BREAKING: Ex-Legislator Rewarded For Burying Death Penalty Repeal Bill
Remember Rebecca Walker? She’s the former chair of the House Judiciary Committee who buried the death penalty repeal bill in her committee for most of 2013 and all of 2014.
Remember Rebecca Walker? She’s the former legislator who claimed she was running for reelection in 2014, had actually filed, waited until after the filing deadline, then withdrew her name, thus denying the Democratic voters in her district the right to choose her successor via primary. Remember why Rebecca Walker claimed she withdrew? She said that her work would not enable her to continue to serve. As if she just found that out right after the filing deadline.
Well, guess what ‘good fortune’ has been bestowed upon former State Rep. Rebecca Walker?
If you guessed a $92.5K state job that required no public posting and which reunites her with her police pals with whom she scuttled death penalty repeal, you would be correct. Oh, and it’s a newly-created job that had not previously existed (I know that’s redundant, but sometimes I feel the need to employ both belt and suspenders). An exempt position, no less. No pesky Merit System requirements like, say, qualifications. Or ethics. Tony DeLuca Part Deux. Oh, and she’s now in a position where, should inconvenient evidence not make the police look good, she can do something about it. Appointed by someone who opposed death penalty repeal in Delaware.
LADEEZ AND GENTLEMEN: The brand new ‘Deputy Director’ of the brand new (and profoundly ill-considered) Delaware Division of Forensic Science, now a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Delaware Department of Homeland Security: Rebecca Walker.
You got that? The forensics will now be under the purview of the state cops. What could possibly go wrong? My prediction: Evidence will still disappear. It will just be different evidence. If a cop has been alleged to have done something wrong, how can anyone trust the cops to ensure that the evidence is preserved? History teaches us that we can’t. And now Rebecca Walker will be reunited with her cop buddies and will have access to that evidence.
Once again proving that, with the Delaware Way, there is no justice. Just casual corruption that rewards the corrupt who play the inside game.
What. A Disgrace.
Tags: death penalty repeal, Delaware General Assembly, El Somnambulo, Rebecca Walker, Steve Tanzer Delaware
Wow. That Pete Schwatzkopf is corrupt now seems to be a given. I guess the only questions are:
1) how brazenly and openly corrupt he can be, and
2) will the opposition party be able to rouse itself from its teabag idiocy long enough to do anything about it?
As for me – I think he can still be more brazen, and I give the DEGOP about a 1% shot of doing anything about it.
I’m very confused here. I thought Rebecca Walker decided not to run again because she got a big job at a local college or university and her job as legislator would have interfered? Did she not get that job? Did she get the job and then quit when this happened? What the hell is going on here? This does not sound right and I don’t like it. Not one little bit.
Yes, she got a job that prohibited her from continuing as a legislator. Then, she quit the job. Rumor had it that she moved to Miro’s district and set her sights on his seat but, I am thinking that was a smoke screen. I’m thinking the the deal was already in the works.
How is it possible to be a legislator who sponsors a bill that sets one up for the number two slot in a new agency? It definitely fails the sniff test. But, if you read the bill, Deputy Director is not one of the exempt positions named. So, the job should have been posted.
You would think, following the debacle in the ME office, that a newly formed agency would at least want to PRETEND to be more transparent. You would think they would want to post positions and hire the most qualified persons so that their policies and decision making were beyond reproach.
But, NOT IN DELAWARE. Disappointed? Yes. Surprised? No.
Good point. That was what Walker was spinning when she quit late and ceded the seat to the GOP.
One thing doesn’t add up. Pete Schwarzkopf is going to go through all this rigamarole to keep Death Penalty repeal from coming up for a vote? It seems like too much work for too little gain. If I was Pete, that would be my defense.
Maybe there is another shoe suspended somewhere?
Here is SB 241 in its entirety:
http://legis.delaware.gov/LIS/lis147.nsf/vwLegislation/SB+241/$file/legis.html?open
Nowhere, I repeat, NOWHERE in this bill, is an exemption from the Merit System provided for the position that Walker now holds.
Accordingly, I believe that her appointment was in violation of state law. Unless someone can show me otherwise, this position was required to be posted and open to all who would seek to apply.
