Yes, if you count carefully, it’s eight days. That’s what happens when news, if you can call it that, breaks on a Friday after I post my weekly report. Which is what happened.
1. Michael, We Hardly Knew Ye.
Or perhaps we knew ye too well. Mike Brown, the Republican placeholder in the Wilmington mayoral race, abandoned the run, citing fundraising difficulties. For those who don’t speak politics, this means that he was not able to hit up the Greenville gentry for the bucks he thought he could. Meaning he wasn’t getting ‘Norman Oliver money’. A little surprising since Charles ‘Bouvier de Flanders’ Copeland was singing Brown’s praises mere weeks ago. But not too surprising, since the R’s figure they’re better off with nobody running for mayor. As opposed to next to nothing, which is what Brown represented. Brown says he’ll seek reelection to the at-large city council seat guaranteed the Rethugs. Impact: None.
2. Well, At Least It’s A Ticket. Or Something Like One.
Looks like the Rethugs will have something like a statewide ticket after all. Chad Livengood’s Sunday News-Journal piece pieces it together. The R’s are calling it something like the ‘real people ticket’, which presumably is better than the ‘just some guys’ ticket. (Bleep, Daily Kos stole my line before I could even publish this.)
3. Councilman Kevin Kelley Announces He Will Seek Wilmington’s Mayoral Office.
You can catch his announcement here via WDEL. By all reports, he’s been out there campaigning hard and knocking on doors. I’ve long believed in community policing, and I’m pleased that Kelley has embraced this proven technique, one that neither Mayors Sills nor Baker fully supported. While his vision is a little circumscribed, that, sadly, is the weakness of the current field as a whole. He’s certainly got a shot, depending on the final makeup of the field. I was impressed that he challenged Dennis P. Williams (without mentioning him) by laying out his own policing plan. While Kelley is hardly the smoothest of speakers, he strikes me and, I think, voters as someone who sincerely loves Wilmington and wants to help it flourish. A credible candidate.
4. Kevin Wade Announces Challenge to Sen. Tom Carper
Can’t seem to decide whether he’s running as a priest or a politician. Strikes me as an unctuous phony, but YMMV. Check out these excerpts from his announcement speech and decide for yourself. BTW, I particularly enjoyed the couple on the left. Watch them kiss, and watch him immediately wipe off the saliva. I live for stuff like that.
5. House Minority Leader Greg Lavelle to Challenge Sen. Michael Katz for 4th Senatorial District Seat.
Assuming that Katz runs for reelection, this will be a highly-competitive race, and one where the challenger could be viewed as the nominal favorite. However, Katz is certainly competitive. Only a small fraction of the district was represented by Lavelle prior to redistricting. Katz has combined legislative reform with what most business people would think is a favorable approach for them. Lavelle has made a career out of helping the Catholic Church in Delaware to avoid accountability for its numerous pedophile scandals. Lavelle, however, is the party’s vice-chair, and is likely a favorite of the Billionaires on the Hill. Accordingly, I think his prospects become a bit brighter if venture capitalist Romney is the Rethugs’ presidential nominee. I, for one, will be interested to see how actively Gov. Markell gets involved. If I’m not mistaken, Markell lives in the district, and Katz has been part of the reform coalition that includes Markell supporters Karen Peterson and Dave Sokola. A fun race for political junkies.
6. Rep. Dennis E. Williams Challenged By Former Campaign Manager
After two days of reflection and feedback by insiders, I am now convinced that Sean Matthews, a 25-year-old special ed teacher from P. S. DuPont, was acting completely on his own when he decided to challenge incumbent Rep. Dennis E. Williams (D-Brandywine Hundred). He sounds like someone in a hurry to start his political career and, while there’s nothing wrong with ambition, his stated reason for entering the race (Williams publicly criticized members of his caucus for opposing casino expansion) looks more like a pretext than a raison d’etre. In fact, when I read his statement announcing his candidacy on his website, I had a hard time getting past this sentence:
For the past three years, I feel our District has been underrepresented in Dover and it’s time for a change.
So underrepresented in fact that Matthews served as Williams’ campaign manager. Which raises the question as to why he was the campaign manager for someone he believed was ‘underrepresenting’ the district? I searched in vain through Matthews’ statement to see how he reconciled this seeming incongruity, but he didn’t. So, what we have is a 25-year-old guy who has been President of the Chalfonte Civic Association for 15 minutes seeking to make a splash. While there’s nothing wrong with that, and while Williams has not always been the most diligent of legislators, Williams has voted as a progressive and championed progressive causes during his time in Dover. It remains to be seen whether Democratic primary voters are willing to throw him overboard for an ambitious tabula rasa. I’m guessing ‘no’. But it’s only January.
7. State Trooper Tosses His Big Gun Into the Ring
When you have to talk about how big your gun is, it’s not that big. From my Wednesday Post-Game/Pre-Game post:
“Finally, yet another state trooper, and one seemingly with a high Asshole Quotient, has thrown his steel-toed jackboots into the political arena. One Steve Smyk will run for a newly-created House seat in Sussex County. He met with the House R Caucus in Dover yesterday. Allow me to quote this would-be ‘Honorable’ from the linked News-Journal article:
“They’re very angry that I went to a Republican side,” Smyk said of the Democrats. “[But] I don’t fit well in Democratic skin.”
“They’re afraid of me,” he said of the Democrats.
When a cop is this full of himself, the people he is sworn to protect should be justly afraid of him. He seems to like people being afraid of him, and the guy carries a gun, after all.”
A busy and fun political week. Keep ’em comin’.