Delaware Political Weekly: Jan. 28-Feb. 3, 2012
1. Musical Chairs In Wilmington
Two new positions are open, but the names are old and…shopworn. With City Councilman Charles Potter running for Dennis P. Williams’ RD 1 seat, guess who has reemerged to seek Potter’s seat? I’ll give you a hint. He was once suspended from practicing law in the State of Delaware for 18 months. That’s right. Sam Guy. He’s ba-a-a-ck. Already filed for election. You may not want to eat before you go to his website. Not sure what my favorite excerpt is from the site, although I’m kinda partial to this one:
He is referred to by some as “JusticeDE” and “Governor” in recognition of his statewide efforts in support of justice, fairness, and equal opportunity, thus leading to the receipt of numerous awards.
(Parenthetical Aside: I am referred to by some as “John Holmes’ Bigger Brother”. Uh, except without that AIDS thingy.)
I remember Guy’s disastrous non-foray into redistricting when he promised that he would lead an effort to have the courts overturn Wayne Smith’s Picassoesque gerrymander of the State House of Representatives in 2002, and then proceeded to do…nothing. I also remember this. My favorite excerpt from this hearing for Guy’s reinstatement to the practice of law:
Initially we deemed it appropriate that the Petitioner be suspended for seven months. We note that he has, in fact, remained suspended for almost eighteen months. Almost all of the delay during the reinstatement process can be attributed to the Petitioner’s (Guy’s) own conduct.
There’s still time. Here’s hoping that someone, you know, good, will run for this seat.
In a surprise to me, City Council President Norman Griffiths announced that he would not seek reelection, nor would he seek election to any other office this cycle. For about 15 seconds, I was a kid again, excitedly wondering what new figure might emerge on Wilmington’s political landscape. And then, and then…this guy said that he was running. Look, I’ve got nothing against Theo Gregory, but, after 24 years on Council, what new thinking could he possibly bring to the table?
2. Wilmington Mayoral Town Hall Meeting
Memo to WDEL: I tried to find the link to your broadcast, but could not. I’d love to provide the link if it’s available…
I was not at the debate. However, I was at WDEL when the news department was cutting the sound bites for use. Rep. Dennis P. Williams appears to be running a traditional law and order campaign a la Frank Rizzo or Rudy Giuliani. Councilman Kevin Kelley is running a neighborhood-oriented campaign, and sounds like he can be a viable candidate. I was most surprised at the not-ready-for-prime-time performance of Bill Montgomery, Mayor Baker’s Chief of Staff. I like Bill Montgomery, I like him a lot. But he is (perhaps fatally as a candidate) burdened by the Baker legacy. If there is one thing that people don’t like about Mayor Baker, it’s his perceived arrogance. I thought that this was where Montgomery would strike out on his own. However, he criticized others for not recognizing the ‘slog’, his word, that’s required for the job. My initial response was, if you’ve been slogging for 11 years and this is as far as you’ve gotten, perhaps what’s needed is a different slogger altogether. The closest analogy I can conjure up for the spot that Montgomery finds himself in is that he’s Hubert Humphrey to Baker’s Lyndon Baines Johnson. And, to state the obvious, Humphrey was an immensely-gifted politician. Montgomery has yet to demonstrate that. The sum, part and parcel constituency for Rev. Derrick Johnson’s campaign appears to be the members of his congregation who papered the house. Bob Marshall was not there. And Scott Spencer was.
3. Andy Staton Running for Sussex County Senate Seat
Democrat Andy Staton is running full out for the new Sussex County State Senate District. With close-to-unanimous support from local and statewide Democratic leaders, and very strong support from House Majority Leader Pete Schwartzkopf, Staton has a great chance to be elected this year. Especially since R’s Glen Urquhart and Ernesto Lopez are involved in an R primary. While the two R’s have each promised to support each other, a bitter primary will do them no good. And it’s hard to imagine Urquhart running a ‘feel’-good’ primary against another R. Regardless, this is very important for the D’s. If they win this seat, it will effectively ensure continued D control of the State Senate. He’s already raised $20K, and I see no problem with him raising big bucks for this race.
4. Filing(s)
In addition to the Sam Guy filing, which actually took place last week, the only new candidate to file is Rep. Stephanie T. Bolden for the 2nd Representative District. You will recall that Bolden ended the Al/Hazel Plant dynasty by challenging Hazel Plant in a 2010 primary, and now appears firmly entrenched. The Plants had served in the House for 34 years, 24 for Al and 10 for Hazel.
