General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show, Weds., May 9, 2012
With great fanfare (a press release within minutes), the House of Representatives passed a ‘campaign reform’ package yesterday. The key bill is HB 300(Gilligan), which seeks to undo some of the incalculable damage of the Citizens United decision. The Roves and Koch Brothers (and Rodel) will still be able to dump huge sums of money if they’d like, but HB 300 would require more transparency about who is behind those anonymous ads. Which is why not a single Rethuglican voted for it. Bill passed on a strict 24-13 party line vote. Not surprising since, without a bottomless pit of anonymous right-wing dollars, the Rethugs are not competitive any more, not with their loco right-wing teabaggers driving the lopsided bus (subtle Steinbeck reference), and they know it. And you know, sometimes the terminally-loquacious Greg Lavelle should just shut up:
Lavelle called Gilligan’s reasoning un-American.”You’re talking about intentionally limiting political speech,” he said. “It’s very troubling that we are going to decide who can speak when.”
No you’re not. You’re merely requiring whoever is speaking to own up to the fact that they’re doing the speaking and that they’re paying for it. C’mon, Monsignor, show me where in this bill anybody is prohibited from speaking. All the bill does is to try to let the public know, and know in a timely fashion, who is behind these shadow efforts paid for with big anonymous bucks. You and your Rethuglicans want to spend those Rovian millions while safely hiding them in the basement. Don’t bleat about democracy when the word that applies is hypocrisy.
While we’re at it, a question for the News-Journal: I know that you are facing financial (and quality) constraints, but has the paper’s collective Rolodex been reduced to one cell phone number? “Boss, a woman has just crushed three kittens with her bare hands, what should we do?” “Quick, find out what Lavelle thinks! He’s at the desk right next to yours.” Uh, just because someone is an Attention Whore doesn’t mean that he should be quoted in virtually every local story. I know that you’re close to being beyond embarrassment, but don’t you think you should be a little less, what’s the word, blatant, in demonstrating your paucity of sources and lack of reportorial diligence?
The other campaign finance bill passed yesterday, HB 310(Longhurst), strikes me as overkill. While I agree that penalties should be increased for filing tardy or incomplete campaign finance reports (they’re currently so low as to be ineffectual), this bill goes too far, IMHO. My experience teaches me that the campaigns most likely to be hit by these new penalties are the ‘kitchen table’ campaigns. In other words, it will hit the candidates least able to afford the sanctions. Of course, if the intent is to drive these so-called ‘nuisance candidates’ from the political arena by those legislators who may well have to face these ‘nuisance candidates’, then perhaps the bill will accomplish its true purpose.
The House also passed SS1/SB 151(Peterson), which would “require that operators of video lottery facilities…use data provided by the Division of Child Support Enforcement to identify large video lottery prize winners having outstanding child support debts. Once identified, such prizes would be used to pay child support debts.” Let the record show that 9 R’s, the usual downstate suspects at that, opposed having child support delinquents cough up any money they may have won while pissing away whatever’s left in their wallets at the racinos. By coincidence, pretty much the same suspects who don’t have the cojones to stand up to the Sheriff of Nuttingham. Here’s the roll call.
For the completists, here’s yesterday’s Session Activity Report.
Serious committee day on tap today as committee days dwindle down to a precious few.
This may finally be ‘Don’t Support Your Local Sheriff’ Week in Dover. HB 325(Schwartzkopf) will likely be fast-tracked to compensate for Sussex R cowardice. The bill, that would make clear that Jeff Christopher really isn’t The Law in Sussex County, will be considered in today’s House Administration Committee. It will be released for a floor vote, with or without the support of former sponsor Dan Short. It will almost assuredly pass on Thursday, with or without the support of the cowards in the Sussex County Rethuglican delegation.
Ah, but there’s so much more going on in House committees today. Here are the highlights, at least according to me:
HB 211(Scott): Requires that admission to vo-tech high schools be done by lottery. Hmmm, wonder what this is all about. Hey, if it’s good enough for vo-tech, why shouldn’t it be good enough for charters? Oh, that’s right, charters would still need a mechanism to ensure resegregation at their most ‘prestigious’ schools. In the House Education Committee.
