DE Rethugs Prove the Obvious: All About Politics, Not Responsible Governing
Someday soon, a smoking gun of a document will surface. Possibly penned by Frank Luntz, Eye of Newt Gingrich, or some other Rethuglican ‘thinker’.
The document will confirm what should already be obvious. At every level of government, the Rethug strategy is to delay and seek to stop anything of value from moving forward.
They will then seek to regain lost political power by claiming that the Democrats haven’t done anything.
Memo to All Elected Rethugs: Deliberately abdicating responsibility and deliberately refusing to do your jobs is not a long-term winner.
Just last week, after the entire Rethug membership of the Senate committee considering climate change had boycotted hearings and refused to participate, Sen. Barbara Boxer moved the bill forward w/o Rethug participation. Batshit-crazy James Imhofe screamed bloody murder about how such a move was unpredecented. Get it–if Rethugs simply choose to not do their jobs, Dems should shrug their shoulders and not act on climate change, or anything else, for that matter, due to precedent. To which I ask one of Oklahoma’s two flat-earth senators–since when does an entire elected political caucus choose en masse not to do their jobs and expect to earn the public’s approval for such obstructionism?
Here is the 2010 Rethuglican Meme: Exclude/Remove YourSELF from the process, then claim that you are BEING excluded from the process, making everything the Dems’ fault. Use the gullible press to do your dirty work.
Which brings me to Delaware’s Rethuglican House Caucus and the Shape of Politics-To-Come. Return with us now to those thrilling days of yestermonths, June of 2009, to be exact.
You will recall that the House Rethugs, led by Delaware State University’s politically-connected bagman Dick Cathcart, did as little as they could get away with to enable Delaware’s revenue measures to pass while seeking to maximize political gain. In other words, providing only one or, at the most two, votes (one of whom, Bill Oberle, is hardly a Republican) for any revenue measure while giving the party and caucus bloviators free reign to scream about wasteful spending and tax increases.
In 2010, the Delaware Rethugs will seek to regain control of the House by using the same gameplan.
It’s already started. In today’s Ginger Gibson article inexplicably featured on the front page above the fold of the News-Journal’s dead trees edition, the same Dick Cathcart who cried in June that he hadn’t had time to read the budget and cried that the Governor dissed his Caucus even though his Caucus wouldn’t meet with the Guv, now cries that the Democrats are holding secret meetings about the upcoming budget. Quel horreur!!
And, lest there be any doubting of Cathcart’s veracity, Charles Bouvier de Flanders Copeland, after having just been wrapped in a fresh towel and handed a flute of Charles Krug Grand Cuvee Champagne NV (95 points, according to Wine Spectator) from Cabana Boy Garrett Wozniak, adds his two gold doubloons to the mix while waiting for his scented oils to arrive:
“I think that an increase of 2.5 percent in your government’s revenues is absolutely enough to run a government and still meet the increased demands that government is seeing,” Copeland said.
Also quoted are Charlie’s Crazy Uncle Pierre and Sussex County’s newly-minted obstructionist Senator Joe Booth.
And, this razor-sharp analysis from Master of the Obvious pundit Samuel Hoff (are he and Joe Pika the same person?):
Election platforms might have played a role in the fight over tax increases last year, Hoff said. He said moves like defeating tax increases could be something that Republicans run on in 2010.
Hoff said that as next November gets closer, it will be more common to see parties considering how legislation will make them look on Election Day.
“That’s always in the back of some folks’ minds,” Hoff said.
Ya think? It’s nice to know that revered Prof. Jim Soles has not one, but two, Pablum-spouting Conventional Wisdom Quote Machines to succeed him.
Finally, we get to what should have been the lead to the Journal story, not what was buried at the end. The Governor has met with the D’s and not the R’s because the D’s asked and the R’s didn’t. The numbers are soo-o-o-o secret that Bob Venables blabbed the operating deficit number to the reporter–$337 million. And Bob Gilligan issued a classic non-denial denial:
“Sounds like you were in the room.”
There are two stories here. One: the blatant attempt by Cathcart’s Mindless Minions to gin up controversy where there is none. They send an ‘open letter’ (do they ever send closed letters to the Governor?) to the Governor alleging skulduggery, and it becomes front page news.
Which brings me to Story #2. The News-Journal seriously mishandled this story. Since when is such an easily-disproven allegation of sinister dealings given top-of-the-front-page status?
And, to Ginger Gibson, whose reporting I generally like, why do we have to go to the jump page to find out that (a) the current working number is readily available, and (b) that the D’s asked for a meeting while the Rethugs sent an open letter instead of requesting a meeting?
Is this going to be the standard of out-of-context reportage and editing that the Journal intends to carry forward throughout 2010? One can only hope not.
Finally, two almost-on-topic sidebars:
1. Ginger Gibson published an excellent story on legislative travel awhile back. We have yet to see the followup on legislative staff travel despite reportorial assurances that the Journal is working on it. Memo to whomever is editing the paper this week: If the Journal is thwarted in its attempt to obtain such information by the General Assembly and/or its obfuscators in Legislative Council or the Controller General’s office, my Spidey Sense tells me that that is news. Publish that.
