Saturday Daily Delawhere [4.19.14]

The William H. Todd Memorial, in Brandywine Park near Baynard Boulevard in Wilmington. The memorial, also known as the Soldiers and Sailors of Delaware Monument, was dedicated in 1925 and features a bronze figure of Victory.

Friday Open Thread [4.18.14]

Good news on the deficit on this Good Friday:
The U.S. government’s deficit will fall to $492 billion this year, according to the Congressional Budget Office, a steeper drop than originally predicted from $680 billion in fiscal year 2013. The 2014 deficit will be 2.8 percent of the economy, according to CBO, almost 32 percent below fiscal year 2013, when it was 4.1 percent. The deficit will shrink again in fiscal 2015 to $469 billion.... “This will be the fifth consecutive year in which the deficit has declined as a share of GDP since peaking at 9.8 percent in 2009,” CBO said in a report released today. The 2.8 figure as a percentage of gross domestic product is lower than the 3.1 percent average of the last 40 years, CBO said.
And we have some polling goodness inside...
Biden to remain silent until January 2015.

Biden to remain silent until January 2015.

Alan Loudell:
Molly Magarik told me Beau Biden would not be available to further discuss his political intentions as long as he remains Attorney General (No surprise!). But we have a circular loop, because - as noted earlier on this blog - the Attorney General has been noticeably unavailable for media interviews ever since his hospitalization in Texas.
Loudell also wonders if Biden can simply not campaign and not make any appearances and just rely on the Biden name to get elected. The answer to that is a resounding no. And Biden and his people need to understand that. Because I am sure it has crossed some mind somewhere in the Biden camp. I will vote Republican if that is his plan, and I will work tirelessly for that Republican, and encourage everyone I know to vote Republican. Even if that Republican is Christine O'Donnell. Even if Sarah Palin herself moves to Delaware to hunt foxes and decides "you betcha this state is small enough for me to be Governor in." I would place "Evil (R) for Governor" bumperstickers all over my car. And the reason is that if Biden follows the Loudell hypothetical, it will be a sign of such disrespect for all Delawareans that the shower of that disrespect will need to be destroyed, in the figurative sense of course. He cannot run for public executive office and keep his medical condition a secret, all the while using that medical condition as a reason to not make public appearances. Running for public office involves sacrifice. Sacrifice of time away from your family. Sacrifice of long hours you rather spend watching baseball instead of another rubber chicken dinner at another RD fundraiser. And you sacrifice some of your privacy. And I am not even talking about full disclosure. I don't need every medical record, every prescription, every boo boo Biden has ever had. No, we are entitled to know what procedure Biden underwent. What the diagnosis was. What the prognosis is. All Biden would have to say to satisfy me is....
Delaware Political Weekly: April 12-18, 2014

Delaware Political Weekly: April 12-18, 2014

Beau Biden's 'letter to his supporters' announcing that he would not run for reelection for AG but, rather, would run for Governor in 2016, was an act of breathtaking cynicism.  So let's make one thing totally clear: He is not running for reelection because of his health. Period. With perhaps a dollop of 'I suck so bad as AG that maybe people will forget just how bad if I'm out of office for a couple of years'. So, let's first look at 2016 and work our way backwards, shall we? With all that money in the bank, Beau hopes to scare off would-be challengers. If Biden's successful, this would make it almost a certainty that your Democratic nominee for governor in 2016 would either be Beau Biden or...Tom Gordon.  You see, Tommy's waiting in the wings with the implicit blessing of the Bidenistas. Either way, Joe Biden gets to play kingmaker. You like that? Neither do I. That's why I find this maneuver so cynical. And so typical of all involved. OK, let's become Matt Denn for just a second. He'd like to be governor, but he's enough of a realist to recognize that waiting for 2016 in (a) the oft-chance that Biden won't run and/or (b) the hope that he'll somehow be able to raise enough money to be competitive with Beau are possible but far from sure things. The position of AG has just opened up for this November. I betcha Matt Denn thinks he'd be a great AG. I agree. I also betcha that leaders in the Party are already beating a track to his door.  I don't think anyone could come close to defeating Denn, should he run for AG. With no information whatsoever, I think and hope that that's what he'll do. He'd be an effective and progressive AG. Which is better than what we have now.
Thursday Open Thread [4.17.14]

