t cops anymore.

    Go ahead and spread your bull manure, DD. Pretend I’m making all this up. It won’t work. I’m not at the News Journal anymore, so they can’t run to my bosses and silence me.

    And, as I said, you know nothing about me, chief. This is way more important than personal.

  52. Del Dem says:

    Connolly didn’t appeal the Courts dismissal of the Count that included the claim that Gordon made a pass at the employee who came to him complaining about Chris Roberts’ harassment of her. He appealed the dismissal of other counts, but not this one. Why? Because he knew it was false, and he couldn’t go forward and defend it to the Third Circuit.

    Why would a US Attorney make an allegation it knew was false, or had not done any investigation to determine if it was true? Simple, the goal was not the prosecution of a corrupt politician, but the destruction of a rising star in the Democratic party. Colm Connolly sacrificed his integrity, and violated his oath of office in furtherance of the goals of the Bush/Rove justice department.

    In December 2006 7 US Attorney’s were fired, many of them because they refused to prosecute politically motivated criminal charges. Connolly included this charge, that he knew wasn’t true (or at a minimum didn’t try and find out if it was true) for the same reason that the US Attorney in Pittsburgh charged Cyril Wecht (the nations leading forensic pathologist– whose a big Democrat) with selling cadavers to Carlow college in exchange for lab space. The allegation was the type to get headlines. It didn’t matter that the allegation was false. The US Attorney alleged Wecht traded cadavers for office space without looking at the terms of the contract between Wecht and Carlow, or talking to the President of the College who negotiated the contract. After the charges were brought, the President of the College, a catholic nun told the FBI and the US Attorney that the allegation was 100% false. However, that didn’t stop the US Attorney from prosecuting Wecht for a crime he didn’t commit. Had the US Attorney stuck to the facts of the alleged criminal activity the media wouldn’t have covered the case, and Wecht wouldn’t have been hurt. the crimes (other than the false cadaver charge)included 23 separate charges for using the county fax machine (23 times over three years Wecht faxed something not related to his position as County coroner while at the Coroner’s office, each fax transmittal cost less than a dollar) 8-10 charges involved a county employee driving him to, or picking him up from, the airport, while on County time. The federal government spent more in tax dollar during one hour of the 24 day jury trial than Dr. Wecht alleged used in all of the 84 counts against him. After 24 days of trial (over 2 and 1/2 months) the jury was deadlocked after 10 days of deliberation. The jury all agreed he wasn’t guilty of the cadaver charge, but were split on a couple of the charges. Despite the Nun testifying that neither the FBI or US Attorney ever questioned her before bringing this false charge against Dr. Wecht, and despite wasting tax dollars on the earlier failed prosecution, the US Attorney is retrying him this month.

    The conduct of the US Attorney in the Wecht trial and the US Attorney in the case against Gordon is outrageous. Mascitti’s repeating a charge he knows for a fact to be false, in an attempt to smear Gordon shows the depths that he will go to attack Gordon. Mascitti has no objectivity where Gordon is involved. It is bad enough that Mascitti’s blind hatred results in his perpetuating a lie against Gordon, but when he resorts to false attacks on career civil servants he has hit a new low. Mascitti says:

    “This was not at all about Coons; it was about the bookkeeping under Ron Morris, who was given the heave-ho by Coons.”

    Ron Morris is a career public servant, unlike the County Executives before and after Gordon (i.e. Coons), he didn’t waste County tax dollars by bringing in his political friends to run the various departments. There were no “Hellva job Brownie” in the Gordon administration. Gordon promoted the career civil servants who basically have run the departments during various administrations. Ron Morris worked in the finance department long before Gordon was CE, and he retired, after a distinguished career with the county. Not only was Morris not given the “heave-ho by Coons” as Mascitti falsely claims, but he actually delayed his retirement, and stayed on with the County under the Coons administration longer than he intended, in order to give Coons time to find his replacement. There has never been any claim that Ron Morris was not an excellent Financial officer, or that the books weren’t in excellent condition under his direction. Mascitti not only falsely states Morris was fired, but ignores that the outside audits always came back showing everything in perfect order.

    Mascitti brags “You’re kidding me, right? You think I spent 27 years working for newspapers and didn’t learn how to develop sources?” and in an early post he notes “I don’t have free download privileges at the News Journal” My guess is he doesn’t have free download privileges, because he’s a hack. And he may have learned to develope sources, but due to his blind hatred for Gordon, he either ignores his sources, or chooses only to use sources who will spew lies about Gordon.

    Tom Gordon should be judged on the facts, not on the rantings of those (like Mascitti) who have such blind hatred for him, they not only lose all objectivity, but are willing to slander innocent public servants. The prosecution was political, and exposed Colm Connolly as a fraud, who willingly violated his oath of office to pursue the Rove/Bush agenda. Whether Gordon is a better CE than Connolly is for the voters to decide.

