No-Show Bonini Getting Desperate

Filed in Delaware by on November 1, 2010

Colin “No-Show” Bonini must be getting desperate. Apparently he has sent a letter to state employees making some false claims about Chip Flowers (which is nothing new for Bonono). One of these claims is that Flowers will, if elected, not pay vendors or state employees based on his personal opinion. This has some state employees thinking that Flowers will play politics with their paychecks.

The fact is that Bonini is the one grandstanding on issuing checks.

Colin Bonini on Accountability:
Accountability follows transparency. As far as I’m concerned, every dollar that our state government spends should be tracked and every Delawarean should be able to clearly see where that money is going, why it’s going there and what happens to it when it gets there. You can’t just put the checks online. You need to go a step further. Show the people the contracts, show people the results of the spending. I am going to make sure that every Delawarean knows where every single penny of their money is going. Once they realize that, they’ll start to pressure my colleagues and the Governor to stop wasting the money. In addition, I sign every check and every bond. If I see a check or a bond that I think is suspicious or is a waste of money, I’m going to hold a press conference that day and let every Delawarean know about it. The nonsense that they’re doing at midnight, buying golf courses and marinas, they’re not going to do that when they know that at 8am the next morning, I’m going to hold a press conference and tell all of Delaware about it. We can do better. We must do better. And I need your help to show Delaware there’s a better way.

It seems that Colin, while forgetting to attend meetings of the Sunset Committee, has also forgotten about something that is on his own campaign site. We all know that No-Show wants to cut the size of state government, so what’s to stop him if he thinks a state employee doesn’t deserve his or her check some day?

Here’s the letter that No-Show sent:Bonini Letter

Bonini also is claiming that Chip is “supported by politicians who supported the pay cut to state employees,” while he opposed the pay cut to state employees. I don’t understand the big deal here. Chip is supported by Democratic office holders. And Bonini is supported by GOP officeholders. So is No-Show saying that Chip should disavow Democratic support? Puleeze!

Technically, I guess, No-Show voted against the state employees’ pay cut when he voted against the budget in June 2009, as did his fellow GOP senators. But then he voted against the budget this past June, meaning he opposed restoring the pay that was cut to state employees. Hey Colin, you can’t have it both ways. Talk about a flip-flop. But the most important question is – how did Bonini get a hold of the private, confidential mailing addresses of state employees? This seems to me that he illegally accessed a state government database for political purposes.

Pulling last minute dirty tricks is nothing new for Bonini. In 2002, he was suspected of being involved in fake robocalls that were supposedly coming from one of his Democratic opponents. The fake calls came during the Democratic primary and damaged the leading Democrat’s credibility, as they were being made late at night and 2-3 times a night to the same voters. And Chip has been victimized this year by fake robocalls that occurred during the primary. Same scenario. Just seems too coincidental.

Colin, you have no ethics. You’ve taken taxpayer money while shirking your responsibilities as a state senator. You’ve lied about your opponent’s platform. You cannot be trusted to tell the truth. Hell, you couldn’t even find your way out of downtown Rehoboth Beach after the Sea Witch parade!

My hope is that this all comes back to bite you in the ass on Tuesday. I’ll be doing my part to make sure it does.

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A rabble-rousing bureaucrat living in Sussex County

Comments (31)

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  1. mediawatch says:

    MJ,
    You forgot to mention Colin’s laziness too.
    From his letter: “It was on his website and he has talked about it at numerous public assemblies.”
    But he’s too lazy to offer any proof … or maybe that’s because his “proof” is non-existent.

    Colin, how about telling people where you found the damaging language on Chip’s website — because nobody else has seen it — or when he made these comments — because nobody else has heard them, and if you had heard them before you’d think you’d have been smart enough to challenge him right then and there.

  2. anon says:

    How does a candidate legally go about getting a list of state employee’s home addresses?

  3. anonone says:

    It seems to me that whether or not Bonini wins or loses, the AG needs to be investigating this.

  4. Mongo says:

    Mongo is a state employee (on vacation today), and did not get a letter from Colin.

  5. To Get My Vote says:

    There is no “legal” way to obtain this information for political use. Bonini is a liar and a fraud tried and true. It’s sad to see the lengths people will go to in order to get into an office. He is only doing this because has no message or platform or anything else going for him for that matter. It’s actually pretty sick!

  6. anon says:

    There is no “legal” way to obtain this information for political use.

    Some of it can probably be scraped from public records. I guess the way a smear campaign works is that you only need to send it to part of the group to get the rumor going.

  7. To Get My Vote says:

    Public records do not tell which persons are state workers.

  8. anon says:

    Public records do not tell which persons are state workers.

    You are required to disclose your employer and home address when making a campaign contribution. These are retrievable from public databases.

    The News Journal publishes a list of contributor home addresses without employer data, but this can be obtained by cross-referencing with the public directory of state employees.

    So yes, much of the information is public.

  9. DelDem says:

    Not surprising at all. We’ve come to expect these type of tactics from Bonini for nearly a decade now. I always thought he was more clown than public servant anyway, but I wonder what jokes he’ll tell when the A.G.’s office comes a calling.

  10. To Get My Vote says:

    If you believe bonini cross-referenced anything I have some land to sell you in the swamp. After all the bs he has pulled, you couldn’t pay me to believe he has done anything on the up and up.

