When Santa Ana “Neighborhood Hero” Thomas Gordon tried to run for the Santa Ana City Council, he claimed he would “wipe the floor” with incumbent Sal Tinajero, who is also a very successful public school teacher. But when the filing deadline came, Gordon failed to collect enough verified signatures – and even his own signature was thrown out by the City Clerk. We later caught Gordon texting answers to another Council candidate, Helen Martinez. She lost badly and hasn’t been seen since.
What is Gordon up to now, you ask? Well check out this comment – which he posted on a Voice of OC blog post about the proposed move of the Chivas USA soccer team to Santa Ana:
Regarding neighborhood impact and the loss of the golf course, Tinajero said he understands that some residents would be opposed to the move, but when compared to the number of residents in favor, opponents will seem a small minority.
The opposition “would be outnumbered, in my opinion, nine to one,” Tinajero said.
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Kids want candy or soda or junk food 9 times more than adults do, but as adults we are able to see the cost associated with these things, not just monetarily but the long term impacts such as tooth decay or diabetes.
Los Angeles Unified School Board just voted to ban chocolate and strawberry flavored milk in schools. I’ll bet the kids are against that 99 to 1 as well, but as adults the Board made a decision based on health and long term results.
Guess we elected children to the Santa Ana City Council……..
Not only did Gordon insult all the Latino residents of Santa Ana who would support a pro soccer team – he also insulted our Santa Ana City Council as well – comparing both the residents and the Council to ignorant schoolkids who don’t know what is good for them.
The irony is that Gordon has no college degree – but the Council Members include two attorneys, an engineer, an overpaid Orange County middle manager, a Realtor/Mortfafe banker, a non profit executive, a schoolteacher/award-winning debate team coach. They all have college degrees, unlike Gordon.
Maybe Gordon dislikes them because they are all Democrats – except for the overpaid County middle manager. Gordon is an elected member of the OC GOP Central Committee.
The double-irony is that Gordon works for the L.A. Unified School District, where he is an astoundingly overpaid asbestos inspector. He clearly looks down on the schoolkids whose parents pay his ridiculous union salary.
And this guy is getting a “Neighborhood Hero” award at the Com-Link meeting this week. He ought to be getting a Turkey award!
See…although you make some concrete points here, you also turned personally nasty again. That is just wrong. And you made some cracks at unions and politics. This was just nasty and uncalled for – the better man could have either written this differently, or just kept his mouth shut. You earn no points in heaven for being a jerk, regardless of their politics or frailities.
ocgrrl,
I could say the same for each of your comments. I belong to a union by the way, do you?
And what could be nastier than comparing Latino residents and our accomplished Council Members to kids who don’t know enough to care for themselves?
I noticed you gave Gordon a free pass. Figures.
If this blog so offends you I recommend you read something else.
That’s not very nice of you to pick on little Tommy. The little fellas had a rough going living in his mommy and daddy’s house his whole life.
It looks like the LAUSD board needs to watch what its employees eat as well. Have you seen that gut on Gordo?
I did not see Mr. Gordon use the words “ignorant” or “Latino” in his comment. Nowhere in your stories on Chivas do you ever address how the financially strapped city will pay for Chivas. Mr.Gordon did not interject race into this issue. You did. Criticimofthe council is just that: criticism. There is no reference to race. And why is Mr. Gordon’s place of employment an issue
I notice that Gordon and his anonymous allies would rather smear people than explain what he meant by his comment posted on the Voice of OC. Clearly he was making the analogy that he and those opposing Chivas USA are “adults” and those supporting the move “children”.
While he did not specifically say that it is easy to read between the lines and understand the analogy. He feels that he is far wiser to make decisions for our city than are the majority of the residents.
Perhaps rather than attacking people he and his friends would like to defend his comment, if they can.
Reading,
Gordon’s analogy is very clear. Like most of the Usual Suspects he thinks he is smarter than the other Santa Ana residents, except that he isn’t.
