Classic western. The stoic sheriff up against the outlaws who ‘run this town’. Score one for the outlaws.
Nothing says Delaware Way more than former State Democratic Party Chair (He’s a duPont! He’s our duPont! Let’s make him chair! He can raise almost as much money as the Republican duPonts!) Rick Bayard openly lobbying on the House floor on behalf of Harrington Raceway and against the Democratic governor’s legislation. Aided and abetted by Rethug Bill DiMondi, who is the Chair of the Delaware State Fair and chief protector of Harrington Raceway, the outlaws proved they had the biggest…guns yesterday. Which is precisely what they meant to prove.
The problem is that the outlaws don’t care who they destroy to maintain hold on their ‘town’. That includes state employees; the people most likely to fall through the safety net as vital services are cut; the taxpayers who will have to ante up even more to pay for the racinos’ greed, and virtually everyone in the state who is not ‘cut in on the action’.
The Defenders of the Delaware Way are an amoral and greedy band of outlaws. They thrive in a subterranean culture of campaign contributions, clandestine meetings in legislators’ offices, deal-cutting, and buying influence. Virtually all of the non-legislators (i.e., lobbyists) among them made their bones in some Party function at one time or another before cashing in their ‘integrity’ for filthy lucre. Examples abound: party chair (like Delmarva Power’s Joe Farley and the aforementioned Bayard), national committeemen (Comcast’s Rhett Ruggerio and the late uber-lobbyist Ned Davis, who turned his lobbying business into a family boiler-room operation); scads of former legislators (Wayne Smith, Roger Roy, Joe Petrilli, Phil Corozzi, and the Delaware Way poster boy, as long as it’s a big poster, Bobby Byrd), and those who worked in state or federal government (Big Oil’s Gary Patterson, Valero’s Spiros Mantzavinos, lobbyist Rebecca Batson Kidner (the first person ‘bulo ever heard call Thurman Adams ‘Uncle Thurm’), and many many more.
Regardless of what the issue happens to be, this time it was the racinos, they all have a stake in seeing the Delaware Way triumph, even at the expense of the people of the state.
This is not meant to discourage people. Rather, ‘bulo believes that, for the first time, the battle against the Delaware Way has been joined. It is not that Jack Markell yearns to ‘defeat’ the Delaware Way. Rather, in order to bring progressive government that works to Delaware, the influence of these powerful forces must be significantly reduced. There is only one way to do that–and that is grassroots involvement. Threats/bribes from unsavory lobbyists notwithstanding, legislators respond most strongly to ongoing constituent contact. One call is good, continuing contact is essential.
This battle can and must be won, for the well-being of the state and its citizens. It will be long and hard. There will be setbacks along the way. But, if you want to take the town back from the outlaws, it is the only way.