  11. mediawatch says:

    There are two essential components to cross-referencing:
    1.being able to think of it
    2. accessing the database and setting up your software to make the matches.
    I’ve got my doubts about Bonini, but I’m willing to concede that he may have someone on his staff with the brains to do this.
    However, I’m still not buying his claim that list of state employees was legally obtained.
    (He’s as likely to have proof of that as he is to have proof of the claims he made in his letter.)

  12. phil says:

    land in the swamp worked out extremely well for people who bought in and around what is now DC.

  13. Markymark says:

    Bonini is a fraud and Delawareans should vote for Flowers. I can’t stand people who lie to get ahead.

  14. heragain says:

    Well, not exactly, Phil. Even establishing the district took some fancy negotiating with landowners who didn’t want to sell. And, of course, it didn’t do the native American people any good.

  15. Dana Garrett says:

    If he did access state records to obtain state employees’ home addresses, I’d bet that is illegal.

    Are we sure that he sent this letter to the homes of state employees? Or is this merely something he posted on his website?

  16. CR-why? says:

    Maybe he matched the voter file up against the Caesar Rodney website DelawareSpends.com to get addresses?

    CRI just emailed out their endorsement of an early retirement plan to save money, which is Bonini’s idea.

    Cahoots?

  17. To Get My Vote says:

    We are sure he sent them to the homes of state employees.

  18. Kneejerk Libby says:

    I’m a state employee, and I received it in the mail at my home address. My bet’s on cross-referencing from the delawarespends.com database as well.

  19. anon says:

    CRI would certainly have the resources to assemble a list of state employee home addresses from public data.

  20. Jason330 says:

    It doesn’t seen that state employees would be a very productive demographic for Bonini to go after. (legalities aside.)

  21. mediawatch says:

    Headline on this item is dead-on: Bonini a no-show for debate this afternoon at UD Academy of Lifelong Learning. Can’t show up to defend his phony statements.

  22. Dana Garrett says:

    I don’t know how CRI could access the addresses of state employees. What would give them the right to access that information, publish it, and share it w/ a political candidate. Isn’t that illegal for CRI to do all that?

  23. Publius says:

    Are you guys really so desparate here that you’ve resorted to drudging up completely unsubtantiated rumors about robocalls that were made 8 years ago?

    As to the “no show” aspect that you guys love to trumpet, you do the facts behind the story — his mother was gravely ill and then passed away — so maybe, just maybe, Colin was a little more focused
    on more important things.

    http://www.delawarepolitics.net/the-truth-about-colin-bonini/

    Maybe in hindsight he should have dropped off the committees, or refused the money after the fact, but, except for his mother’s illness and passing, his attendance has otherwise been pretty good. So, kick a guy when he’s down. That’s what I love about you guys here.

  24. anon says:

    Bonini a no-show at the Academy of Lifelong Learning. Make your own joke.

  25. liberalgeek says:

    Publius – Bonini doesn’t get to call himself a watchdog for waste, fraud and abuse and a screamer of government inefficiency, when he has had a job that would allow him to perform those very jobs and he failed to show up. There are plenty of people that go about their day jobs while family are sick and/or dying.

    I don’t have any problem with Bonini blowing off his education or volunteer work for such things. But what we are talking about is HIS JOB. He can say all he wants about it being “your money” but when he had a real opportunity to save the taxpayers money, he blew off the meetings. For years! Not a few months, a few years.

    If he couldn’t have done both jobs (good son and elected legislator), at least reasonably well, he should have quit. That he didn’t, says a lot. It also bears pointing out that his supporters aren’t doing it out of some understanding of what Colin has done to improve any of the misspending of government, but because he likes to TALK about doing it.

    Bottom line, every opportunity that Bonini has had to fix what ails this State has been squandered. And every person that has worked to fund the essential services of the state has had Bonini vote against their budget every year.

  26. pandora says:

    his mother was gravely ill and then passed away — so maybe, just maybe, Colin was a little more focused
    on more important things.

    I don’t know anyone who can not show for work and get paid while caring for a loved one. I’d love for that to be the case, but it’s not.

    Bonini’s actions were quite a luxury – at taxpayer expense.

  27. mediawatch says:

    Hey, Pub, maybe you guys think making robocalls in the middle of the night is no big deal, so let’s talk about your man’s committee attendance.
    If he’s got the legitimate explanation that you offer for him, how come he wasn’t swift enough to think of it when quizzed by the news media or at any public appearance?
    As for the latest blather about what he claims to have seen on Chip’s website or heard at joint appearances, even your idol, Christine O’Donnell, attempts to support her dubious claims with footnotes in her ads and mailings. Bonini can’t document his claims because he has no evidence.

  28. How long was his mother gravely ill?

    The six consecutive years his attendance at Joint Sunset Committee was next to non-existent?

    Don’t think Redd Foxx was that gravely ill on Sanford & Sons.

  29. To Get My Vote says:

    The excuses being put forth for this guy are priceless. Beyond just being a pure scumbag with the dirty politics, he has not done his job period. I really hope voters don’t fall for this nut’s shenanigans.

  30. anon says:

    Has Flowers determined if he will take $1.00 for State Treasurer while keeping his bankster law firm open? Humm!

  31. liberalgeek says:

    bankster… As I recall, a banned commenter used to use the same term, only she used it for Geithner, et al. Hmmmm…