Charlie Copeland Has His Wilmington Mayoral Candidate
Perennial loser Michael A. Brown, the only R on City Council. For those of you who may not know who he is, or may have forgotten, here is his commercial on behalf of Christine O’Donnell in 2010:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfqVp6cXA6E
For some totally insipid political ‘analysis’, usual suspect Samuel B. Hoff of Del State, posits the following:
Samuel Hoff, a political science professor at Delaware State University, said Brown has a chance, especially if the two-term councilman focuses on his credentials such as his military background, that he is a former member of the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement and his appointment to the Drug and Alcohol Residential Task Force.
“Those are going to be strong credentials in a race that obviously is concerned with the amount of violence in the city and how to alleviate it,” Hoff said.
“If I’m a consultant of Mr. Brown, I’m going to emphasize these other areas and let other folks bring out that he is a Republican,” Hoff said. “He has to come at it from his credentials generally and ability to solve the problems that are confronting the city.”
Well, yes…if Wilmington’s residents hadn’t already seen 20-plus years of Brown’s ineffectuality. (Memo to News-Journal: There are knowledgeable people who can comment on political matters for you. You might want to have more than Hoff’s phone # on your Rolodex.)
Not to mention the O’Donnell commercial.
Hope that Michael A. at least gets a decent payout from Chateau Charlie.
Tags: DE; Charles Copeland; Steve Tanzer; El Somnambulo;, Michael A. Brown; Wilmington
Brown has no neck.
Thanks for writing this up Bulo — I read this earlier and wondered who this Hoff guy was. I certainly have heard his name before, but he doesn’t know what he’s talking about pretty clearly. Brown doesn’t have much accomplishment to his name in City Council and he has been especially absent from the fight to get 24/7 Community Policing deployment in the city.
The other thing Mr. Brown’s consultant has to deal with are sexual harassment charges brought against Brown by a member of the WPD. Those charges were settled (at some expense to City of Wilmington taxpayers), but there are whispers of more like this.
If the NJ removed the Sam Hoff card from its political commentary Rolodex, all they’d have left is Joe Pika at UD.
Yeah, it WAS Jim Soles and Hoff. Pika replaced Soles. Academics are about as far removed from the day to day give-and-take of politics as humanly possible. And at least Soles could always call up his robo-buddy Carper to create the illusion of insider status.
While there are exceptions, it’s one reason why academics are (a) always available for comment; and (b) completely worthless as pundits.
And when WDEL needs some “independent” political commentary, you can always count on Loudell to dial up Rich Heffron, that nonpartisan voice of the State Chamber of Commerce. Another “expert” who always seems to be available.
So who are these knowledgeable people who are willing to provide perspective and analysis and – importantly – don’t have an ax to grind?
Pretty much everyone with any knowledge has an ax to grind, if by ‘ax to grind’, you mean an informed opinion.
You’re better off with NO punditry than by constantly going to Hoff, Soles and Pika for punditry. Hoff’s statements today demonstrate that he has no clue about Mike Brown and his chances to be elected mayor. What you got from Hoff was not an informed opinion, because it was not informed.
I don’t blame him. I blame, in this case, Esteban Parra, the reporter. He has covered Wilmington for a long time. What was the point of even asking Hoff for his opinion? Parra knows, or should know, that Hoff doesn’t have a clue on this.
That’s why I argue that reporters shouldn’t mindlessly go to go-to guys when they’ve got nothing to offer. Or, they’ve got a HUGE ax to grind–like the Caesar Rodney Institute, which sets itself up as some impartial arbiter when, in fact, it is anything but, and is heavily funded by right wing groups with HUGE axes to grind.
Might make more sense to blame the editor who probably asked for nonpartisan commentary and, after reading it, was not smart enough to recognize that it was pure BS.
However, for what it’s worth, Parra has been around Delaware a lot longer than any of his editors, and knows much more about the city and the state than any of them.
Not sure to what degree editors even play a part in the editorial process at the News-Journal any more.
I tried to place myself in the reporter’s position. I found it difficult to understand how someone who is paid to be knowledgeable about city politics would reach out to someone with next to no understanding about it to get a quote that the reporter knows is lacking in perspective.
I know Parra’s a reporter, so he really wouldn’t write that Brown has no chance, nor should he. But to find a clueless pundit who says that he does is, how does John Carney put it, ‘intellectually dishonest’.
BTW, I’m in no way angry that Brown could be ‘getting the rub’ from this. I’m all for a contest for Mayor. Just have trouble with this particular story, which illustrates several of my ongoing issues with local media.
Who is this guy???????
What’s the connection between the Brown and Copeland? Have you got info on this?
It’s in the story. Second graf:
“Brown was flanked by GOP leaders, including National Committeewoman Priscilla Rakestraw, former state Sen. Charles L. Copeland and State Committee Chairman John Sigler, as he kicked off his mayoral campaign Monday at Wilmington’s Public House restaurant.”
I’m pretty sure Brown used to be Charlie’s shoeshine boy.
The absence of Hal Haskell from the announcement confirms that Brown is a joke candidate.
Brown was elected in 2004 over Gary Linarducci (one of the good guys) for the GOP at-large position by 480 votes. Theo announced his support of Brown in decidedly unsubtle terms, to the effect that “he has a commonality with the community” or such.
That’s a pretty racist comment, skippertee.
Mr.Brown has twice threatened me with libel concerning his sexual harassment history.
Hey Mike! Truth hurts! You stop being sexually suggestive around city employees and I’ll stop calling you out on it. pig.
I meant it in the “UNDERDOG” scenario.
That *was* unnecessary, Skip. There’s plenty of real stuff to criticize.