How Political Patronage Does Real Harm

Famous medical axiom:  “First, do no harm.”

When doling out political plum jobs, governors should heed that axiom as well.

Unfortunately, Ruth Ann Minner had a different axiom: “Reward my friends. Screw the public.”

The disgraceful performance of the Violent Crimes Compensation Board demonstrates why Aunt Bee’s ‘governing philosophy’ does real harm to average Delawareans.

Ginger Gibson of the News-Journal, who has risen to the front ranks of quality Delaware journalists in a short amount of time, chronicled that story in yesterday’s News-Journal. Unfortunately, the terminally-disfunctional News-Journal website does not readily provide a link to yesterday’s story, only to today’s Day 2 response story, so allow ‘bulo to quote from his dead-tree edition:

D’Angelo is now part of a group pushing for overhaul of the commission, urging state regulators to make it more victim-friendly by reducing bureaucracy and honing procedures to ensure victims actually get the millions of dollars set aside for them.

That effort has been bogged down, some say , in a politicized process focused on protecting the salaries and pensions of the commission’s longtime members than it is on protecting the crime victims they serve.

In this case, the blatant politicization of the process has made those journalistic hedge words, ‘some say’, unnecessary. 

First, a little primer. There are dozens, maybe more than a hundred, boards, commissions and the like that are appointed by the Governor. Virtually all of them provide, at most, for some kind of expense reimbursement, maybe $100 to $200 a meeting. Most meet at most once a month, many of them quarterly. There is no salary or pension for those who serve. It is considered an honor to have been nominated by the Governor, and it is considered, for the most part, voluntary public service. People get the satisfaction of giving back.

It is true that there are commissions that have to conduct hearings, sometimes without much notice to the commissioners, and the commissioners who participate in such positions are remunerated for their service. But such is not the case with the Violent Crimes Compensation Fund. These ‘jobs’ were created for, in many cases, clearly unqualified individuals for the express purpose of giving them a salary and a pension they do not deserve. Save for political patronage, there is no justification for these being salaried positions.

That is precisely what the legislative Joint Sunset Committee discovered during its review of the agency. The Joint Sunset Committee is responsible for reviewing the performance of state and quasi-state agencies, making recommendations as to how the agencies can improve their performance, drafting legislation to implement statutory changes pursuant to the agencies and, in the event that it determines that the agency no longer serves a public purpose, it can terminate or ‘sunset’ the agency out of existence.

The Beast Who Slumbers believes that the Joint Sunset Committee is potentially a potent and positive vehicle for governmental reform, if it is allowed to do its job and if the legislators wish to do it.  In the past, Sunset has been consigned to the lower orders of both legislative importance and membership desirability. It is where lots of first-term legislators were often assigned, sort of the legislative equivalent of working in the mailroom. The main goal was to move up the ladder so that they could start hitting up lobbyists for contributions. Sen. Harris McDowell created this committee with the best of intentions. But the Delaware Way that ran and still runs the building often circumvented real reform. For example, when the closed circle of inbred dentists who controlled the practice of dentistry in the state were faced with legislation from the Sunset Committee opening up the practice in the mid 1980’s, uber-lobbyist Ned Davis swiftly weaseled his way into then President Pro-Tem Richard Cordrey’s office, arms were twisted, votes were changed, and reform died aborning.  And, needless to say, a bunch of checks from the Delaware Dental Society were subsequently delivered to the ‘good government’ legislators who saw the light and the dollar signs.

Dave Sokola and John Kowalko, two of Delaware’s best  good-government legislators, are fighting the good fight on the Sunset Committee right now and they need your help.  What’s happening over the Violent Crimes Compensation Board is a battle between good government and the Delaware Way. The people being protected by Delaware Way hacks do not deserve protection at the expense of the victims they are supposed to protect. Allow ‘bulo to provide some background on just who is being protected here:

Chairman Tom Castaldi-Everyone likes Tom, current and long-time Democratic chair of the 17th RD Committee, and former (maybe he still does it) deliverer of campaign checks courtesy of the Teamsters. He’s the kind of amiable guy you bump into at every legislative fundraiser in Dover after session. He’s precisely the kind of guy who should have an honorary spot on some board or commission somewhere as long as he has no real responsibility. Since he lives in New Castle, perhaps he’d like a spot on the Adult Entertainment Commission, where he could troll the dens of iniquity that allegedly still dot the 13/40 corridor. Maybe he could even get a stipend for that. And a raincoat allowance. But no governor in his/her right mind would entrust him with disbursing millions of dollars to victims. It is beyond his capabilities.

Vice Chair Leah Betts-You know her even if you don’t know her.  2- or three-time delegate to the Democratic National Convention, member of the Democratic National Committee. She’s the one wearing the red, white, and blue boater at the state convention, festooned with ribbons, sharing snickers (and perhaps Snickers) with Nancy Cook. Maybe drinks a little too much at the fundraisers, but that’s part of her charm.  Both parties have people like her. A lifer, from licking envelopes to cooking chicken for Tom Carper, who will ask “How’s Leah today?”, and she’ll eat it up. The chicken and the compliments. Again, exactly the sort of person you appoint somewhere where she can do no harm but not to a (non-Party) position of real responsibility.

V. Lynn Gregory-Although she’s clearly a political appointee as the wife of Wilmington Democratic heavyweight Theo Gregory, she gets a pass from ‘bulo. He’s seen Ms. Gregory in action, and she is someone capable of actually making a positive contribution. However, she’s docked major points for declining interview requests from the News-Journal and apparently failing to play the role of the grownup on this rogue’s gallery of a board.

Stephanie Liguori-Well, she’s listed as a homemaker from Camden-Wyoming, and she contributed $2K to Biden For President. Does anyone really need more qualifications than that?

Thaddeus Koston-He appears to have some links to advocates in the developmentally-disabled community (‘bulo really couldn’t find much on him), so he might make sense as someone especially concerned with victimization of the developmentally-disabled, which happens far too often.

Even if one thought that a board with this membership could professionally handle their important assigned task, the Joint Sunset Committee found that they have failed in that mission. Does anyone really think that, with some noodling around the edges of the statute, this group will suddenly display newfound abilities that will transform them into skilled professionals?

No, this is what happens when Governors couldn’t care less about ‘doing no harm’. Now, the Joint Sunset Committee faces the daunting task of getting the old hacks on the Senate Executive Committee (Adams, Blevins, Cook, DeLuca, Simpson, Sorenson) to release a bill that Adams assigned to his own committee for the express purpose of killing it. Sunset bills are never assigned to the Executive Committee unless someone wants to kill them. And SB 144, with strong bipartisan sponsorhip, is an excellent piece of good government legislation. Read it for yourself, and contrast what the Sunset Committee is trying to do on behalf of victims with what Thurman Adams is doing on behalf of harmful and incompetent political hacks.

The Beast Who Slumbers urges anyone who actually cares about violent crime victims and who cares about good government to then contact the members of the Senate Executive Committee and urge them to release this bill from committee.

Without public involvement, good government simply will never happen.  And real harm to Delawareans will be the ongoing result.