Leadership in the Community - Major Initiatives
1978 Attended multiple Round Rock City Council meetings to push for lots to be set aside for a park in the Greenhill Section 1 (Nicole Circle duplexes). NPC finally agreed to set aside 4 lots. (Tom Gollagosky, a friend from the neighborhood, joined in the effort)
1978 Originated and coordinated a petition initiative to reduce the density of apartment development in Round Rock to 20 per acre. City Council agreed to the change after the petition was successfully filed.
1979 Concerned neighborhood leaders met in John Gordon’s home to discuss actions to take since the City Council had refused to place a moratorium on issuing building permits until a reliable supply of water was procured. Residents of Round Rock West, for example, could not shower on the second floor because of lack of water pressure. Some sections of Round Rock would go without water periodically. Decision was made to initiate a petition recall of the Mayor with John Gordon coordinating the petition drive. Drive was successful and the Mayor resigned. City Council halted issuance of building permits temporarily, initiated water-well drilling program, signed contract for Lake Georgetown water, and signed contract for Lake Stillhouse Hollow water.
1981 First petition action against City of Austin charging excessive electric rates to consumers outside the city limits including RRISD facilities and residents in the Pond Springs and Anderson Mill area. Serve at no expense as a representative of RRISD in the PUC hearing. Result was a small rollback in rates.
1981 As Vice-President of Facilities for the Round Rock Soccer Association charged with procuring a permanent facility, negotiated/convinced the RRISD Board to sell 10 acres of land at the back of Voigt Elementary School to the RRSA. 1983 Second petition action against City of Austin charging excessive electric rates to consumers outside the city limits including RRISD facilities and residents in the Pond Springs and Anderson Mill area. Serve at no expense as a representative of RRISD in the PUC hearing. Result was a 6% rollback negotiated by business interests inside Austin.
1984 Third petition action in which John Gordon was designated the “Attorney In Fact” for all consumers outside of Austin against City of Austin charging excessive electric rates to consumers outside the city limits including RRISD facilities and residents in the Pond Springs and Anderson Mill area. Serve at no expense as the representative of all. Refused to cut a deal and forced a full-blown rate hearing which resulted in a rollback of over $100,000,000 in electric rates.
1985 Initiated a ten year campaign to get 12 acres of land at Bowman Drive and West Mesa Park Drive purchased by the City of Round Rock as neighborhood park land. 1988 Helped lead the opposition to the proposition to add a $0.06/hundred property tax in Round Rock to finance a baseball stadium. Spoke on radio against the issue. Helped organize the door-to-door campaign against the issue. Proposition was defeated by a 2 to 1 margin.
1993 Helped initiate the campaign against crack dealers in south Taylor. Spent Friday and Saturday nights in Taylor confronting drug dealers.
1997 Initiated a community-wide effort to force TX DOT to move SH 130 out of central Round Rock. Effort involved organizing seven neighborhoods to sustain a political fight for over four years. Coordinated political events and public statements.
1998 Initiated a petition under Texas Constitution provisions to amend the Round Rock City Charter to create City Councilmember Districts. Circulated petition and received over 1600 signatures. Initiative lost city wide vote by 40% to 60%. Initiative received over 4,000 votes.
2002 Helped found the Williamson County Symphony Orchestra and have served as the Chairman of the Board of Directors for the entire six years of its existence. Act as the chief operating officer administering the activities of the Orchestra. Developed the Orchestra’s bylaws, incorporated it as a Texas Corporation and established it as an IRS approved 501 (c) (3) non-profit educational organization.
2004 Initiated and coordinated a petition referendum to rescind the late night (2:00 AM) drinking hours on school nights approved by the Round Rock City Council. Petition drive was successful and the City Council rolled back the hours.
2004 Successfully, as a lone individual, fought the Round Rock City Council proposed city charter revision to increase the signature requirement for petitions from 5% to 10% of registered voters. Proposed “signature-increase” amendment was the only charter amendment in the central Texas area to go down to defeat in the November General election.
2005 Successfully organized a campaign to defeat a wasteful $350,000,000 bond proposal by the RRISD. Helped the RRISD restructure the proposal to reduce the bond total by $83,000,000 and still get an extra elementary school built.
2006 Initiated the campaign to get park facilities built in the12 acres of land at Bowman Drive and West Mesa Park Drive that was purchased by the City of Round Rock as neighborhood park land.
2007 Helped Hutto and its citizens, as a hired consultant, by providing technical expertise to fight the routing of a 345-kV transmission line through central Hutto and by volunteering political expertise to launch a political initiative against the route.
Round Rock Soccer Association
The Rotary Club of Austin
Texas Jaycees
Round Rock Little League
Mesa Village Neighborhood Association
Parent Teacher Association
Williamson County Symphony Orchestra
Committees
During the height of the Vietnam War, John Gordon voluntarily enlisted in the US Army on July 26, 1966 even though he had a deferred exemption because he was enrolled at Rice University.