Will anybody, ANYBODY, who is sworn to uphold the law in this state, do anything about this?
Where is Sheriff Christopher when you need him?
Also, this is a major breaking scandal story that should be red meat for the local media. *sigh* if only we had a local media.
I’m not defending her being put in this position or how it was done, but, I don’t believe it was a plan from the start, because I know she was looking at another job.
You’re probably right, AQC. But there’s no bleeping way she gets this job w/o Schwartzkopf knowing about it. He put her in as chair of Judiciary PRECISELY to kill death penalty repeal.
In fact, who other than Pete is to say that, when he found out that Walker needed a job, he took the initiative to wire this job for her? It was, after all, wired, as it was never made open to the public AS THE LAW REQUIRED.
BTW, the Delaware Secretary of Homeland Security? He made his bones with the FBI in NYC–Narcotics & Organized Crime. If we knew then what we know now about the institutional corruption permeating the FBI, perhaps we wouldn’t have been so quick to anoint him w/o some skepticism.
You could make the argument (I will) that we now have the foxes guarding the henhouse under the new structure of the Division of Forensic Science. We literally have no reasonable expectation that any evidence that incriminates cops or that exculpates people who were framed by cops won’t be messed with. Schiliro/Walker: The Cops’ Dream Team/the Public’s Nightmare.
Time for a few FOIA requests.
I’m not sure why everyone is jumping to blame Schwartzkopf when it is just as likely that it was Jack Markell or a corroboration between the two. Markell has a history of giving police butt kissers high paying crony jobs (the 12 district state senator comes to mind), while Schwartzkopf’s history is firing anti death penalty House staffers married to anti death penalty state senators. My bet is on Markell.
Only…Markell said he would have signed the Death Penalty repeal. Sure, that’s easy to say knowing that he wasn’t going to have to sign it, but you’s have to be one cynical MF’er to say you’d sign it having taken part in a scheme to see it never come to a vote.
And anyway, my earlier comment is still operative. Too much work, too many moving parts for something that wasn’t going to happen anyway.
I’m convinced that these types of high paying state job positions are preordained, and the public posting and interview process is just for show anyway.
And yet if they’re forced to go through the motions, it better highlights the false nature of the process. This continues for the simple reason that the media, particularly TNJ, thinks of itself as part of the power establishment, not as its challenger.
News Journal reporters don’t touch these stories because it could interfere with their getting the next high paying crony job. Look at who does the PIO work in legislative hall and the PIOs from the different departments. The path is clear, you spend two or three years max as a reporter, then if you behave, it’s right into a crony job with the state.
You misunderstand how the system works. Editors, not reporters, determine what gets covered.
There are high paying state jobs? Didn’t know they even existed….
Ummm, I’d consider 96,000 high paying.
I know several people who have worked for the state for decades administering large state wide publically supported programs that make a litttle more than 1/2 that amount. These are technically complex programs that require a university education too.
“I know several people who have worked for the state for decades administering large state wide publically supported programs that make a litttle more than 1/2 that amount.”
50-60k with the benefits sounds pretty darn good to me.
Yeah, I’m not gonna cry for someone making 50,000 and getting state benefits.
Yeah, you’re a fucking fount of the milk of human kindness. You begrudge the people who work for the state — with the glaring exception of the one guy who took a paycheck he wasn’t earning, Beau Biden.
You’re a real steaming pile, aren’t you?
Here’s another thing. This Division is at the nexus where law enforcement and justice come together. Forensics, evidence. For justice to be truly just, the product from this division must be beyond reproach and w/o favor.
How can we possibly expect that when the people who run this division and the Department of Homeland Security conspired to give a gold-plated reward to someone who has consistently caved to police interests all along?
And how can you expect justice from people who are supposed to enforce the law, but, rather, blatantly ignored the law in order to place a political hack/police groupie in an important position? We can’t. They’ve already made clear that they consider themselves above the law by this very appointment. They certainly can’t be trusted to treat evidence in an impartial manner. It now appears that there is literally nobody with the capacity to police the police.
