Cam Gordon | |
|---|---|
.png) Gordon in 2009 | |
| Member of theMinneapolis City Council | |
| In office 2006–2022 | |
| Preceded by | Paul Zerby |
| Succeeded by | Robin Wonsley |
| Constituency | 2nd ward |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1955 (age 70–71) Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S. |
| Party | Green |
| Alma mater | University of Minnesota College of St. Catherine |
| Website | http://secondward.blogspot.com (Personal blog) |
Cameron A. Gordon (born 1955) is an American politician who was aGreen Party member of theMinneapolis City Council from 2006 to 2022. He was a co-founder of theGreen Party of Minnesota and was called "the most prominent Green elected official in the US."[1]
Gordon was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1955. He graduated from Minneapolis's West High School in 1973. He earned a BS in secondary education from theUniversity of MinnesotaCollege of Education, graduating with distinction in 1977.[2][3] He then attended theCollege of St. Catherine, focusing onMontessori education andearly childhood development. He completed the primary level of the Montessori Teacher Certification Program in 1983 and the Prekindergarten Teaching Licensure Program in 1986. He taught at Child Garden Montessori School from 1980 to 1984.[4]
Gordon co-owned River's Edge, a children's music company and child care program, from 1997 to 2005. Gordon was also an associate editor of the newspaperPublic School Montessorian.[4]
Gordon was a co-founder of the Green Party of Minnesota, which was established in two founding conventions held in February and June 1994.[5][6]
In 1996, Gordon was theGreen Party candidate for District 62A seat in theMinnesota House of Representatives. He was backed by the MinnesotaNew Party[7] and received 25% of the vote, the highest percentage for athird party state office candidate in the state of Minnesota in 50 years.[8][9]
Gordon ran for Minneapolis City Council in 2001. He was defeated by DFL candidate Paul Zerby by 108 votes.[10]
Gordon served on the policy board of the Minneapolis Neighborhood Revitalization Program.[11]
On November 8, 2005, Cam Gordon was elected to represent Ward 2 on theMinneapolis City Council, defeatingDFLer Cara J. Letofsky by 141 votes (2481 to 2340). He was endorsed by theGreen Party of Minnesota, of which he was a former state party chair. Gordon was re-elected against token opposition in2009 (with 84% of the vote), in2013 (with 87% of the vote), and in2017 (with 97% of the vote).[10] He was only non-DFL member of the council,[12] and was elected Minority Leader of the council in 2014. Gordon chaired the Health, Environment and Community Engagement Committee.[13] He was one of two elected Green Party members in the Minneapolis municipal government along withMinneapolis Park and Recreation Board commissionerAnnie Young until her death in 2018.
Following a clash between theMinneapolis Police Department (MPD) and cyclists participating in aCritical Mass bike ride in August 2007, Gordon arranged for a meeting in City Hall between police officials and the riders.[14]
During the lead up to the2008 Republican National Convention in Saint Paul, Gordon was a member of the city council's Free Speech Committee. In the 2011 bookGlobalization and the Demolition of Society, Gordon was criticized for his vote giving the MPD legal authority to break up groups of people that are 25 or larger.[15]
Gordon partnered with theMinnesota Public Interest Research Group and students from theUniversity of Minnesota to enact an ordinance in 2011 requiring commercial business owners inStadium Village to recycle.[10]
Following the June 2011 arrest ofCeCe McDonald and second-degree murder charges, Gordon announced his support for her, calling the incident "another example [of] transgenderwomen of color being targeted for hate- and bias-related violence."[16]
With councilmemberDon Samuels, Gordon co-authored a resolution in 2012 requiring Minneapolis to take steps to ensure the city addresses racial disparities in hiring, contracts, and promotions. The resolution was the first of its kind in the United States and declaredinstitutional racism "a primary reason for unemployment disparities."[17]
In 2013, Gordon supported the construction ofprotected bike lanes on Minnehaha Avenue.[18] In 2014, Gordon introduced an amendment to includeelectronic cigarettes in the Minneapolissmoking ban.[19] The same year, Gordon expressed reservations about the expansion of theSouthwest LRT,[20] ultimately voting against it, saying that he wanted his vote to reflect the remaining issues and concerns.[21]
In 2015, Gordon co-sponsored a resolution to repeal ordinances in Minneapolis against spitting and lurking. Data from the MPD showed that, from 2009 to 2014, 59% of those arrested for lurking were African American.[22] Gordon characterized the ordinances as a part ofstructural racism.[23]
