Delaware General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show: Tues., Apr. 12, 2011
Civil unions are but a week or two away from being legalized in Delaware. SB 30 passed the Delaware State Senate by a vote of 13 Y, 6 N, and 2 absent. Rep. Pete Schwartzkopf has already announced that the bill will be considered in House committee this Wednesday, and he’s made it real clear that he has no intention of dragging his feet on this bill. Since becoming House Majority Leader, Schwartzkopf has consistently assumed the leadership mantle on equal rights issues. I know of no similar precedent for Sussex County legislators. He deserves accolades from equal rights supporters for his advocacy and full-speed-ahead approach.
There remains one important question regarding SB 30, one that I’m working to answer as I write this. And that surrounds the absences of Senators Dori Connor and Cathy Cloutier, as this is not the first time that the tandem have been mysteriously absent when most needed by those in the equal rights community who had endorsed them.
I’m preparing another piece addressing this question in detail. Suffice it to say that this song paints an accurate picture of Cloutier’s & Connor’s support for equal rights:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLPoukOg0lk[/youtube]
Elvis Costello: “Lip Service”
Allow me to pay more than lip service to the rest of Thursday’s action. While it may seem anticlimactic, the final passage of HB 19 (George) reflects a significant sea change in the General Assembly’s approach to drug-related crime. While the final product is not as strong as the initial proposal, this bill went as far as the General Assembly was prepared to go at this point. Kudos to Rep. Melanie George, whose attention to detail and focus on the ultimate goal led to the bill’s enactment. It makes sense from both policy and fiscal perspectives. Job well done.
Legislation making changes to state employees’ pension and health plans also passed, with only three no votes and one ‘not voting’. I’m tired of state employees having to sacrifice when the fatted moneyed class gets away w/o sacrifice. Whether the Governor considers HB 81 a budget reduction or a revenue raiser, he knows, or should know, that those with the most to give are being asked to sacrifice nothing. When it comes to making the wealthy pay their fair share, George Wallace was right when he said, “There ain’t a dime’s worth of difference” between the two major parties. BTW, one of the ‘no’ votes? None other than Monsignor Greg Lavelle, who felt that state employees were not being screwed enough.
Neither the Governor nor legislative leadership feel any shame over this bill, which is the exact opposite of how real Democrats should feel.
A ‘feel-good, do nothing’ package of PR releases masquerading as legislation also passed. These are the bills the Attorney General’s office ginned up in the wake of the Dr. Earl Bradley scandal. What these bills really do is provide an unwarranted fig leaf to all the people and agencies who failed the victims in the first place. If any one of them had done their jobs, Bradley would have been stopped, and stopped early.
Oh, and Rep. Atkins’ special interest bill for the ‘commercial game preserves’ passed unanimously in the House. 41 checks should be going out in the mail soon.
Here’s the entire Session Activity report for last Thursday.
Speaking of empty exercises in public relations, Tony DeLuca’s bill purportedly opening up the entire redistricting process is on today’s’s agenda. Once again, I feel compelled to quote from my favorite legislative analyst, me:
There’s, um, one other piece of business on today’s Senate Executive Committee agenda. (DeLuca’s) joke of a bill, SB 50, which would purportedly ‘ensure that the redistricting process becomes entirely open’, will be considered in DeLuca’s own Senate Executive Committee. Kids, they’ve been working on the maps for two months now. The process is close to over. This bill is nothing but a phony attempt on DeLuca’s part to perversely claim the mantle of being an ‘open government’ advocate. Do not be fooled. Anyone who was truly serious about opening up the process would have introduced legislation like this months or years ago. Pay no attention to the man behind the door. Read the bill in its entirety (it won’t take long), and you will see that this is merely a PR stunt in bill form.
HB 47 (B. Short), which gives the Department of Health & Social Services the explicit authority to investigate and inspect unsanitary or unsafe conditions in certain facilities where invasive medical procedures are performed and to give DHSS the authority to adopt regulations to strengthen oversight of facilities. I expect far less grandstanding than the R’s did in the House, especially since the promised companion bill has been introduced, and I expect the bill to pass by a comfortable margin.
Here’s the complete Senate agenda.
