In Which We Find Tom Gordon Telling You Not to Believe Your Lyin’ Eyes
Anyone surprised that Gordon is denying any allegations or corruption or mismanagement? Or that he is blaming Grimaldi? Saying that one of the parties who is actually heard on the tape is “misinformed”.
Unfortunately, we have not been able to listen to the full recording(s) provided to
WDEL, but just snippets that purport to tell the full story. These select snippets seem
to suggest that a contract employee had accessed a confidential mailing list and used it
to make a call on behalf of his wife, who was running for office. This is untrue. In reality, on August 13, 2015, a person enrolled in our Section 8 housing program called to protest several violations for which the client had been cited. During this call, the client mentioned that the housing inspector had called the client earlier and asked the client to vote for his wife. This individual did not make a complaint. This alleged request by the housing inspector was said to have happened prior to the November 2014 election, about nine months prior to the August 13, 2015, phone call. This comment was forwarded up the chain of command to Dave Grimaldi, chief administrative officer (CAO) at that time.
Got that? Someone calling with a number of complaints also complained about being asked for a vote for his wife. The individual did not make a complaint. This sounds like they are hanging this out on a formality — that somehow this person did not fill out a form and sign it or something. One wonders if the other complaints this person called with were similarly dismissed as not making a complaint. Even though everyone agrees the person called with a, you know, COMPLAINT. Then (I have to ask), if there was not a COMPLAINT by this person, how was it that this even came to the attention of Tom Gordon and Dave Grimaldi? It came to their attention enough for Gordon to provide an instruction to fire the guy — an instruction that was revised to second changes one it was known he was married to a Senator key to Gordon’s budget needs.
The initial information provided to Dave Grimaldi was that the employee had admitted
to this conduct, later learned to be inaccurate. An internal investigation by the Department of Community Services revealed upon interviewing the employee that he did not download any files or make any phone calls to the client. There was no evidence that any files were downloaded.
Convenient. And of course an investigation that consists of asking the employee if he or she did it looks like a wink and a nod from here. Even if employee activity in a database was tracked, an inspector for these properties wouldn’t have to perform a specialty download — he probably has as much info as he needs from day to day activity over time. Even odder is that Grimaldi didn’t know about the outcome of this investigation.
None of it passes the smell test, really. Which is why I am really hoping the US Attorney jumps in to take a look. Section 8 records are the Feds jurisdiction and they are the only ones who are going to have any credibility in looking at this mess. Because it is for certain that Tom Gordon should not be in the business of investigating himself.
Tags: Bamboozled!, Featured, Tom Gordon
Oh, okay. Good. I’m glad that is all settled.
Plus, if there was nothing to it, why is it that perhaps the one person in the County who might shed some light on it is instead calling is a ‘confidential personnel matter’?
If there was no matter to speak of, then why not say so?
If you were in Section 8 housing and your inspector was citing you for various legitimate infractions, you might actually try to suggest that your inspector wasn’t on the up & up (even if he is).
Because Section 8 recipients are so deliciously Machiavellian.
Could be. But there are a ton of false (and genuinely consequential) accusations that would come to the top of my mind alot quicker than trying to manipulate my vote.
Very little denied in that statement, so I’ll take it as affirmation that it’s true.
No, it’s not against the law to give jobs to people married/related to other politicians in order to buy that politician’s vote, not if you do it right. But it sure is crooked.
One doesn’t have to be Machiavellian to grab for anything they can to avoid eviction of whatever the consequence of violations are. If you know that your inspector is married to your state senator, that’s a tempting accusation to throw around.
“If you know that your inspector is married to your state senator, that’s a tempting accusation to throw around.”
If you can find me a Section 8 resident who knows the name of her state senator, I’ll buy you a hamburger. Especially if the last names are different.
I’d be hard-pressed to find one registered to vote.
Also, at the time of the alleged infraction, his name, photo and spouse had been the news of the day.