To make things worse he refuses to explain his comment, opting instead to attack us.
Explain yourself Gordon!
Gordon one of your best friends Zorro?
You are not really good in picking your friends and that includes the current one too.
Hee Hee Hee! Aye that Tommy Boy aka Gordo is at it again. He insults Latinos with college degrees because they have something he doesn’t. Not only a college degree but it seems a high school diploma too.
Geez, no wonder LAUSD is in such trouble. They scrape the bottom of the barrel to hire an inspector with only a G.E.D. I searched my sister’s yearbooks from ’79 to ’82 and there is no Thomas Gordon that attended Saddleback.
Does anyone know where Gordo went to high school?
Beep Beep
Gordon is getting an award tonight for his service to the community. I didn’t see Admin or Sean Mill listed among the previous award winners. Thomas is not a racist. The comments he made did not use the words Mexican or Latino. You guys are just jealous that he makes a positive difference in the community and the only thing you two bring to the table is envy and hate. If you want to read in between the lines, Gordon is far more successfuL in his life than either Mill or Admin. I dare you to post this without editing it admin….
Jealousy,
I am not going to quibble about Gordon’s accomplishments – whatever they are. Whether or not he used the words you referenced, his analogy was quite clear. That he has chosen to go on the attack instead of telling us why he wrote what he wrote speaks for itself.
I am not giving Gordon a free pass. His politics are abhorrent and nasty. I am not going to express my opinion on the Chivas team because I have not researched it enough to formulate an informed opinion one way or another, but I agree his paternalistic attitude is wrong and is fundamentally flawed. He does think he knows better.
But Admin, so do you. You are defending your position with the very same logic that he is using. And you are doing so in a way that attacks the person rather than the philosophy. You can attack his opinion in a way that is not a personal attack: “He clearly looks down on the schoolkids whose parents pay his ridiculous union salary”, and “He ought to be getting a Turkey award! “. Those comments are not substantive; they are just wrong.
ocgrrl,
No they are not. Read what he wrote. He clearly intimated that the people in our city who support the Chivas move are too stupid to make their own choices, like kids who need adults to pick their beverages. And then he did the same thing to our accomplished City Council member.
And I know for a fact that he is overpaid. The LAUSD could hire asbestos inspectors with equivalent experience at half the cost, with no pension costs to boot. I worked in that industry for several years.
As for the Chivas team I did go see a game to get a feel for the environment. Gordon did not. But that did not stop him from bleating about trash and diapers…
All of the Usual Suspects deserve Turkey awards.
I am saying that the specific comments that I cited that you wrote are not substantive. They are personal attacks. Whether he deserves them or not is beside the point. And he probably does deserve them, but that does not make you righteous by saying it.
You would win more opinions over by being civil and kind than you will by being nasty. Let his personal crap go, and focus on the issue, and focus on his arguments on the issues. You can be the bigger man, and do a stellar report on the issues themselves rather than turn it into a personal attack. When you do attack the person, the focus of the issue gets lost in the personal banter. If you really want to make a difference, ignore the personal politics and focus on the points. Then you CAN make a difference because you make people THINK instead of just getting mad at a person. I know Gordon makes you mad. He makes many people mad, but if you really want to make a difference, focus on the topic, not HIM.
Ocgrrl,
I guess he really gets to me because at one time I thought he was going to make a difference. When I first met him he told me he was running for Mayor of Santa Ana. I was desperate for change – I wrote his ballot statement and sent my wife to City Hall with a check for the statement. Within two years he had become another Usual Suspect.
The irony is that we eventually got the change I wanted – and now I am hooked up at City Hall and Gordon and his allies are on the outside looking in.
I grew up with immigrants. My parents were immigrants. I work every day with immigrants and I teach them at Cerritos College. They are not the demons that Gordon and his fellow haters make them out to be.
Santa Ana is a diverse city full of good and bad people. Maligning folks just because of where they come from is just wrong.
