QotD: Completely Classless?

Filed in Delaware by on June 14, 2009

On Friday, Delaware Politics wrote the following:

Also, it was completely classless to have a signing ceremony on HB 1 without inviting any Republicans.

Turns out the governor’s office let all the State Senators and Representatives, regardless of party, know about the signing ceremony.

So the question of the day, was it completely classless that no Republican State Senators or Representatives officially attended  the signing ceremony?

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  1. More bullshit from the ultimate bullshitter « Down with Absolutes! | June 16, 2009
  1. anon says:
    June 14, 2009 at 10:12 am

    Burris keeps digging:

    I understand that many of the legislators were already committed to the Legislative Open golf tournament, and I imagine the administration knew that.

    Apparently the Republicans weren’t there because they were golfing with lobbyists:

    About that golf tournament:

    Every June — in the waning weeks of the spring legislative season, when the fate of key bills is decided — various lobbyists host a $100-a-person golf tournament for lawmakers and other top government officials at Dover’s Maple Dale Country Club.

    In 2006, the Legislative Open drew more than a dozen lawmakers, including Spence and Sen. Nancy Cook. Spence has the most clout of any House member. Cook sits on the Joint Finance Committee that makes changes to the governor’s $3 billion-plus proposed budget and the Bond Bill Committee that allocates hundreds of millions of dollars more to build roads, schools and other state facilities.

    Lt. Gov. John Carney and Lee Ann Walling, Gov. Ruth Ann Minner’s chief aide on land use, were among a handful of other state officials who played.
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    Joining them were dozens of lobbyists and business leaders from an array of interests, including the petroleum, horse racing and development industries, and the state and New Castle County chambers of commerce.

    Before hopping on their golf carts, they mingled over hamburgers and hot dogs and drank from a stocked bar. They cracked jokes and poked fun at each other’s golf games, indicative of the cozy nature of doing business in Dover. Later, $20 gift certificates and other prizes were awarded to winners of skill contests.

    “These guys are my friends,” said lobbyist Philip J. Corrozi, a former House member whose clients include Bank of America and the Medical Society of Delaware.

    New Castle County chamber lobbyist Joseph F. Fitzgerald, who treated Rep. Richard C. Cathcart to the event, said that while he was pushing a worker’s compensation overhaul bill, “today isn’t going to make the difference” on the bill.

    Added Cathcart: “He’s not working me on anything yet.”

    In January, Cathcart joined the rest of the Legislature in unanimously passing a revised bill.

    After a thunderstorm cut the tourney short, the groups gathered over drinks. Whenever a reporter approached, they said the order of the day was fun, not legislative business. “I’m just playing golf,” quipped Cook.

    Read the whole article.

  2. FSP says:
    June 14, 2009 at 10:29 am

    Most of them were at work on Friday. Five of them were in Leg Hall, including 40% of the Republican Senate. A few were at the Legislative Open, but mostly Democrats were there. I’ve talked to several, and nearly every one of them said the same thing: if they’d held the ceremony on Thursday at Leg Hall, like they do with most signings, they’d all have been there.

    Of course, that would have prevented JFC from meeting in secret, which is still the real scandal of this whole ordeal.

  3. anon says:
    June 14, 2009 at 10:29 am

    Dave will be along to comment as soon as he gets a call back with the list of Dems that were there too.

  4. FSP says:
    June 14, 2009 at 10:32 am

    Actually, I got the list of Dems that were there.

    I’m still trying to find what Republicans were there.

  5. jason330 says:
    June 14, 2009 at 10:33 am

    Golfing with lobbyists is why many Republicans run for office in the first place.

  6. flutecake says:
    June 14, 2009 at 11:05 am

    Kakistocracy: noun- Government by the least qualified or most unprincipled citizens.

  7. FSP says:
    June 14, 2009 at 11:08 am

    Okay. At this point I’m letting the Republican legislators (and, in fact, all of the legislators who didn’t show) off the hook. The email notification for the Friday afternoon signing was sent on Wednesday afternoon.

  8. nemski says:
    June 14, 2009 at 11:53 am

    A collective sigh of relief is heard from all legislators. 😉

  9. mike hunt says:
    June 14, 2009 at 12:19 pm

    and we still have a hugh deficit, overspending, pay cuts, a notional recession…and our part time legislature goes golfing…glad to see the folks living in Delaware support this type of government….we sure do deserve what we get, cuz we asked for it.

  10. anon says:
    June 14, 2009 at 12:35 pm

    A collective sigh of relief is heard from all legislators.

    That was gas.

  11. Delaware Republican says:
    June 14, 2009 at 1:26 pm

    Geez, HB 1 is a food start and it doesn’t matter who was there or not there. The law is about the citizens of Delaware not the lawmakers.

    Now what about recall, term limits, referendum, nepotism and inspector general?

    Mike Protack

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