Delaware Political (More Or Less) Weekly: January (More Or Less) 22-28, 2016
1. Money Talks. What Does It Say?
I’m not gonna go over every detail. You can get the inside skinny here and here. Here are my random takeaways.
*Kathleen McGuiness is for real. Except for that whole residency thingy. BTW, turns out she moved out to Park Slope b/c a couple of her kids are competitive snowboarders. Yes, she raised a lot of money. What really surprised me is that almost all of the money comes from Delaware. Pretty much every D in Sussex County with money has ponied up. Guess there are more D’s with money in Sussex County than I thought. Bethany Hall-Long has raised a lot of $$’s as well. Ciro Poppiti has enough money to be competitive. Sherry Dorsey Walker, Greg Fuller, and Brad Eaby don’t. Eaby gets the fundraising booby prize. Kids, please tell me how you can lend your campaign $15-plus K, raised a decent $30K, and already piss away $32 K by year’s end. His current cash-on-hand is less than what he loaned his campaign.
*Trinidad Navarro better get his ass in gear. Those who deal with the insurance commissioner’s office have apparently resigned themselves to, or more likely, fallen in love with the idea of, Incompetent Karen Weldin Stewart serving as Insurance Commissioner. He’s only raised $11K? Vs. $83K?
*I think Mike Purzycki is making a big mistake. Sure, he’s raised some serious dollars. But he has already spent almost all of it, apparently on office space and staff. $6 K on hand? Significantly less than Dennis Williams or Eugene Young. And Young may just be sitting on some serious PAC money as well. Elections have changed since Purzycki last ran for New Castle County Council. You don’t really need a paid spokesperson when people want to hear from you, not your spokesperson. You sure don’t need to rent a bleep-ton of office space when somebody’s living room can serve just as well as a campaign HQ. And what Young is apparently doing with volunteers is something that Purzycki has to for. Not to mention that he’s probably already knocked on more doors than Purzycki will all year. I’ll be among the first to say it: The Conventional Wisdom that Purzycki will be one of the last people standing in this race just might be wrong (cut-n-paste).
2. Hans Reigle Has Filed for Congress. Here’s his website. At least he’s not as wild-eyed as most.
3. So Have Sean Barney and Bryon Short. You can find links to their websites here and here. Gotta say, not much of anything on Short’s website. Which reminds me, here is the updated Bryan Townsend site.
4. D Primary for Bryon Short’s State Rep Seat. Robert Cameron of Ashbourne Hills has joined the race for this vacant seat. Former State Rep. David Brady had previously filed. I THINK that Cameron heads the Ashbourne Hills Civic Association, but he doesn’t yet have an online presence. Can anybody help me out here?
5. Other Filings. Ken Boulden is running for reelection for NCC Clerk of the Peace. And Leslie Ledogar has filed as a D in the Sussex County 3rd District race. There is an R primary between former D Frank Shade and disgraced former Smyrna Mayor Mark Schaeffer. Ledogar is an interesting candidate. A recently-retired attorney from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. Here is an admittedly slightly out-of-date bio:
Leslie W. Ledogar, Esq. is an attorney with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, Office of Legal Affairs, where she serves as in-house counsel on diverse teams of scientists and policy makers that formulate and amend the regulations through which New Jerseys environmental laws are implemented and by which the Department carries out its mission of protecting human health and the environment. Prior to becoming an environmental attorney, she was a consulting forester, managing portfolios of timberland assets for private non-industrial and industrial clients. Ms. Ledogar currently serves on the Board of Directors of NetworkArts, a non-profit organization whose mission is to provide an environmental education to inner city middle school children through a unique curriculum grounded in both science and art. She has also served on the Board of Directors of the Pennsylvania Chapter of the Society of Women Environmental Professionals, a cross-disciplinary organization of women with more than 400 members, and she is a former co-chairperson of the Philadelphia Bar Association Environmental Law Committee. She is licensed to practice law in Pennsylvania and New Jersey and in the Federal District Court of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
6. Any Rumors Updates? Specifically, do we know any more about Stephanie Hansen possibly challenging NCC Executive Tom Gordon? And is Chris Bullock gonna drop out of his reelection bid for County Council President?
That’s all I’ve got this week. What did I miss, and whaddayathink?
Tags: Delaware elections 2016, El Somnambulo, Steve Tanzer Delaware
Um Chris Bullock already announced he’s not running.
So is Hans Reigle this year’s reasonable and sober Ken Simpler? His web site eschews the gaudy RED,WHITE & BLUE!! bunting, and instead aims at the “I’m above party politics” vibe Simpler adopted. And he lists the issues as: Jobs, Education, Spending, Security. No whack job abortion or 2nd Amendment references. Maybe he is looking to sneak in on the heals of a Dem primary bloodbath?
Look for Dave Burris’ level of involvement as a barometer. Although with his new job, can be be directly running campaigns as he ran Simpler’s? I’m seriously asking.
Um, you’re right! How did I miss this?:
http://www.delawareonline.com/story/news/2016/01/21/ncco-council-president-not-run-reelection/79122262/
As of now, Karen Hartley-Nagle has the field to herself.
Reigle is no moderate, but he’s also not in the mold of the obnoxious, unenlightened conservatism that gave us O’Donnell or Palin either.
And how did you miss this?
And if you look at KWS’ report, there are the usual out-of-staters looking to buy their way to maintaining the pretty bad status quo of the IC office.
“You don’t really need a paid spokesperson when people want to hear from you, not your spokesperson.”
On the other hand, having one helps a lot when managing media. I know you’re in love with political amateurs, but I didn’t realize it had reached the point where you couldn’t recognize professionalism for what it is.
Cassandra: I had of course read that and commented on it. Just wondered about the follow-up.