An interesting point - The army administered two tests to new recruits: IQ and Military aptitude with a maximum of 160 on both tests. John scored 154 on the IQ test and 156 on the Military Aptitude test (he had 3 years of HS ROTC and 2 years of College ROTC). The combined score was the highest ever recorded for any recruit as relayed by several training commanders.
After receiving Basic training at Ft. Bliss, Texas, and Advanced Infantry training at Ft. Ord, California, he was assigned to the Field Artillery OCS at Ft. Sill, Oklahoma, where he graduated as a 2nd Lieutenant. He was then assigned to the 2nd Armored Division, Division Artillery at Ft Hood, Texas where the majority of his service was spent as Battery Executive Officer for Battery B, 1st of the 78th Field Artillery (155 mm Self-Propelled Howitzers).
As Executive Officer it was his responsibility to train and direct the six 9-man gun sections, the fire control center and the forward observers ie put the rounds on the target. When the Pueblo was captured by the North Koreans, he was charged with bringing up the unit to full combat readiness in anticipation of deployment to the Korean Peninsula.
While at Ft. Hood, John led the Ft. Hood rifle team to victory in the Fifth Army Rifle Competition at Camp Bullis outside of San Antonio. He was assigned temporary duty as the team officer for the Fifth Army Rifle Team to compete in the All Army Competition at Ft. Benning Georgia. While temporarily housed at Ft. Sam Houston in San Antonia he met a beautiful new army nurse named Ruth Ann Clark. She changed his life!!
At the All-Army Competitions in 1968, John shot well-enough to be considered for one of two assigned officers for the All-Army team to compete in the All-Services match. Ironically, as a result of his marksmanship, John came close to being assign counter-sniper duty in the Detroit riots. He was assigned by the Battalion Commander during that difficult time in our nation's history to prepare the artillery battalion's soldiers for riot control.
In the summer of 1969, the Artillery Brigade Commander reassigned John to the Brigade S-1 (personnel) staff to take charge of the legal affairs of the brigade which were in a mess. John had gotten a reputation for helping soldiers in trouble as their chosen legal council in lesser Summary Courts Martial. Even though he was not a lawyer, he successfully processed and prosecuted 31 Special Courts Martial before Judges and against defense lawyers. In addition he processed over 20 administrative discharges (un-honorable) that resulted in his completely cleaning up the legal affairs of the Artillery Brigade before his discharge from the service.
John & Ruth (1st Lt. Ruth Gordon) finished their service obligation at Ft. Hood at the end of 1969. In the summer of 1970, John & Ruth both volunteered for two months temporary duty at Ft. Sill where he trained ROTC Officers in marksmanship and Ruth worked in the Hospital. John & Ruth were granted temporary housing in an end room in the Bachelor's Officers Quarters Tower. In 1973, while working for Westinghouse Nuclear Systems, John joined the Army National Guard in Pittsburgh and served as an artillery battery (155 mm towed) commanding officer for two years.
John's family has a history of service to the United States in its armed forces. John's grandfather Jeff Gordon served as a corporal in an Army unit from Central Texas deployed in the American Expeditionary Force in France under General “Black-Jack” Pershing. He was involved in battles in eastern France in WWI. John's father served as a B-17 pilot in the 8th Air Force in England in WWII receiving the Air Medal for Valor completing 35 missions over France and Germany including the initial bombing run on Berlin. John's oldest son (Chief Petty Officer) Eric Gordon is in his 21st year in the Navy with specialization in nuclear reactor operations, nuclear chemistry and radiation control. Eric served on the nuclear cruiser Truxton patrolling the Persian Gulf after the first Iraq War, the Trident ballistic missile submarine Kentucky out of Kings Bay Georgia and the fast attack submarine Columbia out of Pearl Harbor.
“The Father of the Williamson County Republican Party” [Back to Top]
Helped Establish the Williamson County Republican Party in 1978
Elected to Serve as Precinct Chairman of Precinct “23”
County Chairman – Williamson County Republican Party
Delegate to the Republican State Convention
Republican Senate District 5 Executive Committee Treasurer – 1994, 1996, & 1998
Senate District 5 Committeeman to the State Republican Executive Committee
Managed and/or Advised Over 30 Republican Candidate Campaigns
Legislative Aide to State Representative Mike Krusee – 1993 & 1994
Ran for the Republican Nomination for County Commissioner, Precinct 4, Williamson County, March Primary & April Primary Run-off, 1998
Ran for the Republican Nomination for State Representative, District 52, (Williamson County), March Primary 2008
Currently running for the Republican Nomination for State Representative, District 52, (Williamson County), March Primary 2010