A fifth employee says Register of Wills Tracey Gordon demanded money for campaign

Philadelphia Register of Wills Tracey Gordon, who has just 11 more weeks left in that post, was hit Tuesday with a fifth lawsuit from a former employee accusing her of firing him for refusing to help fund her failed campaign for a second term.

Pat Parkinson, a Northeast Philly Democratic ward leader, said in his lawsuit filed in federal court that Gordon “continually and relentlessly badgered” him for campaign donations in 2021 and 2022 while he was working as an administrative deputy in her office.

The lawsuit said Parkinson didn’t want to be associated with Gordon’s campaign because he considered her “ruthless, corrupt, unethical, incompetent” said she “acted in an illegal manner.”

The suit, which names her office and the city as codefendants, said Gordon also demanded that Parkinson arrange a March 2022 meeting with Bob Brady, chair of the Democratic City Committee, where she argued with Brady about political support.

Gordon and Brady have a long history of political clashes.

Parkinson said Gordon’s angry reaction after that meeting prompted him to go out on leave for stress and that she fired him three weeks later, even though he still had sick days and vacation time available.

Gordon and the city’s Law Department, which has been representing her, did not respond to requests for comment.

Four other former Register of Wills employees, including Malik Boyd, Gordon’s former communications director, have filed similar lawsuits that are now pending in federal court, and some have been scheduled for settlement conferences.

Gordon was defeated in May’s four-candidate Democratic primary by John Sabatina Sr., another Northeast Philly ward leader, who is likely to defeat Republican nominee Linwood Holland in November’s election.

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