Search Results for 'kim williams'
Update: Red Clay Board Member, Kim Williams, Replies To Jack Wells
I was actually stunned to find this response in my email this morning. Once again it was copied to everyone.
UPDATED: Vote Today! Kim Williams and Eric Randolph for Red Clay School Board
School Board Elections are POLLS OPEN until 8PM. No need to be a registered voter. ………………………………………………………………………………………… I was going to write a post about why Kim Williams and Eric Randolph deserve every Red Clay residents’ support, but then someone went ahead and did it for me. Please go read Mike Matthews’ post, and then […]
Red Clay School Board Candidate Kim Williams Responds To My Questions
So far Eric Randolph and Kim Williams have responded. I am still waiting to hear from Peggy Vavalla and Bill Hall. Kim Williams’ answers: 1. Why are you running for school board, and what are the top three things you’d like to accomplish during your term? For the last eight years I have been active […]
Kim Williams of Fix Red Clay Tosses Her Name Into The Ring
Kim Williams of Fix Red Clay has filed to run for the District E seat on the Red Clay School Board. She is running against incumbent Margurite (Peggy) Vavalla. For those of you not familiar with the blog its mission statement is clear: This blog was created by Red Clay parents Anne O’Malia & […]
New Highlands Bunker Episode w/ Me & El Som
You should listen to this if you’ve got a drive that is about an hour and 15minutes long or you are any of these potential Governor candidates: Chris Coons, Brian Townsend, Pete Schwartzkopf (SP?), Frank Burns, Mike Ramone, Andria Bennet, Larry Mitchell, Lumpy Carson, Estelle Parker Selby, Dorsey Walker, Bill Bush, Val Longhurst, Stephanie T Bolden, Stephanie Hansen, James Taylor, Charles “Bud” Freel, Namdi, Deb Heffernan, Shané Darby, Jack Markell, Bethany Hall Long, Ruth Anne Miner, Harriet Windsor, Mike Smith, Kim Williams, Steve Newton, Sarah McBride, Tom Carper, James Nolan, Dee Durham, Dave Carter, Bobby Bird, Becca Cotto, Sophie Phillips, Paul Baumbach, Lydia York,… Oh fuck it… I was going to name check everyone mentioned but I can’t. Sorry to Matt Marshall and Alexander Snyder-Mackler, you guys are going to have to just listen to see if we talk about you.
DelawareLiberal writers Steve and Jason join Rob in the bunker to talk about the first couple weeks of the new legislative session, what the future looks like for the House and the governor’s seat, and a new campaign to get Rob on Mic’d Up with Mike Smith.
Governor Markell’s Inexplicable Veto [Updated with the Governor’s Explanation]
![Governor Markell’s Inexplicable Veto [Updated with the Governor’s Explanation]](http://delawareliberal.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Williams.Markell-240x180.png "Governor Markell’s Inexplicable Veto [Updated with the Governor’s Explanation]")
From the bill in question’s sponsor, Representative Kim Williams:
I found out today that Governor Markell is vetoing a bill that I sponsored, House Bill 130, Unlawful Sexual Contact. It passed the House and Senate unanimously. The Criminal Justice Council voted in support of this bill and whose members are Delaware judges, AG Denn, and other respected folks. I never heard a word from the Governor’s office until the day he decides to veto the bill that his office had an issue with it. I filed this bill early May. The only group that I heard a peep from was the Medical Society and that was after it was released from the House Judiciary Committee. I spoke to them briefly and never heard another word from them. Currently, if a healthcare worker (person of trust) has sex with a patient it is a misdemeanor, this bill would make it a felony. If a prison guard has consensual sex with an imate it is a felony but a healthcare worker who is treating a patient who has been sexually abused and the healthcare worker gains the individual’s trust and has sexual relations it is not a felony. This is unbelievable to me.
I look forward to Governor Markell’s explanation, and I do not envy his spin doctors. For the General Assembly, override.
HB 50 (The Opt Out Bill) Passes the House in a Markell-Crushing Landslide
Kudos to Rep. John Kowalko, Mike Matthews, Rep. Kim Williams, John Young, Kevin at Exceptional Delaware, Kavips, and everyone else that I am not mentioning or forgetting right now on all your work on fighting for our children’s education in Delaware. This was an important victory in a first battle, but the war is not over.
