DL Endorsement for New Castle County Executive
Sometimes voting is an exercise in prevention, as in preventing someone from gaining office; or rejection, in rejecting a failed incumbent. You are not necessarily voting for an alternative, but against a failure. Other times, and hopefully more often than not, you are voting for the best candidate for the job. And sometimes, you can do both. And Democrats can do both on September 13 in voting for Matthew Meyer, and against Tom Gordon, for County Executive.
And doing both is necessary to save our state and county Democratic Party. Delaware, right now, is a one party state. Especially in New Castle County, which is more Democratic than Sussex County is Republican. The danger of one party states, or one party counties, is that they tend to become corrupt and abusive. And that is when the one party of the one party state collapses, either through the weight of its own corruption, or because outside forces have become strong and popular enough to depose him.
Twice now, Tom Gordon is the leading indicator of that trend. You would have thought we would have learned our lesson the first time. He previously served two terms, from 1997 until 2004, until he was forced out during a federal corruption investigation during his second term. Gordon and his chief administrative officer, Sherry Freebery, were indicted and accused of engaging in a criminal enterprise that included using county police officers to campaign for candidates of their liking. Further, Freebery was accused of accepting a “loan” of more than $2 million from a county landowner who needed county approval for a golf course project. It was also alleged that the county settled a sexual harassment lawsuit to avoid public disclosure of a sex scandal that included intimate relations between Gordon and Freebery. Gordon and Freebery had been charged with racketeering, wire fraud and mail fraud.
In the end, however, the prosecutions failed to eradicate the cancer that was and is Gordon. Freebery admitted to lying on a bank loan, a felony, and Gordon pleaded guilty to two misdemeanors for failing to provide accurate tax information for two employees who performed political work on county time. And Gordon found his way back into county government by defeating an ethically challenged Paul Clark in 2012. County voters took a chance that Gordon had changed and learned his lesson. They took a chance that he would bring back the roaring 90’s without the corrupt taint.
They were wrong.
And now, under Gordon, the county is on the road to bankruptcy. The County’s cash reserves stand at $34 million, down from $54.7 million in 2013, a 38% reduction that Moody’s had warned would threaten the County’s credit rating. The General Fund’s cash reserves are being used to balance the budget. And what grand new service is being provided by the County Government to its taxpaying citizens as a result of this spending? Well, to quote Tom Gordon’s own Chief Finiancial Officer from 1997 to 2005, Ron Morris:
He has increased the number of people working in his executive office and increased salaries in his office. The county’s Risk Management office, for example, run by his re-election campaign treasurer, is millions of dollars over budget each year. County Financial Statements show claims payments liabilities grew 614% between 2010 and 2015, an astounding 120% average increase for each of five consecutive years.
And county employees regularly remind me the county taxpayers have not received any additional benefits, no better management of risk and no higher level of service in exchange for any of these additional liabilities and expenses.
In other words, Tom Gordon is repeating the same actions, the same pattern that got him indicted the last time. And after Gordon left office back in 2004, the tax payers were left to clean up his mess, his self indulgence, with higher taxes to pay his debts. Let’s not do that again.
Tom Gordon has already provided ample reason to remove him from power before we even get to the ugliness and allegations of abuses of power that is the David Grimaldi lawsuit.
Gordon is all about his ambition, his power and his self aggrandizement, leaving us to pay his tab. He is New Castle County’s own version of Donald Trump. His opponent in the Democratic Primary is his exact opposite.
A native and current resident of Wilmington, Matthew Meyer is a political novice, having never run for office before. But his resume is rather extraordinary, in the literal sense of that world. He is/was both a corporate attorney and a public school teacher. A volunteer in Africa and a small business owner. A charter school teacher and a Senior Economic Advisor with the U.S. State Department.
He graduated Brown University with a BA in 1994, and then went on to work as a fourth grade teacher in the District of Columbia Public School through Teach for America. He then went to Law School at the University of Michigan, graduating in 2002. Through a Skadden Fellowship, he went to work as a lawyer for Delaware’s Community Legal Aid Society. The Skadden Fellowship Foundation provides funding to graduating law students who wish to devote their professional lives to providing legal services to the poor (including the working poor), the elderly, the homeless and the disabled, as well as those deprived of their civil or human rights.
