Vote For Bruce Ennis
I have to give Joanne Christian some credit for meeting with me last week. I’m a Democratic blogger who has made no bones out of the fact that Republicans start off with a serious handicap with me based entirely on the fact that they are members of an organization that has turned this country into something monstrous and unrecognizable.
She was willing to try to make up some of that ground by meeting with me, and why not? I’m just the kind of Democrat that she is going to have to win over in order to have a shot of becoming a State Senator.
Did she do it? No. She was nice enough but I’ll be voting in favor of Bruce Ennis and against Joanne Christian on November 3rd. Here is why.
Joanne Christian would like everyone to believe that she is basically right of center “non-partisan” in the mold of a Mike Castle who she identifies as one of her political heroes. She’s done a little bit of work with Bethany Hall Long that seems to substantiate that claim, but what is someone really saying if that say that they want to be like Mike ?
You would have to be either clueless or intentionally playing dumb to think that Mike Castle style stewardship over the past six years has been beneficial to anyone other than Mike Castle. I don’t think she is clueless, so my fear is that she is intentionally playing dumb. Like so many “moderate” Republicans who have remained silent during the last seven years of GOP corruption and maladministration, Joanne Christian has bought into a Republican code of silence. When I asked about what her voice would be like within the national GOP I was under whelmed by the her claims to be unaware or not interested in national issues. With that approach, I could easily see her taking part in this kind of GOP revelry:
Grapevine on the most recent Republican Natl. Convention:
“Even U.S. Rep. Michael N. Castle, usually as moderate in his rhetoric as in his politics, got carried away, declaring in his Thursday morning breakfast speech, “If there were two people who could vote named Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden, then John Kerry probably could get elected.”
In the same way she leaves her party ID off of her signs, she apparently leaves her discernment at home when it comes to the GOP. Since a State Senate seat is a practically a lifetime sinecure it is worth knowing what her impact, if any, would be on the terribly diseased organ called the Republican Party.
Is that unfair? Is it too much to ask that someone running for state Senate accept some of the responsibility for the Republican drive to shield the President and Vice-President from accountability, undermine the constitution, and undo our 231 year old system of checks and balances?
After meeting with Christian, I think it is fair. She is smart enough to know what is going on in her party and the world. The fact that she shrugged is damming. It speaks to her character.
“Bullshit!” you might say, “She is not going to be voting in the Iraq war, she is going to be voting on funding for DelDot. ”
Yes and no. George Bush did not fall out of the sky one day and take power. He came to power by working a system that depended (and continues to depend) on party functionaries like Joanne Christian staying quiet. Voting against Joanne Christen I will be “thinking globally and acting locally.”
So…90% of you have tuned out by now – but I want to add that I’ll also be “thinking locally and acting locally” by voting for Bruce Ennis.
Christian takes a lot of credit for things that she had a little to do with. The fact that the Appoquinimink School District is frugal seems more an expression of the Superintendent’s success than hers. That the district is has a decent academic reputation is a fluke of geography. New Jersey has a first rate, well-funded public school system. Lucky MOT! Additionally, due to the distance to Wilmington, many top students stay put rather than allowing themselves to get skimmed off by Wilmington Charter. Bad luck Brandywine, Newark, Christiana, and McKean!
Ennis, on the other hand, has taken a little bit of credit for his significant accomplishments.
He is regarded as the father of the statewide paramedic service. He is an advocate for open government and he co-sponsored HB 128 which would extend Delaware’s Children’s’ Health Insurance Program (CHIP) to include reduced-cost health insurance coverage of children for families with personal incomes up to 300% of the Federal Poverty Level.
Ennis co-sponsored SB 180, a bill that would reduce treatment caseload standards of Division of Family Services’ caseworkers from 18 to 12 for the safety, permanency and well being of Delaware’s children.
Regarding votes that Christian would tend to have voted the other way, Ennis co-sponsored HB 167, which allows adult patients in a hospital to receive visits from any individual from whom the patient desires to receive visits.
He was the primary sponsor of HB 186 that would address sprawl by preventing county and local governments from permitting new subdivisions in certain areas.
And Ennis co-sponsored HJR 9 condemning the genocide occurring in the Darfur region of Sudan and urging President George W. Bush and the Delaware Congressional Delegation to continue to work with the international community to halt these human rights violations, to impose appropriate economic sanctions, and to bring humanitarian assistance and lasting peace to the Darfur region.
Regardless of the fact that he is running against a Republican, that is a track record worth rewarding.
Yeah, this op-ed’ll sway what — one, two votes?
Whoo – hoo!
This “endorsement” is remarkable. When Christian said things you liked, she must’ve been a lying Republican. When her resumé offered quality and experience, she was a “fluke of geography”. When those damning rebukes didn’t seem enough, her election would be a tacit approval of “undermine the constitutional (sic), and undo our 231 year old system of checks and balances”.
Honest question: How many babies would a Democratic candidate have to eat in front of you to merit your disapproval?