Vote Tracker Update — How are they voting?
Bryan Townsend is the busiest legislator in Dover. The man’s name is so omnipresent, as a lead or additional sponsor, on legislation of significance that I have to imagine either that he is running for higher office, or that he is just the best damn legislator period. The cynic and politician in me wants the former. The good government romantic in me wants the latter. Kim Williams is a close runner up too.
So here is the updated Vote Tracker as of today, May 4, 2015. My focus on these vote trackers is to follow legislation of progressive significance, whether they be pro-progressive or anti-progressive. For example, we are following the Right to Work bill and the Estate Tax Repeal bill, not because we want them to pass, rather we want them to fail, and we are going to take note of any Democrat who votes for them so that we can work to replace them in the next election.
I have reorganized the Vote Tracker this month. It’s just one document now, and legislation with actual votes recorded is list at the top, followed by legislation that has been released by their relevant committees and are due for votes in one chamber of the General Assembly or the other. For the specific details of legislation that is being considered in committee, and also the whens, wheres, whys and wherefores, I encourage you to follow El Somnambulo’s Pre-Game Post-Game series.
Delaware General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up: Week of April 21-23, 2015
Common Corporate, Race To the Top, No Textbook Publisher Left Behind, these will be legacies of a lost decade-plus in education reform. Bloated bureaucracies full of bean-counters will hopefully shrink and vanish.
Make no mistake, while HB 50 is just one bill in one small state, it reflects a burgeoning movement nationally to reject the K-12 reform that was foisted on us by people with next to no experience in, you know, educating children.
Thinkers like Nicholas Kristof are already focusing on where our efforts would be best allocated in the post-reform era. Yes, the notion of reform was well-intended, still is, for that matter, in a time when there continue to be inequities in education. However, charter schools and one-size-fits-all testing have proven to help perpetuate and accelerate those inequities, as opposed to alleviating them. Which is what happens when there are huge piles of money thrown at the issue, and greedy corporations and individuals looking to pocket the proceeds. In fact, one could argue (and I will) that the most vocal proponents for this reform were those who (or in the case of Dubya, his family) stood to gain the most financially from the reforms.
HB 50(Kowalko) is important less for what it would do, than for what it represents. The bill serves as a reflection of the mounting dissatisfaction with both the disastrous education reform policies of the past decade and also the Bigfoot approach that this governor and his corporate comrade cum Secretary of Education have tried to impose/inflict on those with the nerve to fight back. “We may be wrong (although we’re not), but we have the power to crush you like a bug” does very little to win friends and influence people. With knowledgeable education-oriented legislators joining the likes of John Kowalko in the General Assembly recently (Kim Williams, Bryan Townsend, and Sean Matthews, among others), legislators are starting to understand how bad the current policies are. Plus, teachers, parents, and students have found their voices on these issues. Which is why getting HB 50 out of committee is/was important. There is also a bipartisan coalition forming on this issue, with many conservative legislators joining their progressive counterparts in support of HB 50. The question is whether the Chamber of Commerce types still have the numbers to outvote them. Might I point out that the Chamber of Commerce has embraced this disastrous reform going back to Phase One during the unlamented Carper years? If you support this bill, it is absolutely essential that you contact your legislators, especially, for now, your state representative. Kevin Ohlandt has done all the work for us, so click on this to get your specific marching orders. BTW, thanks, Kevin, for your contribution to the cause! Exceptional Delaware is an exceptional blog.
Musical Chairs and the 62 District Strategy Update
Our 62 District Strategy Chart is updated as I have removed Rep. Darryl Scott and added Sean Lynn’s name there as candidate in the Democratic column. City Councilwoman Dorsey Walker has filed to primary Senator Bob Marshall in the 3rd Senate District. Does Senator Marshall retire, or face a much tougher primary this time around then he experienced last time. Representatives Bryon Short, Kim Williams, Larry Mitchell, and Earl Jaques have all filed for reelection. And Democrat Jeff Porter of Tavistock has filed to challenge Representative Debbie Hudson. Good. I was afraid I might have to run against her just to get a Democrat into the race.
