Repubs pick Briggs King for the 37th.
Its a public defender versus a representative of manufactured housing park owners.
From the News Journal:
Ruth Briggs King was selected from a field of six candidates for the 37th House District [GOP] nomination that included a former New Castle County councilman and a Georgetown Town Council member. […]
It will be her second bid for the House; she lost a primary campaign for the old 41st District seat in 2000. She also was one of several candidates considered for the GOP nomination for the 19th Senatorial District special election, which Booth won last week.
Briggs King, 53, has been executive vice president of the Sussex County Association of Realtors since 2006. She previously served as executive director of the First State Manufactured Housing Association, which represents manufactured-housing park owners. She has a master’s degree in human-resources management. […]
Other Republicans under consideration for the nomination included conservative activist Eric Bodenweiser of Georgetown; Georgetown Councilman Brian Pettyjohn; former New Castle County Councilman Dick Cecil; Lewes Deputy Mayor Stephanie Tsantes, also a public defender; and Merrill Moore of Georgetown.
I will think I would have preferred the conservative activist, the one who somehow lost of the endorsement of Anderson. The election must be held in mid-September, but no actual date for the election has been set yet.
So, Ms. King calls herself ” a community activist”. The community she has been active for is the Manufactured Homes Association-the very people who have driven ground rent up for so many people living in manufactured homes in lower Delaware and forcing many to move.
I also note that she is a registered lobbyist with the State. We fight to prohibit people leaving government service only to turn around and lobby t hose they served with. This person wants to serve with those she has been lobbying.
The voters definitely have a choice in this one.
Yep, Mitch. And some elections have come down to the ability to draw voters out of the manufactured homes parks. ‘Bulo remembers one such bitter race between Tony DeLuca and Donna Reed where, on the weekend before the election, virtually every statewide official was campaigning in a Newark-area trailer park. Seriously.
Does anyone know if there are any such parks in the 37th? If there are, then you could be looking at quite a few motivated voters–the kind who can swing elections.
Election date Sept. 12.
Here is a listing of Mobile Home Parks in Georgetown and Lewes. I am not sure which ones are within the district boundaries,but I am sure at least one or two are likely to be in the district.
GEORGETOWN, DE MANUFACTURED HOME RENTAL SPACES
COUNTYSEAT GARDENS 1 IVORY ST GEORGETOWN DELAWARE 302-856-7854
80 HOMESTEAD MOBILE HOME PARK RR 1 BOX 252 GEORGETOWN DELAWARE 302-934-9121
LEWES, DE MH COURTS AND MH ESTATES
ANGOLA BEACH & ESTATES SUBURBAN BLVD LEWES DELAWARE 302-945-5186 302-945-5739
COLONIAL EAST LTD ROUTE 9 LEWES DELAWARE 302-644-4758
DONOVAN-SMITH MOBILE PARK INC 263 COUNTY RD LEWES DELAWARE 302-645-6395
JOHN BURTON’S EDGEWATER TRLR ROUTE 279A LEWES DELAWARE 302-945-1838
80 LOVE CREEK MARINA & MOBILE HM 232 LOVE CREEK PARK LEWES DELAWARE 302-645-6997
TALL PINES MOBILE HOME RESORT 221 TALL PNES LEWES DELAWARE 302-684-0300 302-684-1045
392 WHISPERING PINES 32045 JANICE ROAD LEWES DELAWARE 302-645-2900 302-644-2545 EMAIL
http://www.mobilehomeparkstore.com/directory/listdelaware.htm
So this could be the battleground?
Interesting how Ruth Briggs King just rejoined her local Rotary Club on June 30th. Coincident or with her possible candidacy in mind at that time? Also, I totally agree with Mitch that we do not need a lobbyist as elected offical – it just screams of an agenda before entering office. HOWEVER – manufactured Homeowners may not look at her as kindly as it looks – after all, they have been fighting rent increases and such and many of the bills for manufactured homeowners have been coming from the Dems this session, I believe.
I can’t decide if being a public defender is a liability or an asset in an election. One the one hand, you’re seen as an altruistic man of the people, lending a hand to the least forunate. But one may be seen as soft on crime?
Suzanne,
She was director of the group representing the park owners. The homeowners are on the other side of the fence.
I highly doubt they will campaigning at Coolsprings or Homestead. Trailer parks they will hit will most likely be in the Nassau area behind the vineyards.
Tall Pines is out of the district, cut off by the panhandle gerrymandering of the district.
There are alot of new, wealthier developments in the Lewes/Nassau area, some on the outskirts south of Georgetown that will be targets.
It is a freakin weirdly shaped district.
http://legis.delaware.gov/legislature.nsf/52087754ec8b9261852569c10055df42/fd70370f0e258038852569d800535e10/$FILE/District%2037.pdf
Basically all of in town Georgetown, south to just north of Millsboro, cuts through the no-mans land between Millsboro and Long Neck, up Beaver Dam Rd to Five Points, where it panhandles out to encompass all of incorporated Lewes, but cuts out Nassau and anything north of the Red Mill Pond, then follows Rt 9 back to Georgetown.
There is literally, at one point, a quarter mile stretch of district between the north and south borders in Lewes.
The Republicans were in power in the house in 2000 and gerrymandered districts throughout the state. They ended up with a 29-12 advantage after the 2002 election cycle. Booth’s district is an example of what happened. Surely, the Democrats will do the same thing in 2010 if they hold on to their current advantage.