BTW, The reason why there are so few filings is that, other than the Democratic Party in New Castle County, the county parties have yet to establish their filing fees. Without filing fees, there can be no filings.
Political Trivia: OK, political junkies, this should be an easy one. The Plant Dynasty was interrupted briefly in the 1990’s by a one-term state rep. Name that one-hit wonder.
Well, that’s it for this week. What did I miss?
Tags: Charles Potter, Delaware; Andrew Staton, Delaware; Bill Montgomery, Delaware; Kevin Kelley, Delaware; Norman Griffiths; Theo Gregory; Dennis P. Williams, Delaware; Rev. Derrick Johnson, Delaware; Sam Guy, Delaware; Stephanie Bolden, Delaware; Steve Tanzer; El Somnambulo;
Sam Guy
Great guess, but INcorrect!
Cassandra had a great rundown on the Mayoral Town Hall Meeting.
This is going to be an interesting race. Bill Montgomery has a lot of support in Midtown Brandywine and surrounding neighborhoods. Not sure how that will play out, other than a lot of his support comes from neighborhoods that tend to have high voter turnout.
Who knows, I think most city residents are waiting to hear more from all the candidates. I’m also not sensing strong negative feelings against most candidates. This looks like it’s coming down to issues. (Yes, personalities will play a part, but so far city residents seem to be listening to everyone’s ideas.)
I’m leaning towards Kelley. I like neighborhood campaigns!
Rouark Moore
The surprise about Sam Guy is that he has filed for the 1st. He was a long-time resident of the 4th (and persistently running there)and people wonder if he actually lives in the 1st.
Griffiths standing down isn’t much of a surprise, really. He was conspicuously having a tough time deciding whether he wanted to run for mayor and if you listen to him, he has sounded that he was ready for other priorities. Plus I don’t think he wanted another race against Theo Gregory. There is some effort to try to convince one or two others to get in this. Personally, I can’t imagine why anyone would vote for a guy who presided over the failure of Moyer Academy.
The elder Plant son was making lots of noise about running against Stephanie, although I haven’t heard anything recently. We won’t really know whether they’ve stood down here until the day after the filing date.
Thanks, P! There are some other impressions in that discussion thread and am interested in what other watchers are thinking…..
Roarke Moore it is! Give that man a gold star. Beat Al Plant by 35 votes in 1990 (sombrero tip to Politics By the Numbers’ John Tobin), and lost in 1992:
http://politicsbythenumbersmostlydelaware.blogspot.com/2009/09/possible-implications-for-2012.html
What I remember about Roarke Moore is that, by demeanor, he was perhaps the whitest black man I ever met. How white? He made Penrose Hollins seem like Snoop Dogg by comparison. A dapper dresser, sporting a bow tie, and wearing glasses that screamed, “I’m smarter than you are”, Moore was one of the first candidates rolled out by Carper Cryogenics. Like Carper, he appeared to lack an empathy gene. For all his faults, Al Plant genuinely cared about his constituents. Which is why Moore was one and done. I’d love to know what he’s doing now. Can anybody help on that?
How may ways are there to spell Rorke? He worked for DSHA for a good while. I always thought of him as the black Ed Freel:)
Freel and Carper were behind his candidacy. Perhaps Al was getting $$’s from Danny Rappa or something. As you recall, Rappa primaried Carper, I think, twice. This could’ve been payback.
Looks like he might’ve worked at Del-Tech for awhile, according to my Google search. That’d be a shock. Not. But he’s not on the current faculty roster.
Cassandra,
You did vote for the man/administration who presided over the failure of Moyer and you are about to do it again.
Al O was not a Rappa protege. He pissed TC off because he could not be controlled. For all his flaws Al was true to his roots and his UAW training I remind you that the Frawley gang hated him almost as much. That’s 2 for Al:)
Rourke Moore works at the Department of Insurance through Kelly Services. That means he gets a low hourly wage and no benefits. At least he is not a single mother as are the other “Kellys” at the DOI. I had the pleasure of working with him and he assisted me in my Regulatory Specialist position. He handled the Defensive Driving Program when I took the unpaid leave of absence to run the coordinated campaign office in Sussex in the fall of 2010. He did an excellent job. Rourke is not only a gentleman, but he is also extremely bright and a quick learner. He was certified to replace me as Regulatory Specialist after I left in January 2011, but lost the position to someone who the current commissioner knew. Mr. Moore is currently housed in the Captive Bureau-the lowest paid person there and one who actually shows up for work.