If the guy that you blame for your current plight shows up on the news, you make note of it.
It’s possible, I suppose. Hell, somebody just announced they figured out the real murderer of NIcole Brown, and that OJ didn’t do it, so anything’s possible as long as it doesn’t break the laws of physics.
Surely if he downloaded a list and called the people on it, there would be more than one complaint. Is that all we have? One complaint, from one person, that went all the way up the chain to Gordon? And here’s Gordon, on the recording, bragging to Grimaldi about his political prowess?
Bethany Hall Long has a history of making bad decisions! WHY doesn’t someone find out why she never graduated from University Of Delaware???
Susan Monday on WDEL currently reading Frank Knotts blog post.
Reading his press release is very telling. My take:
1. It’s a campaign press release, not governmental. He’s attacking Grimaldi, who’s not even running against him.
2. NCC is unraveling and its eerily similar to 2003
3. Gordon is sleaze.
4. Why was there even an “investigation” which supposedly cleared Mr. Long in the first place? He admitted to it lol. Both Gordon and Grimaldi acknowledged that little tidbit.
Prediction – BHL & Gordon are finished.
Has WDEL just given up on any liberal viewpoints? She is awful. Also, still hasn’t figured out the dead-air problem.
One complaint, from one person, that went all the way up the chain to Gordon?
Section 8 is a Fed program that is administered by localities. It comes with reams of regulations and requirements for confidentiality requirements for residents and owners. Misuse of Section 8 data or even a violation of the rules *should* get up the chain fast for a locality that needs those funds. We can hear on the tape the right knee-jerk response to fire the guy, which indicates an understanding of the seriousness of a violation. The walkback occurred when it was know who the guy was married to.
I’ve been willing to stick up for some pretty shady characters against popular opinion on the basis of due process and “innocent until proven guilty,” digging deep into the details of some sordid cases. But not for Tom Gordon.
No, it should trigger an investigation, not a firing. And if that investigation turned up something, the firing should be done at a much lower level than county executive.
He didn’t admit to it. The only person saying he admitted to it is Grimaldi. So why should I believe Grimaldi. What evidence does he have? That’s not evidence. That’s hearsay. No list. No file. No Section 8 individuals who claimed he called them spare one who made a remark 9 months after this alleged “cold calling” happened. Why does this man have to prove he’s innocent when you can’t prove he’s fucking guilty?
Imagine if a customer or client made a cross statement about you to a fellow coworker. Not a complaint just an off handed remark. Imagine it was totally bogus. Imagine it was 9 months after the circumstances they’re talking about. Your HR department investigates and clears you. This happens ALL of the time. It’s why you have HR departments, in part, to investigate and mediate these sorts of things.
And then imagine your boss, to get at your boss’ boss, releases details of your confidential personnel file to the public. How embarrassed would you feel? How fair would that be? And this is ok because Tom Gordon is an asshole? No one is disputing that. But let’s not forget, Dave Grimaldi is not a good guy.
I mean, do you guys want to hire Eric Holder to come in and fucking run an independent panel on this? How dense and hateful and stupid are the people that read this blog? I guess as stupid as the reporters that work at WDEL.
And being handed a secret recording, unverified by anyone except the person that gives it to you, with no context – that’s not an investigation. That’s called being a fucking tabloid chump. “Obtained exclusively” means you were the only person who received it. WDEL was not the only outlet that received it. Lots of people did. They were, though, the only news operation foolish or reckless enough to publish it without sourcing it. That shouldn’t be lauded, that should be reviled. And I suspect WDEL, from the very defensive story Amy Cherry wrote today, is realizing they fucked up big time.
I think its very suspicious that they aren’t releasing the full tape. Though I think even the snippet is pretty damning of Gordon, it doesn’t reveal anything as to what Dana Long actually did or didn’t do. The information that Dana Long did anything improper with the list, as far as I can tell, is only based on one, anonymous source. That’s it.
