“DTCC Grunt”, over at the Delawareonline board, posted the following from Delaware Technical & Community College President Orlando J. George, Jr.:
I am pleased to share with you that on Tuesday, June 2, the Board of Trustees unanimously passed the Employee Compensation Resolution, giving them the flexibility to preserve College employee salaries at existing levels while making budget cuts required by the State. As I outlined in my message last week, this is the first of five approvals we will need to be successful. We now await a vote from the Joint Finance Committee. As always, I will keep you posted.
Lonnie George
Lonnie George knows that he has nothing to fear from the Joint Finance Committee. Not when two Del-Tech employees, whose salaries (and employment) could adversely be impacted if they don’t go along, and who owe their hefty second paychecks to the hefty college President, sit on the Joint Finance Committee.
And not when Lonnie’s own daughter, whose district was created by current Del-Tech pensioner and current Speaker of the House Bob Gilligan, sits on the same committee.
That’s three out of the 12 JFC members, including the only two legislators who are also current DTCC employees.
And, if all else fails, there’s always the Big Head Committee, where Speaker Gilligan is front and center.
To her credit, Melanie George Marshall has reportedly stated that she will not vote on the Del-Tech appropriations b/c of perceived conflicts-of-interest. However, due to the closed-door nature of the JFC proceedings up until now, it is impossible to gauge what role she or the other DTCC legislators have already played in crafting Del-Tech’s budget. Plus, as former JFC member Lonnie George and purported grocery store beer/wine sales opponent Gerald Hocker well know, it doesn’t matter if one member abstains from voting as long as the votes for passage have already been lined up.
Welcome to the Delaware Way.
According to the State of Delaware legislative website, JFC members Senator Margaret Rose Henry and Representative John Mitchell both have cushy jobs at Del-Tech.
Henry is the Assistant Dean of Student Services at Del-Tech, according to her biography. She has served in a series of jobs in the public and not-for-profit sectors during her years in the General Assembly, all of which have depended on the General Assembly for some of their funding. Getting a job at Del-Tech is her golden, and ‘bulo means ‘golden’, parachute.
Mitchell, a retired New Castle County cop, is the Chief of Public Safety at Del-Tech, according to his biography. Mitchell was appointed to the JFC by Del-Tech pensioner and long-time employee Bob Gilligan, who also moonlights as Speaker of the House. This despite the fact that Mitchell is just beginning his second term in the House. Seniority generally plays a role in appointments to powerful committees like JFC, but not in this case.
Neither Henry nor Mitchell have publicly stated what role they have played, or will or will not play, in considering or furthering DTCC’s budget requests. Someone should ask them.
Long-time House watchers (and readers of Cris Barrish’s excellent article) also know that Lonnie George and Bob Gilligan served as the House Democratic leadership team until George got his long-sought college presidency. Gilligan replaced George in leadership with Rep. John Van Sant, who also enjoyed a second (third? State police, legislator, and…) career in security at Del-Tech. Anyone seeing a pattern here?
As for Melanie George Marshall, then-Minority Leader Gilligan had already hired her as staff attorney to the House Democratic Caucus, and she was serving in that capacity in 2002, when the House leaders cut their deal on reapportionment, a deal that enabled Wayne Smith to gerrymander several districts in Brandywine Hundred, enabled him to add more Kent/Sussex and Republican districts at the expense of New Castle County (by grouping the smallest allowable number of residents in the downstate districts while grouping the largest allowable number of residents in the New Castle County districts). In exchange, Melanie George Marshall got her district. And at least two Democratic legislators, Rick DiLiberto and Dave Brady, got screwed. Now, Bob Gilligan has appointed her to the Joint Finance Committee.
In other words, the current Speaker of the House has consistently placed the well-being of his former employer ahead of his party’s own fortunes in the Delaware State House of Representatives. Thanks to this kind of deal-making, the Democrats languished in the basement of Legislative Hall for 6 more years than necessary while Republican JFC member Dave Ennis found gainful employment at Del-Tech.
But why not? Del-Tech has been veryvery good to Bob Gilligan and a steady stream of legislators, although it’s been even better to Lonnie George.
Now, if only his Caucus would take notice…or care.