Breaking News: Delaware House Leadership Team A Team No More
Alternate Title: ’50 Witnesses Can’t Be Wrong’.
According to literally dozens of sources, Speaker of the House Pete Schwartzkopf and House Majority Leader Valerie Longhurst are no longer allies, to put it mildly. In fact, they’ve had a major falling-out.
Their ‘breakup’ is the talk of Legislative Hall, and it could impact legislative deliberations during the final month of session.
You will recall that, when running for Speaker, Schwartzkopf insisted that he and Longhurst were running as a team, and that it was either both of them or neither of them. It’s the only way that Longhurst could have been elected Majority Leader. By a narrow margin, it turned out to be both of them.
I’ll be right upfront and once again tell you that I dislike Val Longhurst intensely. She has proven that she takes delight in intimidating people and in exercising power over anyone who gets in her way. I will also tell you that she is perhaps the most universally reviled legislative leader with whom I’ve come in contact. Joe Petrilli, also a former House Majority Leader, albeit on the R side, was the previous champion, IMHO. She is despised by many staff people and by many of her colleagues in both the House and the Senate.
While I don’t know why they’ve finally stopped working together, I have to think that Speaker Schwartzkopf, if he wanted to remain Speaker Schwartzkopf next session, recognized the need to jettison the toxic Longhurst.
I, of course, would welcome any and all inside skinny from Leg Hall.
This is big news. With this split, I suppose it’s even possible, though unlikely, that the caucus will depose Longhurst from her leadership position before the end of this term. After all, she’s responsible for running the legislative agenda for the House Majority. Do the caucus members even trust her to do so?
When you have power, people sometimes have to trust you on faith. When you’re a lame duck, things just might be different. It’s not as if her colleagues feel any sympathy towards her. Nor do I.
Tags: El Somnambulo, Featured, Pete Schwartzkopf, Steve Tanzer Delaware, Valerie Longhurst
As of 2 days ago still $$ buddies….
Pete Schwartzkopf
May 5
to YOUNG
Dear Friend,
Please join Val and I for an evening at the Lewes Yacht Club.
Click here to contribute $100 and add your name to the guest list.
This event is by invitation only. It will help raise money to support Democrats running for House seats in the upcoming election. We hope you can join us.
Sincerely,
Pete
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Interesting. But if being a hated, toxic, piece of … was a real impediment to holding or exercising political power, how do you explain the entire span of human and Delaware history …?
Any reporting of what caused the fallout?
Perhaps it was Pete pushing his “towns act at the behest of the state” bill.
They are co-hosting a fundraiser on May 28th at the Lewes Yacht Club. I have had conversations with both Pete and Valerie. They continue to work well together as they have been through this session. Both have been helpful to me in bringing to the floor, when the House returns from break, a bill that corrects parts of the Rent Justification Law for manufactured homeowners.
Spoke to Pete just today and he has not retained me for the drafting of a separation agreement with his Leader.
..and he looked to be in robust good health. (Just helping you out Mitch.)
Of course they’re still hosting the fundraiser together. The House DEMS PAC has such a fundraiser scheduled pretty much every year.
The story, however, is true. They are as far from bosom buddies as can be, and it’s virtually certain that at least one of the two will not be in leadership next session. By choice of the other one.
his back is bothering him 😉
From carrying Longhurst?
I understand it is fun to report what one “hears”, but conjecture leading to rumor is evidence of nothing and can be damaging.
If “Fifty witnesses” exist, I find it strange that I heard not even a rumor and I am well-connected. I have spoken to members of the caucus in both House Democratic camps and no one has mentioned anything to me on the subject. I have conversed with House staff on a number of issues-as recently as yesterday-nada. So, I weigh “50 witnesses” without names or statements against what I see and what I have been told.
The same is true with the AG. I am not privy to his medical records and I have not discussed his health with him or with any member of his family. Against the rumors, I merely reported what I observed when I saw him last month.
i understand that a blog is not held to the same standard as a newspaper is (or should be) but if one is to report something serious, at least get a couple of sources.
