That was quite the dust-up between Sen. Karen Peterson and Speaker Pete Schwartzkopf this week. The argument? Why won’t Schwartzkopf allow a floor vote on legislation eliminating the death penalty? Both legislators make legitimate points.
Pete Schwartzkopf by and large does control the fate of the bill. As Speaker, he not only decides what committee receives the bill, he determines the members of the committees. Put the bill in a committee in which the majority does not support death penalty repeal, and the bill isn’t coming out unless petitioned out. Going against the Speaker to petition a bill out has its own set of perils. So Peterson is correct there. Pete has taken steps to stop the bill, his protestations to the contrary notwithstanding.
However, Schwartzkopf has offered a compromise:
Schwartzkopf has said that he would oppose any repeal legislation that did not include exemptions for those inmates convicted of killing members of law enforcement, including correctional officers.
Not including those exemptions would endanger every correctional officer working in the state’s prisons, he said. He added that he offered amendments to repeal legislation last year, but those requests “fell on deaf ears.”
He said that compromise is needed on the bill. Peterson, he said, is not willing to compromise.
“This building is bigger than one bill,” Schwartzkopf said.
This raises two questions: (1) Would Schwartzkopf take steps to ensure the bill’s consideration if this compromise was accepted; and (2) is it worth it to have a repeal bill with these exceptions?
My answers? (1) Probably. He’s a man of his word and Peterson’s a savvy negotiator. (2) I don’t know. When you build exceptions into anything, at least legislatively, the instinct is to add more exceptions, not eliminate the ones on the books. I can see how any legislator with demagogic tendencies (about 40% of them, by my count) could use the terrible crime du jour to carve out yet more exceptions by threatening political extinction for the namby pambys who oppose them. Your thoughts?
One final point. Sen. Peterson says:
“”I can tell you that in the Senate if the majority members of our caucus wanted a bill out of committee, it would be out of committee,” she said. “Leaders are supposed to facilitate, not dictate.”
That is true. Now. Previous President Pro-Tems DeLuca and Adams? Not so much. BTW, here is this year’s bill. Props to all sponsors, special props to R sponsors Simpson, Cloutier, Miro and Ramone.
Jack Markell blinked on his proposal to cram health care increases into the orifices of state workers. At least for now. Actually, he and the legislators just kicked the can down the road for a few months. Until or unless this state generates a greater revenue stream, which we can easily do by restoring some fairness to the state income tax, prospects will just get bleaker for state employees. Hey, Jack, now that we have empirical evidence that ONLY the state’s 1% benefited from our so-called recovery, the only fair thing to do is stop the ongoing transfer of wealth to the wealthy from everybody else.
Speaking of everybody else, we got a real good minimum wage bill introduced this week. The minimum wage would increase by 50 cents each for four consecutive years beginning in 2016. The response from the Markell folks was predictable and pathetic:
Kelly Bachman, a spokeswoman for Markell, said the governor has not discussed the new legislation with Marshall or other lawmakers. Bachman would not say whether Markell supported an additional minimum wage increase.
“He was proud to support a $1 increase in the minimum wage last year and looks forward to talking with the senator and his colleagues about this bill,” Bachman said.
Actually, he was proud to have emasculated the original bill with, according to Tom Carper, considerable help from Sean Barney. BTW, where is Barney pursuing his progressive principles these days? Is he back with Jack, The Third Way or…somewhere else? But, I digress.
For all of you completists, here are the Session Activity Reports for this week:
Highlights and lowlights:
Hunters may soon take (legal) aim on Delaware’s Wildlife Animal, the gray/grey fox. The House voted to legalize the hunt by a 31Y, 8N, 2NV roll call.
The Senate approved the nominations of Collins Seitz, Jr. and Jeffrey Clark to the Delaware Supreme Court and and Superior Court respectively. I would be remiss in not also congratulating Mary McDonough for her reappointment as a Commissioner to the Court of Common Pleas. Before her appointment, Mary was instrumental in protecting residents of nursing homes, other facilities, and home health care. She is an empathetic public servant who has done immense good for many people who don’t even know her name. Words can’t adequately describe how much I admire her.
You know, that’s a rare nice positive way to end a post. I’m done ’til Tuesday.