Bring It, Spence.
Ron Williams has a very informative column today. Hey, even a broken clock….
[Ginger Gibson] was sitting in a Senate hearing room a half hour before a discussion of the Department of Corrections’ budget was to begin. […]
Gibson, a Senate staffer and another reporter were present when [Terry] Spence [the former Republican Speaker who was defeated for reelection] proceeded to rag heavily on The News Journal reporter who had recently written an article about how former Republican legislator Vince Lofink had been reimbursed for tuition to receive his master’s in education degree. That reporter was Gibson, who sat silently as she listened to Spence, addressing her as a total stranger, railed on and on about how he did return phone calls to that pesky little reporter, whoever she is, and he didn’t understand what all the hubbub was about.
It was about $756,000 in Republican expenses and perks that the Democrats, now in control, found they could cut from the state budget. The state auditor said the tuition payment to Lofink, approved by Spence, as were all the other expenses such as gold-embossed business cards, was improper and that Lofink should pay it back.
Spence, according to Gibson, continued to berate the reporter who wrote the story and question why anyone thought it was worth the paper. After nearly 10 minutes of reporter-bashing, Gibson finally spoke up and clued in Spence; that reporter would be me, she said.
Spence then proceeded to stammer and stutter his way through various phases of apologetic requests for forgiveness since he really didn’t mean to be so critical, blah, blah, blah.
Oh, Spence also acknowledged that he was probably going to run again because Majority Leader Pete Schwartzkopf, who had been critical of Spence in the article about Republican spending, had gotten too big for his britches and “had [testicles] like steel” and needed to be brought down a peg or two.
The person here who has unimaginable and undeserved hubris is Terry Spence. Ron Williams does not go into much detail in his column as to what Gibson reported, so let’s remind ourselves of the true scope of Gibson’s story:
[T]he GOP spent their budgets to support themselves when they were in control of the House. This report has the feel of a tip of the iceberg — as in there is likely more there to look at. But it is very good to see how the people who want to lay claim to making a better use of tax money (largely via hyping their own bete noirs, insensible math and trying to paint everyone else as being profligate) are especially profligate on their own behalf. Using Delaware tax money.
Among the items Democrats say were partisan and should not have been funded with tax dollars were the salary of a political consultant who many longtime staffers say never came to work, thousands of dollars in improper tuition payments to a former Republican legislator, questionable payouts to political advisers for unused vacation and sick time, and money for a Web site that delivered Republican perspectives.
A no-show legislative job, giving themselves more benefits than prescribed and trying to build a partisan messaging website that was supposed to be a stand-in for a vehicle that actually told the people of Delaware about the business being conducted on their behalf. Perhaps that is what they mean by open government.
So, against that backdrop, Spence feels himself to be the true victim here. A victim of ace investigative reporting on the part of Gibson which accurately exposed the GOP’s misappropriation of taxpayer funds during their control of the House. A victim of a new Majority Leader who seeks to clean up the mess of the former Republican majority. Spence sees nothing wrong with his party running a political operation out of the General Assembly and on the taxpayer dime. He sees nothing wrong with berating a reporter for nothing but reporting on the what should be considered outright fraud and theft on the part of Spence and LoFink. Third, he is angry at Pete Schwartzkopf for rightly being critical of his these actions.
Like a criminal who is angry at the Police for getting caught.
And he wants to run again?
Bring it, Spence. Bring it.
Never pick a fight with someone who buys ink by the barrel.
Ron tells Ginger’s tale with some relish. But I wonder why this:
is Williams’ only question about this tirade? Spence’s point isn’t in denying any of the claims — just that he couldn’t understand why they thought it was a story.
Orly? And this kind of hubris wants to run again. Because people in Delaware really can’t get enough of state Republicans spending rivers of taxpayer funds on themselves. With no one looking.
I am ready for a race between a Speaker that cut taxes and fought for workers vs. his replacement who opposed wants to soak us at every turn. Spence stood for sound leadership. His replacement stands for special interests. Let’s see what happens.
Angry responses aren’t going to matter. Just addressing the issue in a sincere way is the solution. If it is justifiable, explain it. If not apologize. That is the way to move on.
Sticking to the issues is what will matter.
