Last night I was at Legislative Hall to see the circus that is the last day of the session. I had an issue at work, so I got down there a little late and ended up just missing the eminent domain vote in the Senate. I got the lowdown from Sagacious Steve in the liveblogging thread. I later caught up with John Flaherty and Mike Matthews. While talking to Matthews the Senate went on recess. Mike got his game on.
Carney came out of the Senate and started shaking hands, etc. Matthews was on him like a hawk. When Carney was walking from one person to the next on his way to his office, Mike hit him up with the questions that you can see on DWA today.
About 30 minutes later, I caught Carney heading back in. I was a little more polite and he was a little less hurried. Whatever the reason, I got almost 15 minutes of Carney’s time. I asked him about eminent domain, specifically if he would have vetoed it if he were Governor. In fact, I asked him 3 times. What I was finally able to finesse out of him was that he wouldn’t have let the bill get that far without some allowance for urban blight/renewal in Wilmington. He was particularly frustrated by the veto statement issued by RAM’s attorney. He said that the reasons contained in it made no sense to him.
The most disturbing part of the interaction was the fact that there was a guy with him that kept interjecting himself into the conversation. I was later told that this guy was Tom Gordon’s campaign manager, Vince something. He was trotting out the caselaw in Delaware that prevented exactly the thing that the law addressed. I pointed out that that we pre-Kelo, and so it could reasonably be expected that this would overturn existing precedent. He tried to turn the tables and said that if I wanted to protect property rights, I should pay attention to the solar panel bill that the legislature was considering. This was a mistake for him. I know quite a bit about deed restrictions and this bill. He lost that argument.
Back to Carney. I am unconvinced by his position. He basically was saying that he wouldn’t have let it get to his desk, but really wouldn’t answer the binary question of “What would you do if this landed on your desk, as Governor? Veto or sign?” He was trying to be nuanced in his position, but he did it inartfully. Not a good combination.
I asked him about Markell’s statement that he would have signed te bill, period. Carney indicated that this is a reversal on Markells part. He said that there is something out there (in print) that indicates that Markell had basically the same concerns about the bill, but now he is trying to claim the glory. I’m going to follow up with the Carney campaign to see if they can produce such a document.
Bottom line, for me, is that John scored a huge win with Bluewater last week and within seven days, squandered the political capital. Also, Ruth Ann Minner cannot be gone soon enough. Is there anyone out there who still supports her?