Interesting, I note the accusation of no show employees. When can we expect a formal complaint?
I’ve never voted for Theo Gregory. And spare me the conspiracy theory. He’d still be running that school if he knew what he was doing.
At least he is not a single mother as are the other “Kellys” at the DOI.
What does this mean?
JSG:
I think Caeser Rodney Institutedid a good job on that already. Here is just one, in case you forgot: Steve Kinion. Mr. Kinion was hired by the current commissioner to be her deputy in January 2009. When OMB balked at paying him nearly $200,000 a year, the head of the Captive Bureau lost his job ( that person is now the Insurance Commissioner in Washington, DC) and Mr.Kinion was “contracted” to replace him. He pulls down about $200,000 a year now though he is a senior partner in an Illinois law firm. He used to come into Delaware once a week. He now comes in hardly at all and participates in “conference calls”. Though he is extremely talented, he gets paid more than the Governor!
JSG,
Have you read the Caesar Rodney Institute’s report on the DOI?
http://criblog.wordpress.com/2010/03/30/delaware-dept-of-insurance-not-in-the-public-interest/
Is Steve Kinion, who Delaware taxpayers pay nearly a quarter million dollars a year, still commuting from Illinois?
“At least he is not a single mother as are the other “Kellys” at the DOI.”
Maybe it’s a reference to the fact that the Insurance Commissioner’s Office hires temps through Kelly Services to fill jobs so they don’t show up on an employee roster. It’s a good way to get your unqualified cronies into state jobs that they would never get going through the standard application procedure. It’s also a good way to get around hiring freezes and mandates from the state to curb hiring.
I’m just wondering why he singled out single mothers.
What I “singled out” is the fact that there are women who are single mothers who work at the DOI every day of the week frpm 8-4:40 as “Kellys” and work as hard as merit employees. These women are paid very little and have no health insurance or other benefits. All the while, there are full-time postions they could fill. They deserve the right to apply for these positions and these positions should be posted.
The accusation was NO SHOW JOBS! The ONLY tine this blog ever gave any credibility to CRI is in this instance…. mmmm. As to accusations by the candidate, is this the best you’ve got? Both Candidates records at DOI will be fair game, MC you best buckle up it may get bumpy. Watch those shots from the peanut gallery you might hit yourself.
Mitch,
Were Kelly workers or other temp/agency workers there under Denn, or is this something the incumbent started?
JSG – stop the sock puppetry. Pick a nom de blog and stick with it.
And Connor – we know you’re on KWS’s campaign payroll, so your comments hold little credence.
That I provide services is fully disclosed and is at a fairly low Dollar figure. Be that as it may, the fact that I support someone and provide services is reason to take my comments in that context as it would be in the case of anyone else. I will, however, put my credibility up against CRI anytime. As Geezer has said If anybody has anything other than tired rehashed charges, lets see them or file them.
– Anony “You did vote for the man/administration who presided over the failure of Moyer and you are about to do it again” was referring to Markell and his DDOE RTTT gang not Theo Gregory (read some Kilroy on how badly the state’s surrogate, virtual K-12, has done with Moyer in the meantime).
– Markell admin is responsible for so many state jobs being filled through temporary services. It isn’t a ploy to ‘get around the hiring freeze’. It is the way the administration has suggested agencies work through the hiring freeze. DOI is hardly the last place to look for Kelly temps in making your point, Mitch.
I imagine that temporary services are used throughout state government. Such services were also used in the DOI under previous administrations. I am not accusing the current commissioner of initiating this practice, merely pointing out the unfairness of it when there are positions with benefits open. My point is that there are people working for little pay and no benefits while there are others being paid large sums of money for much less work. As to “hiring freezes”, the Insurance Commissioner is a constitutional officer. The Commissioner is not bound by hiring freezes but may fill positions that are vacant if within the budget. The DOI has many Administrative Specialist 1 positions vacant. These positions could be filled-giving these “temps” an opportunity to apply, get hired and have benefits. Filling these positions would cost less than one high-paid contract worker in the Captive Bureau. That was the purpose of my initial post-pointing out that Rourke Moore works a full work week with low pay and no benefits while others in the Captive Bureau have received high income pay and work few if any hours.
