On Sunday, the NJ wrote a long piece detailing the some of the multiple fights going on between the Governor’s Office and the Office of the Treasurer. The article is an interesting inventory of some of the BS swirling around the Treasurer’s office, but when I finished reading it, I wondered who — exactly — was surprised that Chip Flowers and the Governor were butting heads over turf?
The primary between Chip Flowers and Velda Jones Potter was acrimonious. In all of the back and forth about the right candidate here at DL, there were a number of us who had one major point that got handwaved away:
The “Flower’s Framework” consisted of a decent number of things he wanted the Treasurer’s office to do that already were the responsibility of other people in the Governor’s office. How was he going to get this responsibility from the Governor?
So I guess we have our answer — he’s not taking over much — and the bull in a China shop negotiating posture isn’t exactly the kind of pressure that the Governor and his people are responding to. While there is a good deal of finger-pointing going on in this article, the thing that is missing — and has ALWAYS been missing from Flower’s ambitious plans — is some rationale for why he should be doing work that other people are already doing. But in the meantime, he’s been complaining about office space, holding a bond issuance hostage so he could promote somebody, hiring people KWS-style, and apparently treating procurements KWS-style too.
I can’t quite fathom how the Governor could not meet with Flowers at least once. Jack Markell always struck me as having abit more grace than that. But management of the Treasurer’s office by bluster isn’t exactly confidence inspiring. But that seems to be the thing, right? Just bluster your way through and hope that no one notices that you aren’t saying anything. And now people are noticing (and if my email is any indicator, is not going to be of help to him), which is unfortunate. Certainly this office is a traditional launching off point for Delawareans with some statewide political ambitions. Unfortunately for Flowers, he’s not using it to learn much about working and playing with others. Something of a critical skill — whether it is real or optics — for politicians.
As an aside, as I was reading this article, I couldn’t remember once like it on KWS — a good survey of the missteps, incompetence and just plain MIA status of that office. Did I miss it?