Although campaign signs have been put up in several Jefferson locations encouraging voters to write-in incumbent mayor Matt Gordon for re-election, Gordon does not endorse the signs and says he is not a candidate for mayor.
Gordon explained following the Oct. 24 city council meeting that he picked up nominating paperwork from the county auditor’s office but decided not to file it and not to seek another term as mayor. He said the large plywood signs were initiated by a third party and are “a wasted effort.”
His employment at Greene County Medical Center is a big reason for his decision not to run for re-election, he said. He has been a nurse for many years but did not work locally when he became mayor. Since joining the team at Greene County Medical Center, he has become acutely aware that he never wants a patient of his to worry that they would receive better or worse care depending on public comments or positions either he or the patient had made relative to his position as mayor or city policy/politics.
The decision not to run for re-election was his own and was not influenced by medical center administration, he said.
“If I wanted to run, I would have filed papers,” he said. “I have a basement full of campaign signs. If I wanted campaign signs out, I’d have put them out.”