Do not weave the attacks of others into what I have said. I just believe in basic fairness and, if given the opporunity, will seek to end the use of full-time “temps”, fill low-level but essential positions with merit employees and replace high-pay contract workers with reasonably paid merit employees wherever possible.
Finally-Mr. Connor-there is nothing in my record at the DOI to hide and nothing in my personnel file. I have been open in my criticism of the current administration. I have voiced that criticism in the presence of the current commissioner. Criticism of me has been nothing but innuendo and whispers. If there is something to attack me on, out with it. As a former elected judge, I am fully cognizent of the law of defamation.
Nancy wins the prize!
And Mitch really wins the prize.
JP – yeah, we know you do “data entry,” whatever that supposedly means. Probably more like you get paid for bashing Mitch every chance you get with hints of wrongdoing on this blog. If you have something concrete, then spill it. Put up or shut up.
The ONLY tine this blog ever gave any credibility to CRI is in this instance
And this may have been the only time that the CRI actually had pretty unimpeachable data to back up their blogging or reporting. The CRI picked up some of their investigating from work that we did here looking at who was getting paid in the Capture Department. We did notice that KWS didn’t do much other than wave her hands at that reporting — certainly no data was produced that might have proved the CRI wrong. The response from her partisans has been largely of the pay no attention to the little man behind the curtain variety.
Sam Guy is a very smart man. He has the peoples interest at heart and is an educated man. Leave it to this rag to make disparaging remarks. Go Sam!
Mitch are you supporting single payer health care? If not you will be on the wrong side. This year single payer legislation will be supported by 32 statewide organizations. Even though Stewart brought hundreds of captives here (along with their lobbyists) Delawareans are supporting single payer. So get on board Mitch!
Mitch, nice rhetoric but how much do you pay your campaign staff? Your campaign manager of several months mysteriously was missing from your campaign finance report so I assume the answer is $0? (In case you are wondering Karen pays ICR and JP)
Mitch has many supporters who volunteer their time to help elect him because they support what he stands for and the policies he espouses. Its unfortunate, though not surprising, that the only people willing to support KWS are those receiving a paycheck from her. Just look at the donors listed on her financial report, it’s made up of out of state insurance lawyers.
As for single payer, KWS claimed to be for it when she ran in 2008, but as with most issues which would require having a backbone to stand up to the Insurance Industry, she has flip flopped. Mitch, on the other hand, is a proud proponent of single payer and supports the efforts of Rep. Jacques and Rep. Kowalko towards universal coverage here in Delaware.
Anon, you can continue wasting your time with your pathetic arguments against Mitch, (I’d love to hear some arguments in favor of your candidate for a change), but the folks on this site are smarter than that and won’t fall for it.
As President Bush once said, “Fool me once, shame on….shame on you… (::long pause::) ……fool me, you can’t get fooled again.”
“Mitch has many supporters who volunteer their time to help elect him because they support what he stands for and the policies he espouses.”
ROFLMAO! Nice diversion…This is about paying people for what they do, which Mitch is waxing eloquent about. I like to compare his record to his rhetoric… Once again his rhetoric is great but his record falls short… “Volunteering” for the many hours a statewide campaign requires surely is worth being paid. After all, Mitch himself is railing about the importance of decent pay and benefits for staff… Why not practice what you preach with your $40k?
“that the only people willing to support KWS are those receiving a paycheck from her.”
Yeah she paid 206,000 people to get elected!
Karen adheres to the law… The law requires campaign expenditures to be reported so she reports her staff’s salaries… Crane either callously doesn’t deign to pay his staff or…
Speaking of financial donors, why did Thomas Jelke of Florida give Crane $1,200? He is a Tea Party Republican who gave $1,000 to Republican Senate candidate http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Hasner#2012_U.S._Senate_campaign who’s been endorsed by Erik Erikson and announced on Mark Levin’s show…Lemme guess…the right-winger from Florida is deeply concerned about “protecting the (Delaware) consumer”? GTFO…
Where on his website does Crane declare support for single-payer? http://www.mitchcranefordelaware.com/issues.html
I’ll repeat, I’d love to hear some arguments in favor of KWS for a change. That is, unless you dont’t have any.
anon@1:16:
Crane and Jelke are members of the same fraternity.
http://www.sigep.org/documents/NBD_Minutes_April23_2010.pdf
Google is your friend.
