Monday, June 4th, 2007...4:55 pm
Gordon Camp Fires Back
I recieved this e-mail from the Phil Gordon campaign:
As a Democrat working on the Phil Gordon for Mayor 2007 campaign, along with our Deputy Campaign Director who comes directly from the Arizona Democratic Party, I wanted to respond to your recent post. Feel free to use any or all of it in your blog.
In addition to Congressman [Harry] Mitchell, the Mayor not only endorsed, but actively campaigned for Jim Pederson for Senate, Gabrielle Giffords for Congress, Governor [Janet] Napolitano, and Israel Torres for Secretary of State.
He endorsed and campaigned for many Democrats for the State Legislature including Robert Meza, David Lujan, Kyrsten Sinema, and Chad Campbell. He also led the opposition to Proposition 200 in 2004 (anti-immigration) and was the first major elected official to oppose Prop 107 in 2006 (anti-gay marriage).
Phil Gordon and John McCain have known each other since the Mayor ran for school board over a decade ago, and the Senator has supported the Mayor in every campaign since. The Senator has been a friend of the City and helpful on numerous issues.
Unlike Tucson, the Mayor of Phoenix is a non-partisan office, and when Mayor Gordon makes a decision he makes it on behalf of the City, not party politics. That’s the way the Council-Manager form of local government is designed. The Mayor is proud to be a Democrat, but he has never run for or been elected to partisan office, and the only thing on his mind right now is doing what’s right for the City.
Tony Motola
Campaign Manager
Phil for Phoenix
I am glad to have a response from Gordon’s organization, and I give them credit for giving me a chance to post their response for my readers to see.
I take issue with a couple of things that were said here. First, a minor nit-picky point: Gordon is elected on a “non-partisan” basis, but I take issue with the implication that this fact somehow that renders him more capable of making decisions on behalf of the citizens than a partisan mayor, or any other elected official for that matter. I’m no Bob Walkup fan, but I’d like to see Gordon explain to Walkup at the next League of Cities meeting that his decisions are not as publicly minded because he happens to have a party affiliation.
As I said, a minor piece of nit-picking, but that dovetails into my other issue. They make the argument that as a non-partisan official, Gordon is free to endorse who he wants. True dat. Actually, anyone is free to endorse anyone. Jon Kyl could endorse Dennis Kucinich tommorrow. He is free to do so, but Kyl would take a lot of grief for it. Well, this is what I’m doing, giving Mayor Gordon grief for his decision. He can’t dive head first into the partisan swamp and then pull back and say that we can’t criticize him because he is non-partisan. Despite protestations that this is done on “behalf of the City” (what, did they have a meeting about this?), it is still a political decision.
18 Comments
June 4th, 2007 at 7:37 pm
Endorsing McCain is bad enough, but endorsing an out-and-out fascist like Andrew Thomas is beyond the pale. I honestly don’t know how Gordon can consider himself a Democrat. Oh, I forgot, he doesn’t. He just plays one on TV.
June 4th, 2007 at 9:41 pm
Maybe campaign manager Tony could explain the timing of the Pederson endorsement since he used it to prove what a great D he is? I know for an absolute fact that the Mayor’s people kept pushing back the endorsement date, and it wasn’t until the mayor started getting heat for the WIEIRS ENDORSEMENT that they finally set a date and endorsed …
Doubt this? Then go look up the date that Gordon endorsed then post here with it and an explanation.
Also, it was widely known, and leaked by people within the City Council that Gordon was going to make a ruling on how the “Protect Marriage Amendment” wouldn’t harm city employees - killing a major argument against the proposition. I think you wrote about that here Tedski. This blog and pressure changed the Mayors mind.
And, should we forget that Mayor Gordon also endorsed Andy Thomas for Maricopa County Attorney? Sure his dem opponent was a nutjob - but it was also never a contest! What you do in that case if you really were smart is STAY OUT OF THE RACE so as not to screw over your party, but instead Phil endorsed. Stuck his neck out for a deplorable individual. Probably because they made some political deal for the future. Shady.
We are talking about a politician here who is so slimy and so “in the middle” that he had a picture of Bill Clinton and a pic of Pres George Bush in his office. What I’d like to know — is the Bush picture still up or did he decide to take it down when the polling started to drop.
The guy wants to play both sides of everything politically — and now all of a sudden he has decided that in his big plan to run for Senate or AG or Governor or something he is going to be MR. DEMOCRAT!?
He mentioned supporting Democrat Chad Campbell for the legislature … well who did the Mayor support in 2005 for city council? Chad or his (at the time) Republican opponent?