As far as qualifications I believe she is both an attorney and an RN. Not saying I agree with the hire but on paper at least she has some background.
The problem will always be having the Dept answer to Homeland Security instead of being a stand-alone agency. That’s a spot that won’t wash out.
An RN has nothing to do with lab work. Neither does an attorney. She’s unqualified. And even if it does qualify her, I seriously doubt she would be the best applicant if the job had been posted.
Geezer, if you could look past your hatred you would see I’ve never defended Beau as Attorney General and I’ve said on here, and publicly, I would not support him in a run for Governor. Because it doesn’t translate to thinking he should have to publicize his illness, you’re so angry? That’s your choice and your problem.
A google search for [ “Rebecca Walker” & Delaware ] brings up nothing on this. It seems like an egregious misuse of a public office, but are we sure it even happened?
You still don’t get it. It’s a simple and legitimate question: At what point is the public entitled to know? It’s not a stumper. Why can’t you answer it?
My anger is justified. These people have treated Delawareans as if we owed them a living for going on 40 years now. I feel sorry for Beau, contempt for his father and disgust at the various Bidens who have turned their father’s bullshitting ability into a family business.
None of that It has anything to do with the question I asked. If you can’t answer it, it shows you’re not suited for this discussion.
On the other thread, you have a lot of nerve slagging state employees now that I’ve learned you depend on GA largesse for your job.
We’re the first ones to cover it. That’s why there is/was nothing on this.
As to sources, they are totally reliable and pretty high up the food chain.
It happened.
Hey Geezer, I don’t owe you an explanation for disagreeing with you. What makes me not suited for this conversation is my unwillingness to further engage with a pathetic, resentful loser. Have a nice day though 🙂
Yeah, actually, you do owe me an explanation. You claimed my position was about hating the Bidens, when it’s actually a valid point. YOU are the one who can’t back up your position, and it’s probably because you’re a piece of shit.
Let’s talk less about my hate and more about your sucking on Mike Barbieri’s tit while slagging state employees’ pay and benefits.
Geezer, Jason, ElSom, et al:
I did a little research too. It appears Walker was a forensic nurse in the ER. When I looked that up – I saw that had hell of a lot to do with evidence collection, violence AND forensic science integrity. It wasnt that hard to find…..even for my computer challeneged self.
As for the lawyer, which I saw she was a well – any small mind should be able to see that lawyers are trained in evidence (as a matter of fact – its an entire semester or 2, and tested on every bar exam), and some even…have science backgrounds (I checked – she has a “Masters of Science” in nursing). Maybe what the medical examiners office needs IS someone with her background…someone with training in forensics AND science AND the law. I think its not a difficult jump to see that a “deputy director” is not the person running the laboratory tests, but the one making sure that the people who are doing it, protect the integrity of the science under the law. These new people have to be better than the old Callery/Hal Brown team (who totally ran the medical examiner’s office into the ground and cost the state thousands of dollars).
I know very little about Walker, but from what I’ve read – she was consistent and seemed to get the job done. Always so much hate on this site…….sad for those of us who really are liberals and not just finger pointers.
Theres no news story here – just paranoia and hate for others … again….sad
There’s plenty of news here. She gets a brand new state job w/o competition even though there’s no provision in the Code for her to get the job w/o competition. She joins Tony DeLuca and Nicole Poore in getting highly-lucrative jobs within just the past few years in exactly the same manner.
But here’s where you give yourself away:
“I know very little about Walker, but from what I’ve read – she was consistent and seemed to get the job done.”
If you’ve actually read, say, this blog for any amount of time, you would know that the one job that she got done in the General Assembly, as the surrogate for the Speaker, was to bury death penalty repeal in her committee. If you really were one of “those of us who really are liberals and not just finger pointers”, you would have known that. Most liberals support death penalty repeal, or didn’t you know that either?
In which case you would likely be skeptical of her getting a job that is under the purview of the same state cops on whose behalf she helped to kill the death penalty repeal bill.
When you admit (or pretend to claim) that you know ‘very little about Walker’, I would suggest knowing more about the subject before you construct such a flimsy defense.