Geezer: Spending money on a spokesperson, especially at this point in a campaign, is a luxury. Spokespersons do better with pundits than with voters.
Paying $$’s for office space is another luxury. No doubt Purzycki can likely raise a lot more $$’s, but I think he’s wasted money at this point. A candidate’s decisions on how to use resources give us a pretty good mirror into the kind of campaign they plan to run.
I think an effective grassroots campaign with adequate funding will run rings around this until/unless he effectively engages the voters. That’s why I think that his initial choices re utilization of resources are mistakes.
Besides, money is neither the sole nor predominant determination as to whether a campaign is ‘professional’ or ‘amateurish’. An effective grassroots campaign is ‘professional’, a wasteful top-heavy campaign is ‘amateurish’, IMHO.
How much media do you have to manage when you are running for Mayor of Wilmington? A paid spokesman at this level sounds more like you are outsourcing your campaign to other people because you have to pay attention to your day job.
We will be having some dynamic and heated races going into the primary season in September. Sadly, the Lt. Governor and U.S. Congress seats is going to take a lot attention away from the Insurance Commissioner’s race. Historically, that is an advantage for the incumbent holding the office (KWS). Trinidad Navarro is a really nice guy and has never worked within the Insurance field ever in his life. His expertise is within law enforcement. So I am not surprised to see he did not do too well in the fundraising, because a great majority of his biggest supporters are Democrats which that are running for higher state-wide offices. So he is not going to have the ground force, that is needed to overturn an incumbent. The true question is going to become whether challenging an incumbent that has beaten the Democratic Party’s endorsed candidates twice with Gene Reed & Mitch Crane, is going to hurt him for when the time comes for his re-election for sheriff of New Castle County.
Lt. Governor Race is going to come down to Bethany Hall-Long, Ciro Poppiti, and Kathleen McGuiness.
U.S. Congress Seat is looking more like a toss up right now, but Townsend has been impressive so far in the fundraising department. Byron Short and Sean Barney teams are beginning to kick into gear now and will put Townsend to the test. Not sure yet on Lisa Blunt Rochester, but do not underestimate her because the City of Wilmington Democrats have been pushing for her.
Trinidad Navarro has barely begun his fundraising. I plan on helping him raise money every ethical way I can. The incumbent has raised most all of her money from out of state and from out of state insurance company executives who do business with the DOI-just as she did in 2012. A look at her report should raise red flags with people with the same addresses whose connections are easy to “Google”.
In 2008 Gene Reed lost by 1700 votes, largely because HIS industry fundraising was attacked by suspicious progressives. I lost in 2012 by only 1100 votes, largely because the industry bought KWS’s place on the Wilmington city ticket. There will not be a Wilmington ticket this year.
The fact is that demographic changes alone tip the balance to Trini-as the Dem registration growth is outside the incumbent’s area of strength. Add to that the fact that Trini is from NCC and will cut into KWS’ “base”. The kicker to me is that she has failed to advance consumer protection in any way. I have heard from all sorts of people and groups that supported her last time and will not again.
One does not have to work in the industry ( who would want that if one were a consumer) or for the department to be a good IC. What is needed is someone who is honest, intelligent, pro-consumer and with the ability and desire to bring in the best and the brightest to do what is needed to increase insurance competition, control premiums, and protect consumers. We have all that in Trinidad Navarro.
The incumbent’s claim of success? 1000 Captive Insurance Companies -any of you “have” captive insurance or know what it is? The loss of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Delaware to an out of state conglomerate. Out of control Workers Comp. rates resulting in an independent panel and legislation to do what the DOI should have done. Loss of oversight of the Affordable Care Act to the Dept of Health. Loss of oversight of the Defensive Driving Program to the DMV. Hiring 4 overpaid cronies to do the job I did myself. Put that on a brochure!
A spokesperson in any campaign is going to be doing more than just dealing with the media – it’s probably the broader communications portfolio. They’re going to be involved in different levels of crafting messaging, developing ads, writing speeches, managing web content, handling social media, etc. Maybe even oppo research and fundraising, in a race this local.
I don’t know who Mike P. has on his staff, but it has to be someone better than the sports reporter yes-woman Dennis Williams hired for that job.
Apples and oranges. Of COURSE you probably have a spokesperson/press person once elected. And, yes, Williams’ is terrible, although maybe that’s more Williams’ fault than hers. If you’re running for a federal office or, say, governor, then, yes, you’d need someone like SW is suggesting.
But a campaign spokesperson in a race for Wilmington mayor, especially at this point, is a waste of resources. As is dedicating a huge chunk of change for a campaign HQ. Are people expected to walk in off the street to kiss the candidate’s ring? If not, why do you need an HQ when a living room could suffice? I think Purzycki shows signs of running a campaign that just doesn’t suit what is needed for this race. A top-down campaign is doomed to fail, IMHO. Like I wrote, cut-n-save.
Totally agree El Som. People hire spokespersons and pay for HQs this early when they want to feel important. Its personal, not business.
Looking at Young’s report, there’s no wasted spending. I just volunteered for him after seeing him at Cool Springs. We met at a supporter’s home which meant so much more than meeting at an HQ. His team of volunteer staffers are very professional. The door lists are prepared and they walk the newbies through the process. Volunteers have the ability to move up the ladder in the organization if they work hard. It is an amazing group to watch. Almost as amazing as the candidate, who is great in his own right. I felt so hopeful seeing this new generation of leaders pushing back against the Wilmington establishment. It actually made me want to rethink moving. A light at the end of the tunnel. At that point, I knew exactly why so many Wilmington politicians seem terrified by this “amateurish” campaign. It’s the future, and they are not a part of it.