I got an interesting email yesterday from someone only identified as “Delaware Republican”. Let set aside, for now, that this is the latest handle used by Mike Protack. The content of the letter is essentially a threat that Mike Castle should retire now or face a hard slog where his age is issue #1.
You have served the people of Delaware honorably for four and a half decades. You were Deputy Attorney General for Delaware years before I was born. From serving in the state Legislature back during the sixties and seventies to your service in Delaware’s executive branch in the Reagan eighties to serving in the halls of Congress for more than a decade and a half, you have been an institution in our state for as long as I have been alive. …
…With your 70th birthday just a couple weeks away, you should use this time to reflect on your momentous contributions to the people of Delaware. Now may be the appropriate time to step away. We can tell that you feel like you’ve achieved all you can in the House; and, with Republicans in such a steep minority, and with six-year-terms not the friend of a septuagenarian freshman, we wonder what constructive role you can play in the Senate that wouldn’t be better served by a younger public servant ready to accrue seniority on behalf of Delaware.
This is what we call a back-handed compliment. The author seems to be trying to clear the field for newcomers like Copeland, Protack and O’Donnell.
There is also an associated website www.thankyoumikecastle.com which has hidden the person that registered the domain name. So, what does the author have to lose? Why more of the cloak and dagger BS? If you are going to suggest that Castle step down, why not just be a man about it?
Either way, I’m on the case. I’m doing research on it and making some progress on figuring out who this person is. I’ll keep you posted.