Elsom , claim what you wish, but Oh how Ive read this blog for a long time. However, I also looked at voting records, other blogs, social media sites and other internet sites besides this one. So again, I did not rely on just DL for my facts and frankly never will – too much anger and namecalling here. The difference for me was – I looked into her background and not just the death penalty repeal (which while none of your business and not the issue here – I do support and have sent letters stating so). I also looked back at EXACTLY what happened with the repeal and while I do not by any means agree with Walker’s position – she never changed it…. ie. was consistent. And from what I saw supported some of my liberal views on votes. I am hoping that like me – you have reached out to convince those in politics to pass the repeal bill this time. So – back off. You know nothing of my liberal ideals. Like I said …… NOT clueless, and no longer participating in this discussion.
Its Friday afternoon on a holiday weekend. The news release should be out any minute now……
I know trolls when I see them:
“I know very little about Walker, but from what I’ve read – she was consistent and seemed to get the job done. Always so much hate on this site…….sad for those of us who really are liberals and not just finger pointers.”
You know very little about her, but have allegedly found out about her background–EXCEPT for her legislative background and her vital role in killing this bill in the House. I guess that you must presume that, if it’s here, it must somehow be biased. Facts are known to have a liberal bias.
Rebecca Walker was the ONE legislator who, along with her patron saint, ex-state cop Pete Schwartzkopf, made sure that death penalty repeal would not reach the floor. It’s why Pete made her committee chair. If you had bothered to read a little more, you would have known this. It’s why he has replaced her with an ex-cop as chair along with a stacked committee. When the person who singlehandedly makes sure that State Police opposition to death penalty repeal prevails over the majority of House members who were prepared to vote for its repeal, then gets a job with the Department that houses the state police, that is news except to those who don’t want facts to influence their opinion. Raise your hands if you think she would have gotten that job had she not backed the cops. Anybody?
Her getting this job is unethical, and perhaps illegal, since no Code provision identifying this as an exempt, as opposed to Merit system, position, has surfaced. Yet the position wasn’t even posted.
Not clueless, just not very bright. Being liberal is no defense against stupidity, ignorance and naivete.
The issue isn’t whether she’s qualified as much as why she was chosen without the job ever being posted. The issue is the crookedness of Delaware’s Democrats. And, just because you don’t like name calling, go fuck your self-righteous self.
I can use the Google too. Her “forensic nursing” experience seems to consist of treating victims of rape and abuse — a small part of the forensics involved in the ME’s office. So pound that one with the sand, too.
This is a black and white case of corruption. If we had a marginally less feeble media culture in the state, it would be a front pager. If we had an opposition party that wasn’t hobbled by its own infighting and corruption – they’d be yelling from the rooftops.
Media is interested in quid pro quos when there is an actual exchange of money or financial benefit. Had Pete and his cronies received financial gain, that might have been more interesting to the media. In this case, what did Pete receive? Blocking death penalty repeal, which is a policy position, not a financial benefit.
On the other hand, selling policy positions is corrupt too.
Ask yourselves this question:
Regardless of qualifications, would Walker have gotten this job if she didn’t support the state police opposition to death penalty repeal to the point of killing it in committee?
The answer is no. This was a corrupt appointment, done in violation of state Merit Rules.
I also want to know what role ex-State cop Schwartzkopf played in this appointment. To me, he HAS to have played a part in this. She did his bidding, and she was rewarded.
And it’s not just the appointment itself. She is now in a position to ALSO bury evidence that can implicate cops or exculpate citizens. Something that the cops will no doubt welcome. In other words, a pudgy finger on the scales of justice.
If the Department of Justice doesn’t investigate this, they should change the name of the Department. Because whoever hired Walker has already opted to ignore the law that the Division is supposed to uphold. As Jason said, a black & white (with a cherry top on top) case of corruption.
As Puck notes, it is a little esoteric. There is an obvious hand in glove relationship though. That is terrible. People have little enough faith in the government and law enforcement as it is. Debasing the integrity of “Delaware Division of Forensic Science” should be an electric “third rail” situation.
Whining that the mainstream media doesn’t cover something is a fool’s game. If mainstream media knew what it was doing, it wouldn’t be in the condition it’s in now.