Welcome New Democrats (Not Named John Atkins)
From today’s NJ:
In conversations with a number of Republicans, I have learned of their new interest in the Democratic party and candidates. Part of this is the maturing of the Democratic Party, but that doesn’t tell the whole story.
My disillusionment with the Republican Party is nearly complete. The GOP has slipped away from its traditional values of common sense, modesty, human decency and fiscal responsibility. The party has lost its way with media hatemongers, the ravings of twisted fundamentalists and raw greed. This loss of character has cost the America middle class dearly. The result has been the failed policies of the last seven years.
Underfunded schools, military families left out in the cold, a huge deficit, the mortgage crisis and runaway oil prices are all the fault of a party gone astray. Dwight Eisenhower and even Ronald Reagan wouldn’t be welcome in today’s GOP.
A fair assessment of the Democratic candidates should give voters hope. They have until March 30 to change party affiliation. The Democratic Party and America as a whole will benefit greatly if they would.
Edward Dwornik, Newark
Well said Edward.
New Democrats like this guy?
Oh snap.
Aw Geez. Now I gotta help the Republicans win a race…
No, we all become Charlie West fans. I just posted on DD that Atkins is not welcome and his proposed change in party affliations reflects his personal ambition and not any change in heart on the issues.
We don’t need scum like him. We got plenty of our own.
I don’t like to leave long comments, but this is worth it. From the WGMD blog:
41st District Democratic Committee
February 15, 2008
To Whom It May Concern:
Please be advised that the 41st District Democratic Committee held a special meeting on Wednesday evening, Feb. 13, at the Gumboro home of former State Representative and Mrs. Charles P. West. The meeting was held for the purpose of considering a resolution, submitted by Rep. and Mrs. West, both of whom are committee members, concerning the proposed Democratic candidacy for the office of 41st District Representative of former State Representative John C. Atkins, a long-term Republican who resigned his office last March rather than face an expulsion vote in the House of Representatives.
A quorum being present, the meeting was called to order by 41st District Committee Secretary Vanessa S. Deloach, who served as acting chair in the absence of the committee chair and vice-chair. Following a discussion of the matter, the resolution was duly approved. The resolution text follows:
_________________________
41st District Democratic Committee
RESOLUTION REGARDING THE POSSIBLE CANDIDACY OF FORMER STATE REPRESENTATIVE JOHN C. ATKINS FOR THE OFFICE OF 41ST DISTRICT STATE REPRESENTATIVE.
WHEREAS, former 41st District State Representative John Atkins was the subject of a news article in a recent issue of a local weekly newspaper, The Sussex Countian, entitled “Atkins to run again…as a Democrat?”; and
WHEREAS, Mr. Atkins, as noted in the article, resigned his seat in the House of Representatives in March, 2007, after a House Ethics Committee report found that he had brought that body “into disrepute” because of his behavior during and after an Ocean City, Maryland, traffic stop and a subsequent domestic disturbance in late October, 2006; and
WHEREAS, Mr. Atkins’s decision to resign from the House of Representatives was due, at least in part, to the clear knowledge that, had he not done so, many of his fellow Republicans and a substantial number of House Democrats, having been fully apprised of the details of his case, were prepared to vote to expel him from that body; and
WHEREAS, Mr. Atkins has now let it be known that he is seriously considering leaving the Republican Party and running in the 2008 general election as a Democratic candidate for the seat he formerly occupied; and
WHEREAS, Mr. Atkins was quoted in the newspaper article as saying “I’ve been asked by a lot of Republicans and Democrats to consider running”; and
WHEREAS, he was further quoted as saying that “Obviously Republican party officials have discouraged me from running…[but] I’ve been courted by some Democratic officials”;
NOW, THEREFORE:
BE IT RESOLVED by the members of the 41st District Democratic Committee that they do hereby state and aver, clearly and unequivocally, that the Committee does not encourage or support the candidacy of former Representative John Atkins, running as a Democrat, for the office of 41st District State Representative.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED by the members of the 41st District Democratic Committee that, while the United States of America remains a free country and as a citizen thereof, Mr. Atkins has every right to register as a member of any political party he so chooses, and to run for any office for which he meets the legal requirements, if he decides to run as a Democrat for the 41st District Representative seat, he will do so without the official endorsement of the 41st District Democratic Committee.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the 41st District Democratic Committee does not feel that it would be helpful to the cause of good government, to which we have always been committed, for any other outside “Democratic officials” to inject themselves into the internal affairs of the 41st District by urging Mr. Atkins to pursue a Democratic candidacy that the 41st District Democratic Committee declines to support.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that, upon its adoption, suitable copies of this Resolution be made available to Mr. John Atkins, to the local and state news media and to other interested parties.
APPROVED ON THIS 13TH DAY OF FEBRUARY, 2008
That comes from the WGMD blog. Sorry.
Go members of the 41st District Committee!!!! Whoo Hoo! Just makes ya proud doesn’t it! Representative Gilligan, you can stop taking his phone calls now. The party has spoken.