Give me a break. Mayor Gordon cares about one thing - Mayor Gordon. I am embarrassed to have him in our party, and even more embarrassed to call him my mayor.
I hope when he runs for Governor that the base of our party hands him the well deserved ass whooping he has earned in the primary and sends him out of politics and into the private sector.
You know what - maybe he should look into buying some Starbuck Franchises since that seems to be the image he loves to sell in the media. Mr. Latte Big City Mayor. Gonna play REAL well in the rest of the state Phil.
Sorry for the tirade, but this guy disgusts me.
And campaign manger Tony (great job btw, couldn’t get one in a race that actually was going to be contested?) maybe you can explain all the REPUBLICAN endorsements specifically without saying “oh but he also endorsed Ds”. Is your only argument REALLY that is was for the City?
Sure, the mayor needs to work with Republicans - but you can do so without ENDORSING. The currency for building working relationships with people isn’t campaigning for them or publicly announcing your support for them. You can do other things. If you disagree - then does that mean that every Republican who the mayor has NOT endorsed are people he can’t work with .. or is it possible he was able to govern and build relationships WITHOUT his public stamp of approval. A WEAK argument.
I also think it is embarrassingly arrogant to drop the name of the “campaign director who recently came from the Arizona Democratic Party” as some sort of badge of democratic honor. The guy he is referring to was fired, let go, dismissed, canned because of immense dissatisfaction. You guys really do think all of us activists are a bunch of idiots don’t you?
Wow … this whole thing is sad, I can’t wait to cast a ballot against this guy in 2010 if he dares go after any of our real Democrats in a statewide race.
June 5th, 2007 at 8:44 am
^ Wow. That’s some mighty good vitriol there. Reminds me of the comments I saw last year on rightwing sites when various GOPs endorsed Janet.
Good times. Good times.
BTW, I’m not voting for Gordo either but not because of who he chooses to endorse. I think we need to get rid of him for giving a $100M tax break to developers of a shopping mall in swanky N Phx.
June 5th, 2007 at 11:08 am
How exactly did Phil Gordon “actively” campaign for anyone but himself in ‘06? Showing up at a rally in Tempe did -not- help Harry Mitchell. He has no clout outside of Phoenix… it seems as though these “active” appearances served no one but himself.
BTW, Attorney General Terry Goddard is conspicuously absent from the list in the second paragraph. Wonder why?
June 5th, 2007 at 11:27 am
Mayor Gordon is a piece of dog poo. Period.
Endorsing McCain just reminded me of that fact. When he endorsed Andy Thomas, I knew that I would never vote for the man and I will give money to his opponents and I will tell all my friends who horrid he is.
Let’s just talk for a second about Andy. Andy belives in:
1. Mothers who take their children to daycare should be charged with abandonment, Felony 1.
2. Women who have abortions should be charged with manslaughter and doctors who do the procedure should be given Murder 1.
3.Death Penalty in all cases possible. ( he has now implemented that one and its clogged our courts with over 200 cases )
4. No Plea Bargaining for child molestors. ( Good idea on its face, but the problem is most kids can’t or won’t testify and that means a please bargain is our only way to get them )
5. #1 favorite!!! Society should be RE-ARRANGED to the racial ABILITIES of said group. So lets see what Andy thinks each group is “good at”:
Asians: Asians are good at “building things”
Blacks: Blacks are good at “sports”
Latinos: Latinos are good at “family”
Whites: Whites are good at “business”
So. Mr Tony Motola, Mr. Southwest Ambulence: I’d love to see Phil explain that endorsment next time you guys host the Cesar Chavez luncheon or some large Latino oriented event.
Tell the crowd how Phil loves his racist, bigoted County Attorney. Tell them how you sold out to a cold, soulless mayor who is a major embarrassment to Phoenix.
Oh and don’t try and use a former “Deputy campaign director” as some sort of credentials. First off he was a REGIONAL field director, not a deputy campaign director and the fact that you don’t understand the difference shows your ineptitude.
I also love how you guys think 2006 was some sort of watershed year. The Coordinated did good work but the end result was less than 2002 ,when MR.Motola, your ex Girlfriend ran the coordinated and won a Governor and an Attorney General not protecting already immensely popular incumbents. And Harry and Gabrielle won on their own, not because of your newly acquired staffer. If anything you should be thanking David Higuera and Tony Wagner NOT Nathan Gomez.
