Jehan Gordon recently announced that she was convicted of shoplifting in 2000. What she didn’t mention was that she just paid the fines associated with that crime this past week.
According to the Clerk of the Circuit Court in Champaign County, Ms. Gordon’s theft charge from June 29, 2000, Case #00CM00657, was paid this past Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2008, via credit card. The fines totaled almost $400. All those court costs have been outstanding for over seven years, including time she was running a campaign for the 92nd district seat.
Here’s how it appears on the Circuit Clerk’s website:
RECEIPT # DESCRIPTION AMOUNT DATE PAID 170628 CLERK 25.00 2/27/01 474682 AUTOMATION FEE 5.00 1/22/08 474682 DOCUMENT STORAGE FEE 5.00 1/22/08 474682 COURT FINANCE FEE 25.00 1/22/08 474682 STS ATTY 10.00 1/22/08 474682 ARRESTEE’S MEDICAL 10.00 1/22/08 474682 LOCAL ANTI-CRIME FEE 5.00 1/22/08 474682 FINES 100.00 1/22/08 474682 VIOLENT CRIME VICTIM 12.00 1/22/08 474682 SUR CHARGE-OLD 8/40 12.00 1/22/08 474682 LEADS MAINT FUND 3.00 1/22/08 474682 COURT SECURITY FEE 15.00 1/22/08 474682 CR CARD CONVEN FEE 15.00 1/22/08 474682 COURT SERVICES FUND 30.00 1/22/08 474682 ATTY FEES P D 100.00 1/22/08
Ms. Gordon was also cited for operating an uninsured motor vehicle in Champaign County (Case #04TR11478) on May 12, 2004. She didn’t appear at her court date on June 24, 2004, and was fined $200. Those fines were paid just two months ago, on November 26, 2007. That was more than three years after the incident and after she entered the race.
While I was willing to write off her youthful indiscretion of seven years ago, the fact that she left that judgment and at least one other unpaid all this time is very troubling. Essentially, she didn’t finish paying her debt to society, so to speak, until just this week. Unless the circuit court is wrong in its dating of when the fines were paid, this is pretty damning to her candidacy. She should immediately withdraw from the race.
Incidentally, she also shows up in the McLean County Circuit Court system for a traffic violation (Case #2007TR025410) from Sep. 20, 2007, that they describe as simply “UNLICENSED” (all caps in original). Not sure what that means — driving without a license, perhaps? Her last court appearance was Dec. 17, 2007, and the case is now listed as “closed.”
Great work…and I agree…she needs to go and Shadid and Koehler need to apologize for hoisting her on us.
This is NOT about Shadid or Koehler. This is about Gordon. Saying otherwise is spin.
Stick a fork in Jehan.
It’s over.
No, Billy, it’s not about spin, no matter how much you like Koehler and Shadid. They should immediately retract their endorsement. That they haven’t yet says a lot about them.
wow, this just gets better and better.
7 years to collect a debt owed to the county? Doesn’t say much for Champaign County record-keeping although Peoria County is certainly not any better at it.
I wonder if she used campaign funds to pay her fines?
Anon: that’s a good question, will there be an answer and how will you be able to tell? Regardless of how this looks, she is still a pretty class gal and candidate-after all, she’s only running to replace Shock.
This is hysterical, can Allen dig up anymore garbage. For one you can get a ticket for driving without insurance and still have insurance just didnt have the insurance card in your possession. The second joke, if you leave your lisc, at home and get pulled over thats what the ticket can state. Last thing I questioned, is why is it that she paid 25.00 in 01 and now all the other fines come up, could it be that the cashier didnt tell her she owed additional fines?? Geesh why dont you all just do positive campaigning leave all the negative stuff at home. If you all cant beat a person heads up then get out the game. Third joke, why didnt Champaign County didnt send a reminder that she owed, maybe she didnt know. Im starting to believe that we have some racist folks on here that dont want to see a black woman win. Lastly to Billy be careful with what you do, because you keep beating on this sista you may loose any relationship with the african american community.
… and that is EXACTLY why she will not be elected. Because when she is guilty of bad behavior instead of acknowlegeing the bad behavior she will lamely explain it away and sic her Sista’s on her constituents to pull the race card. Well Peorians are sick and tired of hearing that and we won’t yield to your threats topvoter. We elect representatives that act responsibly, that do NOT lie about their grades, education & criminal background, and do not use the race card as a substitute for their own shortcomings. Put up a black candidate that meets those criteria and they’d be very electable!
When you step into the political arena you step into a fish bowl and your whole life is up for scrutiny. If you can’t stand the magnifying glass on your entire life don’t get in it in the first place. Absolutely everything you ever did is going to come to the front and be made public. And of course blown out of proportion regardless of your race, age, creed, or gender. So be prepared to take the heat or don’t set yourself up for it in the first place. We as the voting public have a right to know what kind of person we are electing to make major decisions for us. And if we don’t check you out then it is our Bad and we will pay for it.
The only racism surrounding these discussion have been from people like topvoter who seem to only be able to see people as black and white and not for their poor (in this case) decision making abilities.
“topvoter” — I don’t think the driving offenses are a big deal or terribly relevant in and of themselves.
My concern is this: she waited years to pay these fines. I don’t buy your defense of her that she didn’t know about them. The fines for her shoplifting charge were handed down when she entered her guilty plea; she would have discussed this plea with her court-appointed attorney, and she would have heard it from the judge in court. Saying she didn’t know is lunacy.
As for her traffic violation in Champaign County, she never showed up for her court date, and was found guilty and fined ex parte. It would seem that if she had insurance but didn’t have her insurance ID card for proof, she would have wanted to present that to the court.
Bravo, 11Bravo. Why is it there a tendency to “play the race card” when somebody gets in trouble over the facts? It’s high time to stop it. The fact is, the U.S. really is the most color blind society in the world. Perfect, no, but racism is more prevalent in Asia, Africa, Europe, even Latin America. That’s a fact. Qualified people of all races and backgrounds can achieve economic and political success, and one can think of many, many examples. It isn’t easy, mind you, for anyone, of any race, that isn’t born into wealth/power, but you have more opportunities here than anywhere else. If you don’t believe me, move to Japan or China or Iran or Russia or Mexico. We would not even be having this discussion if it were not for her lapses of judgment. Now, we all have lapses of judgment. Question is, how many, how bad, and how were they handled? We can debate that, but leave the race card in the drawer.
Doesn’t Mclean County’s web site ROCK?!?!
Anon — Yes! I can’t believe that I can get public access records over the net in McLean County, but not in Peoria County.
A young person with this much bagagge early on is at a disadvantage. We all have erred in our lives but you better be darn sure everything is in order before you run for public office. I don’t care about the tickets or the teenage shopping error, however, not cleaning up any tickets or fines in advance of filing does not show leadership or forthought.
Okay! Now both of them(Gordon and Mayer) have broken the rules and the city council wishes to hire a DUI toting Interim City Manager, maybe We should just all not go Vote and forget about it? This entire thing is getting pretty goofy and It surely makes for great headlines. What a Country!!