Patrick Gordon, the first challenger to Mayor James Richmond’s re-election bid, announced his candidacy Tuesday saying he could no longer stand by and watch the bickering that he believes is destroying the city.
“You’ve done a fine job of turning a democracy into a monarchy with your mayoral vetoes and political appointments that don’t receive council approval,” Gordon said in his opening salvo against Richmond, who is completing his first term.
Municipal elections will be held in April.
Gordon accused Richmond of being unable to work with others, of causing a breakdown in communications between the mayor’s office and the aldermen, and of appointing friends to jobs in the city.
Richmond said he would not comment on Gordon’s charges, but welcomed his candidacy.
Gordon, 48, owns an insurance agency in Oak Forest and has been active in the community. He is chairman of the Oak Forest Plan Commission and has served on the board since 1985; is past president of the Oak Forest Chamber of Commerce; and helped institute the cable-television broadcasts of City Council meetings. In the 1980s, Gordon twice ran unsuccessfully for alderman.
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