June 5th, 2007 at 12:06 pm
Mayor Gordon, I am deeply dissapointed in your decision to endorse Bloody John McCain. I understand in politics you sometimes compromise on certain issues, that is acceptable, but in other issues that are a matter of life and death for my fellow American soldiers in Iraq, you must set politics aside and do what is right and that is to put an end to supporting mad men like John McCain who would see hundreds if not thousands more American soldiers die to win a political seat such as the presidency (and that goes for uppity Hillary too !)
I call on you to withdraw your public endorsement of somebody who is openly and negligently causing the needless deaths of my fellow American soldiers in that lie we call the: Occupation of Iraq.
N.O. M.A.S. !
NOT ONE MORE AMERICAN SOLDIER
SHOULD DIE IN IRAQ !
Leonard Clark (the Damn Liberal)
Persian Gulf/Iraq Occupation III Vet
Chair of the Bloody John McCain Recall Committee
6-5-07
June 5th, 2007 at 2:23 pm
On behalf of the city??? Political endorsements are done on behalf of the constituencies they represent? I live in CD 5, I wonder who Harry Mitchell will endorse on my behalf. If Janet and Terry endorse different people for president, which one is being done on my behalf?
Can’t Phil have a spine for once, this excuse doesn’t even make sense.
June 5th, 2007 at 2:27 pm
Gee - anyone else think this response has to do not only with this blog here but also the fact that the Phoenix New Times has also picked up the story now. Good job Tedski!
June 5th, 2007 at 2:52 pm
I just want to jump in here and say that I think it is a little ridiculous for people to be jumping on Nathan Gomez.
Back when I worked for the State Party, Nathan was a DNC hire helping to lay the groundwork for the 2006 victories - and he did a great job.
I can’t think of a single person while I was there who didn’t love Nathan, didn’t think he was a capable organizer, and who didn’t throughly enjoy spending time with him.
The only thing I have ever experienced about Nathan that is even remotely bad is the fact that he is a Spurs fan. And understand, that is a condition he was afflicted with at birth. You can’t excuse it, but you can’t let it define him as a man
Seriously though - Nathan is a good guy. And if you have a beef with Mayor Gordon (and I know many many people do) you can be critical of his team for supporting someone you don’t … but it is pretty lame to go personal on them - especially when there doesn’t seem to be any evidence backing up your claims.
Let’s try to keep this discussion about the Mayor and his endorsements.
Sorry Ted for jumping in here and playing the bad cop, I give you permission to do that on my blog whenever you want … OH WAIT YOU ALREADY DO!
June 5th, 2007 at 3:05 pm
I second the defense of Nathan, who has been great the few times I have dealt with him. But I think it is funny that Tony Mottola didn’t know his title. Can anyone confirm if Tony Mottola has been inside the Dem HQ in the last 6 years? He knows it’s on Central and Thomas now, right?
June 5th, 2007 at 3:27 pm
People- Nathan is the Deputy Campaign Director of Gordon for Mayor. He was a Regional Field Director for the ADP, but Tony M was referring to his position with the Gordon campaign. In addition, any “activist” who believes that Nathan was “fired for immense dissatisfation” is as far out of the loop as if they were Republican.
June 5th, 2007 at 4:52 pm
Gomez does not deserve this. Mottola should not be vilified either. I first met him at a fundraiser for Harold Ford, Jr. that he went to just b/c he appreciated what Ford was doing, and got to know him after that. And I can tell you, no matter where he has been, Southwest Ambulance or the Firefighters Union, he has come through with support for the Governors Campaign, her Inaugural, the Cesar Chavez Foundation, and the Project for Arizona’s Future, and those are only the ones I know about. I know first hand he came through to help pay for a dinner for the Arizona Delegation at the DNC in Boston in 2004, even though he was not there. The guy has been around Phoenix city politics most of his career, and that’s not always conducive to party politics, but I think he has shown where his loyalty lies. This is not a bad person.
June 5th, 2007 at 7:42 pm
Did I forget to mention that Gordon’s daughter once did an internship with the farthest right mouthbreathing talk radio station KFYI in Phoenix, working with the very most obnoxious right wing host that they had? That would be former sportscaster Bruce Jacobs, who constantly trashes “the libs” and “the Demoncrats”? Did I forget to mention that Phil Gordon appeared on Bruce Jacobs show frequently at the time his daughter was working for Jacobs? Sorry, but Phil Gordon is the Joe Lieberman of Arizona. Just as Lieberman is Fox New’s favorite Democrat, Gordon is right wing talk radio’s favorite Democrat.
June 5th, 2007 at 7:50 pm
To be honest, I know little about Mayor Gordon except for what I’ve read here and elsewhere.
But it doesn’t matter. I already know who I’m planning on supporting for Governor in 2010.
