The Archives of the Honorable Chip Flowers, Jr.
Who needs satire when Chip does the work for us? If you’re a loyal DL reader, you OWE IT TO YOURSELF to parse every syllable of this Ode to A Delusional Narcissist. For fun, count the number of times he uses the word ‘historic’ or variation thereof. Lest you doubt that this is Chip’s work, you can access it here.
However, if you are loathe (to steal one of Monsignor Lavelle’s favorite words) to give Chip the web traffic (although the big-ass watch alone is worth a peek), here is Chip in his own words (I know, b/c they’re in the Third Person):
“Welcome to the official archives of Chip Flowers, Jr., Massachusetts resident and former Delaware State Treasurer and Co-Chair of the National Democratic State Treasurers. Flowers, who made over $55 million during his term while restructuring, managing and protecting the State of Delaware’s $2 billion investment portfolio in a difficult economic climate, made history in November 2010 by becoming the first African-American elected to statewide office in Delaware (at the age of 35).
During his four year term in office, Flowers established a relationship among his fellow state treasurers and the White House and proposed bold ideas (including creating a state stock index, economic index and economic early warning system), while fostering important economic and financial policy debates. By seeking unprecedented reforms to a state financial system that had failed to keep pace with the demands of the 21st century global economy, Flowers was able to adopt many innovative ideas through his “Standing Up for Change” campaign.
Due to the generosity of private supporters and donors, this archive is dedicated to the significant achievements and contributions of one of Delaware’s most accomplished leaders. Over the next year, the “Flowers Papers Project” will provide an unparalleled level of information to the public highlighting the historic policy debates, decisions, and achievements made by Flowers and his administration during his term in public office.
Documents, writings, photographs, correspondence, recordings and materials from his historic campaign and term as State Treasurer will be made available via this website on an ongoing basis through the Flowers Papers Project. Beginning with his seminal (should that be an ‘i’ or an ‘e’?) work, “The Flowers Framework for Restoring Prosperity” and concluding with his “Fourth Report of the Delaware State Treasury,” the archives will provide a detailed view of the inner workings of his campaigns, state government, the politics of inclusion and exclusion, controversial media coverage and a failed political strategy by his opponents to derail his career in public service that ultimately led to a historic transformation of Delaware politics. Despite strong political popularity and leads in election polls, Flowers decided not to seek re-election and to relocate to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to “engage in the great policy debates” and continue his career serving the public in one of the leading states of our time. (One of the 50 leading states of our time.)
Flowers, along with his wife, Megan, reside in Boston, Massachusetts, where they have maintained strong ties since 2004. Flowers is also a distinguished attorney and business owner and currently serves as President and Managing Member of The Flowers Counsel Group, LLC, a law firm he founded in 2006. The couple is very active in Massachusetts Democratic politics and are supportive of arts and humanities organizations in the area, including the Massachusetts Historical Society, the Museum of Fine Arts of Boston, and the Boston Athenaeum.
Though his policy work and public service may continue for years to come in Massachusetts, this archive will preserve and memorialize Chip Flowers’ achievements in Delaware and Massachusetts for future generations and will encourage individuals to make a difference by “standing up for change.”
You’re welcome.
Flowers has always had a writing problem. Agreed that the tone is smirk-worthy, but are you really mocking the premise? It will be a cold day in hell before Markell or the other members of CPMB pledge this kind of public access.
Maybe we can drink every time Markell blows off FOIA. Hell, why not just raise a glass to your new Republican treasurer.
Yes, I’m mocking the premise. He was STATE TREASURER, not a Supreme Court justice. Per usual, he claims accomplishments which were in no way his, i. e. “made over $55 million (presumably for the state) during his term”; and inflates by a factor of, oh, say, 1000, his importance.
‘The great policy debates’? His sense of a policy debate is engaging in a food fight.
BTW, Dave Tackett had a writing problem. Not Chip. Chip has a delusional narcissist problem.
