‘Bulo’s Countdown of 2010 Republicans to Target-#9
For those late to the show, the Beast Who Slumbers is counting down his list of favorite 2010 Republican targets. He has chosen these criteria in making his list: (a) the race must be contestable, and the D must have at least some reasonable chance of winning; and (b) ‘Bulo must prefer change to the status quo (it’s HIS list, after all). For example, Sen. Dori Connor is not on this list even though her seat is clearly vulnerable b/c ‘bulo likes her and prefers her to the alternatives.
The order of the list is based on ‘bulo’s sense of ‘least likely to switch’ to ‘most likely’.
9. New Castle County Council District 2-Bob Weiner
This one is personal. Or, at least, as personal as anything can be to someone who writes in the Third Person.
Bob Weiner is a megalomaniacal narcissist and, even grading on a scale, one of the biggest phonies in Delaware politics. At one time a Democrat, Weiner was all set to run for a vacant State Senate seat (Sen. Robert Berndt had retired), agreed with his opponent to have the Democratic Party commission a poll which determined that he was the strongest candidate, at which point his prospective primary opponent, Jim Funk, graciously dropped out and endorsed him. Then, at the last minute, he backed out of the race, leaving the D’s high and dry. He then resurfaced soon thereafter as a Rethug (the R’s had big majorities in Brandywine Hundred in those days, and Weiner is/was nothing if not a coward), defeated low-key nice guy Richard Cecil in an R primary for the Council seat, and since has packaged himself as a reformer, ‘the last political virgin’, as he likes to put it.
(Meandering Aside: Weiner’s sin wasn’t switching parties, it was about leading people on and misleading them about his intentions. It puts the lie to his purported raison d’etre for public service, that virginity thing. Now back to the verbal immolation already in progress…)
That, um, virginity,was lost (for at least the third time) after he got a political job in the State Public Defender’s office (someone should investigate that ethical sewer, BTW), but was terminated after he got caught accessing the records of a County Executive Assistant while on his state job, and circulating information about the official via e-mail. This was after he’d had a falling-out with his former friend Tom Gordon (they both were officers in the Council of Civic Organizations of Brandywine Hundred at the same time, Gordon the President and Weiner the Head of the Zoning Committee). Weiner realized that Gordon was toxic and, like Mike Castle pretending he’d never even met his long-time friend Kermit Justice after Justice’s indictment, Weiner had to wash the Gordon stench from his phony reformer record.
He is a relentless self-promoter. People find it harder to get off his e-mail list than to avoid online come-ons from Nigeria. Several years ago, the Delaware General Assembly actually introduced a resolution targeted at Weiner limiting the number of e-mail messages public officials can send out to their mailing lists. It didn’t pass, nor was it intended to, but everyone knew that it was aimed at Weiner who, among other things, would relentlessly send out solicitations for his wife’s business (which may or may not have been located in Nigeria) to public officials.
When Council expanded, Weiner had a safe Republican seat. However, like much of Brandywine Hundred, the demographics and registration numbers have shifted, a lot of R’s hate him, as do most other elected officials, and more and more D’s have gotten elected in his territory. What’s left of his powerbase is CCOBH, and, even there, a lot of his allies have either retired or had a change of heart. It’ll take a credible D or, perhaps equally likely, a successful R primary challenger, but this one’s doable, albeit a bit of a longshot.
While his defeat wouldn’t have much impact on County government, erasing this self-congratulating phony from the public payroll would be truly cathartic for the Beast Who Slumbers. Someday, listaholic El Somnambulo will share with you his 5 Favorite Daily Catharses. Today is not that day.
Tags: Delaware Politics
It is El Somnambulo’s planet. We all just live on it.
So is there anyone in the wings who can run against him?
I haven’t heard one good thing about this guy — and it seems that the reason he is still in office is due to the relentless self-promotion — not that he’s accomplished much of anything.
Cass: One of the purposes of this thread is to get people and organizations looking at these races and either thinking about running themselves or helping to identify and recruit candidates.
‘Bulo is in no way discouraged that people aren’t up and running for these offices in April of 2009. He wants to get these races on the radar so that people, the party, and progressives will consider them.
I can’t believe the comments about Bob Weiner!
Self promoter: What politician isn’t a self promoter?
Constituent service: No member of council works harder to help constituents and helps improve the quality of lfe in B’wine Hundred.
Look at the effort he’s taking to stop the blight Stoltz is trying to foist on residents of B’wine Hundred and Greenville. Look at his grafitti fighting effort. Bob was one of the prime movers in creating the Financial Review Task Force that has resulted in reducing the number of county employees and reducing activities. Bob is responsible for the Doggie Parks. Bob led the effort to locate the B’wine Hundred library where it is and helped change the design to the beautiful stone front. I could go on.
His email list? He prides himself in keeping his interested constituents informed. What other politician does this?
I doubt any Dem or Rep will dare take on Bob Weiner. They wouldn’t have a chance!
Bob also lead the charge against N’awlins SnowBalls because the peckerwoods in Deerhearst didn’t like all the colored people coming to their neighborhood to get refreshment. the man ran unopposed and Mickey Mouse got 34% of the vote as a write in candidate in 2000. he is a “no government” republican, unless the government can preserve pristine white north wilmington.
Jerry Martin is a long-time Rethug operative who used to chair the Brandywine Hundred Region Republicans.
He was Bob Weiner’s Campaign Operations Manager in 2006:
http://www.bobweiner.com/news.asp?NewsID=72
‘Bulo sticks by his claim that there is no self-promoter in Delaware politics like Bob Weiner. And he’s got shills like Martin to do his dirty work.
“not that he’s accomplished much of anything.”
The razing of those slum apartments in Claymont is a better-than-usual legacy for any county lawmaker.
I disagree with a lot of his positions. I think his one-man campaign against things like people parking cars with for-sale signs in shopping centers is ridiculous. But I’d vote out most of the Democrats on County Council before I would go after the former Democrat.
Oh, and the charge about accessing DELJIS illegally was a trumped-up bit of bullshit from the Gordonberries, who actually DID use DELJIS to look up dirt on their political enemies on a routine basis. This was among the non-felony charges that the US Attorney for Delaware didn’t bother filing, but it was mentioned in the still-under-court-seal tapes made for the FBI. Ask Chief McAllister about it.
You at no point mention that witch Sherry Freeberry in your ramblings. Bob Weiner was one of the few that stood up to her and disapproved of her whoring around with the county executive and other county staffers.
I think the guy has done a whole lot more good for the community than he has done harm.
Bob Weiner rode, among other things, Tom Gordon’s support to election. It was only when Gordon’s actions threatened Weiner’s career that he jettisoned that inconvenient partnership.
‘Bulo understands some of the support for Weiner. However, he has seen firsthand what a phony he is, and he has tried to outline his reasons for saying so.
‘Bulo is as far from a Gordon supporter as one can get, so this is not some backdoor way to get at one of Gordon’s enemies. The Beast Who Slumbers does not believe that ‘the enemy of my enemy is my friend’, especially when Weiner’s change-of-heart was dictated, like everything else about his career, by political expediency.
As ‘bulo has said to his amigo and respected commenter anon in the past, ‘agree to disagree’.