DL Tracking Poll Results — Tom Gordon (D)
Disgraced Former New Castle County Executive Tom Gordon is thinking about taking another run at his old office. It makes sense. Paul Clark is disliked and Bill Shahan is still an unknown at this point in the race. Gordon probably figures he has the name rec to take down Clark. He also probably figures some longing for when times were good in the county during his terms as Exec will redeem him in the eyes of the voters.
So we tested that theory yesterday with a poll of our readers. Now, all caveats apply: this is a voluntary internet poll or a nonrandom sample, and thus the results are most likely not representative of the population at large, but they are representative of the politically aware in the Delaware. In his last election in 2008, Gordon got trounced by now U.S. Senator Chris Coons, 65% to 35%. Four years later, he is viewed unfavorably by 53% of our readers, of which 42% are strongly opposed. However, Gordon is viewed favorably by 45%, of which 33% strongly favor him. 2% of poll respondents lived under a rock in the 1990’s and early 2000’s.
I wonder how much of this support for Gordon is really just hatred of Clark, or does Gordon really have that strong a base of support?
Do you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of Tom Gordon (D)?
Strongly Unfavorable — 42%
Strongly Favorable — 33%
Favorable — 12%
Unfavorable — 11%
Undecided / Meh — 2%Total Votes: 91. Started: April 26, 2012
As I mentioned in the comments, Gordon’s strong showing in yesterday’s poll was due to his minions freeping the poll. There is not a more hated politician in Delaware than Tom Gordon, and I’m including Gov, Miner in that assessment.
Indeed. But in a Democratic primary, who is hated more? Clark or Gordon?
Loretta Lynn is a former Governor? The coal miner’s daughter? Man I learn something new here everyday 🙂
Popularity contests, aka elections, often have little to do with reality, which is a moving target depending on vantage point.
Look at Marion Barry in D.C…. as well as some of our local examples. That’s why I love this site, not impressed with the fourth estate hereabouts regarding anything remotely adversarial.
I’m not so sure Minner was that awful, there is something to be said for a one term executive. Says something about the voters. They can arguably be trusted to admit that they did it wrong last time.
Tom did a good job for the county and he was a victim of a Bushie US attorney
Tom got lucky by being where he was during the Clinton economy. People who aren’t shifty grifters have fewer problems with US attorneys.
Doug, Minner was that awful, and she was a two-term executive. Examples of her awfulness emanate to this day. You never know when the next piece of RAM slime will emerge from under a rock or developer’s checkbook.
About the only 2 positive things she got done during her tenure were the indoor smoking ban and the SEED program. Oh, and she was great at creating task forces. Apparently she spent the rest of her time making sure her friends were taken care of.
I think Tom Gordon’s got a better shot at winning than the politically aware who read blogs like this think.
I have not seen a poll on Clark but my guess is that Gordon and Clark both have their detractors. What strikes me is that Gordon seems to have supporters (not sure how many) but no one stands up for Paul Clark. It appears that those who would support Clark just dislike Gordon more. This may well be enough for Clark but I am not sure. Am I wrong?
Jen: You’re dead on.
Mike: I think you’re right, too. Memories are short.
The election is the Democratic primary, so it will be the higher information voters and people with real skin in the game making the call. Paul Clark really hasn’t created a contrast with past county administrations. If Gordon can remind the people whose lives will be directly impacted by the results, of the economic growth they enjoyed during his tenure,(thanks Bill Clinton!) he has a shot.
…OR… this can be like the time that I was tricked into thinking that Mike Protack was finally going to win something. He managed to get his few supporters to create a pretty big buzz, but you need more than 20 die-hards to win an election.
Internet polls are easy, but unless people open their wallets, his campaign won’t get off the ground. Memories are too short, and people forget the many sordid details of his administration. Nemski will need to provide a refresher!
“Tom did a good job for the county and he was a victim of a Bushie US attorney”
Bullshit on count two. On count one, it depends on whether you want your county executive and his chief assistant having lovers’ quarrels by playing bumper cars with their county vehicles. And how much you like them tearing up police reports and personnel files.
Bottom line – Corrupt politicians don’t get AAA credit ratings and run high budget surpluses.
Clark was a happy guy at the DEM forum last Monday night because he ruled the room. A friend told me that most of the people present were either on his payroll or their spouse, sibling or child, in-law etc. was. One group endorsed him at a meeting before the forum began.
Video from Clark’s performance will be a reminder of his arrogance and winner-take-all approach to land use. We’ll never get to see how many millions he and Pam pocketed in the years he worked the legislation they and their pals wrote for the benefit of her clients.
Gordon was spot on in his characterization of the damage Scott-Clarky have done to the code. And I doubt Gordon is going to get into the race. He will never be able to shake the perception that he is a crook so why go through the motions and hurt Shahan in a three way split?
“Bottom line – Corrupt politicians don’t get AAA credit ratings and run high budget surpluses.”
Yet more bullshit. The “budget surpluses” were bullshit from jump street; about half that money was already in the bank when Gordon took office, and it was where it belonged — in a special sewer fund account — until Gordon’s budget boy illegally dissolved the special fund. Gordon also started a special exec’s slush fund to the tune of about 5 million a year; no accounting of its expenditures has surfaced to my knowledge.
The AAA rating has nothing to do with the politicians, which shows that you’re stupid in addition to venal. Keep up the good work.
Again, to all the Tommy Boy supporters: Not one single comment that praises him will go unanswered. Not. A. Single. One.
So spread your bullshit in another field, or face this kind of criticism every time. Please carry the message back to Weepin’ Tommy for me.