@JTF: Many, many things in Gordon administrations are done without the benefit of a paper trail. One of the advantages of being a cop is you know exactly what laws you must circumvent and which you can break without anyone knowing.
You and your boss ought to watch out. This recording would make a nice addition to a request to the court to release the Freebery tapes, which there is no legitimate reason to keep under seal any longer. Ever see the transcripts on those? Makes this sound like Romper Room.
If you scroll down in today’s NJ article, you can find the entire recording. It *looks* like a video, but once you sit through the ad, it is the recording. About 4 minutes long.
I don’t get the feeling that anyone in either of these threads are defending Gordon or Grimaldi.
JTF is doing his best, but as someone noted in another thread title, some things can’t be unsaid.
WDEL was not the only outlet that received it.
WDEL was the only outlet that wasn’t cowed by the NCCo Exec’s threats on the use of this tape. Once WDEL broke the story (posting bits of the tape), we see the NJ finding its cojones.
I wouldn’t say the “found their cojones.” They were scooped and felt it was safe to post, almost, the exact same story. It could almost have been copies and pastes. TNJ is still the worst. Sadly, it’s only one of two “news” sources for Delaware.
It’s pretty clear from that call that Gordon and Grimaldi are both miscreants. It’s also clear that they are both paranoid. Gordon about the support of the GA, Grimaldi because he is recording the call.
So far the only evidence of Long’s wrongdoing is Grimaldi’s word. I’m not sure we have reason to expect Grimaldi to be credible.
@LG: Look at it from the reverse angle: Why would Grimaldi be trying to screw over Dana Long or Bethany Hall-Long? If it’s not true, why would he make it up?
Yes, I know it could be any number of things we’re unaware of, but if it’s false he could have used anyone’s name. Why his and hers?
Maybe because he had a clear recording of Gordon implying a cover-up? I don’t think this recording was calculated in any other aspect except to cause damage to Gordon. Long was collateral damage. I’m sure there will be more and more collateral damage as well. Sadly, after-school-fight that is going on between Grimaldi and Gordon will probably hurt a lot more people before it takes one/both of them down.
I seriously doubt that he could elicit a response from Gordon about anyone else. Why would you record yourself discussing a time that Gordon made a potentially illegal personnel decision?
I will add that the grounds for getting fired on the spot in NCC government seem awfully low. “An inspector was accused of doing something wrong. Fire him!” “Are you sure you want to hire her as the Risk manager? F you David, you’re fired!”
I’m sure it was only to hurt Gordon. My point is that they’re almost certainly discussing Long, or else BHL wouldn’t weigh in on it.
There’s no “sadly” about it. Unlike you, I am eager to see everything revealed, no matter who gets tarred. It has long been Gordon practice to create these webs of connection, and shame on the Longs for falling right into it.
Crooked politics in Delaware doesn’t involve money changing hands, except in the form of paychecks. In Delaware corruption comes in the form of jobs. This is an example of it. I don’t care how qualified he is, there certainly are other, non-connected people who could do the job just as well. They’ll never get hired by Tom Gordon as long as a politically connected person will do it instead.
The biggest enemy of liberalism in Delaware is not the GOP, because it holds no power. The enemy is the Democratic Party.
^^^THIS.
There is a way of doing business that really needs to come to an end. A way of doing business that all too often powered by a network of folks more focused on self- dealing rather than good governing.
The thing is, I don’t believe Gordon is that politically connected, anymore. He thinks he is, but look at the ship of fools that he is captaining. The issue is that no elected officials, outside the county, have disavowed him. Maybe this is because it has never affected them directly. But, this is part of the reason he’s back again. No one thought it could happen, no one took him seriously, and no one really tried to stop him (from an elected official level). Now we have deja vu. I would wager that he has never asked a state legislator directly for a vote, or a favor. He just does not have that kind of influence anymore.
