Good Old Time in Sussex County
Last night was the annual Sussex County Democrats Spring Dinner, held once again at the CHEER Center in Georgetown. A sell-out crowd of 200 people (and this is an off year) gathered for some good food (catered by Georgia House) and live and silent auctions. The main speaker was Lt. Governor Matt Denn, who really inspired the crowd with his talk about how Democrats are the responsible party when it comes to running this state and instead of the Republican slash and burn methods of dealing with tight budgets, how he and Governor Jack Markell have made difficult, but sensible cuts.
Senator Tom Carper gave another of his rah-rah speeches and Congressman John Carney also gave a short talk on his two months in office and how that he prefers the way Democratic and Republican elected officials here talk to each other (most times) to solve problems instead of the DC-version of talking at each other to score political points.
State Treasurer Chip Flowers was there (he bought a table) and got a rousing round of applause when he was introduced. Sussex Democrats made the difference for Chip in the primary and he again told people how thankful he was to them for their support.
KWS was there (sans Elliott Jacobson) but wasn’t allowed to speak. Elliott wouldn’t have liked the dinner anyway because it wasn’t help yourself (he knows how to pile on a plate of food, especially when he’s not paying for it). I managed to avoid having to talk to her (cell phones are a great way to avoid having to be phony). I don’t like her and I’d rather eat nails than have to even shake her hand. Deputy Insurance Commissioner Gene Reed was there, but he sat with his sister, Cheryl Fruchtman, and not KWS.
It was interesting to see Rep. Bryon Short, chair of the Economic Development/Banking/Insurance/Commerce Committee. Was he there to gauge support for a possible primary against KWS next year? And rumor has it that there are a couple of other Dems thinking about running against her in the primary.
The one rumor that had me in stitches was that Chrissie Pooh and the Fatman from WGMD are shopping around a talk show to be syndicated nationwide. They did a bit not long ago on WGMD and thought they were good enough to go national. Give me a break. Who in the hell would want to listen to a grifter-witch and a 325-pound racist blowhard for hours on end, 5 days a week? We all know that Curley hates being down here in Sussex (he was run out of Syracuse for his racist and homophobic rants on WFBL) and was angling to be Urkel’s press spokesman if he had beaten John Carney. While we’d love to be rid of this slime bag, bad behavior should not be rewarded.
Tags: Delaware Democrats, Sussex County
the 2-3 new districts in the beach area are going to make the fatman’s head explode. unfortunately, i think having even more progressives to rail against may be exactly what he really wants.
The report on the Sussex Democratic dinner is basically accurate, but not quite.
Unlike other Democratic functions in this state, Karen Weldin Stewart was introduced, as were all elected Dems-even Robert Venables would have been introduced if he were to remember he is a Democrat, voted like one, and showed up. Not all officials, even state-wide, were to speak. My partner, John Workman, headed the dinner committee. I was the emcee. Matt Denn was the keynote speaker. Our two federal officeholders, out of courtesy, were asked to give brief remarks ( Chris Coons was speaking at the HRC dinner in Philly). The plan always was to keep down the number of speakers. Not only was Karen not asked to speak, but neither was Chip Flower, nor Beau Biden, who was scheduled to attend but stayed in Wilmington because his father was home.
Elliott Jacobsen would have been allowed to have seconds if he had been there. He was not there because KWS knew he was not welcome.
Bryon Short, and Darryl Scott (D-31st) were there not because either is contemplating a run for Insurance Commissioner, but out of friendship for some on the dinner committee and because progressive Democrats in Sussex recognize their support for our issues and have supported their campaigns. Darryl and Bryon are friends of mine and both were instrumental in pushing through last year consumer friendly legislation that I wrote when I was at the Insurance Department-espcially the law that prohibits health insurance and long-term care insurance companies from cancelling policies after they had been issued, except for non-payment of premiums or fraud/material misprepresentation.
For those who do not know, I left the Insurance Department in January.
