Yesterday, I was emailed this op-ed by John Daniello. I have checked the News Journal and it looks like it it has yet to be published, which is odd, since the News Journal would publish the grocery lists of Senator Lavelle and GOP Chairman Copeland if given the chance. So here, in full, is Chairman Daniello’s op-ed, and afterwards, I have some unsolicited advice for our Democrats in the General Assembly:
There is plenty to be done as it applies to our economy and infrastructure
New Castle — The Chairman of the Delaware Republican Party suggested that Delaware is on its path to becoming “another Detroit.”
Yes, both Delaware and Detroit got a lot of snow this winter. Beyond that, I’m not sure the Chairman’s comparison made much sense. Let’s look at the facts:
* Delaware had the 5th highest job growth in the nation last year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
* Delaware added 9,900 jobs in the last 12 months and its job growth rate exceeded the national average, according to the Department of Labor.
* Delaware’s unemployment rate has dropped almost a full percentage point in that time, to below 6.0%.Delaware’s economy is growing stronger every day, so clearly that comparison doesn’t hold water. Maybe the Chairman of the Republican Party wasn’t talking about the economy. He did talk about the ‘reckless tax, borrow and spend policies of the Democrats.’ So, maybe he was talking about taxes and fiscal responsibility. Let’s look at the facts:
* Delaware was just reaffirmed last month as one of ten states with a AAA bond rating from all three bond-rating agencies.
* Kiplinger’s rated Delaware as the number one most tax-friendly state in the U.S.
* The Tax Foundation ranked Delaware as having the 13th best Business Tax Climate in the country.The facts are that Governor Jack Markell and the Democratic General Assembly have kept Delaware’s fiscal house in order. To claim otherwise, the Chairman has to selectively pick and choose his statistics. For example, he conveniently chose FY 2010 as his starting point to analyze the growth in spending since Governor Markell took office. He failed to point out that was the year the state implemented a 2.5 percent across the board pay cut to all state employees – making that year an artificially low starting point. In fact, the average growth in the State’s operating budget since FY 2009 has been just 2.3%.
Unlike Detroit, Delaware has tackled its rising pension and health costs. With all the parties at the table, the General Assembly enacted a series of reforms that will save taxpayers more than $489 million over the next 15 years. Delaware has a well-funded pension system, unlike many states.
The facts are that Delaware Democrats have led our state through several challenging years and things are getting better. They have tackled the tough issues and done what is necessary to keep our state economically fruitful and fiscally sound.Delaware Democrats in the legislature are committed to working with their counterparts in the Republican Party. Disagreement is to be expected, but all members of the assembly were elected to work through these disagreements and come to legitimate alternative solutions.
For example, Republican State Senator Dave Lawson proposed recently that the state should cut 2% from its budget. He offered no specifics, even though he sits on the budget-writing Joint Finance Committee. He suggested that 2% should be cut without affecting personnel, employee wages, or ‘critical services,’ a term he didn’t define. This is not a serious solution from a legislator who sits through hours of budget hearings. He is merely calling for ‘cuts’ without taking responsibility for where they should be made.
Delaware is not Detroit, but we can learn from it. Detroit got to where it is today because politicians believed that they could write budgets and make financial commitments that were not based in reality. Proposing across-the-board cuts that affect neither services nor salaries are just that kind of fanciful accounting.“When no one is willing to compromise or reason together – nothing gets done. Everyone suffers,” Richard Heffron said recently. The people of Delaware want to see a government that is working together and investing in their future.
In our two-party system of government, political leadership must meet at the negotiating table bringing legitimate and supported proposals along with them. There is plenty to be done as it applies to the economy and our infrastructure, but the only way to get to those important issues is to stop pointing fingers and to start working together. Calm, sane heads must prevail.
I may be no fan at the moment of Governor Markell and Attorney General Beau Biden, and I will voice my criticism of them. I, and others here at Delaware Liberal and throughout the left side of the Delaware blogosphere will criticize Democrats when we feel they are not pursuing the correct policy. But when faced with the rather childish and yet malignant attacks and proposed policies of both the National and State Republican Parties, I tend to defend the Democrats, especially when they are right.
Here, Copeland is false in his comparison and critique, and Lawson is living in the same fantasy land as his national counterpart, Paul Ryan. Could things be better in Delaware right now if different policies were pursued? Sure. But they would only be better if more liberal policies were enacted. At the same time, things are not as dire as Copeland would have you believe, and even if they were, Copeland and his fellow Republicans everywhere have no ideas about what to do about it. Their only solution is more tax cuts for the rich and deregulation, both of which were responsible for 2008 crash in the first place, and both of which will further harm your average Delawarean.
But since Governor Markell and the Democrats in the General Assembly are not finding serious partners at the negotiating table with their counterparts on the right side of the aisle, I have some advice: Do not negotiate with yourself. Do not pare your offers down to entice Republican participation. Do not move to the right in your negotiations. Basic negotiating fact: your starting offer should not be what you want as your end point. If the Republicans are not moving towards you, you do not move towards them. You move away. To the left. Sure, they may scream at first, but eventually they will move towards you. And even if they don’t, you will still have a better policy outcome than a compromised conservative one.
You want a solution to the budget deficit? How about a new top rate for incomes over $400,000? Explain to me why those making $60,000 and those making $500,000 should be paying the same top marginal tax rate? In what universe is that fair? Put that on the table and see what happens. Maybe the Republicans move towards you. But if they don’t, a more progressive tax structure is still better and a flat tax structure.