Thanks for catching the typo.
Undermining the constitution, and undoing our 231 year old system of checks and balances is a deal breaker for me. Call me crazy.
Here’s my take: Jason really tried to be fair. I was there. He wasn’t trying to do the “gotcha” thing. He’s just incapable of being objective. As incapable as I would be.
“Christian takes a lot of credit for things that she had a little to do with. The fact that the Appoquinimink School District is frugal seems more an expression of the Superintendent’s success than hers. That the district is has a decent academic reputation is a fluke of geography. New Jersey has a first rate, well-funded public school system. Lucky MOT! Additionally, due to the distance to Wilmington, many top students stay put rather than allowing themselves to get skimmed off by Wilmington Charter. Bad luck Brandywine, Newark, Christiana, and McKean!”
1. She told you that the board eliminated unnecessary positions, and that’s how they keep a low per-student cost. Less administration.
2. The district has an academic reputation because it earned it over the last 10 years.
3. Many kids from Appoquinimink go to charter schools, including Wilmington and DMA.
Unfortunately, you heard what you wanted to hear. It’s a shame you didn’t ask her for her opinion of GWB, since you’ve enrolled her in the VRWC.
I can’t really blame you for being biased.
But you are.
By the way, Mike Castle is still the most popular elected official in Delaware.
By the way, Mike Castle is still the most popular elected official in Delaware.
Based on statewide vote totals it is Jack Markell by a mile.
Also – Did I ask her if she voted for Bush? No. But I think I left plenty of openings for her to talk about Bush and what is wrong with the GOP if she wanted to. She didn’t.
Democratic Candidate Endorsed by Democratic Blogger !!
Stop the presses.
You’ve persuaded me. It’s that faux ignorance whenever someone gets close to the bone that is the root of lack of communication in governement. I don’t see Christian pushing for open governement. The fact that she was coy face to face is a good indication that she will be utterly opaque if she ever achieves the ‘distance’ of public office.
By the way Jason, thanks for not turning off the comments to your post. Makes me think that when you say you support open governement measures, you really mean it (unlike some others).
silly pube Yeah, this op-ed’ll sway what — one, two votes?
if it comes down to 2 votes then it would matter wouldn’t it?
good job Jason. way to make a difference.
If it comes down to 2 votes, the last GOP politician in this area managed to pull scores of very questionable absentee ballots out of his ass.
please take pictures of those ballets and post them on your blog
ewwww…
Jason,
At least your recommendation is a tad less irrelevant than your fellow establishment Democrats. They oppose her bid for a state seat because she won’t abjure the party which produced Bush. But you won’t support her because she won’t abjure the party that produced Mike Castle.
I suppose a state-wide seat for federal office is at least closer to issues of her senatorial district but still WIDE of the mark of real relevance for this race.
By the way, when you talked to Ennis, did you ask him if he abjures the party that produced Tom Carper?
But there I go again thinking that what should be fair for the goose should also be fair for the gander.
No argument from me that Carper is horrible.
And quit saying ‘abjure’
One of the worst problems with politics is the careerist, the person who spends a lifetime climbing up the greasy pole, and then does anything to hold onto it. The motivation is a good place at the public trough.
This is the antithesis of the citizen-legislator and the spirit of Cincinnatus.
We see the struggles in New Castle County that have left some political hacks millionaires. Just how does one explain Sherri’s millions? It took a rather elderly judge who was an LBJ appointee to give her a ‘get out of jail free’ card.
Here’s my take: Jason really tried to be fair. I was there. He wasn’t trying to do the “gotcha” thing. He’s just incapable…
I just noticed…
“I was there.”
Hah!
Jason, knowing the good Democrat that you are, why did you even pretend you would consider supporting her? Come on. There is nothing she could have said to make you NOT support Ennis. And I say that as a Democrat — but a Progressive Democrat.
To paraphrase Dorothy in the movie Jerry McGuire , she lost me at “Castle”.
Can someone verify that she (Christian) supports Bluewater Wind, and Ennis, has some financial obligations with Hurley, and should be placed in the obstructionist camp?
Inquiring minds want to know.
I believe John Carney is the lead vote getter over the years. He has run in Presidential years but I know he outpolled Gov Minner.
I was taken aback by her vote for the late Sen.
I picture Burris standing over Jason during the interview, holding a baseball bat in a threatening manner. But when Christian said, “I support Vaughn”, Burris hits her with it.
June –
Jason, knowing the good Democrat that you are, why did you even pretend you would consider supporting her?
I wasn’t pretending. You and I both know that the cause of good goverment is not served by having a one party state. The Republican party’s dissolution has contributed to movign us toward a one party state. I lived through that situation in Washington DC and it wasn’t fun.
I was asking her about what her voice would be within the DE GOP and National GOP and her reponses did not indicate that she was interested in reforming her party.
Given everything, picking Ennis was a pretty easy choice.