    While Coons is repeating false claims about Gordon (like the County’s financial condition was in poor shape, despite all evidence to the contrary), voters should keep in mind that Coons was Council President during half of Gordon’s 8 years as CE, if there wasn’t really a surplus (which there was) than Coons either is partly responsible, and if he claims not to have known what was happening while Gordon was CE and he was Council President, than Coons is incompetent. The choice is simple Coons is incompetent or a liar. Frankly I think Coons knew what was happening under Gordon’s administration, and didn’t object, because Gordon was doing a great job. And now because he hasn’t been able to do as well, so Coons uses Gordon as a scapegoat. In other words Coons has been lying about the County’s financial health during the Gordon administration, in an attempt to escape blame for his own ineptness!

  53. Al Mascitti says:

    Me: “My favorite part is where Chris Roberts’ secretary comes to Gordon claiming Roberts sexually harassed her — and Gordon makes a pass at the woman!”

    DD: “When I read that part of the indictment I admit I thought Gordon was scum, I didn’t know Gordon, and didn’t take the time to think of how absurd the claim was.”

    Oh really? You should hear some of Gordon’s locker-room talk sometime — some of it’s on tape. You wouldn’t think it was so absurd then.

  54. Al Mascitti says:

    I’ll have my full reply to “Delaware Democrat” later. But I should apologize to Ron Morris if I originally left the impression that he broke any laws. He did not, and was not even under investigation by the feds, as far as I know. By the same token, while Mr. Morris was not fired (I apologize for using “heave-ho,” because it does give that impression), nobody was begging him not to leave the administration. There was no doubt from the first that he would not be retained on a long-term basis.

    Also, Richard Korn’s lawsuit against the county for stockpiling cash — not the same thing at all as an operating surplus — criticized the large number of “reserve accounts” that were set up without an authorizing law. Chris Coons, CE by the time the ruling came down, waved this away as a simple language error, but nobody really bought that, nor should they have.

    As you noted, Ron Morris is a consummate professional; the idea that these accounts somehow sprang up from nowhere beggars the imagination. Keep in mind that no accountant would have questioned these accounts on the basis of whether they should even exist; an accountant makes sure the money is accounted for, no more. If I recall correctly, there was a fund marked for the CE’s discretion that, I was told, totaled about $5 million at any given time, and was used for things like Sherry’s furniture and the Palm Pilots I mentioned above.

    I have some chores at the moment — there’s an enormous load of topsoil blocking my driveway — so I will return later to show how “Delaware Democrat” is “slandering a public servant,” in this case Colm Connolly. All I’ll say at this point, my anonymous “friend,” is that your case is beyond flimsy.

    And I don’t know for any fact that the charge in the indictment was false. Prove it, ace, or STFU.

  55. Whatever says:

    So is your case Al — beyong flimsy. I love the way you challege everybody at the end of your blogs. Let’s face it — you hate Tom, he called you on it and you got in trouble with your boss and the NJ, you got fired (of sorts) and now you are mad. The truth hurts.

  56. Del Dem says:

    Mascitti states:

    I agree, Del Dem, a lot of that stuff was specious. But it was also true (the one you deny is a he-said, she-said affair, but you have no idea what the documentation on that is).

    Actually Mascitti, you have no clue, which is obvious from your posting.

    You state a lot of the “that stuff was specious”, but apparently you believe that it’s ok for the Justice Department to pursue specious federal criminal charges. Specious is defined as “having deceptive attraction or allure, having a false look of genuineness. I agree the claims against Gordon were specious at best, but unlike you I don’t believe that US Attorney’s should engage in prosecuting specious criminal charges.

    The only claim I discussed was the claim you brought up. The one you suggested people look at. It was not a he said she said claim. In order for the claim to be a he said she said claim, the women who came to Gordon complaining about Chris Roberts’ sexual harassment of her would have to actually claim that Gordon did any of the things that Connolly claimed happened. The problem with the claim is the the women told the TNJ reporter that neither Connolly or anyone with the US Attorney’s office, or FBI ever asked her if Gordon acted inappropriately when she went to him, or if he ever made a sexual advance. Had Connolly or anyone with his office done so, she would have told them the truth, that Gordon was sympathetic, and treated her with respect when she complained to him about Roberts behavior. In other words the “she” in the matter flat out denied the allegation, and affirmatively told the press that no one from the US Attorney’s office ever asked her if this was true. The “She” had no clue who started this lie. My guess is Connolly, why else wouldn’t he seek confirmation from the only source other than Gor