The House has replaced one bad bill (the aforementioned ‘legal killing in commercial game preserves on Sundays’) with another bad bill on today’s House Agenda. Rep. Gerald Brady continues his one-man speed code vigilantism with HB 66, which would ‘authorize…the Municipalities to establish a video speed enforcement program within ¼ mile of any work zone or school”. In other words, the installation of video cameras by private companies to enrich the municipalities’ coffers. In the name of public safety, of course. We’ve just had thousands of cases like these thrown out of Philly courts due to calibration errors. How do you challenge a bleeping machine in court? Can you even challenge a bleeping machine in court? At least I’ve come up with a song lyric that describes the bill:
‘Get your tix with Bill 66’.
Which, of course, brings me to yet another musical interlude:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQwb4SpNuKo&feature=related[/youtube]
Manhattan Transfer- “Route 66”
Hey, you think this is self-indulgent? Get your own column!
Also worthy of some note, but not much, are HB’s 46 and 48, the relatively thin gruel that passes for gun control legislation these days now that the NRA rules the legislative roost from its armed perches. Three NRA amendments have already been placed with HB 46, two by brainless toad ‘Lumpy’ Carson, and one from former Elsmere Police Chief John Mitchell, who should know better. The more substantive of the two is HB 48, which would authorize Delaware to ‘provide certain information to the federal National Instant Criminal Background Check System (“NICS”) database about persons prohibited from possessing firearms, including mentally ill individuals. Delaware is one of only 10 states that have provided no information on mentally ill individuals to the federal database.’
The NICS was created by Congress in 2007 in response to the tragic killings at Virginia Tech by a mentally-deranged gunman. In other words, the NRA will probably be all over this bill as well.
Gotta go. I’m on Al’s show today at 10 am on WDEL 1150 AM. Check out the spiffy new production values that ‘DEL’s ace engineering gurus have provided for me. La Cucuracha anyone?
Get your tix with Bill 66 just made my day……..
And despite how much both female Republicans personally would have liked to have signed onto the civil union bill, with R’s attached to their names, there was nothing else they could have done….
“Neither the Governor nor legislative leadership feel any shame over this bill, which is the exact opposite of how real Democrats should feel.”
To paraphrase one of my favorite commenters (me), we all have to not avoid being Democrats in our own way.
Ont he other hand, how is the Governor supposed to feel shame when our top Democrats fall all over themselves to reinforce the GOP’s tax frames?
That’s Plouffe (sp?) TWICE calling tax cuts for millionaires “tax relief” cuz… you know, taxes are onerous.
What a fucking idiot.
Blaming the governor is easy and ineffective….
Taxing the rich IS the solution….. Not overly taxing them, just rolling back to where they were taxed during the Clinton era, when the top group of wealth did pretty good… and so did everyone else….
But until the message gets out in front of those running for office, it can’t happen….
Last November, we weren’t even talking about a new tax… We were talking about a roll back of a tax cut… one on just the top 1% of the population! and the message that got out there was … they’re raising taxes…
Fix the message, so it can’t be twisted by Republicans, then…. those brave elected officials, can go after the money we used to have coming in on a regular basis.
Also speaking strictly on the state level, we are constantly negotiating with those businesses bringing in jobs… Taxes may not mean much to you or I, but saving 10 million can make the difference within which state that facility gets built…..
Isn’t it up to the Governor to effectively craft such a message? We do it here all the time, I think pretty damn effectively, but we don’t hold office.
And the ‘negotiating with businesses’ meme is the Governor’s meme. Problem is there’s no empirical evidence supporting it. Good roads, good schools, a quality workforce are what businesses look for, according to study after study. Hard to compete when you’re cutting programs and projects that would provide those exact things.
Bottom line is that this Governor and this General Assembly don’t believe that the wealthy should pay their fair share.
My problem with video speed/red light enforcement is that you are proven guilty and are responsible for the ticket, even if you were not driving the car. The red light cameras that were placed on Route 1 in Rehoboth go off when all cars are stopped and cross traffic is moving. So much for technology.
“Tired of state employees having to sacrifice”? They’re lucky they got a fucking job and ALL THOSE BENEFITS. Quit overpaying their higher ups and state cops. They’re the “fatted money class” these days. Then there will still be plenty of pay to go around for the lower end trough feeders.
Luck has nothing to do with it. They either got there on merit or they know someone in Dover.
Meanwhile, why so resentful, Del? State employee steal your wife or kick your dog? Or are you just that sort of asshole?
Its all those Jag driving teachers with their private jets and easy jobs.
Kavips wrote:
“And despite how much both female Republicans personally would have liked to have signed onto the civil union bill, with R’s attached to their names, there was nothing else they could have done….”