In 2004, he went to work as a Mergers & Acquisitions attorney for Simpson Thatcher in Washington, DC. He had that job until 2008, when he decided to start juggling multiple jobs and careers. He became a private equity financial advisor for Aquiline Capital. He co-founded and became the CEO of Econsandals Footwear, a footwear company in Nairobi, Kenya. Here is a CNN report on that company with an interview with a younger Matt Meyer:
In 2009, he because a Senior Economic Advisor with the U.S. State Department. In that role, he was embedded, or stationed, at the Forward Operating Base Marez near Mosul, Iraq. He chaired a committee of US generals, diplomats and USAID officials that designed, directed and managed over $30 million of US monetary assistance to create a safer Iraq. Upon his return to the States, he worked as a teacher at Wilmington’s Prestige Academy, and returned to the law with the Potomac Law Group. He also found time to start his second company, called VituMob, which runs a technology app that facilitates East African nations’ online purchasing of U.S. products. He also found time to advise the Markell Administration on fostering entrepreneurship.
I don’t know Matt personally. But from reviewing his career choices and his resume, I see a man dedicated to helping and serving people most in need. Inner city children. War torn Iraq. Poverty-stricken East Africa. The working poor and elderly in Delaware. He and his career choices always return to that central theme. As a Catholic, I look at what people do, not what they say, to know who they are. And Matthew Meyer is a good, unselfish man to wants to help others and not himself. He doesn’t say that. He does that.
What will he do for New Castle County? Well, for starters, he will help us Democrats to save us from ourselves through his Blueprint for a More Ethical New Castle County. His plan calls for ending nepotism by prohibiting an official 1) from using his or her authority to benefit relatives and extended family; 2) from using his or her authority to benefit a person with whom the official has a financial interest; 3) from participating in any
disciplinary action affecting a relative; and 4) from being in the direct line of supervision over a family member.
He will hire quality individuals who are experts in their field. This may sound self explanatory and obvious, but that is just an example of how far we have fallen. But Matt Meyer thinks that our land use policy should be shaped by the sharpest and most experienced land use professionals rather than by the biggest campaign donor. Our public safety policy should be shaped by the sharpest and most experienced public safety professionals rather than the girlfriend of the county executive.
His plan would return transparency to New Castle County government, by requiring detailed disclosure of all the county’s lobbying activities, which will include 1) extending state lobbying laws to the county; 2) requiring those with policy pending before the county and who meet with the County Executive to register with the Ethics Commission; and 3) requiring lobbyists to make their activities public record by periodically filing reports.
Meyer will make it easy again for the public to access and understand not only these lobbying disclosures, but also the county’s financial transactions. Previous administrations published a check book of the county expenses, a practice the second Gordon Administration stopped. Meyer would re-institute this policy, and make it permanent for all future Administrations. He will also seek to making the County Ethics Commission financially independent from those it seeks to investigate.
Meyer has other plans online, most notably on how to address the Heroin Epidemic, and I encourage you all to read them. But his ethics and transparency plans are what cause us to endorse him enthusiastically and without reservation. The Democratic Party, the party that believes government exists to serve and help people, must always be on guard to root out cancers that use their office to serve themselves. Tom Gordon is such a cancer. And Matt Meyer’s plans for renewed ethics and transparency in government are the cure.
We would encourage his election to office even without Tom Gordon as his opponent, because, through his actions in his career, Matthew Meyer has shown himself to be the type of person who should be in elective office.
Tags: Featured, Matthew Meyer, Tom Gordon
I’m not normally a praying man, but if you’re up there, please save us, Superman, from Tom Gordon being reelected!
#voteMattMeyer
Thank you Delaware Liberal. We are so fortunate to have a group of politically active true policy wonks like you folks here in Delaware. I am so happy that you all have the integrity to call out the truth about the ethical failures of the current County Executive and the great alternative we have in Matt Meyer. I have gotten to know Matt Meyer’s quite well after meeting him about two months ago, and he is the real deal. I hope you will get out and meet him for yourself, as I am confident you will come to the same conclusion. As you point out, ethics matter – and Matt Meyer’s has insisted on the high road.
