McKenna Gets Appointed, not Elected.
Governor Markell appointed incumbent Kent County Recorder of Deeds Betty Lou McKenna to the Recorder of Deeds post, as is his right under Delaware election law when a race is certified as a tie. It seems to me that this Delaware law is wrong, for the Governor can simply do what he did, appoint one of the candidates that did not win, and that doesn’t seem right to me. Of course, it does not seem right to me that we elect a Recorder of Deeds in the first place. And if there was a Republican Governor right now….. I’ll wait until you stop laughing….. he or she would definitely have no regrets in appointing La Mar Gunn to the post. Still, up until Pete Schwartzkopf became Speaker, we Democrats used to care about fairness and transparency, and not just power for power’s sake.
The story is not over though.
Markell’s appointment of McKenna was done to give the court the necessary time to decide Gunn’s appeal. It also avoids the possibility that there would be an interruption in the office’s day-to-day functions, the statement from Markell‘s office said. McKenna’s term would have expired on Tuesday. The recorder of deeds is the person responsible for indexing and maintaining copies of legal land documents, like mortgages.
I wonder what policy, partisan or ideological difference there is between Republicans and Democrats on the filing of deeds, easements and mortgages.
She was appointed only on an interim basis until the Supreme Court can hear the case, so as not to cause a shutdown of the Recorder of Deeds office.
The Governor handled this exactly the right way.
The Parties will have an opportunity to make their case to the Supreme Court.
Lost in this is the fact that with Tom Carper as a leader of Delaware’s Democratic Party, the word “Democrat” has literally no meaning to voters.
The amazing thing is that La Mar Gunn didn’t win outright. Down-ticket Dem candidates without name recognition are doomed until the Senator for Life croaks. If you want proof, simply ask Sean Barney.
There are reported discrepancies with the vote counting that don’t pass the smell test. And there hasn’t been cooperation from Dept. of Elections on offering up the initial absentee ballot scan. That count of 60 ballots became 56 ballots in the recount and there were at least 5 ballots under serious contest. The initial ballot scan should be part of the court review upon appeal and anything else Mr. Gunn needs for his defense. My read is that this has not been an open and transparent process even at the Superior Court level.
Also the fact that people counting the ballots were bank and law firm employees.
God forbid that the state allows a consumer activist Recorder of Deeds who blew the whistle on land fraud in Kent County to ever be elected.
So much for the corrupt special interest controlled Delaware Way.