One person. One person with power he does not deserve. One person who has continuously thumbed his nose at the public’s right-to-know. Tony DeLuca. Remember the name.
That one person, on his own, and in defiance of legislators from both parties, destroyed the hopes and dreams of hundreds of students who need scholarship assistance to attend Delaware State University. Why? DeLuca, per usual, was ‘unavailable for comment’.
First, read the stunning story in today’s News-Journal.
As chronicled in my Live Blog on Wednesday, the House passed HB 399 relatively early on Wednesday evening. The House broke for Caucus immediately thereafter and, according to the News-Journal:
… at about 10 p.m. Wednesday, House Democrats sent the Senate its “must list,” a document each chamber sends to the other to request votes on bills needed before the close of the session. It contained one bill, the Inspire Scholarship (HB 399).
The money had already been allocated for the program. All that was needed for students to receive assistance in time for the fall semester was the passage of the enabling legislation, HB 399. The President Pro-Tempore had merely to allow the bill to be considered. He and he alone refused to do so. This resulted in…well, let’s let the News-Journal tell the story:
It became clear at 1:30 a.m. Thursday that there was a problem with the legislation. Speaker Bob Gilligan left the House chamber and walked over to the Senate chamber, where lawmakers worked on routine bills. The House speaker’s unusual presence in the Senate chamber caused whispers among staffers as Gilligan stood at DeLuca’s desk. The two then walked into a back room.Five minutes later, Gilligan emerged and stormed across the building, ripping open the House chamber doors and returning to his seat. At 1:46 a.m., the Senate adjourned for the year. Sen. Patricia Blevins, D-Elsmere, said it was too late to stick around and debate the bill. “We’re tired,” Blevins said shortly after adjournment.
“We’re tired.” With those words, Sen. Blevins earns herself a Profiles in Courage Award. She and her colleagues are tired, so screw the 140 students who were counting on the scholarship money for this fall.
But this is about Tony DeLuca. For those of you unfamiliar with him, he was a union electrician hand-picked by then-President Pro-Tempore Tom Sharp in 1994 to run for the Senate seat vacated by the retirement of Sen. Roger Martin. He put his chief political consigliere, Mark Brainard, in charge of keeping the seat in Democratic hands. But, the Golden Boy failed. The profoundly-undistinguished Donna Reed won the seat by a thin margin, 3614-3328.
Four years later, DeLuca edged Reed in the rematch, 3413-3160.
In addition, what does this ‘union electrician’ do today? Why, he’s the “Administrator for the Office of Labor Enforcement”, a position he got courtesy of Tom Sharp and Mark Brainard.
The same Tom Sharp who recruited DeLuca to run. The same Tom Sharp to whom Mark Brainard and Ruth Ann Minner gave the Secretary of Labor position, a no-show golden parachute if there ever was one. The same Mark Brainard, who, along with Ruth Ann Minner, pushed the Senate Caucus behind the scenes in 2002 to support Thurman Adams and Tony DeLuca for leadership over a group of reform Dem Senators. The same Mark Brainard who is in line to replace Lonnie George as President of Del-Tech, a competitor for education $$’s with Delaware State University.
Oh, and keep in mind that, when the SEED Scholarship Program was established, the Delaware General Assembly notably excluded Del-State from the program, making the $$’s available only to the University of Delaware, which isn’t even a state institution, and, of course, Del-Tech.
Governor Jack Markell must not let this stand. Sometimes you just have to stand up for what’s right. Forget about fraying working relationships with the Senate. Governor Markell MUST call the Senate back into session to consider HB 399.
And while the Senate’s in session, they should do one more thing. They can and should strip Tony DeLuca of his position as President Pro-Tempore. He has demonstrated through this arbitrary, capricious, and mean-spirited decision, that he is unfit for leadership.
And maybe the News-Journal might want to investigate how DeLuca got and has kept his job with the Department of Labor. After all, his job title makes you wonder what he is enforcing and what he isn’t enforcing.
Here’s what IS clear: He will make his own rules until somebody in power decides they’ve had enough.
Enough already.