If this is a low turnout primary Gordon activates all of his usual cronies and wins. If it is a high turnout primary with actual voters voting, Meyer has a shot. September 13th that’s what? 23 days away.
I have to ask everyone. No one seems to like Tom. But yet he wins elections, He gave money with no strings attached according to Meyers, to a start up company with no history. Which according to a website is the same people that did the Data center . Or Power house, which ever but keeps winning? Please explain I need to know
Website by the way is a republican site, nnccrrc or Northern New castle County Region Republican Committee
Part of what, I assume, makes people like Gordon and KWS hard to dislodge is that they are down ballot races. Sometimes WAY down ballot. Also, the primary IS the election in NCC. Many regular general election voters sit out primaries, so anyone running against Gordon is also running against a small but highly motivated cadre of people who make their money from being associated with Gordon. Look at all the property and office space leases by NCC, for example…It is textbook corruption.
Don’t forget the 20% that voted for Shahan and Husband in 2012. If Meyer gets half of that and takes a portion of the city, he wins. He should take a portion of the city for two reasons.
1.) He lives there and has ties to it.
2.) He has worked to help the under-served communities there and has been seen in the actual neighborhoods, not just a name on a sign.
This may be a close one, but I think Meyer takes it.
Was he endorsed by the Progressive Democrats?
@lori: The other governments you cited have programs in place for economic development. New Castle County does not. Tom Gordon can’t run for governor, so he is going to act as if he’s governor of New Castle County. Because there are no existing programs to give away money for “protecting farmland” (actually to pay off a couple of well-connected landowners) or to give money to an utterly bogus “stock exchange” (the guy behind this one started a similar exchange in Cincinnati, which soon moved to Chicago because there’s no call for a stock exchange in any non-major city), Gordon just gives out the money to his cronies old and new.
On the other hand, the county runs efficiently under his rule. As I have noted previously, fascism works very well if you don’t mind everything being rigged. If New Castle County ever got trains, under Gordon they would run on time.
Matt Meyer represents the possibility of real progressive Democratic politics in New Castle County. I’m a fan of his powerful ethical sense, his commitment to transparency and his commitment to governing for the entire county without the Gordon accounting shenanigans. Like Dave Carter above, you should take the time to meet Matt when you have the opportunity. He’ll make an excellent New Castle County Executive.
Well-written endorsement, but I haven’t seen Meyer catch fire yet with the electorate. I can only hope we get a real breath of fresh air on Sept. 13 — Young in Wilmington and Meyer for New Castle County — but I doubt that we can be twice blessed on a single day.
@Jason and 19703 — the 2016 primary dynamic will be different than in 2012. Four years ago you had Williams-Gordon-KWS-Potter holding hands to bring out the city vote. That alliance is broken, so Gordon and KWS can’t count on city voters to carry them to victory. But the mayoral race will bring out a higher proportion of voters than you’ll see in the NCCo suburbs. If the anti-Williams crowd remembers that alliance in 2012 and shifts to Meyer in the county race, it could give him a big boost.
Also, re Shahan and Husband — that pair might have gotten 20 percent of the vote, but Husband barely campaigned and Shahan got into the race only because he despised Paul Clark. He refused to criticize Gordon during the campaign, and Gordon gave him an executive assistant job after the election. So it would be a mistake to characterize any votes for Shahan in 2012 as an indication of opposition to Gordon.
Who did the Progressives Dems endorse ? I just want to know not trying to be difficult here . I just hear so much wrong , no one really reports it and Tom wins most of the time that’s all. Seems like his friends do too!
“it would be a mistake to characterize any votes for Shahan in 2012 as an indication of opposition to Gordon.”
And yet if they supported Gordon they could have just voted for him. Those who voted for Shahan probably were unaware of his ties to Gordon.
“I just hear so much wrong , no one really reports it ”
Oh, bullshit. Tom Gordon has been in the news for his, um, unique governing style for going on 20 years. Your lack of knowledge is not because “no one really reports it.”
The election, as all elections featuring Gordon, is a referendum on Gordon. He has his core supporters, most of whom are loyal because he hires them and/or their relatives, and a challenger must turn out more people than Gordon will. The last Democratic primary drew 12% of registered Democrats.