This is gonna be fun. Massachussetts, you’re welcome to him.
A Narcissist politician? Wow, really found a rare earth mineral there.
Right, SA. Chip is just like all the others…
To wit, “The Archives of the Honorable Lumpy Carson”.
@SA: No, Chip is not on the same narcissistic level as normal politicians. We’re used to that. What’s eye-opening about Flowers is how much MORE narcissistic he is than the normal politician.
Don’t play dumb.
Whats next, El Som, politicians taking credit for stuff they didn’t support that turned out to be a great idea after all?
I am FAR from a Chip fan, but, really, it just seems reflexive to alot of people that when Chip says it, its the worst thing ever said. Politicians start with thinking they are the smartest in the room, district, county, state, country, etc. One should not act surprised when they espouse that in a speech.
And it was historic that Chip was the first African American elected statewide. Or are we not supposed to talk about that because he is a self centered blowhard while praising Obama being the first black President that constantly trots out Obamacare BS.
@Puck: Transparent my ass. Do you think all his receipts will be in there?
@SA: Nobody is saying it’s the “worst thing ever said.” We’re pointing and laughing, not claiming he’s a menace. He’s a fucking joke, not a menace. And if I were black, I think I’d be twice as pissed off.
Geraldine Ferraro was the first woman on a presidential ticket. Does that make her important in any but a trivial sense?
Flowers won, Ferraro didn’t. Big difference.
I just wish he would quit writing in third person.
Find the silver lining in this cloud.
This week we learned that both Flowers and O’Donnell left Delaware. An excellent start to the new year. We are all better by subtraction.
The only question is – which politico will fill the void left by their departure? We’ve already lost Adkins and the Sheriff of Nuttingham. Who will step in it, as a matter of course, is the burning question.
Without a suitable replacement are we left with only the mundane to discuss?
When he points out that he was the first elected African-American statewide, he omits that he primaried an incumbent appointed African-American state treasurer to get in position to become the first elected African-American.
It’s true, but, as with so many other things that Chip claims, it’s selectively true and out of context. I understand, he needs to hoodwink a brand new state. But he ain’t gonna hoodwink his former state. We’ve seen it and lived it.
Yes, granted, big difference. I chose the example because a vice president is about as important to governance as Delaware’ state treasurer is.
There’s nothing historic about anything he did. His historic importance is a product of nothing beyond his race, as Ferraro’s was nothing beyond her gender.
And you’re still playing dumb. Unless you’re not playing.
Wow, for your sake, El Som, I am glad Chip is leaving. You really must get out more.
A politician felt they were better than the incumbent and primaried them? SCANDALOUS.
Jones-Potter was the first African American appointed to Statewide office. Flowers won a state wide election. Again, big difference.
I am FAR from a Chip fan, but, really, it just seems reflexive to alot of people that when Chip says it, its the worst thing ever said.
AKA Flowers Derangement Syndrome.
You people have to learn to discern between laughter and criticism. He’s a buffoon. Your support of him is a stronger sign of derangement than our laughter.
Its 2015 Chips gone, you’re gonna need someone else to absurdly obsess over. Perhaps something more healthy and policy based like Tom Carper.
As I have said before, I was a Jones-Potter supporter and never liked Chip. But I don’t go out of my way to nick him on personality and style points like some people do here. Maybe its because I had friction with him right after he won the primary and saw up close him pushing the envelope of truth and reality that anything after that just didn’t really surprise me.
@SA: By your logic, we should no longer laugh at Sarah Palin, either. You know — or maybe you don’t — that this isn’t an either/or situation. We can laugh at Chip while yelling at Trembling Tom.
As I noted, the obsession of people who want to chide those who laugh is more symptomatic of derangement than the continued slagging of an eminently slaggable clown.
The obsession with chiding one person for doing what most other politicians is quite symptomatic of derangement. See: El Soms post about “but he didn’t point out he beat the first black appointee to the job.” Sounds a little over the top and picky, no? Maybe a little hypercritical and, dare I say, obsessive?
