Tom Gordon Blames the News Journal for His Own Lack of Transparency
This week’s unnecessary controversy is over a planned trip to Denmark (!) by Community Services Manager, Sophia Hanson, and an unnamed other county employee to inspect a library that apparently they think is a model for what they want to do with the planned library across the street (sort of) from Chris Bullock’s church on Rt 9. County Council did not know of this trip until Councilman George Smiley asked about it after a presentation on this library this week. It isn’t clear that any one knows much more about this trip, but Adam Taylor of the NJ asked for more detail and was pretty much told that the County won’t release more information on this because the County Executive thinks that the NJ is just going to do a hit piece:
County spokesman Tony Prado said Friday that Gordon administration officials would not talk about the trip. They wouldn’t say who was going, when the trip is scheduled to take place, how much it will cost, whose idea it was, or why it is necessary to visit a library in Denmark.
“The executive is concerned this is going to be a negative story and he doesn’t want to comment,” Prado said. “This has been a project that is near and dear to his heart, and the executive feels like this is going to be a hit piece, so he would just rather not comment.”
Prado said The News Journal would have to file a Freedom of Information Act request to get any information about the project.
Got that? The NCCo Executive has decided that he can’t manage better transparency about one piece of his government because he is scared of what the NJ will say about it. Which pretty much says to me that they already know that this is a boondoggle and there is no way to hide that from Adam Taylor. It isn’t as though American libraries have not been furiously innovating to meet evolving needs of their communities (needs pretty well detailed by the Pew people just up the road), and don’t provide a great many examples of libraries recast to serve the kinds of communities the Rt. 9 library is meant to serve. But this isn’t about whether the Americans or the Danes do it better — it is about cost effective research and spending scarce funds on the building rather than on the research. This is also about the lack of transparency from the Gordon administration (given an able assist here from both Jea Street and Chris Bullock) and blaming the News Journal for that lack of transparency. Seriously, if you don’t want the NJ to do a hit piece then don’t give them these kinds of boondoggles to report on. Otherwise, the rest of us just know that Tom Gordon is pretty clear that this bit of research isn’t going to pass the public opinion smell test.
Tags: Bamboozled!, Featured, NCCo, Tom Gordon
Agreed. After a number of years on this planet I have learned to trust my radar. Does this involve some sort of romantic interest of Tom Gordon? What strength Kool Aid is Prado drinking? I’m all for innovation but is this a library or a community center or a social services facility? Brandywine Hundred Library was supposed to include a strong resume prep/job hunting research component. Has that function been used as anticipated? Etc.
That crackling sound you hear is Tom Gordon’s gubernatorial dream going up in flames.
This furthers a career-long pattern by Gordon. His problems with the US Attorney came about in large part because he spent $35,000 in public funds to hire a law firm to threaten to sue the News Journal if it proceeded with its investigation into Sherry Freebery’s then-rumored $2+ million gift/loan from Lisa Dean Moseley. The News Journal backed down, which triggered Colm Connelly’s interest in the situation.
The rest, as they say, is an albatross around Gordon’s neck. I expect, like the ancient mariner, he will be doomed to repeat his tale of persecuted woe to anyone who will listen.
Also revealed by this article: Jea Street has been purchased by Tom Gordon, and he makes no bones about it. It’s an excellent object lesson in how Gordon works his magic.
Tom the best we have had in years
Compelling argument you have there.
Kudos to Penrose Hollins, still a good government guy after all these years. Antonio Prado still not ready for the varsity. Chris Bullock is a menace. That he was elected CC president [and Hollins was not, losing to the lovely and talented Paul Clark in 2004] remains a disgrace.
Gordon can be compared to … Berlusconi, without the brains.
I think Penrose Hollins would have been elected if he didn’t, for some reason, bury the fact that he was black.
I’ve always liked Penrose and I still do. But the reason he lost wasn’t Paul Clark, it was his own campaign.
In fact, his is one of the saddest ‘might have been’ political careers in Delaware. It’s our loss that he never went further than he did. I still regret that.
Ms. Hanson has a bit of a track record of traveling far and wide on government business.
If Prado knew anything about media relations, he would have told his boss that the position he’s taking is downright stupid, and that he would look like a fool when the article was published.
If Prado didn’t do that, he shares the blame. If Gordon didn’t listen to him, Prado should quit.
He probably won’t however. After all, Gordon hired him for a six-figure job that is probably paying him double (or more) what he was making at Community News/Gatehouse.