Awesome statement.
Gilligan DON”T BE AN ASS!!
Atkins already tried to become a member of IPOD…he like Little didnt have a chance in hell.
Reverberations from ‘famous’ lunch continue
By Celia Cohen
Political columnist
The state House of Representatives did not want John C. Atkins. The voters in the 41st Representative District in south central Sussex County did not want him. Neither does the Democratic minority leader.
Atkins, the Republican ex-representative who resigned before he was run out, had lunch with Minority Leader Robert F. Gilligan, when they both stopped by the Millsboro Wesleyan Church’s chicken barbecue taking place next to Atkins’ house.
Gilligan, who comes from a Stanton area district in New Castle County, was downstate Saturday, May 5, for the special legislative election, in which a write-in campaign for Atkins put him in third place for his old seat behind Republican Gregory A. Hastings, who won, and Democrat Lynn R. Bullock.
Atkins pre-election did nothing to discourage the write-in campaign. Atkins post-election has done nothing to discourage speculation that his conversation with Gilligan included talk about a political comeback for Atkins as a Democrat.
It is fitting that the two men shared chicken dinner at a church barbecue, because Gilligan says Atkins’ chances of running as a Democrat are nothing but a wing and a prayer.
“Mr. Atkins is a Republican. Mr. Atkins should stay a Republican. Mr. Atkins will not be the Democratic candidate in ‘08. I didn’t ask Mr. Atkins to become a Democrat. It was an accidental meeting. I was eating down-home chicken, potato salad and baked beans. It was finger-lickin’ good,” Gilligan said.
“John brought it up, but it certainly wasn’t my doing. We are not encouraging him to become a Democrat. Can I be any more specific? John is a likable person, and we wish him well, but we wish him well as a Republican.”
Gilligan’s message certainly sounds loud and clear, but this is John Atkins, who pretended for the longest time he was not in Ocean City, he was not drinking, he was not resigning. Reality has a way of taking its time in getting to him.
“I’ve had some Democrats down here, some 41st District Democrats, asking. Certainly it would be up to the 41st District, not Bob Gilligan,” Atkins said.
“I like Bob Gilligan. He’ll always be a friend of mine. But there’s still two things he hasn’t learned. One is, when you’re from New Castle County, you don’t tell someone from Sussex what they can or can’t do. The second thing is, you don’t eat barbecued chicken with a fork.”
Gilligan shot back. “I was licking my fingers when I was done, so I guess I used my fingers. I used my fork for my potato salad and baked beans,” he said. “I didn’t know this was going to be such a famous meal.”
Running as a Democrat may not be such a good idea for Atkins, anyway, not in the 41st Representative District. This is conservative country.
The Democrats still are smarting over what happened in the special election. They poured $40,000 and countless hours into Lynn Bullock’s campaign, yet he wound up with 38% of the vote – one measly percentage point more than Barbara Lifflander, regarded as one of the Democrats’ weakest candidates in 2006.
Although Bullock called himself a conservative, the Republicans bloodied him with campaign literature tying him to Democratic Gov. Ruth Ann Minner and “the liberal tax-and-spend team in Dover.” Imagine what they could do tying Atkins to that upstate Democrat Bob Gilligan.
Their chicken barbecue would be famous all over again.
“Although Bullock called himself a conservative, the Republicans bloodied him with campaign literature tying him to Democratic Gov. Ruth Ann Minner and “the liberal tax-and-spend team in Dover.” Imagine what they could do tying Atkins to that upstate Democrat Bob Gilligan.”
Great idea, Celia!
A faith based preacher isn’t conservative? or a republican? whose kidding who!
Haven’t we had enough of preachers in governement. Time to put down the Bible and pick up the Consitution…cuz when your in Congress your accountable to all Delawareans, no matter if you think rock workship is your church.
It is confusing Liz, but you’ve got the wrong Bullock. Celia and Dave are talking about Lyn Bullock who ran in the special election in the 41st District. You’ve got him confused with Chris Bullock who just announced for DE’s At-Large U.S. Congress seat. And no, Chris Bullock isn’t conservative, he’s smart.
Liz, you’re thinking of the worng Bullock …
Liz, first, as others have said….Celia is talking about Lynn Bullock, rather than Chris Bullock.
Second, the Bible and the Constitution are not mutually exclusive. You are making the very same mistake that Mike Huckabee and James Dobson and others of their ilk make. They too view it as mutually exclusive. Instead, they favor the Bible and what they view to be “God’s law.”
You say we need to put down the Bible, and that is incredibly insulting to those who are Christians and who are also liberals. Yes, there is a lot of us. Indeed, one of the reasons I am a Democrat is because I follow Jesus’ teachings and follow my religion’s emphasis on performing good works.
Indeed, you ignore the fact that the Constitution protects my right to hold the Bible and worship as I choose.
You are right to oppose the Huckabee’s and Dobson’s of this world, for they trample the Constitution while holding the Bible. But do not throw those who hold both the Bible and the Constitution under the same bus.