Look I am not here to fight anonymous. I just looked on that website and I know the paper never reported on the Data Center or the lobbyist like the website un covered. The Progressive Dems I hope are liberal, and just wanted to know who they endorsed . It helps to know
Loritool– I am not sure if the PDD has endorsed yet. As a former President of their organization, I would have to believe that they are likely to endorse Meyer, but I am not involved in their current deliberations and know nothing of their timetable.
I counted the Shahan and Husband votes as anti-Gordon and anti-Clark votes. That is why I went conservative on allotting only half to Meyer. I do agree that the higher the city turnout, the better it is for Meyer. Without Bullock’s “Souls to the Polls,” KWS, Gordon, and Williams (to an extent) will have very difficult time in Wilmington. Bullock’s wave brought in a lot of voters to Gordon in the county that he otherwise would not have earned. He could be looking at a sizable loss, if turnout theories for Wilmington hold true this year.
I pray you are right, Dem19703.
I thank everyone for their knowledge on this subject
lori: I didn’t mean you were lying, but that Gordon has been in the news for decades now.
Unfortunately, you can’t access most of that at the newspaper website. Years of electronic records were lost some years back, including most of the stuff about Gordon’ first stretch in the office, his indictment and trial, etc.
DelDem did a pretty thorough job of documenting that history in this post.
This election isn’t about which candidate is progressive. It’s about which candidate can be trusted with the public’s money.
@Delaware Dem, you and me both.
This election isn’t about which candidate is progressive. It’s about which candidate can be trusted with the public’s money.
True. But taking a step towards more progressive politics is a good bonus.
Matt Meyer’s campaign IS on fire! His core of volunteers is diverse–from a 10-yr-old to grandmothers like me; from scientists to teachers to non profits: from city dwellers to suburban groups. We are passionate about new leadership through Matt. If you want a County Executive dedicated to public service, not self service, support Matt Meyer on September 13!
@Cassandra: I have no idea how progressive Mr. Meyer is, and to me it doesn’t matter. Anything to the left of a Trump Republican is an improvement on what we have now.
Delaware Liberal has done a great job of contrasting the two candidates for the office of New Castle County Executive. You have also done a great job of documenting what is at stake in this primary. I will be voting for good government, open government, ethics, integrity and transparency. I will be voting for the candidate exhibiting those qualities, the clear choice in all of those categories, Matt Meyer. I urge all other New Castle County citizens to do the same.
Re Gordon’s hiring policies:
Had lunch fairly recently with an old friend who joined his team earlier this year in what appeared to be a newly created positon.
Had to hold my hand tight to my chin to keep the jaw from dropping as the old friend described how she wrote a $600 campaign contribution check but seemed surprised when told that she would have to send it to campaign headquarters rather than delivering to him in his office. … And then old friend added that she would also have to go to campaign HQ to pick up her lawn sign.
Old friend never said the contribution was a condition of employment but certainly seemed eager enough to shell out $600 after the first county paycheck came in.
Well again thank you for the update. Farmland, DBOT, data center it just seems odd that this is not over. I would think this is a open and shut case. Plus spending the reserves down wow
I am delighted to say that the Meyer’s Campaign is growing fast. It just took some time to get the word out against a three term incumbant with a big machine, staffed by many that are motivated by the personal payback Gordon gives them. We had a great day at the Peach Festival, and hooked up with some great folks down here south of the canal that are working for Meyer’s. If you interested, let the campaign know and we can hook you in. Meyer’s was there supporting sweet peaches, not sweetheart farmdeals for politically connected friends like Gordon is doing. Here is a photo from the Peach Festival that brought out some of the old farmers fed up with the sweetheart farm deal working together with those young and liberal folks. https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/52676838/Meyer%20Peach%20Festival%20Parade.jpg
Among the incredible things in this race: Ron Morris, the finance guy who oversaw the administration’s budget for Gordon’s first two terms, is backing Meyer because he thinks Gordon is spending the county into bankruptcy.
Yes, I quoted Ron Morris in the Endorsement.
@anon —
Indeed. Here’s Morris’s summary of his work for the county, from his LinkedIn bio:
Led the financial turn-around of New Castle County government in 1997 which subsequently achieved the highest Bond ratings (AAA) and largest surplus ($200+Million) in the history of New Castle County government. In February 2001, the Government Finance Review published my article “Reinventing A County Government”.