“We’ll never get to see how many millions he and Pam pocketed in the years he worked the legislation they and their pals wrote for the benefit of her clients.”
Yeah, and you never will, because you’ll never get a Democratic US Attorney to go after the crooked Democrats in this state. Chris Tigani served up Ruth Ann Minner on a silver platter, yet Charlie Oberley has reliably done not a thing.
If I’m Tom Gordon, I’m thinking that Paul Clark is my opponent and Bill Shahan is a fly in my soup. If Gordon wants to run, he could care less about ruining Shahan’s chances.
No shit, Media, the point is that Clark is a guaranteed win in a three way, IMHO. If Gordon wants to put Paul out of business it won’t be accomplished by diluting the field.
I have a feeling that those whispering in Gordon’s ear are hoping for this for Clark. It was a winning strategy for McDowell against Potter and it looks like Weldin-Stewart is getting a similar benefit from a crowded field.
just sayin’
Nancy willing’s comment about Clark being a sure winner in a three way race. I would venture that Clark has an approval rating significantly south of 20% and since he only beat Dunn in the prez race 54-46 with dunn being a weak underfinanced unknown candidate, i would guess 90 % of his votes were anti clark votes, Supporting this was that there was a 6000 vote fall off from the pres of concil to the county exec race,folks that didn’t know Dunn but didn’t like Clark. Hardly the ingerdients for a shoo in any race
I’d hate for this to become a Clark-Gordon race, even if the folks in the media would be drooling over the prospect of a negative story (or two) every day. Clark doesn’t know how much he’s disliked, and Gordon has forgotten how much he’s despised. The problem for Shahan is that hardly anybody (general public, I’m talking about) knows him and he has only four months to convince voters that he can do a better job than two guys who have had high-profile county positions for years. My bet is that voters will hold their noses and choose who they hate the least (Clark or Gordon) rather than go for Plan C, the guy they don’t know at all.
Hate to break it to the Clark supporters, but Mr. Clark is not electable. He’s also terribly unqualified for the position. The man was hanging coats in Boscov’s a few years ago. I would have voted for Shahan but not with Tom Gordon in the race. TG all the way
I don’t yet have a clue about Shahan but plan to vote for him.
Comment retrieved from Spam Filter; emails have been redacted.
******
lest we forgot about this??
From: Paul Clark [mailto:pgclark@comcast.net] Sent: Wednesday, June 11, 2008 10:50 PMTo: Lisa Goodman; John Tracey; ‘Tarabicos, Larry’; Tucker, Shawn P.; Rhodunda, William J.; pscott@XXXX.com; wstabler@XXXX.com; ‘Forsten, Richard A.’; ‘Rich Abbott’; Joseph Fitzgerald; mkleinschmidt@XXXX.com; lbmcglinchey@XXXX.com; ‘Rich Julian’; Vince D’Anna; Stephen M. Lefebvre; cfacciolo@XXXX.com; Ted Williams; jbross@XXXX.com; sdavies@XXXX.com; slehm@XXXX.com; thomas.prusak@XXXX.com; dev@XXXX.com; bbaxter@XXXX.com; ‘Richard Heffron’
Cc: pgclark@nccde.org
Subject: NCC Code Amendments
As many of you know, I share your frustration with the land use process in New Castle County. I have attempted to wok with the County Administration and the Land Use Department to facilitate changes to the UDC that would result in positive change to this process. While we have had some minor success in this regard, I believe that in our current economic climate we can no longer settle for a land use process that is slow, inconsistent and repressive. In that regard, I have started to draft legislation which will make changes to the Unified Development Code. Attached please find 2 ordinances drafted by me which would: (1) eliminate the triannual rezoning process, and (2) make modifications to the transit requirements for the “ST” zoning classification. In addition, I attach 2 other proposed ordinances which have been drafted by the County Administration and which address the consolidation of uses in the “OR”, “BP” and “I” zoning districts, as well as a TDR bill.
I believe it is time to stop waiting for others to make changes to the UDC and stop complaining about its impact upon development, and begin to take the necessary steps to make these Code changes. In saying this, I need your help with and commitment to this effort. I ask that you please review the attached and provide me with your comments. In addition, should you have any changes to the Code that you believe should be made, please share them with me so that I can get the necessary legislation drafted. The areas I would like to focus on at the moment are changes that can speed up the land development process, encourage more redevelopment and eliminate unnecessary barriers to good development.
As you may be aware, I have been working with Rich Julian and other developers to develop some background data as to cost of the impact of the UDC on the development of projects in New Castle County. This information will become important as we move forward to make positive changes to the UDC.
Thank you for your assistance.
Paul G. Clark
County Council President
“Saul Ewing LLP ” made the following annotations:
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Jeff Bullock’s reply;
Paul — Your e-mail below is counterproductive, largely untrue, and sends a terrible message to the hard working people in our Land Use Department. It is also confusing to the public and brings into question who you think we are all working for. I share some of your frustration about the slowness of our land use process, but to call it “inconsistent and repressive” is just wrong. We are moving ahead on many of the ordinances you reference and as today’s editorial indicates, the department is doing excellent work in multiple areas with limited staffing. Pandering to the development community may serve some short-term interest, but we need to be mindful of our responsibilities to the interests of the larger community we serve, none of whom received your exclusive invitation to share comments and suggestions. I’m sure that was just an oversight. As we have in the past, the administration is willing to work with the development community and you on specific suggestions to improve the process, but I urge you to reconsider your tone and approach and allow broader participation by the public.
P.S. You should remove the Saul -Ewing tag on your e-mails before you send them.