Terry Goddard is an outstanding Attorney General, and has earned the right to run.
In the late 1980’s, as mayor of Phoenix (that was during the year when I lived there), he pushed for light rail. Anti-tax groups voted the proposal down. It is now being built for many times what it would have cost then– so he was a visionary mayor, when he was the mayor.
In 1990, he ran a very, very close race for Governor. In fact, he finished first on election night. But by law he was forced into a runoff, which he lost by a paper thin margin.
So a dozen years later, he was interested in trying again. But Janet Napolitano also wanted to run for Guv. So Terry, always the team player, decided not to run and became A.G. instead (the office she had held, so he held it for the Democrats.)
As Attorney General he has:
– taken the lead on consumer fraud issues, something that Republicans want you to ignore (since in a completely ‘laissez-faire’ system, someone who bilks old people out of their savings is just a ’success.’)
– Been the first A.G. in over half a century with the guts to crack down on the child enslavement and abandonment in Colorado City, and deserves credit for helping nail Warren Jeffs.
– Taken the lead on convincing cities and towns to fight meth in their communities, including pushing legislation at the local level that a certain GOP legislator, who is a pal of the pharmaceutical companies, blocked at the state level.
– Been active in cracking down on sex offenders, especially over the web.
Goddard is also willing to work with Republicans– as he has to when he works with legislators or for example the A.G. of Utah (since part of the RLDS strategy in the past had been to avoid criminal prosecution by making it hard to determine which state a crime had taken place in.) But he never compromises his integrity or lets the fact that he works well with Republicans turn him into one.
So Phil Gordon can do what he wants. But if he’s running for Governor in 2010, he will find that Terry Goddard already has a lot of volunteers ready (like me) who will support him.
June 7th, 2007 at 7:14 am
Seems I created a stir here.
Let me admit first that I made an error in my post. I misread Campaign Manager Tony’s. The person I was ruthlessly attacking was the former campaign director at the arizona democratic party John Pitel, not Nathan. Type of mistake I guess angry comments are prone to make.
I do want to point out however that despite sending out the reinforcements on Tedski’s first post to defend the Mayor, the Gordon camp just sent out their Goons to defend Nathan.
What about the things I said about the mayor? No response? What about the things that everyone else said about the Mayor, going to remain silent?
This must be an acknowledgment of the truthfulness of what I posted and what the rest have written.
It is shocking that they role out the endorsement of Pederson, and when they are called on how it was late and only a reaction to Wieirs, they hide.
Oh, okay, not shocking. Exactly what you would expect from Mayor Gordon.
June 8th, 2007 at 1:13 pm
I am a Democratic precinct committee person in LD 10 and a ‘forever Democratic’ and activisit. As I understood it, the Dem party ‘targeted’ D 10 as a potential winning District and we got a lot of extra help from the Party. But…..we were all shocked (and I do mean shocked) when a mailing came out from incumbent Representative Jim Weiers shortly before the election showing that Mayor Phil Gordon was endorsing him!!!! (Sadly enough two other Democrats also endorsed him — one no longer in office and the other a prominent member of the Legislature.) D 10 had a terrific candidate, Jackie Thrasher, who was endorsed by many great organizations including all the teachers groups. She had run twice before; had very good name recognition and an excellent campaign. It was known very early on that she was going to try for a third time, which was probably the major reason the Party targeted D 10. (By the way, she did win….but barely). All was going very well and then boom, the mailer came out showing Mayor Gordon supporting Weiers!! Of course we’ll never know the exact impact but we do know that D 10 and Jackie’s goal was to knock out Weiers (instead Jackie took Doug Quelland’s place — a good thing of course but not as good for the state as getting Weiers out.) But, it seems highly likely that Gordon’s endorsement did sway some votes. And the question is: why, why, why did he endorse Weiers? If he felt he needed to somehow protect the City in the Legislature and didn’t want to offend Weiers, all he needed to do was keep silent, i.e., not endorse anyone. That would have been fine with D 10 but….to openly and seemingly proudly support Weiers over Thrasher and the other Democratic candidate is just in my opinion unforgiveable and literally treasonous (in terms of wanting to be considered a prominent member of the Democratic Party with future ambitions). One thing is for sure, Gordon will never get my vote and as far as I know will also lose the votes of a number of other activists in District 10.
June 10th, 2007 at 8:26 am
Who is the Democratic member of the Legislature that endorsed Weiers? Inquiring minds want to know. Rios, perhaps?
June 22nd, 2007 at 11:16 am
It was Leah Landrum Taylor
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