2. Finally I owe an apology to my favorite inbred purebred duPont heir: 95 Wine Spectator score and $150 price tag notwithstanding, no way that Chateau Charlie is drinking a non-vintage bubbly. He’ll simply have to pour it into his cabana boy/lapdog’s bowl for grateful slurping. It’s vintage-only for the Idle Rich.
Tags: Charles Krug Champagne, Charlie Copeland, Dick Cathcart, Gov. Markell, State Budget
I’m glad you write this up — I was going to try to later if no one did.
Apparently what the local repubs have decided to take on from their national counterparts is the whinge as a substitute for a real argument. So the way they think they’ll be elected is to discredit Jack Markell AND to not produce any real solutions. Note a couple of things:
1. Whining about not arranging a meeting does not do anything to actually offer up any solutions for fixing a budget. People who are supposed to be governing should stop pretending that complaining earns them their paycheck for the day.
2. Complaining about DEFAC when they are bringing in bad news (pretty consistent with bad news everywhere) is just plain stupid. It was the CW last year that the economic news would not be better for the state in 2010 and it was CW that the 2010 budget would be at least as bad.
3. And Copeland’s contention that DEFAC shouldn’t use the current government budget as its baseline is seriously off the mark — the only people who should be making decisions about the size of government are the electeds. DEFAC needs to work from a reasonable (and nonpolitical) baseline and that is the current budget.
So while these people could have had this meeting with a phone call, they all trot themselves out in front of Ginger Gibson and show themselves still without a single idea for actually addressing the upcoming budget problems.
Delaware State University’s politically-connected bagman Dick Cathcart
I do not necessarily argue with the characterization, but I would point out that if you look at DSU’s budget allotment by the State last year, we got cut by a larger percentage than either UD or Del Tech.
So if Cathcart is our primary hope for funds at DSU, then I think the same applies to him as applied to the Bush administration fighting a “war for oil” that resulted in $3.50/gallon gas: if you are going to do it, at least do it effectively.
As for Sam Hoff, it is important to know that when the WNJ interviews him, they are generally on the line for more than 30 minutes. Then they pull one or two lines of their choosing–not his–to represent his viewpoints. Blast him if you will when he appears on radio or TV and can speak for himself, but recognize that he does not control what the WNJ chooses to print.
I recognize what you’re saying about Hoff. Maybe my criticism is better directed at the News-Journal for virtually always having a plain vanilla quote from either Hoff, Pika, or predecessor Soles. Point taken.
As for Del-State, maybe the absence of ‘bagwoman’ Nancy Wagner from the General Assembly had a financial impact.
And, Steve, I hope you’ll agree that I am equally critical of cozy legislative relationships with UD, Del-Tech, and the like, and have written about them pretty extensively.
Indeed, DSU is a latecomer to the hire-a-legislator game. They’re sort of like Fanny Mae in that they might be guilty, but mainly they’re just playing catch-up with operators who have gamed the system for a lot longer.
Oh, UI, I wasn’t criticizing you for mentioning it–I was just pointing out that in a legislature dominated by UD alums or Lonnie George relatives that to have Dick Cathcart as “our guy” is …
Well, let’s just say it sucks to be us sometimes.
On Nancy Wagner the less said the better.
Keep your eyes peeled; I will have a significant piece in the NJ arguing the DSU case in 2-3 days.
As I’ve said before, Ginger Gibson can be easily manipulated by whoever is feeding her that day.
Some say Ginger Gibson is a skank. Don’t shoot the messenger, I’m just reporting what some say. Which brings me to my larger point. The reason the local and national media allows the GOP to run this scam is because they are as lazy as a hungover blogger on a snow day.
And so is the local GOP — I was thinking about this on my way to lunch. For a group of people who persistently make the case that the private sector behavior is to be emulated, I wonder what management they’ve ever had in the private sector that would find whining about a meeting you weren’t in acceptable behavior?
Jason, just pointing out that using “skank” to illustrate your point is female-specific. Wouldn’t it be nice if, while womens health is under attack by the Right AND the “center” men on the actual Left took the pledge to avoid female-specific pejoratives?
“I wonder what management they’ve ever had in the private sector that would find whining about a meeting you weren’t in acceptable behavior?”
Having six corporate board members meet behind closed doors making deals and critical organizational decisions while leaving four board members out would be cause for a complaint in my book.
Not guilty!
You aren’t going to get very far complaining. But board members is a very bad analogy. Nonetheless, a board member is going to pick up the damn phone and get in the room. Standing outside whining is cause to know that he isn’t up to being a board member.
“But board members is a very bad analogy.”
People elected to represent shareholders in decisionmaking is a bad analogy for people elected to represent citizens in decisionmaking?
I don’t think you and I will ever be on the same page, but I hope that day comes at some point.
Boards often have multiple committees that have varying degrees of authority to do various tasks. You have to presume that the board meeting in your analogy is always and everywhere illegitimate which IRL is seldom the case.
There is a very great deal of business that won’t get done if you wait for an invite to the meeting.
We’re getting far afield here. The point is that Cathcart can walk down the bleeping hall to speak to the Governor. Instead he sends out Open Letters to the press.