1) Where is Crane’s secret plan to advocate single-payer? http://www.mitchcranefordelaware.com/issues.html YOU made that claim now back it up…
2) Is Crane a hypocrite who criticizes Karen for not providing high salaries while he refuses to pay a penny to his own staff? Or even worse…
I was amused to see Karen criticized for paying ICR and JP a while ago. Then I log in today and see Crane having the chutzpah to rail against low staff salaries when he at best…is not paying his own workers…How does Mitch expect to win when his rhetoric consistently does not comport with his record? He is like a Delaware parody of Mitt Romney…
3) Why is a Tea Party Republican from Florida donating $1,200 to an alleged progressive Democrat running for a minor office in Delaware? What is in it for him? If you think he is supporting Crane because he is truly, madly, deeply concerned about the plight of consumers in distant, little Delaware don’t drink the red stuff…
Anon here doesn’t get the difference between running a professional office with staff paid appropriately for the work they do and a political campaign traditionally powered by people who volunteer for you. If you are a politician and need to pay for much of the help you get then you have something of a problem.
Anon here also doesn’t get that the IC’s policy towards hiring temp staff in order to have enough money to pay for her out-of-state patrons and no-shows smacks of abandoning the good management of the IC’s office in order to prioritize this bit of patronage. And patronage is not an official function of the ICs office, even though this one is trying to add it.
@ anon: So the corrupt incumbent IC is going to run another dirty campaign like she did in ’08. Attacking opponents because she doesn’t have a damn thing to commend herself. It won’t work this time because people have her number and won’t believe her lies or yours. You’re wasting your time here.
Anon,
I guess you couldn’t think of even one reason to support KWS and so instead you chose to make false claims against Mitch.
1) Mitch supports Reps Kowalko and Jacques in their efforts to bring single payer to DE. The plan hasn’t been finalized yet.
KWS stated that she supported single payer to get elected in 2008 but has apparently flip flopped.
2) You’re basing this off of the 2011 report, when Mitch was doing most of the campaign work himself and relying on volunteers for their help as well. Some people have and continue to volunteer a few hours a week, in addition to their full time jobs. As of 2012, his staff are being compensated just fine.
The reason KWS was criticized was because she hired A REPUBLICAN to be her campaign manager.
3) as the much more intelligent anon noted, Jelke is a fellow Sig Ep and donated to Mitch as a personal friend. Mitch has friends throughout the country who have contributed to his campaign. The majority of his money has come from Delaware.
According to the finance report, KWS has received the majority of her donations from out of state, many coming from Insurance Lawyers.
You’ll likely respond by repeating your false talking points , but I’ll ask again, why should anyone should be FOR KWS?
Why should anyone be FOR KWS?*
thanks anon. I suppose Chris Loveless of CT is another frat pal?
“If you are a politician and need to pay for much of the help you get then you have something of a problem.”
Maybe a joke like Mike Miller did not but every serious statewide candidate has staff…Crane either is running a traditional campaign and running it on the cheap by not paying staff thus far or he is a revolutionary who is running a campaign without precedent…I know which is more likely…
Are you claiming Crane is running a completely volunteer campaign, hence he will bring forward a new model of campaigning to Delaware and not spend a penny on staff? He has a campaign manager who is a mere volunteer?
Crane should compensate people for their work–if HE means what he is saying in this thread… Have you ever been on a statewide/large county/House campaign? It takes a ton of time…For him to not even pay a penny out of his $40k is rank hypocrisy in light of his rhetoric here…
Crane was a top official in that very IC’s office… I love how that fact is swept under the rug… The problem for Mitch is this is not going to be a 2 candidate race so his role as a top official in the office will be discussed and seriously undercut his credibility…
What did Crane DO about patronage as a top official at DOI? Did he blow the whistle or stay silent for 2 years? I challenge Crane to pledge he will not engage in ANY patronage if elected… Hell, if he does that–and if it is true he is running a truly volunteer campaign–he is a transformational candidate and I may even support him!!!!
“@ anon: So the corrupt incumbent IC is going to run another dirty campaign like she did in ‘08. Attacking opponents because she doesn’t have a damn thing to commend herself.”
