John Kowalko isn’t shutting up, and for good reason. It isn’t Pete Schwartzkopf’s business to decide if someone can be an activist and a legislator. That’s Kowalko’s constituent’s job, and Kowalko’s constituents expressly hired him to be an activist and a legislator.
Schwartzkopf may not remember, but John Kowalko sat in an Leg Hall energy committee meeting with a gag in his mouth in protest, and that was prior to being hired by his constituents. They knew what they were getting into.
Which raises the question – does Schwartzkopf know what he is getting into by elevating Kowlako’s status to that of a martyr for a transparent democracy? I sort of doubt it.
There’s some discord in the House Democratic caucus at the beginning of the 148th General Assembly.
Rep. John Kowalko (D-South Newark) wrote a letter blasting House Speaker Pete Schwartzkopf (D-Rehoboth Beach) after he was removed from the House Education Committee.
In dropping him from the Education Committee, Kowalko says Schwartzkopf told him he had “become an activist” and that “you can’t be a legislator and an activist.”
– See more at: http://www.wdde.org/71917-lawmaker-clashes-house-speaker-committee-assignments#sthash.fJvE6fNY.dpuf