There is also a bit of a joke in the chart. A joke I now hope to turn into a reality…
Also, will Delaware’s most popular politician really not be on the ballot in 2016?
Honoring the 2013 MVP’s (Most Valuable to the Progressive Cause)
One of the people in the picture to the left is the MVP this year. There were several worthy contenders who just missed the list this year. Superior legislators like Melanie George Smith and Michael Barbieri deserve consideration every year. Ed Osienski is fast approaching that status. Helene Keeley and Kim Williams were on my list at one time or another during my deliberations.
2013 was a great year for social justice in Delaware. Economic justice, not so much. However, I am encouraged that at least three strong voices for progressive principles joined the General Assembly this year, and a couple of Leg Hall vets found their voices as well. The progressive grassroots became more effective this year, and helped ensure historic victories that would not have happened without their support. Marriage equality, transgender equality, and justice for manufactured home owners, being among them.
The most notable omission from my list, and I struggled with it, is Governor Jack Markell. His role in hastening civil rights for the LGBT community will most assuredly be his lasting positive legacy. But, his actions in slowing the passage of minimum wage; his continued pushing for corporate education solutions and favoring charter schools; his granting of a tax cut for Delaware’s wealthiest citizens; his almost-disastrous actions concerning the Port of Wilmington; and several others, led me to omit him from the list. At best, the good and the bad canceled each other out. And, no, you don’t have to take the bad with the good. Or at least you shouldn’t accept it. I don’t.
Now to the list….
The 62 Project: #’s 24 & 38
Kim Williams is among three newcomers who have displayed extraordinary promise during the 2013 legislative session. Consider the number 24 as merely a placeholder as it reflects her lack of time in Dover. She’s moving higher. Not only does she have the right profile for a citizen-legislator, she has demonstrated that conscience and effectiveness are not mutually exclusive.
Trey Paradee has been the single greatest disappointment to progressives among the 2012 newcomers. Despite expressing support for equal rights for same sex couples back in 2008, Paradee voted against marriage equality. He largely opposed most gun control measures. He has helped to bury a minimum wage increase in the House Business Lapdog Committee. Now, while he technically did not ‘go back on his word’ on gay marriage (the initial comments dealing with civil unions), he diligently ‘worked the refs’ to create at least a sense of good will from progressives, including me. He convinced me that this district was not the stereotypical Kent County district of 20 years ago, and then voted as if it was. Fool me once…
General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show: Thurs., June 6, 2013
I knew, I just KNEW, that I was gonna like State Rep. Kim Williams. I had liked her votes, I had liked her positions during the campaign, and I loved her work on simplifying school choice for students and parents. But yesterday she demonstrated why she is an invaluable member of the Delaware General Assembly with this quote, courtesy of the News-Journal:
“Until recently, I was on the Red Clay School Board, and we were never informed of the specifics of this bill. I feel that we need to get more public input.”
Or at least SOME public input.
The Markell Administration is pushing HB 165(Jaques) to the max. In fact, I think they tried to put one over even on the legislators who are sponsoring this bill. Rep. Earl Jaques made clear that this bill is not going to be rushed through:
“We have a bill in front of us, let’s discuss this bill. The time for the public to get involved is now, while we’re discussing this legislation.”
Others on this blog have done a far better job of describing the issues raised by this bill than I ever could. What particularly galls me is that we don’t even know officially where this bill came from. There was indeed a group created to review ways to improve charter schools. Hell, the list has been provided here. But, get this, even though Gov. Markell appointed the 24-member working group, he claims that this group had no real authority and, as such, public meetings were not required. So much for ‘Governor Transparency’. That is one of the most disingenuous things I’ve heard out of this Administration, which is really saying something. Shades of the Port of Wilmington deal.
But, I digress. HB 165 barely made it out of the House Education Committee, 7-6. It is far from ready for prime time. It is June 6. People are already on vacation, including teachers, students, and parents. There is no way that this bill should be worked by June 30. Let’s just see what this Governor does…
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