Spare the sanctimonious hypocrisy. The fact is Crane is running a very negative campaign…
Can you show where Crane declared his support for single-payer HC?
“when Mitch was doing most of the campaign work himself and relying on volunteers for their help as well. Some people have and continue to volunteer a few hours a week, in addition to their full time jobs. As of 2012, his staff are being compensated just fine.”
Do you think you are fooling anyone other than Crane supporters? ; )
Let’s play along for now… Crane had an all volunteer campaign–including a “volunteer” campaign manager–for months in 2011 but as of Jan. 2012 (after filing his 2011 finance report) suddenly he is spending cash on staff? What happened to the alleged volunteer/people driven campaign? Wasn’t working? : (
Compensated just fine? What is your definition of fine? How does it compare to what Karen pays her staff? Why didn’t he pay “just fine” in 2011? Face it he was being cheap with his staff to save cash…
“Why should anyone be FOR KWS?*”
Easy: they support the Stewart-Reed-Jacobson-Crane record or view her as is better than the alternatives. She will get some support as the only female statewide official as well, especially in the party of diversity…Finally she has people she has met over the years who she has won over. These are the top reasons why Karen has supporters…
Why are you for Crane?
Hahahahaha.
You have claimed Crane supports single-payer multiple times…Can you produce documentation of that? If he actually does that is a huge story. It is a mere campaign ploy but still…
How about answering your own question? Why are you for Crane? I don’t even remember you posting once pre-Crane…
Will his attacks in this thread on Karen stand up when his 30 day report is filed or is he going to continue to be (at best…) cheap with HIS staff? You dodged the “just fine” question so let’s simplify it and then compare it to the record come August…
“haha” at Crane railing at Karen for not paying her staff much when he did not pay a penny to HIS staff until, allegedly, Jan. 2012 when he conveniently changed his campaign model AFTER he filed his campaign finance report. Shady as hell…
You sure make a lot of claims: Crane is for single-payer HC, Crane started to properly pay staff after he filed his 2011 campaign finance report, etc… If you are going to continue to do so you need to back them up…
I don’t give a rats butt about personal or personnel records. What I know is there are open and available records on both candidates. I suspect both will use them to their best advantage, period. If you are going to go all Gloria Allred in February what will you do in October?
But since you brought it up was that an offer to release y our DOI records? just askin’.
Mr. Plant doesn’t live in Rep Bolden’s district – he has gotten redistricted into the 1st Rep District.
anon @ 3:18 … That would be a big yes, assuming this is the guy.
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/chris-loveless/5/b81/a06
Joe,
You *should* give a rat’s butt about what’s public and what’s not. Government employee personnel records are confidential in Delaware.
Which records that are “open and available” does KWS plans to cite in her campaign?
“Face it he was being cheap with his staff to save cash…”
As your candidate appears to be doing with the state agency she runs.
@ anon who knows how to use google: KWS doesn’t run the Dept. of Insurance. Jacobson does. She’s got no clue about how to run anything because she’s too stupid and she’s never run anything except her mouth. Bet DE voters didn’t count on getting an unelected buffoon for de facto IC because the elected one is a semi-literate high school dropout with a fake resume she invented out of thin air.
You might want to verify if the person you allege runs the place even works there;)
Gee anon, thanks for the laughs. Let’s see – I volunteered on Jack’s campaign in 2008, actually took 2 weeks off from work to work full-time before the primary. Jack didn’t pay me anything and I didn’t ask for pay. I worked on Pete’s campaign 2 years ago, again as a volunteer. Since 1968, I’ve worked on probably 50 campaigns and only 2 were salaried. I’ve worked a few hours a month or hundreds of hours a month. Many of us are volunteering our time to get Mitch elected because we believe in his candidacy.
So, taking up where DE Idealist left off – why should anyone vote FOR your girl? Or is KWS just going to imitate COD and Newt? And putting a hex on people is not the same as winning them over. 🙂
I would say your guy did a great imitation of COD this afternoon . But I must be careful to not say anything mean….
Are you claiming Crane is running a completely volunteer campaign, hence he will bring forward a new model of campaigning to Delaware and not spend a penny on staff? He has a campaign manager who is a mere volunteer?
I have no idea the terms on which Crane is running his campaign, but as someone who has worked on a fair number of them, I can tell you it has always been as a volunteer and utterly unpaid. People with a wide circle of admirers and supporters and friends have the luxury of a good volunteer cadre. People who do not have a wide circle of admirers and supporters and friends need to pay alot of people to work for their campaigns.
