Wednesday, December 5th, 2007...5:01 am
Friggin’ Phil Gordon
Regular readers will know that I am not a fan of Phil Gordon. Luckilly for both of us, I don’t have to vote for him or live in his town.
What always galls me about him is how many of his moves seem to be nakedly calculated to tick off one Democratic constituency group or another just to show that he is not normal Democrat. It’s the lazy high school junior’s shallow reading of the Cliff’s Notes of the DLC’s playbook.
Take, for example, Gordon’s turn-around on whether Phoenix police are supposed to enforce federal immigration laws. Gordon himself has voiced concerns that already overworked police would be distracted from other duties and that it would sow distrust between the Hispanic community and officers.
Now Gordon has reversed himself. It would be one thing if it could be shown that folks in law enforcement that have been advising him have changed their minds, but near as anyone can tell, this new policy doesn’t come from his police chief (who has voiced doubts about enforcing immigration laws before) or the panel of high-octane prosecutors that he recently convened to review the current policy (who can’t be happy that their job is now just to rubber stamp Gordon’s change of mind). It probably also doesn’t come from his personal convictions, since near as I have been able to tell, he doesn’t have any.
Gordon gives what is probably the weakest excuse ever for his reversal: he wants to end the controversy. So, the best way to do that is to make Lou Dobbs and the anti-immigrant screamers happy? Had Jack Kennedy had this attitude in 1963 he would have thrown in with George Wallace to stop all that divisive rhetoric around civil rights.
12 Comments
December 5th, 2007 at 9:53 am
Here’s a guy who won reelection by a landslide against a man running only on this issue just a few months ago. He stood by his police chief and publicly said that he supported him only weeks ago. Today from 2-3 pm, many of us are showing our disgust with the Mayor by calling him at (602) 262-7111 or faxing him at (602) 495-5583. We have to stop this idiocy, especially from Democrats who are only doing it because they want to run for higher office and are afraid to fight for what they believe in.
December 5th, 2007 at 12:15 pm
“What always galls me about him is how many of his moves seem to be nakedly calculated to tick off one Democratic constituency group or another just to show that he is not normal Democrat. It’s the lazy high school junior’s shallow reading of the Cliff’s Notes of the DLC’s playbook.”
Couldnt we say the same thing about our Governor to some extent?
December 5th, 2007 at 4:42 pm
The difference is the Governor isn’t clumsy about it–she has both enough personal pride and competence to put some effort into her execution the DLC playbook, and know how to make her neoliberalism appear legitimate; the Governor may not come across as a principle-motivated Paul Wellstone or Raul Grijalva, but the casual observer at least thinks her actions reflect her own views and opinions.
Fairweather Phil instead exercises no discretion or shame when doing a 180 on this issue, homelessness, his own political party affiliation (i.e. Thomas/McCain endorsements) etc., etc., etc. He appears both to have no class and to lack anything resembling political aptitude.
Gordon probably thinks this will position him well for a general election bid in his next move, as he thinks that the deep pockets he has developed through his moral relativism will allow him to buy his way out of a Democratic primary. The miscalculation is that a competent Republican who appears to have something in the neighborhood of a moral compass can easily appeal better to Independents than a flip-flopper who is reasonably inarticulate for a public official. In essence, the 2004/2008 Republican caricatures of John Kerry and Hillary Clinton are the reality of Phil Gordon.
December 6th, 2007 at 8:58 am
You are absolutely right, kralmajales. Mayor Flip-Flop takes his cues from Governor Play-It-Safe.
December 6th, 2007 at 11:40 am
Thinking strategically here … in addition to writing to the mayor to express your discontent, it might make sense to try and put pressure on Ed Pastor to take a stand against the mayor’s position. He’s responsible for bringing millions of dollars in federal money to the city and he’s in the safest of safe districts. Also, the mayor will need him in his camp if he runs for gov or whatever. If anyone can make the mayor blink on this one, Ed’s gotta be it. We should call on him and ask him to lead on this.
Ed Pastor’s contact info:
Washington DC office: Phone: (202) 225-4065
Phoenix office: Phone: (602) 256-0551
You can email his office through this site:
http://www.congress.org/congressorg/webreturn/?url=http://www.house.gov%2Fpastor
December 6th, 2007 at 12:36 pm
Who in the world thinks Gordon can win in a Dem primary against Terry Goddard???!?!?!
Why doesn’t he just make it official and re-register to the GOP? That would be an easier primary for him than the Democratic one.
December 6th, 2007 at 5:06 pm
Aaron, you are right on target with that one.
I live in a rural county, and I can tell you that a lot of people out here really love and respect Terry Goddard. He is one of the few Phoenix politicians who regularly visits rural Arizona, not just when he’s running for something or mugging for a photo.
And as for Phil Gordon being mayor of Phoenix,
yep, Terry’s done that too.
December 7th, 2007 at 10:47 am
I wonder if Mayor Gordon is going to be speaking at the Cesar Chavez Day luncheon this year?
December 9th, 2007 at 10:19 pm
Don’t get your panties in a wad. Gordon’s “blue ribbon” panel will cover his tush, and little will change.
December 10th, 2007 at 12:51 am
Phil’s tush won’t be forgotten by the Latino community in Phoenix, especially the way he showed it to them by trying to appease the minutemen. It’s hard to win a nomination for Governor or a recall for that matter without them.
April 16th, 2008 at 11:34 pm
I think today’s anticks with our so-called “mayor” Filiberto Phil proves he needs to be recalled. Has anybody begun such an effort? Where do I sign?
April 17th, 2008 at 8:15 am
Did anyone see Sheriff Joe on Fox 10 news last night? When asked about civil rights violations, he answered, ‘What civil rights?’
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