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Later in 2015, alongside CongressmanKeith Ellison and councilmembers Alondra Cano andLisa Bender, Gordon showed his solidarity withBlack Lives Matter protesters demanding the release of the police video showing theshooting of Jamar Clark.[24] Gordon supported the demonstrators who set up an encampment outside the Fourth Precinct police station,[25] drawing criticism from MPD LieutenantBob Kroll.[26]
In March 2016, Gordon opposed a $129 million renovation of theTarget Center arena, citing a requirement in the city charter that a referendum should be held for investments in professional sports facilities of over $10 million.[27]
With fellow councilmemberAbdi Warsame, Gordon authored the Bring Your Own Bag ordinance in 2016, which prohibited single-use plastic carryout bags with some exceptions.[28] The plan originated in a citizen environmental advisory group.[29]
In 2016, Gordon supported a proposal before the City Council to place an amendment on the ballot to raise theminimum wage in Minneapolis to $15 an hour.[30]
In 2016, Gordon opposed aMinneapolis Public Housing Authority plan to tear down 184-unit Glendale Townhomes complex in southeast Minneapolis and replace them with a mixed-income development.[31] He supported rehabilitation of the row houses and sided with Defend Glendale, a resident group opposed to demolition, writing, "I support Defend Glendale’s efforts to have their homes repaired and improved with no displacement and nogentrification."[32] Gordon also worked with Defend Glendale on a historic designation proposal.[33] Also in 2016, Gordon opposed a housing ordinance limiting the number of non-family members who may live within the same house.[34] He deemed the ordinance arbitrary and said that it prevented the expansion ofcooperative housing. Gordon proposed allowing landlords the ability to designate a single property that they owned anintentional community.[35]
Gordon and councilmember Alondra Cano wrote a proposal for Minneapolis to study how it could end its relationship with banks investing in the fossil fuel industry, includingWells Fargo, which has ties to theDakota Access Pipeline and also handles the city's financial activities.[36][37]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic (DFL) | Paul Zerby | 2,597 | 50.77 | |
| Green | Cam Gordon | 2,489 | 48.66 | |
| Write-in | 29 | 0.57 | ||
| Total votes | 5,115 | 100 | ||
| Minneapolis City Council Ward 2 election, 2005[39] | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Political party/principle | Candidate | % 1st Choice | Round 1 | |
| Green Party of Minnesota | Cam Gordon | 51.25 | 2,481 | |
| DFL | Cara Letofsky | 48.34 | 2,340 | |
| N/A | Write-in | 0.41 | 20 | |
| Minneapolis City Council Ward 2 election, 2009[40][41] | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Political party/principle | Candidate | % 1st Choice | Round 1 | |
| Green Party of Minnesota | Cam Gordon | 84.05 | 2,260 | |
| Independent | Allen A. Aigbogun | 15.17 | 408 | |
| N/A | Write-in | 0.77 | 21 | |
| ||||
| Minneapolis City Council Ward 2 election, 2013[42] | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Political party/principle | Candidate | % 1st Choice | Round 1 | |
| Green Party of Minnesota | Cam Gordon | 87.14 | 4,060 | |
| Socialist Workers Party | Diana Newberry | 11.25 | 524 | |
| N/A | Write-ins | 1.61 | 75 | |
| ||||
| Party | Candidate | % 1st Choice | Round 1 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Green Party of Minnesota | Cam Gordon | 97.27 | 5,912 | |
| Write-in | N/A | 2.73 | 166 | |
| Valid votes | 6,078 | |||
| Maximum possible threshold | 3,518 | |||
| Overvotes | 1 | |||
| Undervotes | 955 | |||
| Turnout (out of 17,702 registered voters)[44] | 39.74 | 7,034 | ||
| Source: Minneapolis Elections & Voter Services[45] | ||||
| Party | Candidate | % 1st Choice | Round 1 | Round 2 | Round 3 | % Final | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic Socialists of America | Robin Wonsley | 29.04% | 2,763 | 2,879 | 4,046 | 50.09% | |
| Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party | Yusra Arab | 28.49% | 2,719 | 3,236 | 4,032 | 49.01% | |
| Green Party of Minnesota | Cam Gordon (incumbent) | 26.36% | 2,508 | 2,800 | |||
| Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party | Tom Anderson | 10.28% | 982 | ||||
| Republican Party of Minnesota | Guy Gaskin | 5.74% | 546 | ||||
| Write-in | N/A | 0.09% | 9 | ||||
| Exhausted ballots | 612 | 1,434 | 16.18% | ||||
| Valid votes | 9,527 | ||||||
| Threshold | 4,764 | ||||||
| Undervotes | 272 | ||||||
| Turnout | 55.8% | 9,799 | |||||
| Source: Minneapolis Elections & Voter Services[46] | |||||||