On the other hand, a government agency doing fairly critical work shouldn’t be relying on its day to day core functions by hiring from a temp agency.
I get that you want to make this diversionary false equivalency into an issue, but you’d have to travel over to delawarepolitics for an audience who will not get the difference between campaign staff and operational staff for a supposedly crucial government agency. But you will continue to fail with that tactic here so stop it.
What you *can* do is produce some information on why it is that KWS needs to hire her campaign staff and key contributors into the ICs office. This is the question the smart people over here want to know.
Ok, before you all get your panties in a bunch about supposed “mere allegations”, here’s the support:
Silesianum: no record of graduation
Brandywine College: closed for more than 20 years, records unobtainable. The assumption is that a high school diploma would have been needed for attendance.
Fashion Institute of Technology in NYC: Never heard of her
“College of Insurance”: The only US university that has such a department is St. John’s in NYC. They never heard of her, either.
Allededly owned insurance/reinsurance consultancy “The Weldin Group”: According to the DE Secretary of State’s website, it has always been a paper incorporation of ONE person, herself. Ergo, she never “paid business taxes and Workers Compensation premiums” as she claimed in her losing campaigns in 2000 and 2004 and before her unfortunate election in 2008.
Her supposed work history is completely unverifyable.
@ cassandra_m: If KWS is paying state salaries to campaign staff she is breaking the law. No news there.
anontoo:
Re: Weldin Group … Funny, I wasn’t aware that Delaware tracked the number of employees of a corporation. Care to back that one up?
@anon: Look it up yourself.
Further to the credentials post: Claiming ownership of the non-existent “Weldin Group” is what got her into each of the quarterly NAIC (National Association of Insurance Commissioners) meetings starting with her termination in 1992 from her no-show job in the DOI David Levinson gave her. That’s where she made all her insurance contacts that ended up funding her three campaigns.
What the hell are you talking about Joe?
Read your guy’s post from 7:21 this morning. Classic COD;)
You too, Joe, have forgotten that this is not delawarepolitics. Just because you have a repub calling the shots for your campaign is no excuse to forget that more silly obfuscation isn’t a good way to get off of the hook here. A pledge to hire the people in that office doing the real work rather tan funnelling the money to the guy calling in at a salary higher than the Governor’s certainly isn’t the kind of act that COD would understand much less endorse.
Feel free to say what you will. I am looking for the slightest relation between your post and any comment I made. As I have attempted at length but with litte success to make clear, my opinions are mine and my work is clerical. I am not captive to the thoughts of others ( pun intended) .
However if your candidate comes on and whines, he will do so with the knowledge that whining will be pointed out. If a person comes and compares some one I support to COD he can be sure that his candidates similar behaviors to the great lady will be illustrated.. If you will excuse me I must now go interview civil defense attorneys.
I come home from work, and I read some of the most embarrassing drivel ever to appear on our pages.
Memo to KWS’ sockpuppets: Congratulations. You’ve demonstrated that you can toss out all kinds of not only unsubstantiated innuendo, but all kinds of demonstrably false innuendo about an opponent to Karen Weldin Stewart.
You have also demonstrated that you are incapable or unwilling to provide a single positive reason why anyone who reads our blog should support Karen Weldin Stewart.
You have also proven yourselves incapable of disproving even the most basic allegations about Karen Weldin Stewart, allegations that did not originate in this thread, but that have been out there for years.
I rarely use profanity here, but this requires an exception. Answer this question: What the fuck are you hoping to accomplish here? If you’re trying to prove that the only people standing up for Karen Weldin Stewart are a small group of fucking assholes, you’ve succeeded.
And Joe Connor? The next time you go all victim on us here for supposedly outing you, which you have done to yourself many times over, please spare us. You’re no fucking victim, you’re just a pathetic lap dog with no control over your verbal bowels. You’ve done nothing but shovel shit about both your beloved KWS and about Mitch Crane. I’m sick of it, and I’m sick of your bullshit. You add nothing to the discussion.
What a pathetic bunch of losers.
Thank you doctor, I feel better now.
Sorry you had a tough day at work. Your screed was all bombast and no specifics. If you nice people have any sort of hard evidence take it to the appropriate authorities and and disclose it or file a complaint. I hope your evening improves;)
My day was just fine, thankyouverymuch.