Consider the reality: no journalist or PR pro with any sense of self-respect would want to work for Gordon. That helps explain why someone whose career was spent on a weekly paper known for its softball coverage of county government would be the only one available for a job that pays well more than his competency merits.
Really? You quit whenever your boss won’t take your advice? Nice solution.
I agree with everything else you’re saying.
Whoa there boys and girls you are throwing out some pretty slanderous shit out there. You better be prepared to back it up when your asses get dragged into court . . . Karen.
Good luck with that. He’s a public figure, and there’s no way he’ll sue, because all the people involved would be called in for depositions in which they will be sworn to tell the truth. He got away with everybody keeping his/her mouth shut once. The only one who benefited was Freebery. Even loyalists aren’t stupid.
Take that fake concern bullshit — or was it a threat? — somewhere else.
And who is Karen?
@SW,
Been there, done that.
Not suggesting you quit the moment you have a disagreement with your boss, but if he fails to heed your advice and does something egregiously stupid (as Gordon has done here), you have become absolutely useless as an advisor.
If you’re doing PR, and your boss/client is acting crazy, that comes back on you, and on your reputation.
Geezer alas you misconstrue my loyalties with so many opinions and so many questions amongst so many opinions. Suffice it to say I am well aware that allocution is useless, so I choose not to debate a masterdebater such as yourself. Could it simply be my middle name is Karen. Lmao.
Honest, I just wondered who “Karen” was, since you’re Linda. No ulterior motive involved. If it’s a private message, that’s fine too. I simply had no idea what it meant.
Tony Prado was hired at about $108,000 a year to be Tom Gordon’s mouthpiece. Part of that includes looking like an idiot in the newspaper. I’m sure he told Gordon not commenting and requiring a FOIA request would look petty and stupid. I also know this is not Tom Gordon’s first dance, and he likely didn’t care what it looked like.
So, if you’re Prado, do you give up that kind of salary without something to fall back on? What pays the mortgage, college tuition, car payments, etc.? All because you disagreed with your boss. That would be one hell of a principled stand.
If you’re not going to comment, just say “no comment.” Don’t go off with this pompous b.s. about the story being a hit piece and you’re going to have to file a FOIA request, etc. Don’t double down on stupidity.
It’s not stupidity. It’s arrogance, combined with skin so thin it makes a baby’s behind feel like rhino hide.
It’s the same kind of arrogance on display when Gordon declared that he wouldn’t be talking to Janet Kilpatrick about a project in her own district. Not only is that remarkably ineffective leadership, but also probably helped Kilpatrick keep her job.
A PR professional here —
First, if taxpayer’s money was spent on this trip, then the details are subject to FOIA. It has to be released.
Legally, it makes no difference what the requesting party plans to do with the information. In fact, the agency should not even ask what the resident plans to do with the information.
Any investigative reporter or PR professional should know this.
Lastly, when the people (person) in charge ignore PR person’s advice, it’s usually not a huge deal, but with FOIA, it’s very big deal, because there are possible criminal and civil penalties for denying a valid FOIA. The PR person could end up in a legal mess, just because they spoke on behalf of the boss.
Gordon’s people aren’t asking what the info would be used for, nor were they suggesting a FOIA request would be denied. They were making the reporter jump through extra hoops because they can use the FOIA request process to delay giving out info which in some instances (but not this one) could be critical to the story. Just Gordon acting like some tinhorn Central American dictator.
“The executive is concerned this is going to be a negative story…”
No shit. This is exactly the type of low hanging fruit that is irresistible in the age of not being able to invest in long form investigative reporting.
It feels like news. How does “The executive” not know this?
Without the controversy, the entire project might not have gotten any coverage until the groundbreaking.
From a PR perspective, Gordon/ Prado just invited a full on investigative piece. Telling a journalist that if they want any further info they should submit a FOIA, is tantamount to a double-dog-dare. It also gives the press, Council, and anyone else following the story (all six to eight people) a reason to start digging deeper in this, and other, issues.
If you do not want to comment, just say “the county executive has no comment on this matter at the moment.” It leaves the door open to formulate a good comment later, but does not set up a target on your back. Anything else is just very bad PR.
On another note, besides juicing up the new library with all sorts of technology, what do the Danish libraries have that the, say, Claymont Library does not? If you say they are in Denmark and not Claymont, that doesn’t count. From “the googles.” it looks like they are just current on all the new technologies. Nothing looks to be too groundbreaking and innovative.
We’ve seen this movie before and unfortunately we won’t know the extent of things until someone down the road comes in and casts sunshine on the operation. The county magically went from being broke to flying in swans to add ambience for Carousel Park, etc.