If you are the Majority Leader of the Delaware House of Representatives, it is probably best that you not reveal that you never knew that Claymont wasn’t an actual town.
Pouring over maps of Delaware for the past three months of his life, House Majority Leader Pete Schwartzkopf of Rehoboth Beach says he learned a lot about the First State as he drew new legislative district boundaries for the House of Representatives. “I’ll tell you something I found out,” Schwartzkopf told reporters during a redistricting briefing in his office. “The area of Claymont is not an incorporated area. … It’s like Hardscrabble in Sussex County. It’s not incorporated area. It’s just there.”
It doesn’t matter that I also did not know that. And I live in the Bellefonte area, just down the street. In fact, if Claymont is not an actual incorporated area, then why are there “Welcome to Claymont” signs on Philadelphia Pike and Governor Printz Boulevard? But I digress. I can afford to look idiotic, and it happens often. But if you are the Majority Leader, wouldn’t it be the wiser course to keep your mouth shut about something you just found out. Maybe I am being too hard on Pete, and perhaps this makes him look humble and folksy to his downstate readers. But I dunno.