Your brainless blathering was even more unreadable than usual.
Keep doing what you’re doing, and you won’t get to do it here any more.
You have been warned.
@TeamCrane you might want to coordinate your messages… DE Idealist announced Crane has started to pay his staff (I wonder how he/she knows?)–conveniently immediately after filing his 2011 finance report… This sure sounds shady…
@TeamCrane will anyone back up DE Idealist’s claim that Mitch is going to fight for Vermont-style single-payer health care in Delaware? If this is true I may even support him haha!
Really my “blathering ” was in support of a person you viscerally hate. I was just told this is not DP maybe it is closer than you all think. You curse me like a sailor you hurl personal insults and then you “warn” me? Good luck with that.
Let me make this clear one last time. When sockpuppets come on here and render threads unreadable, we take action.
Unreadability is anathema to a blog like this. You and that anon guy are doing this.
I will place your comments in moderation from this point forward if you persist in this current way.
Got it? No, don’t answer. Get off this topic pronto, or find yourself in moderation. Holds true for you as well, anon.
I wonder how an out-of-state anon would support/vote for any candidate in DE.
I am looking for the slightest relation between your post and any comment I made.
Welcome to our world — where every time someone mentions your girl, you and your flying monkey here are working overtime at obfuscating and otherwise trying to divert people from the issues. Like your girl isn’t working for the people who so mistakenly voted for her.
And look — even your flying monkey can’t address the fact that temps are doing the heavy lifting at the ICs office so that her cronies can be paid to not commute to their Delaware offices.
“The Commissioner is not bound by hiring freezes but may fill positions that are vacant if within the budget. ”
From what I gathered, hires are vetted through the OMB for DOI and there was often a significant delay in getting approvals. That isn’t to say that the DOI under KWS didn’t hire a fair share of cronys.
Regardless, I agree that relying on temps with low pay and no benefits isn’t acceptable. But I remember at least one of the single women with children working for KWS through Kelly Services making a pretty decent chunk of change – $20/hour or so). There may be no real equation temp = low wage (although benefits would automatically increase the value of a job by some 45%).
A Question: Would Crane be competing now for the IC job if he’d been successful at vying for one of the higher-paid DOI positions?
And can DL bloggers REALLY be questioning that a statewide candidate would hire their election workers into their office when elected? REALLY?
The question is whether hiring one’s campaign cronies at the expense of the people who do the real work is kosher in this instance. So let’s not do this new bit of diversionary bullshit.
Kilroy did a roundup post today of the corruption of the company Markell hand-picked to replace Theo Gregory at Moyer.
The success of K12.Inc. is hardly in evidence. There’s been little transparency in how this now state-run school is faring under the K12 contract.
The bluster and flap from DDOE and Markell that went into removing Theo didn’t go a long way to solving the problems at this inner city HS Charter.
Markell’s Wall Street K12.Inc butt buddies being sued
http://kilroysdelaware.wordpress.com/2012/02/07/markells-wall-street-k12-inc-butt-buddies-being-sued/
Hagens Berman Investigates K12 Inc., Informs Investors of Lead Plaintiff Deadline
The lawsuit, filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of
Virginia on Jan. 30, 2012, claims that K12 and certain of its officers issued false statements regarding the true financial condition and outlook of the company. Specifically, the complaint alleges that the company failed to disclose that it passed students regardless of their performance and issued false statements about the performance of its students compared to other traditional schools.
Markell hired Wall Street butt buddies being sued
Governor Markell’s Wall Street Education Connection Grows
Another Markell Wall Street connection with finger in RTTT pie.
Did Delaware State Legislators turn a blind-eye to Markell’s Moyer / K12.Inc shell game
Why is DEDOE holding back on Moyer’s financial reports?
btw – I volunteered on Jack Markell’s 2008 campaign so I know which people were shuffled directly into extremely well paid state jobs after the election. Some showed up in Denn’s employ etc. Flowers also brought most of his key campaign team into the office. Who does the real work? I wouldn’t speculate.
Nancy: If you’re going to defend Theo Gregory, as incompetent a nincompoop who has ever held public office in Delaware, kindly go pound sand.
Markell “hand-picked” someone to run the school because of the whining that accompanied the proper corrective, which was closing the school entirely.