HB 317(Schooley): Requires a ‘learning readiness’ tool be in place to determine whether students are ready for kindergarten. House Education Committee.
HB 296(Bolden): Establishes a ‘comprehensive system of support resources and services that directly targets the runaway and homeless youth population’. In House Health & Human Services Committee.
HB 299(Ramone): Requires Delaware students to learn CPR to be granted a high school diploma from a Delaware high school. Not saying that learning CPR is not important, but requiring it in order to graduate high school? Red Cross training, of course, but high school? In House Health & Human Services Committee.
HB 311(Barbieri): One of Delaware’s best legislators continues his quiet, yet effective, work on mental health issues. This bill “significantly updates the laws under which a person can be held involuntarily for up to 24 hours for a mental health evaluation. In place of the current system where a person is transported in handcuffs by police to a hospital emergency department, the bill allows a psychiatrist or credentialed mental health screener to evaluate a person anywhere and then transport that person to the most appropriate location for evaluation or treatment in the most appropriate and least restrictive manner.” In House Health & Human Services Committee.
SB 185(DeLuca): Gov. Markell’s lobbyist reform legislation, which just passed in the Senate last week, is being fast-tracked in the House. Look for it on tomorrow’s agenda. In today’s House Administration Committee.
HB 308(Scott): Makes it unlawful for employers to mandate that an employee or applicant disclose password or account information that would grant the employer access the employee’s or applicant’s social networking profile or account. This Bill also prohibits employers from requesting that employees or applicants log onto their respective social networking site profiles or account to provide the employer direct access. An excellent bill. Just how pathetic is it that employers have actually stooped to snooping into these social networking sites? In House Telecommunication Internet & Technology Committee.
Here’s today’s House Committee meeting schedule.
And, over on the Senate side…:
SB 290(Peterson): Ensures that a correctional institution does not use restraints on a pregnant prisoner except under very limited circumstances. Senate Adult & Juvenile Corrections Committee.
The Senate Executive Committee will consider the nomination of Mark Murphy for Secretary of Education. Wonder if there’s been enough time to effectively vet this nomination? Seems kinda rushed to me. REAL rushed, in fact. One would think that all of the public education stakeholders might have some questions for the nominee, and maybe even a senator or two could be roused from their torpor to pose a meaningful query.
SB 161(Lawson) and HB 277(Heffernan): Two dueling bills pertaining to home invasion. AKA ‘Tough and Tougher’. Both bills would create the new offense of ‘home invasion’. Neither is needed for law enforcement purposes, there are literally hundreds of offenses on the books to address the elements contained in the ‘new crime’ of home invasion. Regardless, whichever bill passes, most likely HB 277, will be prominently featured in election brochures from one end of the state to the other. In Senate Judiciary Committee.
SB 209(Ennis): “Provides an important tool for combating obstruction of justice by those who would purposely make false statements to law-enforcement during criminal investigations”, by “allowing for the prosecution of one who intends to obstruct a criminal investigation by knowingly providing a false and material statement to law-enforcement.” Anyone who speaks Attorney Generalese, please feel free to translate that into intelligible English for me. In Senate Public Safety Committee.
There is also a Senate agenda today and, other than a charter change for Frankford, the other items previously passed the House unanimously, and should face little opposition in the Senate.
In ‘honor’ of the News-Journal:
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Tags: El Somnambulo, Greg Lavelle Delaware; News-Journal Delaware; Campaign Finance Reform Delaware; Sussex County (DE) Sheriff; Mark Murphy Delaware, Steve Tanzer Delaware
Senate Bill 209 should be amended to include our judges who whitewash proceedings relating to their colleagues… Is that obstruction of justice to let this Sussex judge slide with half a year’s pay and a fully vested pension for actual judicial misconduct against a female attorney? Again, excluding Blevins disgraceful dismissal, why are not more female legisaltors speaking out on this outrage– Melanie Smith, Karen Peterson, Liane Sorenson, Bethany Hall-Long?
