Mayor of the nation's fifth-largest city, major league doofus, or both? Let's go to the videotape.
Anyone out there who doesn't think PHX Mayor Phil "Goober" Gordon is icompetent should take a look at this video from a 7/21 interview ABC 15's Lisa Fletcher did with Goober, following the airing of Fletcher's blockbuster report on lax overnight security at PHX's Sky Harbor Airport. Despite footage of workers at Sky Harbor just flashing their security badges and walking past the rent-a-cop on duty with unchecked bags and packages, Goober tries to defend security at the airport, engages in a puerile back-and-forth with a reporter who evidently has her facts straight, and then finally blames any security failures on the Transportation Security Administration. Contrast this with the TSA, which when they learned of this Holland Tunnel-sized hole in Sky Harbor's security, acted quickly to put TSA personnel on those checkpoints round-the-clock.
The intelligent thing for Phil to have done, as a politician and putative leader, would have been to say, "This is outrageous, we need to look into this immediately." But just as he did when he was confronted with Phoenix's troublesome crime ranking as the 59th most dangerous city in the nation, he pooh-poohed the notion that there was a security concern he might have to get off his ass and do something about. This, while insisting that public safety is his top concern as mayor. A real load of crap, BTW.
Throughout the interview Gordon is as petulant as a know-it-all school kid. Check this childish little exchange between Goober and Fletcher, who to her credit stays on Goober like white on rice. It takes place about half way through the interview:
Goober: Every employee 24-hours a day is screened.
Fletcher: Their bags aren't screened though, Phil.
Goober: Employees are screened, Lisa.
Fletcher: Their bags are screened?
Goober: The employees are screened.
Fletcher: The employees are screened, that means they get a badge check.
Goober: There are other measures in place, too.
Fletcher: Are their bags checked?
Goober: There are measures in place that secure that airport 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, whether TSA is manning the machines or not.
So basically, Goober would have done NOTHING to rectify the situation if left to his own doltish devices. What a blithering idiot! And people wonder why I can't stand the guy and want him to lose in his bid for reelection. Could 20-year-old Jarrett Maupin do a better job? Yes. Could Republican Steve Lory do a better job? Yes. Could Bozo the Freakin' Clown do a better job? Uh, yeah. Hell, write in your cousin's name for mayor, if you have to. A vote for Phil Gordon is a vote for four more years of Goober's incompetence, unless you like having a mook as your mayor. I don't.