I agree completely – 100%. No matter how angry and betrayed you feel by him though, you MUST focus on the issues themselves. The more you let him get to you, the more you get off track to the real issues. You empower him by bringing him up in your blogs! It makes others pay attention to what he is saying because you brought it and his name up. If you must address something he has done or said, just cite the issue and ignore him personally. Don’t let those folks goad you into childish banter. Then YOU lose credibility.
ocgrrl,
The irony is that the dumb post has been our top one for two days – even though I have put up at least a dozen other posts. Go figure…
Because you put his name on it…
ocgrrl,
For the record, he put his name on his Voice of OC comment. I would not have touched it if it was just another anon comment.
The post blew up because it was interesting. People like conflict even if they won’t admit it.
And don’t forget that Gordon is an elected official. He represents the OC GOP – a veritable hate organization.
Roadrunner,
Tommy went to Valley High School. In fact he has never moved out of mommy and daddy’s house that he lived in then.
I find it interesting that not one single person showed up on this or any other blog to defend Gordon’s statement. They chose instead to launch into ad hominem attacks against Pedroza and Mill. Why is that?
Obviously the comment was indefensible and rather than deal with that Gordon and his friends want to distract attention from it by launching attacks.
All I ask is that somebody defend his comment and do so with some intellectual honesty. Any moron understands the analogy he was making whether he used the words “Mexican” or “Latino” or not.
Anon you are abolutely right. No one will defend Tommy Boy because his comments are indefensible. Tommy Boy’s continued attacks on Latinos have only backfired on him and exposed him for the Racist he has always been.
I guess his hatred for minorities stems from not being accepted by minority students at Valley High School. I would like to see pictures of him as a child and teenager and maybe get some insight on his cuckoo behavior. It is very obvious to me that he feels he missed out on being part of the IN-CROWD and his mission is to discredit those who are making a difference in Santa Ana. Tommy Boy can only blame himself for his lack of success, popularity and happiness.
He should leave Santa Ana and move to Arizona where his rantng and raving will be accepted by the morons who live there.
I clicked on a link here to the “Voice of OC” and guess what I found? A comment from El Gordo aka Tommy Boy. He says he’s not anti-soccer but against the displacemement of poor hispanic families and he refers to Chavez Ravine. Ah hahahahahahahahahahaha!
Who is he kidding?
These guys are holding on to the last vestige of the Santa Ana they remember.
Sad old men, refusing to accept change.
More remarkable to me is how six angry white republicans were able to invite, accept and influence the Liberal OC to their circle jerk. What pawns.
But admin, Gordon didn’t use any racist term and you did in another post You certainly attacked Gordon personally and allowed others to ask why no one is defending him. Then you edit comments or delete them altogether. You put words in Gordon’s mouth and have a thin skin when people defend him or give you the same treatment back. Gordon was at the fundraiser for the zoo last night. Were you there? Gordon puts his time and money in to help the city. All you do is blog.
anon,
Gordon most certainly did use a condescending analogy – comparing soccer fans in Santa Ana to schoolchildren at LAUSD who cannot decide for themselves what to drink without adults telling them. Was this overtly racist? Perhaps not but anyone with the ability to read between the lines can easily figure out the point he was making.
No one has yet to even try to defend his analogy. I wonder why?
And no, I did not personally attack Gordon. I used the facts to dissect what he said and to put it in context. He does work at the same school district that those kids go to – the same kids he slammed in his comment. He is an overpaid asbestos inspector. The LAUSD could most certainly save money by outsourcing that work. Those are facts.
His only response was to conduct personal attacks against me over at the Liberal OC blog. Funny that an elected member of the OC GOP Central Committee would be commenting there.
If Gordon wants to slam people on other blogs he ought to be a big boy and defend his attacks. I guess he is unable to do so, nor are his friends.
As for the Zoo function, we promoted it here. In fact 90% of our posts are about events in the city. Perhaps ten percent of our posts have to do with politics. And those posts get 90% of our hits. Go figure.