Delaware is a small state. Leg Hall is even smaller. If 50 people witnessed a falling out between two leaders, certainly that news would have reached Party leaders, I met with the state and subdivision party leadership last night. We talked about lots of things-even rumors. I even brought up the Speaker’s name. No one interjected then or mentioned to me later any crisis with the House leadership.
So, no evidence. Not even probable cause.
Wrong, Mitch. I understand that Party chairs are not held to the same levels of truthfulness required of, say, reporters, or even blogs.
But the story is true. And there are plenty of unassailable witnesses to buttress it. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have written it. Prove me wrong.
BTW, I missed that Biden news conference where he told everybody he was totally healthy, which you proclaimed him to be. Could you point me to that announcement I missed?
You can’t, because the simple fact is Biden’s not running b/c his health will not permit it. I was right, you were full of shit.
Ditto on this one.
El-please review my past posts on the subject. I never proclaimed anyone “totally healthy”. What I wrote was that Beau Biden came to the Sussex County Democrats’ dinner; he engaged in conversation with me; he made the rounds and spoke to the people in attendance and he looked fine-though thin.
That is what I said.
I may be wrong from time to time, but if words come out of my mouth, it is because I believe them to be true. I do not mind being attacked or even proven wrong, but I have spent a professional life and worked hard to earn a reputation for integrity.
Then why throw your ‘reputation for integrity’ away challenging questions or assertions about someone’s health? Saying that he ‘looked healthy to me’ is exactly what a politico seeking to curry favor does. I prefer to go with those with no ‘dawg in the hunt’.
BTW, have you even bothered to ask any of the public officials in your jurisdiction about what I wrote re Pete and Val? I have. Well, not in Sussex, but I’ve spoken to many people who are in a position to know. Why not check around and find out? I’ll wait to hear back from you.
1. Not seeking to curry favors as there is nothing I want from them. No statewide elected official helped me the last time I ran, and if I were to run for IC again, I would expect nothing different. You wrote that the AG had not been seem, etc. and I, and then Paul Baumbach, wrote that we had seend and spoken to him..and we both state what we saw.
2. I have spoken to “public officials in (my) jurisdiction”. Did so before I wrote. No one I have spoken with confirms any problems between the leadership.
And Paul was full of shit on that, too.
Let me quote your own words:
” I have spoken to “public officials in (my) jurisdiction”. Did so before I wrote. No one I have spoken with confirms any problems between the leadership.”
Them’s lawyer words, son. I have two questions:
1. Did you speak to them about any possible friction between Pete and Val?
2. Did anyone DENY that there has been a schism between the two? I’ll answer that one. If anyone had, you would have said so.
You didn’t. Because the story’s true.
The answer to both your questions is “yes”
If that’s true, then someone’s not telling you the truth. I stand by the story because the story is true.
And it will come out in other media outlets as well. It’s inevitable. So I’m content to allow others their alternate views of reality. Even though they’re not true.
Hey, maybe there’s hope for a reconciliation? They do, after all, have one thing in common: They both consider me to be a PITA. Which I take as a compliment.
The House majority “leadership” team needs to go.
My guess is it’s “Pete pushing his “towns act at the behest of the state” bill.”
At the committee hearing, Pete was full of one excuse after another – the room was packed with very upset towns’ leadership. And he seemed to pointedy make sure to let Val know the he’d gotten the call and then met with “Dickie” Cathcart earlier in his office to reassure him.
Well, El Som, what was the fall out ABOUT?
Or did it just fall from the heavens or appear from a bodily orifice?
And if someone were to ask Pete about it and he were to say there is no schism, is that part of the cover up?
Perhaps the speaker should worry about fixing the problems of the state and leave the towns to worry about themselves.
An analogy: In the world of sports it is customary, when a coach is in danger of losing the job, for management to give a statement saying that no change is being contemplated. Those statements are never true.
