Despite Court Judgements, Gordon Is Back and Running Again

Even though he moved out of state and lost a handful of court cases including defamation, and a case involving the media's reporting of a domestic violence arrest report, former Oneida County Legislator David Gordon is running for Oneida County Clerk.

Gordon made the announcement in a release issued to the media on Monday.

"Treating people like people is our new campaign slogan," Gordon said in a release on Monday. "When we focus on the individual needs of our customers, we find a better way to complete transactions which ultimate [sic] enhances people's experience and allows for our services to be fiscally responsive to our budgetary demands," he said.

Gordon challenged incumbent Sandra DePerno in 2018 for Oneida County Clerk and lost in a tight race by just over 2,000 votes, 51 percent to 49 percent. DePerno has announced she is not running again and will retire at the end of the year.

Gordon said in his campaign announcement, he previously ran on "fixing many of the issues prevelant [sic] at the department of motor vehicles in 2018 and is again making big promises to overhaul the system." 

"We continue to see the challenges at the DMV which includes a duplicated wait system that drives people out of Oneida County to neighboring counties where they are provided timely service, which ultimately loses Oneida County over a quarter million-dollars a year. Together we will fix the DMV," said Gordon.

Gordon most recently ran for Oneida County Executive in 2019, and lost significantly to Oneida County Executive Anthony Picente by a margin of 67 percent to 33 percent. The 2019 county executive race was marred by accusations from Gordon against Picente, the media (including WIBX), and former county staff members, all of which were disproven in court but led to a series of lawsuits and court appearances.

In February of 2021, a judge ruled in favor of WIBX and its staff members in regards to the publishing of a domestic violence arrest report, and later ruled in favor of Townsquare Media and the same staff members (Bill Keeler and Jim Rondenelli) in June of 2021 when Gordon issued a subpoena for them, along with County Executive Picente, to appear in court during his June 7th hearing to determine damages in the case he lost previously to a former Picente staff member. (WIBX will not print or broadcast the name of the accused staff member as the charges brought against her by Gordon have been deemed false and unfounded.) Gordon was later ordered by the judge to pay the former Picente staffer $400,000 in damages.

In Gordon's release on Monday, he said he hopes to expand public record access and institute some new initiatives all of which can be found on his website daveforclerk.com.

Over the last several years, Gordon has run for several elected offices as a Democrat, including the NYS Assembly, United States Congress, and the Oneida County Legislature, a position he won in 2012. He switched to the Republican Party when he ran for County Clerk in 2018.

In December, John Zielinski announced that he will run for the open clerk's seat on the Republican and Conservative lines.

Zielinski, 68, had previously run unsuccessfully for the 119th District Assembly seat against incumbent Democratic Assemblywoman Marianne Buttenschon.  As of this posting Zeilinski's Facebook page references that race.

At a December 2021 press conference Zeilinski said that he, too, would work to make the DMV more efficient and streamline more of its processes.  He told WIBX First News with Keeler in the Morning that there is a need for leadership in the DMV.

In an article in the Madison County Courier Zeilinski is quoted as saying, “My ability to analyze and solve complex organizational, accounting, financial management, planning, reporting and IT challenges has been developed over a deep and diverse career. I firmly believe that I could put those abilities to work for the citizens of Oneida County as County Clerk with excellent results."

The political calendar has not yet been released so dates for the upcoming primaries have not yet been announced.

WIBX has reached out to Gordon for comment, and is awaiting a response.

Gordon for Oneida County Clerk 2022 from David Gordon on Vimeo.