There was some sense that this latest flap between Jack Markell and John Carney would erupt a couple weeks ago. It has to do with the asinine procedure Democrats put together under state chairman John Daniello called local endorsements.
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The whole process is a farce and means little other than who gets the latest updated version of the Department of Election voters list without paying the $5,000. Oh, and who gets party money toward his primary campaign against the other Democrat — which is what Markell rightfully is protesting.
If these boobs in the Democratic Party insist on having a “statewide” endorsed candidate in a primary who gets all the money, I would strongly suggest that is not very democratic.
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Republicans in this state do the same thing, which is just as wrong — even though their endorsement of candidates is at a statewide convention and not in someone’s living room.
Get back to the convention form of nominating statewide candidates for both parties, and require that party-raised money be reserved for general election races.
I do feel like a Hillary Clinton supporter who is complaing about the unfairness of state caucuses or the proportional allocation of delegations. But at least in the national primary, the nominating convention was not held BEFORE the primaries, and the DNC did not buy ads touting Barack Obama’s new leadership.
Still, there is a sense that rules are rules, no matter how unfair and horribly corrupt those rules are. A commenter mentioned that both Markell and Carney knew the rules of the game, and that is why they pursued the endorsement by going to each Representative Committee meeting asking for their support. They knew by getting the endorsement, there would be a reward.
So yes, it is perfectly legal and expected for the party to provide money to the winner of their endorsement.
But that does not make it right. And it makes the Delaware Democratic Party look like a corrupt cabal of good ole boys who possess no regard for good government, good policy, or good ethics.
This is just one more thing we must reform in the Democratic Party and the state of Delaware.