Gordon ought to, by the way, be able to donate money. He makes a fortune at the LAUSD and he is unmarried and has no kids. Like most of the Usual Suspects he has NO IDEA what it takes to raise a family.
I guess the 90,000+ people that went to the Rose Bowl Saturday offer ZERO economic benefit to Santa Ana. The Ususal suspects are well……Old and in the way!
http://www.ocregister.com/news/police-305973-santa-colon.html
Where exactly did he mention race? It really looks like your making something out of nothing just to suit your personal vendetta.
Gordon’s comments made it very clear that he believes soccer fans in Santa Ana are unable to make decisions for themselves. That is paternalistic, condescending, and yes – it can certainly be construed to be racist.
Maybe this is why the “ususal suspects” are so opposed to soccer:
http://www.denverpost.com/rapids/ci_18362299
It’s one of those leftist sports. That still doesn’t explain the Voice of OC(ea) or Liberal OC’s opposition although in the case of the latter: anything newsantaana is for, count on them being against. Even if it flies in the face of thier so called mission.
Did you see the latest comment from Jerbal’s bitch Danny Boy?
He claims that he is getting overwhelmed by emails voicing support for Thomas Gordon. He is so full of it. We all know you can count on one hand the number of people that comment in support of them on the blogs.
What Jerb’s bitch meant to say is if you want to libel Pedroza, Mill, Tinajero or anyone they support use our $hithole blog to do it.
What a pussy!
Guys, I want Chivas here too but Gordon didn’t say or imply what you said he did. All you guys want to do is call anyone who opposes you racist and that’s wrong. If you want this to be a community blog, be fair
Chivasfan,
Finally a civil comment. Tell me then, what did he say? What did he mean? Please elaborate.
Thomas Gordon is a great guy. You guys should put this all behind you.
Whether or not he is a “good guy” is beside the point. He wrote a screed over at the Voice of OC that clearly intimated that Santa Ana’s soccer fans are unable to make good decisions without “adult” help. We are most capable of reading between the lines.
He also has been involved with a group of bitter, white Republicans who are trying to stop the Chivas USA team from moving to Santa Ana. As I have previously reported, their lies about diapers and trash being strewn all over at the Chivas USA games turned out to be a lie. We visited a Chivas USA game in Carson and found it to be clean, orderly and great fun for all.
I would dearly love to see Gordon defend his own words. So far all he has done is attack me personally. You wrote this BS Gordon – why won’t you defend it?
OC Register reporter Andrew Galvin attended the meeting and said no such statement about trash and diapers was made. Gordon attended the meeting and did not speak. You reported he was the source of this statement yet an uninterested third party says this is not the case. The city is broke. It has a huge budget deficit which makes it unable to fund parks, libraries, full tree trimming and street paving. Sure, soccer fans may want a team but what about taxpayers who will be on the hook for millions in bonds to pay for it. It’s up to the city council to be responsible about how it spends taxpayer money. Gordon is not anti-Chivas but is making an effort to educate himself on the issue. Why don’t you go to one of these meetings admin? Gordon did not make any racist comment but you did in calling whites gabachos Gordon’s friends are commenting on the LiberalOC that you are deleting and editing comments. What do you say about that?
Chivasfan,
Did he attend their second meeting? A contact of mine did and that is what got back to me.
I will tell you that in the past Gordon has made such comments to me so none of this is new at all.
I don’t recall seeing the bond issue in the early reports about the Usual Suspects anti-Chivas effort. Even the Register reported that their concerns were about trash and noise.
As for investigating the issue, I did. I went to a Chivas USA game, took a lot of pictures and reported about it here. Has Gordon gone to any of their games? Doubt it!
I am not likely to be invited to the Usual Suspects’ gatherings. I doubt I would make it through Lutz’ front door.