“Provides an important tool for combating obstruction of justice by those who would purposely make false statements to law-enforcement during criminal investigations”, by “allowing for the prosecution of one who intends to obstruct a criminal investigation by knowingly providing a false and material statement to law-enforcement.”
Isn’t this already illegal, like home invasions?
One of my daughters is a lifeguard and knows CPR, but I’d hate to think she wouldn’t be allowed to graduate high school if she didn’t. Who’s going to pay for this training? The bill says the training can be provided by a non-CPR certified teacher as long as the kids are not looking to be certified themselves, so how effective would the training be? In addition, beginning with the Class of 2015 (this year’s freshmen), all would-be graduates would also be required to learn how to use an automated external defibrillator (AED). It’s a laudable idea, but I’m not sure preventing kids from graduating is the right way to go.
Mike: While you may be right, a warning: Thinking too deeply about legislative absurdities will not put you on the path to Nirvana. Trust me on this.
OTOH, it’s why my Primal Scream Therapy Masquerading As Legislative Analysis proves so therapeutic to me.
Re H.B. 299 — Year after year, we promote kids who demonstrate minimal competency on standardized tests, and yet we now want them to pass CPR training to get a diploma?
I’d be more impressed if the graduation requirement was for the student to write an essay or produce a video that explains how to perform CPR.
Legislative Oversight? Did you see today’s Journal about how RDC, Bullock and Purzicki tried to keep info away from Legislature and they made Patty Blevins looks like a fool by hiding info from her on those loans?
My take on this is that Blevins in no way would have been PO’d by the machinations, only that she wasn’t let in on the secret earlier. She views herself as someone so important that she deserves to know everything. As long as she’s kept in the loop, she’s happy and…self-important.
El Somanmbulo- How can the legislature give them- RDC- so much money and then be bamboozled with whats going on? Did you see BPG ignored most of the DNREC regs and reports they are supposed to be compliant on down there? Where’s Markell and O’Mara crying foul– instead of shoveling money? Who is protecting the citizens of Wilmington from contamination and envt’l issues down there ?
if these were Republicans, everyone would be bitching corporate greed , but Jack and Dems control the whole show in the state and the city.
I’m not that shocked, and I’m not really angry. Not at all. Remember, the Christina was a polluted industrial river, and there was nothing of note going on down there. The river is much much cleaner today, the Russell W. Peterson Urban Wildlife Refuge is one of the great reclamation projects in Delaware history, and the riverfront is alive with activity.
Before the revitalization, there were no Blue Rocks, no Riverfront Blues Festival, no life down there.
Does that mean that I support everything that’s been done and how it was done? Of course not. I’m especially pleased that the hotel project was stopped. But keep in mind that that is a recent project. And keep in mind that development is not for the faint of heart.
I ask the question, “Is the State better off b/c the riverfront area was revitalized?” To me, there’s no doubt. The answer is ‘yes’. In no way does that mean that we should not be diligent. Just that we should be fair and objective.
The whole city, RDC, DED, Buccini and state looks so incestuous….
I have no problem with redevelopment, but it seems like Montgomery and co. go after citizens and small business on overdue taxes, fees, fines, etc without abandon, and let BPG slide on everything. Where’s the fairness? Aren’t Democrats supposed to be fair to all, not just corporate fatcats? Mike Hare has jumped from one job to another and now is on BPG’s team. Seems very incestous all way around, and hardworking vendors/ contrcators not being paid down there. Sad. seems like a big shell game/ ponzi scheme.
“Where’s Markell and O’Mara crying foul?”
Let’s not pretend the Delaware Way is new to this administration. I remember the case in the early years of Riverfront redevelopment when Pettinaro decided to get rid of some old 55-gallon drums full of various toxic pollutants by loading them on a van and then abandoning the van. He was of course caught, and of course penalized with a slap-on-the-wrist fine. Can’t remember if that was Carper or Minner in charge at the time.