Most people don’t care about Chip Flowers. Or the inside baseball bullshit you all seem to find so amusing. But chiding him like he was unique in blowing his own horn, making it all about him and not going as you’d like, is, indeed, laughable.
‘memba when a newb treasurer tried to change the office and was blown off by the Gov? Yeah, that guy became Gov and ended up doing the same thing to his treasurer, only worse. Now we have a Republican in the treasurers office.
Again, you mistakenly say “doing what most politicians do.” I’ve known literally dozens of politicians. None of them were within light years of Flowers’ megalomania or narcissism. OK, maybe Dave Levinson.
Of course, I’m speaking of people who could actually do their jobs. The SuxCo sheriff is this nuts, but he appeals only to fellow nuts, and he gets the point-and-laugh treatment even more than Flowers did.
I understand why someone would post this about Flowers. I don’t understand why someone would complain about it.
“Or the inside baseball bullshit you all seem to find so amusing.”
Now you’re just being a dick. If you don’t like the inside baseball of politics, wtf are you doing here?
Sorry its so hard to understand, Geezer.
If all you got is personality, then it just comes off as high school dickishness. Which, come to think of it, you are right, why should I expect more from a blog. How about we rip him for that tie he was wearing? or being a Cowboys fan? And that wedding dress his fiance wore for the wedding? Joan Rivers where are you when we need you?
Flowers didn’t blow up the treasury. He did his job, finished his term and left the state. We should only be so lucky to have politicians that are 1/4 the narcissist Flowers was do the same.
Agree to disagree, Geezer. No need to keep this discussion going.
“He did his job, finished his term and left the state.”
I think you reversed the correct order on the last two items. Also, he did all of those things with an unprecedented amount of self-generated melodrama, which you omitted.
It’s not like El Som has a double standard. He calls out Kowalko for his grandstanding all the time, even though he agrees with him. I think El Som is simply anti-grandstanding.
But I agree, we’re just going to disagree about this, and we’re really only disagreeing about how much publicity Flowers has generated, to both his benefit and detriment.
“we’re really only disagreeing about how much publicity Flowers has generated.”
Exactly.
On the high school dickishness front, I thought that was the whole point of getting your news from a blog instead of mainstream media.
Well Geezer blogs like these often provide interesting and valuable information well before mainstream sources.
The Chrstina School stuff for example. Not getting a whole lot of play down here in Sussex.
Good point. But many of us prefer blogs to mainstream because it gets us to our Daily Snark Requirement faster.
The Flowers Papers Project? For God’s sake. This is the one of the most outrageous displays of grandiosity I have ever seen by an Delaware (ex-) official with marginal or no accomplishments to speak of. All of the pro-Chip/anti-Chip (and in between) aside — this is ridiculous. It just is.
Agreed. This isn’t complicated. Chip is (among other things) a little nutso.
In a word association game, if someone says narcissist, I say Chip. I was not surprised by his exit speech. He had remained quiet for too long. He wanted to get the last word as he and his wife rode off into the sunset in the Jaguar with tin cans trailing behind and the “just married” shoe polish streaking down the rear windshield.
People can disagree about whether Chip is more narcissistic than other politicians, but what is beyond dispute is that he is significantly less self-aware than other statewide electeds. The man invokes Thomas Jefferson in his “framework” for the State Treasurer’s office. The grandiosity may not demonstrate more arrogance or narcissism than others, but it certainly demonstrates less self-awareness.
‘Grandiosity’ is an apt descriptor for Chip that had eluded me. It’s also interesting how someone so self-absorbed is not self-aware. Good stuff!
@Anon7: You might be right, in that he lets loose what others might feel but are too self-aware to express.
Can we go back to when Puck heralded this as a new chapter in government transparency?
I wonder if these archives will include video of him yelling at a teenager through a car window on the campaign trail.