As for Gordon’s comments, as I have stated again and again, he intimated that Santa Ana’s soccer fans cannot make good decisions of their own volition. He said that adults have to tell them what to do, like schoolchildren who have had their chocolate milk taken away from them. That is pretty condescending and if it isn’t racist it is at least borderline. We know what he meant. And no one has been able to explain his comments or has even tried to defend them, including Gordon.
Why by the way was Gordon at the celebration of Mexico’s victory over the US soccer team, at 10:30 pm? What does that have to do with bonds?
As for the editing and deletion of comments, I saved them all, including a number of threats that were made against me. Gordon also filed a complaint with my employer, after I asked him to stop making threats, and after we identified that some of the threats were made by an ATT user in Denver who has an Iphone. Yes, Gordon has an ATT Iphone and he has a second home in Denver.
All I am asking is for Gordon to explain himself. I guess that may never happen.
“It has a huge budget deficit which makes it unable to fund parks, libraries, full tree trimming and street paving.”
This city council, led by our current great council majority, has managed to do more with less than the other councils did with more in the past. More miles of streets have been repaired and paved under this council than were in the past. Your talking point is just a falsehood being put forth by those against the current leadership.
Ironically the coalition opposing Chivas USA is headed up by former Councilman Tom Lutz. Please tell me what Mr. Lutz and the councils he served on did to fund parks, libraries and pave streets. Rather than investing our tax dollars back into projects that benefitted our community as a whole Lutz and his council cohorts threw millions upon millions of dollars into the so-called Artist Village which has yet to become the economic boom that the taxpayers were promised even after almost 20 years.
And who headed up that push for the Artists Village? None other than another anti-Chivas USA activist Don Cribb.
Please spare me this fiscal responsibility argument on behalf of the anti-Chivas crowd. Where was this type of talk when Lutz was on the council and Cribb had pull at city hall?
Despite our tough economic climate this council majority is doing a great job. Mr. Lutz served on the council during great economic times and yet he and his allies frittered it all away and did nothing to expand our libraries or parks. If you want to place blame on anyone, start with Lutz and company.
Be careful Mill! Sounds like you are expressing your opinion and according to Mike Tardif, I mean junior, that violates the Code of Ethics. I sense a flood of emails will be sent to the council.
Galvin was at Both meetings. Your source is completely wrong. No one said anything about diapers or trash. Many of us have been to Galaxy games at Home Depot Center. Gordon told me he’s been to Chivas and Galaxy games. Gordon did not speak at either meeting admin.
As far as defending Gordon’s statement, how will the city pay for a relocation admin? All we are asking for is information. If the council places brings a pro soccer team to Santa Ana ahead of public safety and balanced budgets, then they a not making good decisions for the city. Please come to the next meeting admin and see for yourself the questions being asked.
SOS,
Galvin ought to find a better use for his time. The Usual Suspects are DONE in Santa Ana. They can kick and scream all they want but at the end of the day they have no power at all, which is good for everyone.
And if Gordon did go to the Chivas it is not surprising that he never mentioned it. He didn’t see anything negative to report about, did he?
No one in the Usual Suspects by the way raised the fiscal issues initially. All they did was yell about trash and noise. Keep trying but in the end you will lose. You have only two votes on the Council.
As a planning commission, Mr. Mill is supposed to demonstrate impartiality and fairness. Without all ofbthe facts in, he has already weighed in his support for Chivas coming to Santa Ana. Should this issue come before the Planning Commission, Mr. Mill shoul recuse himself from voting on this.
And while it was nice for the two of you to go to a single Chivas game, your collective experience is one game and thanks for the photographic evidence of all the empty seats.
Non partisan,
Funny that you and Chivas Fan have the same IP address.
Tom Lutz and Don Cribb supported the Artists Village before they voted on it. But you knew that, right?
The point is, civic leaders can weigh in on such issues but when they vote they have to do so as per the rules. I am sure Mill will do so – but remember that the Chivas deal is far from a done deal. You Usual Suspects might be in a panic over nothing.