A civil rights leader is calling for the resignation of Gustavo Gordillo, the co-leader of New York City’s chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America — saying his series of scandals proves the DSA now stands for the “Double Standards of America.”
Rev. Ken McCall is demanding Gordillo steps down following bombshell revelations that his millionaire parents set him up in a renovated $1.5 million luxury row house in a historically black but gentrifying neighborhood, as well as him getting sued for failing to pay rent in another building and fudging his blue-collar work history.
“The Democratic Socialists of America have become the Double Standards of America — demanding transparency, fairness, and accountability from everyone else while ignoring serious questions about one of their own,” said McCall, a pastor who also assists tenants in New York City Housing Authority complexes.
“The allegations surrounding NYC chapter co-chair Gustavo Gordillo raise troubling questions about whether he misled working-class New Yorkers about where he lived, how he obtained housing, and his labor credentials. DSA leaders and elected officials must answer these questions publicly and call for Gordillo’s resignation.”
Gustavo’s handle on X is “@uniongustavo.”
But Gordillo, 38, a former Yale University liberal arts student, was fired from his electricians’ union apprenticeship program in March after being a no-show for months, so he never qualified to become a fully credentialed electrician, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 3 said in a statement last week.
The DSA then provided him with a $95,000 salary.
Another bombshell is that Gordillo, who — along with DSA colleagues –demonizes landlords and the rich, is a child of privilege, not a proletariat in the trenches with the working class.
Gordillo, co-chairman of the NYC chapter of the DSA, is peddling his anti-capitalist lefty agenda while enjoying life in an expensive, two-story, nearly 2,000-square-foot row home on a gentrifying, tree-lined block in Bedford-Stuyvesant.
Property records show that the Ivy League lefty’s converted single-family home was bought in 2019 by his parents through a dummy corporation, Chucuito LLC, for just under $1 million.
An immigrant from Peru, Gordillo grew up in South Florida with his parents, who ended up thriving in America. His father, also Gustavo, is a construction magnate.
The parents now own a sprawling, more-than 5,000-square-foot, five-bed, six-bath home in Boca Raton that is currently on the market for $3.1 million, records show.
They also own another $3 million home in Weston, Fla., that is just slightly larger and has five beds and seven baths.
“At a time when NYCHA residents are living with mold, leaks, broken elevators, and apartments in desperate need of repair, it is unacceptable for a leader who claims to fight for housing justice to be connected to a luxury renovation that is reducing housing opportunities for Black residents in a historically Black Brooklyn community,” McCall said.
“That is not housing justice. That is not practicing what you preach.”
The Post on Saturday revealed that Gordillo is being sued in Brooklyn housing court after skipping three $2,500 rent payments for a Crown Heights apartment he leased while the $1.5 million townhouse gifted to him by his father underwent renovations, according to court filings.
McCall is demanding that NYC-DSA leadership address the following concerns:
- Affordable-housing implications: Gordillo and his family appear to eliminate potential housing capacity, converting what was a two-family home into a one-family home in a historically Black and brown community at a time when New York City faces an acute affordability crisis.
- Alleged misrepresentations about residency and property ownership: McCall alleges that Gordillo misled members of the local community that he did not live at a property in question, while an LLC purchased the property for his use and he may have lived there without paying rent.
- Demanding transparency about the Bed-Study housing project’s financing and whether union labor is being used.
- Union credentials: McCall questions Gordillo’s prior representation of himself as a union electrician and alleges that Gordillo did not pay required dues or perform the work necessary to maintain that status.
- A separate Brooklyn housing dispute: McCall also points to an alleged eviction proceeding involving unpaid rent at a separate Crown Heights residence, raising further questions about whether Gordillo’s personal conduct matches his public political image.
If these demands are not met, McCall said he and other clergy, and NYCHA members will “organize days of action” to call for accountability.
The Post reached out to the DSA and Gordillo for comment.
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