Then again, maybe that is wishful thinking. I’m just hoping he crashes before he causes some real damage and takes Grimaldi with him.
Cassandra, you are absolutely correct. Unfortunately, many these people are created by others giving them the ability to influence. They say, “Gordon has influence, so be careful.” Once this narrative is passed along, it becomes reality. It doesn’t matter that he doesn’t truly have any influence over other elected officials like he once did. It only matters that people think he does. It’s the equivalent of saying “I don’t vote, because my vote doesn’t count.” Well, it’s a self fulfilling prophecy.
Not only does this way of doing business have to end, so does that train of thought. We give undue and unfounded influence to people who truly do not deserve it, or are unable to get it on their own merit.
I’m back to one of the perverse incentives to be a part of government in Delaware — government pension padding. While this won’t fix everything, providing a basic 457b (no matching contributions) to people who are elected or appointed in government will eliminate one of the incentives folks have to leave a government job and run for office.
@703: Gordon’s supposed influence dates back to one of Tom Sharp’s elections (El Som probably remembers the details). It was thought to be close, but Gordon (who might still have been police chief at the time) put his politicized police union to work. Whether Sharp really needed the help is moot; Gordon got the credit and people have run scared of him ever since.
Gordon survived because he convinced the underlings the feds indicted (Cunningham, Janet Smith) not to take a government plea deal for testimony, leaving the feds without much to go on. Most of it is very low-level corruption anyway; what’s embarrassing about it is the Harry High School nature of the escapades: Spying on someone with night-vision goggles? Really? Getting your county car rammed by your drunken ex-girlfriend in HER county vehicle? Really?
At this point, I can no longer figure out the end game. Governor was his lifelong goal. I can’t imagine what it is now. He claims it’s “clearing his name,” which is a real knee-slapper.
Just out of curiosity… when Gordon is the state party nominee for US Senate, will he be one of the down-ballot Dems that we’re all supposed to fight for?
Cassandra, I truly think he believes that he was “wronged” before and wants to cement his “legacy.” I do not think he sees the same legacy everyone else does.
Question I haven’t seen addressed: Dana Long is a contract worker, not a county employee. What are the extent of his personnel confidentiality rights on the part of the county if he’s not their employee?
@Ben: I wouldn’t worry about that. His only powerful backer is Joe Biden.
24 hours after hiding behind the “sanctity of personnel confidentiality guaranteed under state law,” they attack grimaldi, who was an actual former employee. The contradictions are staggering
Grimaldi: He stole our section 8 housing list and cold called tenants asking to vote for his wife. He admitted it.
Gordon: I don’t want him fired. We “got” her because of her husband
End of story
@anon 554 — you need to have one name here and stick to it because we have a policy against sockpuppets. There won’t be a second warning.
Earlier in the conversation Gordon said that he didn’t know who the guy was. I wonder which it was.
Here’s a story from Tennessee, where a state lawmaker is on the verge of being tossed from the legislature for repeated sexual harassment of women. His defense? “No complaint was ever filed.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/jeremy-durham-tennessee_us_5707c9e7e4b0c4e26a227869
@aanonymous oh that’s exactly the same thing. you’re right.
The point being that filing a complaint is no window on whether wrongdoing occurred. You have a problem with that? Care to explain why? It’s one thing to claim the story is flawed. It’s entirely another to defend Gordon here. You want to make arguments, fine — but you’re not convincing anyone, so now you just want to insult people. If the point is to prove you’re a dick, mission accomplished.
we all know TG is no good. BHL has been on shady deals for years. Weak!. Go with Fuller.
What a scam. I just voted for Greg Fuller in your current poll and nothing happened. How does Bethany Hall-Longs votes keep going up but Greg Fuller continues to have a 1 vote. Not possible. This a blatant attempt to make all that’s happened with Bethany Hall-Long this week blow over and make sure everyone still has confidence in a untrustworthy candidate. Have you noticed no one else’s votes have changed? Dirty!!!!