Mitch Crane
former Regulatory Specialist and acting Director of Consumer Services
Department of Insurance
It was a great event, and Mongo was heartened to see the room filled with fellow Democrats.
But, there is a but.
These big fancy dinners that serve as fundraisers can cost a lot of money. Sometimes, the majority of the money raised goes to caterers, and venue rental.
Mongo attends too many organ-themed balls, such as the heart ball, the liver ball, the prostate ball, etc. One such event packed the Bay Center. Hundred bucks a tickets, tables of silent auction items — the shindig looked like a grand slam. But they barely broke even. In less polite society, one would say that nut was too big.
From now on, if I buy a ticket to such an event, Mongo wants to know that at least half of the ticket price is going to the cause.
Was that the case last weekend?
Mongo, how did I miss you? I saw your ox parked out front.
The Testicle Ball?
MJ, My ox was not feeling well, so Mongo had to drive wife’s Camry.
We, on the other end of the political spectrum, had our own git-together on my farm outside Gumboro near Great Cypress Swamp.
It was pot-luck and sure as hell them Hitler worshippin’ skin-heads and Nazi symps all brought either three bean salad, baked beans or macaroni and cheese.
Thank the good lord the 9/12 patriots are meat-eaters, though I was askeered to ask what were in the stew.
There were some speakers,but, truth be told, I was into the moonshine early and ended up in the corn crib passed out with my coon-dog.
I do recall the sheriff showin’ up, walkin’ around in his uniform and drinking in all the adulation cummin’ his way.He sure is friendly!
Pattin’ the backs and butts of all his fellow travelers, you know, like manly football players do?
Anyway,a good time was had by all.
I reckon.
It sounds like you had a wonderful event. Congratulations to John on a great job.
In response to Mongo’s question on dinner costs and profits, the dinner price was $40. Dinner costs was $20/ticket. Profit from tcikets was 50%. In addition, there was an ad book that was printed in house. That ad book brought in more than the dinner did. Finally there were live and silent auctions.
The money raised is going to fund the county party’s plans to re-build and prepare for 2012.
Yeesh! So much of MJ’s energy was spent on inventing stupid things to say about KWS how did he end up having any kind of fun….or is that how y’all have fun around here. N’uff said.
I understand that the real reason Elliott isn’t making the rounds with the IC is that Karen has a certain Dr. Nick Biasotto all to herself these days. Cute couple! Karen and Nick sat between Byron Short and Pete Schwartzkopf and I don’t believe they were exactly tossing daggers all night. Nick is great person and so is Karen – if anyone would give her half a chance, I’m sure you’d agree.
Mitch will attest that she’s a pretty damn good IC too. She brought a few staffers to the CLNCC meeting last week and left everyone quite sure we are in good hands and that is saying something. The CLNCC is a tough crowd.
Nancy, you’re so full of hot air you could fill a few Goodyear blimps. I don’t like KWS, ’nuff said. She’s the Democrats version of COD, in my opinion (except I don’t think she dabbled in witchcraft, but we do know that she sold her soul to Harris McDowell to win the primary in 2008). And I seriously doubt that Mitch would say that about her.
BTW – Happy Birthday, Mitch.
Is that the same Dr. Nick who received his degree from the Pep Boys, week-end, up-stairs medical school as seen on the Simpson’s?
He treats my family and my critters.
Bats around .300, but accepts chickens,eggs or marsh rabbit meats in lieu of cash money.
Another explaination is Elliott is romantically involved with Karen Hartley-Nagle who is a high-maintainance person who is probabaly not wanted at these Dem events. Even more interesting is Elliott is KHN’s boss at the Insurance Department! Go figure!
Great job Mitch on keeping the overhead low enough to raise some money for the party. It’s a tough feat, and your team did it. It was such a classy evening that Mongo was worried about the costs.
Ditto on Mitch but also “big” thank you to John Workman for making the event run smoothly .Only bummer of evening was Carper . His performance was painful . He has got to know his time is up . Again thanks to Mitch and John for turning this event around and making excellent money .