From Lower Slower Delaware by way of the Cape Gazette:
Michael Miller, who ran in last month’s Cape Henlopen School District Board of Education election [and had previously ran three times for Congress, most recently in 2008], was arrested Tuesday, June 2, for an incident that occurred at Shields Elementary School. As part of the condition of his bail, he is prohibited from having any direct or indirect contact with any Cape district personnel or property.
[Miller] went to the school to meet with school administrators about a disciplinary matter involving one of Miller’s children. [Allegedly] Miller became agitated, hostile and argumentative, according to the witnesses there. When the meeting concluded, one of the administrators opened the door for Miller, who continued to be argumentative. [Miller] walked into the hallway with his child’s discipline folder and continued to be loud.
Each of the administrators repeatedly asked Miller to return the folder. Instead, Miller retained the folder and told them he needed it to have when he interviewed some other school employees. The administrators refused to give him access to the employees. […] Later in the day he turned himself in at Troop 7, where police arrested him for theft and disorderly conduct. Bond was set at $1,000 unsecured, pending further court action.
But that is not the real story here. Sure, Mike Miller made an ass of himself and stole school property. But that is only background for what comes next. MJ, in offering Miller the Schmuck of the Week Award, related a story that strikes at the heart of a perennial problem in politics.
[D]uring a meet and greet for all of the candidates [for the school board] that a parent hosted, the only thing Mike talked about was how the Democratic Party was screwing him because everyone was lining up behind John Carney in his run against Mike Castle. “That’s my seat; it’s mine. If they would only back me I could beat Castle. They’re screwing me once again,” (again direct quotes). Mike, the reason the party is lining up behind John is that we actually want to win the seat this year.
His seat? That would be a crime against reason and democracy if Mike Castle said it. But for Mike Miller to say it, it reveals an insane delusion not seen since Rod Blageovich thought he was going to run for President in 2016. The insane delusion is easily dismissed. It is obvious that it is not his seat and we can all laugh at him for saying. But intelligent and rational politicians also become possessive of their “seats.” Witness Arlen Specter and his party switch all to keep his “seat.”
Celia Cohen, ever the practitioner of the Delaware Way, also engages in the possessive:
It is hard to think of anything the Republicans would relish more than taking away a Senate seat that otherwise could belong to the Bidens — or an affiliate — from 29-year-old Joe Biden’s victory in 1972 through 40-year-old Beau Biden’s old age.
Seventy years of Senator Bidens? Seventy-six years? More? Has anybody noticed the way Joe Biden sometimes goes to political events with his grandchildren along?
Belong to the Bidens? That Senate seat is ours. And by ours, I don’t mean Democrats, I mean Delaware citizens. That we continue to elect Joe Biden to it or may elect his son to it does not confer ownership of the seat. It just means we like the Bidens, is all. The same can be said of Mike Castle and Tom Carper and their combined string of 1,000 statewide electoral victories. This is a state that enjoys incumbents. The problem with that is that the incumbents take the wrong message from our enjoyment. We did not sign over the deeds to their seats simply because we elect them continuously.
On the other hand, some on the left and right also take the wrong message from the incumbents taking the wrong message, and they swing to a fervently anti-incumbent or anti-dynasty bias. For example, some liberal bloggers oppose Beau Biden just because he is Biden’s son. And there are others who oppose incumbents just because they have been in office a long time, never mind their performance in office. To me, that is an overreaction just as wrongheaded as politicians thinking a seat belongs to them. For me, it is all about campaigning and performance in office. If the voters like you, elect you and reelect you, I don’t care what your last name is or how long you have been there, just so long as you don’t start thinking that you own the place, because we, the citizenry, do.