David, your comment doesn’t seem to make much sense. It is as if the Talking Points Machine in your mind is going
“ERROR…ERROR…ERROR..does not compute.”
“Sound leadership?” GOP chieftains didn’t think so, opting for John Burris the Lesser as its choice for governor in 2000.
“I’m the victim here!” seems to be a Republican favorite as of late. Ties in nicely with the usual barrage of lies and half truths.
Why’d she let him talk for 10 minutes before identifying herself? Odd.
Though I’m sure TNJ would be more than happy to produce its phone records to prove Spence wrong.
Oh, what a giveaway! Did you hear that? Did you hear that, eh? Come and see the Republican victimology inherent in the system!
Not so odd. Why get in the way of another repub making a fool out of himself?
Reporters report. They’re not supposed to become part of the story. Must’ve been a tough situation for her, but I’d have done exactly what she did: let the ‘victim’ speak.
BTW, Spence would get smoked in a rematch. The only thing that made the race competitive last time was union support from Brian McGlinchey and his ilk. They will not be supporting him this time. Nor, for that matter, will Dick Cathcart.
Like his several would-be campaigns for Governor, etc., Spence will float trial balloons, but ultimately won’t step into the race.
Republican David, you are talking out your ass! Try finding where Mike Barbieri “stands for special interests”. Spence took more money from lobbyists than the rest of the legislators put together!
So Spence comes into the room and starts talking to the one reporter, whom he presumably does know, ranting about you.
You sit there and listen for 10 minutes before saying “uhm, that’s me you’re talking about”? Really?
Sure! Because the person who is going to be embarrassed sure won’t be me.
Why is it her responsibility to tell him to shut up?
anon is being ridiculous.
I know folks are going to get mad at me for this being a good dem and all But I like Terry
Delaware is small enough to like people who you think are scoundrels and cads. Case in point, Dave Burris.
“So Spence comes into the room and starts talking to the one reporter, whom he presumably does know, ranting about you. You sit there and listen for 10 minutes before saying “uhm, that’s me you’re talking about”? Really?”
Fucking A yes you sit there. minutes hell — I wouldn’t say a word until he got up to leave. A reporter is under no obligation to identify herself in that situation.
One more point: Rank GA members on an intelligence scale and Spence was in the bottom quintile — no easy feat in a body that numbered Bobby Marshall, John Atkins and Hazel Plant among its members.
Some may remember the WNJ article that ran about Spence taking free NASCAR tickets when he was Speaker. It ran on a Sunday with a follow-up story on Monday, back a few years ago. That Monday night the Women’s Democratic Club of DE was meeting in the private dining room at Lamberti’s Cucina in Price’s Corner when Spence and his wife arrived to have dinner. Spotting the group through the glass doors, Spence walked into the meeting and interrupted the proceedings to ask if “anybody wants free NASCAR tickets.” He thought he was hillarious. I was dumbfounded. The hubris and total unawareness was stupifying.
The real bamboozle is that Vince Lofink, the guy who got a free masters degree at taxpayer’s expense and who Auditor Tom Wagner said broke the law is back in politics. In a round about way.
His wife Janet is running for County Council. I wonder how the GOP makes the case for Janet who has not had a private sector job in twenty years and has been living off political insider deals like her husband can be seen as honest. Talk about ethics being gone in politics.
This has government dependent Roger Roy all over it. Roy who was in the legislature for 30 years and drew a huge consulting fee from the state on transportation matters and whose wife is ED of Delaware Health Care Commission. Roy was pulling down almost $200k a year.
Possibly, each elected GOP office holder in the area will renounce Janet’s run as too risky for the seat to be lost like Clatworthy did in 2008?
http://www.delawareonline.com/assets/pdf/BL152705227.PDF tells the story of the Lofink thievery.
The GOP is full of thieves and crooks, don’t believe a word they say.
The incident recounted in Ron Williams’ column illustrates the problem with any attempted comeback by Spence: the sense of entitlement, off-putting to voters in the best of times, and poison now. As noted above, his campaigns have been underwritten by lobbyists, not the district. His campaign muscles are worse than flabby. What would be his message? That things were better when he was in office, I suppose. That contorts him into a RAM-was-better-than-Markell position. Back when he was a young man, “I’ll cut your taxes” was a hit song, but it sure sounds like a moldy oldie when the State is broke.