There are only a small select few people even capable of putting together deals of this magnitude. I, to put it mildly, am not one of them.
But here’s what I know. Where once the Christina River area was essentially a polluted wasteland, there is now extraordinary development that has created hundreds upon hundreds of jobs. Wonderful destinations as well. Theatre, museums, baseball, brew pubs, restaurants, festivals, etc.
While lower Market Street is not as far along yet, there are real signs that this long-neglected part of downtown is on the upswing. Again, job growth is happening there.
While I agree that some of this may seem incestuous, keep in mind that the skills to first envision the possibilities for development and then to make them a reality are exceedingly rare. So, yes, the same people keep interacting with the same people And, yes, there have been missteps, *cough* Politburo Provincial luxury condos *cough*.
But, on balance, this isn’t even a close call for me. We are so much better off thanks to what has happened and is happening on the riverfront and lower Market Street. While we need to critically examine the legalities of what’s going on, I find myself marveling at how this all came to be.
Where is the minor league hockey team then, Mr. (formerly) Toxic City booster? How come everyone gets a pony but me?
Hey, I didn’t get my casino. Stop feeling so sorry for yourself. Go rent ‘Slapshot’.
My main objection isn’t to the wheeling-dealing (is is just me, or does this smack of Jeff Bullock’s basic sneakiness? There’s a guy who would rather lie than tell the truth, just to stay in practice).
It’s the notion that a hotel would be a “game-changer” for the riverfront. The problem isn’t hotels, it’s lack of interstate access.
I agree with you on the hotel, and I’m glad that story got out. Although I think that interstate access would not be ‘a bridge too far’. It’s just that there’s a raft of empirical information out there that questions the viability of such a hotel, especially with downtown hotels hardly bursting at the seams. It seems to me that a ‘downtown/riverfront’ partnership could have positive synergistic effects, and would be far less costly to the taxpayers.
The only way to change the viability would be to increase the access, and people who know tell me it can’t be done. The lack of access is why the riverfront has never met expectations for bringing out-of-state tourists to the city.
Well, you can leave the riverfront area by driving right under I-95 to Maryland Avenue. I would think that it COULD be done, but I’m clearly no highway engineer. And I don’t think the access is all THAT bad. When you exit for MLK, you’re almost there. Granted, it’s a little inconvenient, but we’re talking 5 minutes or so.
There is design and pending construction for a bridge to the Riverfront area from Rt. 13 over the river. It would make it easier to get there from south of the city, that’s certain. Easier access from the interstate could be done, I think, it is just that I doubt that anyone can justify the cost to do it. Certainly it would be easier to create a more direct route to the area from where the interstate lets you off.
If the Riverfront had booked real destination shopping people would have found their way there. When they opened that place, the kind of outlets they booked there were already seeing lots lower marketshare, while the designer shop outlets have been swamped all over. I’ve always thought that the Riverfront’s problem is a group of stewards who don’t know one damn thing about Market Research.
Cass: Access from the south isn’t the solution to wooing out-of-staters. The problem is that people from other states can see all that stuff from 95, but don’t know how to get there if they try to. The people who know tell me they can’t add a ramp because of federal funding rules, but I don’t recall the details.
Market research wasn’t the problem. Access was. For national chains, it’s all about the amount of traffic that has access to your store. At this point, there’s no sense in pegging anything to retailing. Brick-and-mortar retailers are going to lose market share into the indefinite future as on-line shopping grows by double digits every year.
I’m not saying that the southern bridge will bring in out-of-staters.
The retailers that they already had there *were* national chains. National outlet chains. National outlet chains who who have been closing shops at a pretty good clip over the last decade or so. If you wanted an outlet strategy — which the Riverfront people clearly did — you needed to be at the next generation of outlet mall, which is the Designer Outlets. That is still pretty strong destination shopping — the kind of thing people get on bus trips or plan day trips for. The internet might cut into these shops’ sales at some point, but the provenance of a Kate Spade bag is pretty clear if you get it directly from a Kate Spade outlet shop.