@Mitch: Your claim about newspapers is laughable. Now that there’s only one newspaper per city it’s easy to intimidate them, but in any forum where media compete — on the national scale, for example — anonymous gossip is printed every day. Check the Times and Post today, or yesterday, or tomorrow if you don’t believe me.
The story’s true, SussexAnon.
Since I’ve got numerous sources confirming it, how about someone who thinks I’m pulling it out of an orifice bother checking with someone?
Nancy, your take’s interesting and, I think, instructive. Longhurst was actually a sponsor on Pete’s bill, and then Pete has to listen to Val’s Svengali, Dick Cathcart who, BTW, is loathed by many members of the D caucus, piss and moan about the bill Val cosponsored. Remember: Cathcart was the R Majority Leader, and he effectively turned the 11th floor of the Carvel Building into unofficial campaign HQ for the House R’s back in 2008. Which, BTW, is illegal. And now he’s Val’s drinking buddy? Or one of them?
Don’t know if that’s the primary cause of the schism, but it doesn’t help matters.
I think its funny how you report a rumor you heard as “breaking news”. Excellent work.
I’ve got more than enough credible sources to satisfy me.
What’ve you got?
Anybody wishing to come on here and claim that the story is untrue is more than welcome to do so.
But the story is true.
El Som, Serious question. Even if they hate each other, why does it mean that a leadership shakeup is inevitable? Politicians are by definition scheming lowlifes perfectly cable of going on for years smiling and joking around in public with someone who they have a heated subterranean grudge or vendetta against.
I honestly don’t get that this is a story.
The reason is b/c the caucus will not vote for Pete for Speaker next time if Val is on the ‘ticket’ with him. And he now knows it. He was her staunchest (only?) defender, and now they’ve split. Doesn’t mean that they can’t make it through June in their present roles, but they will not both be in leadership come January.
You will recall that he insisted that he and Val would either be elected as a team, or he would not serve as speaker. They both barely won.
He will not do that again. There will be a change in leadership. If Pete is Speaker, Val will not be Majority Leader. It’s possible that neither will be in leadership, although I think Pete likely will and Val almost certainly will not.
The big takeaway is that, one way or another, there will be different leader(s) in the House Majority Caucus. Schwartzkopf and Longhurst will not co-exist there. And that’s something that changed in the last couple of weeks.
In other words, he now sees her as a political liability to his reign as speaker. I think he’s right.
El Som,
What does this do to Pete’s interest in LtGov? If he wants that job, seems to me he has to retain his position as Speaker, since that gives him statewide credibility that would be an asset in a run for LtGov.
“The story’s true, SussexAnon.”
Thanks for clearing things up. Big help.
I asked (twice) what caused the fallout, not if the story was true or not.
Mediawatch: He wants to remain Speaker. And he knows he has to jettison Longhurst to remain Speaker.
SW: While the above is what has emerged as the cause of the split, I DON’T know if there was a specific event or events that can be viewed as the breaking point. But the Cathcart stuff certainly did not sit well with the caucus, and Pete likely got an earful about that.
I don’t know about Val’s relationship with the speaker. But her caucus is pretty much done with her. Apparently the last straw was the biosimilars bill last week. One member told me that Val knew the bill was awful, but she rammed it through anyway because she’s friends with Nicole Poore, and because F good legislation and F everyone. That says a lot. Val got her way, but just because her caucus played along doesn’t mean they’re not making plans.
Am relatively new to this site.
Utterly shocked at the tenor of this whole discussion. Reads more like teenage girls arguing over a disinterested boy than adults discussing a rumor.
Sorry I am late to the discussion.
Could someone please clarify this for me? What call from Tricky-Dick? Reassured about what? Why is Tricky-Dick involved at all?
“At the committee hearing, Pete was full of one excuse after another – the room was packed with very upset towns’ leadership. And he seemed to pointedy make sure to let Val know the he’d gotten the call and then met with “Dickie” Cathcart earlier in his office to reassure him”
Longhurst and Tricky-Dick are peas in a pod, plotting and scheming together on a variety of subjects at
A Delaware City bar, so says the staff of the establishment.