MW: What was your jaw dropping for, exactly? Her naïveté, or the fact that Gordon’s not running the campaign out of the county building?
I wish her all the best and hope she doesn’t get tainted by association.
SW :
The former. Old friend, by virtue of our mutual former employment, knew, or should have known how the game is played, and should certainly have been more circumspect in describing behavior, even among friends.
@mw: One assumes that if she could spare $600 she wouldn’t have taken the job in the first place.
@anon — more like living alone, after 30-plus years with a single employer, need to have something to do with all those daylight hours, not to mention “the lure of public service.”
Pay to Play lets say
Gordon spent 32% of NCC’s reserves in under 12 months, matched only by the 33% reserve spending during the financial crisis and subsequent collapse of RTT revenue. NCC has never spent down such a large % of reserves while the economy is expanding.
Absent heavy tax increases or deep spending cuts, NCC’s AAA credit rating can no longer be justified and it’s only a matter of time before the bond market figures it out. NCCc’s balance sheet is now ”upside down” when you include off-balance sheet retiree healthcare liabilities.
btw – Gordon didn’t “get” NCCo’s AAA credit rating, as he suggests. The greatest housing boom in US history got it. He happened to be there.
So why can’t the NJ just say, in 2012 the county had that much. Now it has this much, I believe its that simple. Plus the farmland promises will cost so much etc. Keep it at the exact amounts. Every ones digging in the weeds here. What is the cost from AAA to AA? This election should be over Print it!!!!
Hope this doesn’t get me banned but here is a post with figures taken straight from the ncc monthly checkbook.
https://twitter.com/NCCo_Politics/status/732630882411024384
march 2015 – $50 million
march 2016 – $37 million
Now $34 million (and dropping)
$34 million does not include gordon’s farmland proposal, which will now cost about 10% of NCC’s available financial reserves.
There is no more good talk radio in this state to get the true word out on politics. Mascitti is gone and Jensen has toned way down. And the News Journal barely covers these races any more. With better local press, Matt Meyer could have won this race. But doubtful with the current dreadful state of media affairs.
@NCCo Politics: Is there still a reserve fund for sewer repairs? One existed by statute when Gordon took office in ’96, but he obviously achieved his “surplus” by calling that account a general reserve. I don’t remember if they changed that statute so he could raid it.
The fact long has been that his mythical “surplus” was more than 50% in a fund that was put aside over many years to pay for the sewer upgrades in Brandywine Hundred that have gone underfunded because Gordon spent the money pretending he was fiscally responsible.
He is Not To Be Trusted With Money.
My favorite Micturation of Money was the $15 million giveaway to charities on the eve of Freebery’s run for County Executive. If I want to donate to charity, I do it myself. It’s not government’s role.
Ok so without making this difficult. Where is the 116 million he said was in reserves at the last debate? How much total reserves in the general fund ? how much in the sewer reserves Thank you for any help
There is a sewer reserve and it is mandated by law. Here is the link. http://www.nccde.org/documentcenter/view/14286
The sewer fund is supposed to be treated like a utility. Unfortunately, it is the finance department under the supervision of the county executive that is responsible for reporting it. So, the accuracy of that will not be known until the next county executive takes office and assesses the carnage.
The check book use to say 92 million in reserves general fund 14 sewer fund that was a year ago
Well looks like Meyer will win this 1!
The 34 million dollar reserve also does not account for the 5% employee pay raise
Tom Gordon was prosecuted over 3 years by the highly-politicized Justice Department under President George W. Bush, Alberto Gonzalez, and a partisan U.S. Attorney Colm F. Connolly.
You can dislike the man, you can dislike his policies, you can vote against him for whatever reason. But the fact is that his prosecution was nothing more than a 3-year political vendetta against a popular Delaware Democrat that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars and ended up with him pleading guilty to two misdemeanors.
So you can conveniently ignore the history of the time when the U.S. Justice Department was clearly the prosecutorial arm of the Republican Party, but facts is facts.
I should add that I will be voting for Matthew Meyer because I think he’ll do a better job.