Delaware General Assembly Pre-Game Show: Tuesday, March 13, 2012

The overriding question of the day is: Will the issue of John Atkins’ behavior surface in today’s House Majority Caucus meeting?

I spoke to two caucus members in the last few days, and got two distinctly different opinions about what would happen. Neither, to put it mildly, is a strong supporter of John Atkins. One expressed pessimism that the rank-and-file would have the opportunity to weigh in on the issue, and told me that they expected leadership to back Atkins. The other told me that Speaker Gilligan is really angry over Atkins’ behavior, and that they expected a frank discussion of what should be done.

For those who are just tuning back in following the six-week hiatus for Joint Finance Committee meetings, and wondering WTF we’re talking about, the ‘law-abiding’ Atkins was ‘outed’ for sending an outraged and outrageous e-mail to a police commander following his latest stop for speeding. Oh, and he may, or may not, have been an innocent victim of an unprovoked assault on his father-in-law’s property after someone, it’s not clear who, started burning tires that attracted the attention of two citizens who apparently didn’t like Atkins’ demeanor. And that’s only what we know.

Here’s what I think should happen. At the very least, Atkins should be stripped of his position on the House Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee. Not just his vice-chairmanship, but his membership. He has written an incendiary e-mail which suggests that he is prepared to use his position to exact retribution on the state police for allowing this cop to pull him over and lecture him about the speed limit. That is inappropriate and deserves sanction.  Regardless of what happens, I will merely point out that enabling people like Atkins never works. He will inevitably do something bad that gets him in the headlines down the road (literally and figuratively) because he can’t help himself. Hey, at least it makes for great copy for people like me.

I will strive to keep my perfect 2012 prediction string intact (0 for the year), and I’ll predict that some sort of sanction will be imposed by the Speaker on Atkins. After his long years of service, I don’t think that Bob Gilligan is going to suffer a fool like Atkins lightly.  And I do think that Gilligan believes that Atkins has given the entire institution a black eye. And make no mistake: Bob Gilligan loves this institution.

I suspect that today’s caucuses will also likely feature briefings on the budgetary process from the respective JFC caucus members. On the surface, things appear to be proceeding quite smoothly, which no doubt will lead to a collective sigh of relief. Nobody wants to deal with tough fiscal decisions in an election year. Even if there are warning bells going off, there will almost certainly be bipartisan sentiment to kick the can down the road.

The House has an agenda posted, and there are some interesting bills on it. The ones that intrigue me are:

HB 246(Miro) creates a ‘Yellow Dot’ program designed to help first responders on the scene of a vehicular accident. This bipartisan bill appears to be an initiative of the Division of Public Health.

HB 243(Barbieri) is more common sense legislation dealing with school discipline. The bill “simplifies the mandatory report requirements for schools, ensuring that the most serious offenses shall be reported to law enforcement while giving schools discretion to handle minor offenses without mandatory reporting.”

HB 245(Heffernan) would seek to ‘convert the Delaware Code to the use of People First Language (“PFL”) as part of a national movement to promote dignity and inclusion for people with disabilities.’ I have seen students wearing T-shirts promoting this change, which primarily excises with the ‘R’ word from the Delaware Code, and I salute people for supporting this cause. The initial attempt at this bill had some legal issues, but I have every confidence that the Delaware General Assembly will do the right thing here, assuming the legalities have been smoothed out.

There is no posted Senate agenda. With Wednesday being committee day, no doubt quite a few more bills will be listed for Senate and House consideration by the end of the day tomorrow. And, barring something unforeseen, like a stoppage by an ‘overenthusiastic’ trooper, John Atkins is likely to be marked present for today’s and tomorrow’s sessions as well.