Thursday Open Thread [4.17.14]

Yeah, that internal Christie investigation was really on the up and up. The Bergen Record reports that "nine days before a team of its top lawyers made public a report clearing Governor Christie in the George Washington Bridge scandal, the law firm donated $10,000 to the Republican Governors Association, a group [Christie] heads." Andrew Sullivan continues to be impressed by the Long Game Theory of the Obama Presidency. And Hillary Clinton crushes everyone in the lastest national poll. We are talking 40 state blowout.

This photo….

...accompanies a story that News Journal ran this morning on New Castle County government clearing out a homeless tent city near Christiana by week's end. The photo is from New Castle County. Given that Gordon wants to develop a humane policy, I am not attacking him for touring the site or having it cleared in lieu of better options for the inhabitants. It is private property, and such tent cities are not safe. But the photo makes it look like Gordon is personally ordering the woman (who is Executive Assistant Angela Walker, rather than a tent city inhabitant) to leave now. Not a good image, even for the law and order Gordon.

Thursday Daily Delawhere [4.17.14]

From xzmattzx:
Hidden in a subdivision is a little bit of railroad history. The New Castle & Frenchtown Railroad was chartered in 1829 and began operating in 1832. The railroad connected New Castle to Frenchtown, Maryland, on the Chesapeake Bay. The western part of the railroad was abandoned in 1859, but the right-of-way remained cleared and functioned as buffers between parcels of land. Since railroad require flat ground, embankments were built for the railroad during construction, and some of these embankments still exist. Arguably the best remnant of the New Castle and Frenchtown Railroad is this embankment off of Forrestal Drive in Pencader Hundred. This view looks east along the embankment, with the natural contours of the earth seen on either side.
Wednesday Open Thread [4.15.14]

Wednesday Open Thread [4.15.14]

A new study finds that rich and powerful interest groups have a much greater impact on government policy than the majority of citizens. Gawker says it means that the United States has officially become an oligarchy:
"The study notes that the position of the median American and the position of the affluent American are often the same; therefore, regular people tend to think that their political interests are being represented when they see the triumph of some political position that they agree with. In fact, the researchers say, this is a mere coincidence. Yes, the average American will see their interests represented--as long as their interests align with the interests of the wealthy."
And this is where it gets interesting. The interests of the average and the wealthy are diverging. And the wealthy are freaking out because they know what happens next. For you see, when the interests diverge, the wealthy can either accept it and make the changes necessary to placate the average American, which will probably cost them some money. Or they can just prepare for revolution and hope that the wealthy and the government they bought can put down the violence. This is why you see billionaires complaining in the Wall Street Journal about the evils of progressives and economic populism.
Interview with Senator Bryan Townsend

Interview with Senator Bryan Townsend

Here is an interview that El Somnambulo and I had with Senator Bryan Townsend (D-11th). The interview took place at Timothy's on the Waterfront a little over a month ago, but don't worry, the topics we talk about are not out of date. So that explains the bar and restaurant ambiance, and some 70's tunes in the background. The reason for the delay in publishing this was problems I experienced with my editing software. I had to cut out the moment that the waitress came over mid interview. We touch on the Charter School bill from last year and Education in general, the Governor's infrastructure plan that he wants to pay for with a 10 cent increase in the gas tax, the once and future minimum wage increase, the Veasey Report and any resultant reform measures (this interview comes before several rather bland bills were introduced), casinos, the "clarifying" bill regarding our State Treasurer and the Sunset Committee. Come inside to listen....