Kavips, fellow female R senator Liane Sorenson signed onto the bill and voted for it, so I don’t get your point. Besides,I’m not really concerned about who signed on as sponsors, my problem is that both Cloutier and Connor were not there to vote for it. While each has what might otherwise be considered a plausible excuse, the fact is that Cloutier and Connor deserted the cause at least once before when they (a) were vitally needed and (b)had given their word.
Until they publicly explain themselves, they’re guilty of paying lip service to the cause while trying to have it both ways by disappearing when the chips are down.
More on this on Al’s show at 10 today and in an upcoming piece.
Geezer: I’ve been a sole proprietor the past 26 years. When the market changes, as it has several times, there is no paycheck or safety net for me and others like me. I can’t afford the benefits they get for cheap by being in such a large group and having a team of pros negotiate for them. So yes, I am a little resentful when they cry while others suffer worse in bad times. Meanwhile it’s the fat cats on top of the state government that waste so much that could be there for the lesser employees.
sounds like you need to get a job in state government.
Del: Then you do have my sympathy. I actually agree with you that changes are needed to pension formulas, particularly for state police, and even more so for state legislators. But if you don’t mind some unsolicited advice, that point needs to be made dispassionately if you hope to overcome the Wisconsin backlash.
Two family members who are state employees and making far, far less than six figures (if you added their salaries together it wouldn’t reach $100,000) went 2 or 3 years without a raise, then had their pay cut 5% a few years ago. The pay cut was restored, and I think they are up for a 2% raise this year. So over the last 5 years, their net pay has gone up some 2%. Hardly the moneyed class.
Trough feeders? A bit harsh, no? These are people who needed jobs, applied for them and were hired. It just happened to be for the state. Should they apologize because this is who hired them?
So that there be no mistake about Cloutier as we’ve had to remove some outing e-mails. Yes, I get that burials in the northeast are delayed by weather, and that Cathy said that she would not be in session due to the burial of her father, who passed away in January.
But the legislative schedule is published in advance of session even convening in January. Cloutier knew in advance what the schedule was. There would have been no problem scheduling the burial for an off-time.
Cloutier only announced AFTER Dave Sokola placed SB 30 on the agenda that she would miss the Thursday session and that benchmark vote, not before. And, in fact, her father was not buried on a session day, but Cloutier missed that key April 7 session anyway.
You could almost give her a pass on this…IF she hadn’t disappeared on the petition to release HS 1/HB 36, which she had pledged to sign back in 2006. 11 senators, the number needed to petition a bill out of committee, had pledged to sign the petition. However, on the day that they were to sign, Cloutier and Connor both disappeared, leaving the petition two votes shy. As a result of Cloutier and Connor reneging on their promise to equal rights supporters, the Senate didn’t consider this legislation until after Thurman Adams died, b/c he kept it locked up in a hostile committee. So, Cloutier and Connor broke their promises to the community at least twice, and in the case of anti-discrimination legislation, their broken promises resulted in a several years’ delay on ending discrimination based on sexual orientation.
That community should demand real answers from them rather than faux sincerity. And they should think long and hard about endorsing them in the future. They have been absent when most needed.
There comes a point when conspiratorially telling everyone that you’re really on their side must be backed up with action. Cloutier is very adept at convincing people of her sincerity. However, her actions demonstrate that she’s just posturing to curry undeserved political support. It’s about time someone called her on it, which is what I’m doing.
SHE has to answer for this, not her legions of apologists. If she wants to write a rebuttal, I welcome her posting a DL column in unfettered fashion. As long as she answers the specific questions about both pieces of legislation.
El Som, you had to pull the Elvis card?!? Fantastic. Ever hear Blur do “Oliver’s Army”? Kind of monotone, but their cover of Rod Stewart’s “Maggie May” is slightly industrial.
The NRA showed the Gov who rules the House today.
Big men with their big guns….
Haha…..Got that shit right!
seriously, how can you NOT mock the gun humpers….
we get it. you’re ready to fight against the evil illegal-immigrant-terrorist-secular-islamo-fascist-socialist-Gumment.. you’re so brave and powerful.
The NRA showed the Gov who rules the House today.
I got a robocall yesterday from somebody urging me to call my rep to support Markell’s gun bill.
I think there was a prolonged smile on my face but I’m not sure.
I did make the call though.
Not to point out the obvious, but look what is getting done in the absence of Adams, Vaughn and Cook. All Democrats. (Sigh.) Maybe we can get an environmental bill passed.