General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show: Tues., June 23, 2015
Sen. Patti Blevins: 1 NRA Lobbyist: 0.
That’s the result of one of the more unusual confrontations in recent Delaware legislative history. Unusual because it’s so not ‘Delaware Way’. And unusual because someone called out the NRA for lying. Also unusual because both Blevins and the lobbyist in question, Rich Armitage, do not generally court controversy. And most unusual in that the President Pro-Tem stated that Armitage “could have faced felony charges for his allegedly false testimony about closed door negotiations involving the gun rights group and the Attorney General’s office over language regarding the marketing of firearm safety programs.”
Here’s what happened. In typical NRA fashion, Armitage tried and succeeded in bullying (and misleading) legislators into exempting “the marketing of weapons and ammunition” from a bill designed to protect children from online predatory marketing practices. The amendment squeaked through with an 11 Y, 9 N vote. According to Jon Offredo’s story (linked above) Armitage contended that the bill would make it impossible for the NRA to offer gun safety courses. Blevins maintained that what Armitage said was directly contradictory to what the AG’s office said the bill would do, and that Armitage knew this when he allegedly testified before the Senate. Here’s what AG Matt Denn said:
After the hearing, Denn said the bill doesn’t prohibit the marketing of firearm training programs. “That’s not what the bill does and it’s not what the bill is intended to do,” Denn said.
Nevertheless, Blevins was (rightly) furious. Armitage was a party to the negotiations (as was Blevins), and knew damn right well that the bill did not threaten safety programs. Blevins tabled the bill, and brought it back after ‘several hours’. This time with an amendment that struck the amendment that Armitage had pushed through. The senators who had supported the NRA amendment who now switched to support Blevins’ amendment were: Ennis and McBride. Sen. Bethany Hall Long, who was absent for the first vote, also supported the Blevins amendment, which passed.
At which point, the bill itself passed by a 15-4 vote.
Rich (John) Armitage has been around for a long time. He was one of the top lobbyists for the University of Delaware for many years. He’s an inside player as opposed to his predecessor and maimed pigeon killer, John Sigler. His current clients are the NRA and the City of Newark. Stuff like this doesn’t happen often. I think it should happen more often. Lobbyists mislead all the time. And the line between ‘misleading’ and ‘lying’ is usually blurred, if not non-existent. Armitage crossed that line, Blevins called him on it, and got what appears to be a good piece of legislation passed. Good for her.
Pot decriminalization is now the law in Delaware. Surrounded by members of the Marley family, Gov. Markell donned some dreds and signed HB 39 into law, just minutes after the bill passed the Senate, then led the crowd in a sing-along, which he dedicated to, of all people, Jeff Christopher. Some of the preceding sentence is true.
A real good right to privacy bill passed the Senate unanimously, and returns to the House for a final vote. It already passed the House previously, but will be reconsidered b/c a Senate amendment was added to the bill. No problem. It’ll be on the Governor’s desk shortly. Here’s what it does:
Under current Delaware law there is no recognized right to privacy in an employee or applicant’s social networking site passwords and account information. This Bill makes it unlawful for employers, subject to certain exceptions, (i) to mandate that an employee or applicant disclose password or account information that would grant the employer access the employee or applicant’s personal social networking profile or account, or (ii) to require or request that employees or applicants log onto their respective social networking site profiles or accounts to provide the employer direct access.
The House passed SB 122(Henry), which gives ‘ the State Board of Education the authority to change school district boundaries in New Castle County in a manner consistent with the final report of the Wilmington Education Advisory Group’. The bill heads to the Governor for his signature. Mike M, Pandora, KO, et al, what should happen next?
Here’s the complete session activity report for Thursday.
Let’s look at the Senate Ag…Stop the e-presses! Kiddies, I want you to scroll down to the final item on that Agenda. Now, I want you to click on this link to SB 137(McDowell). For those lacking the capacity to click, here’s the synopsis:
Delaware’s Community College System plays a critical role in the State’s economy by providing workforce development and transfer education that connects Delawareans with good paying jobs within the State and region. This Act gives the College’s Board of Trustees the authority to issue bonds to finance the cost of major and minor capital improvements, deferred maintenance, and the acquisition of related equipment and educational technology associated therewith and establishes the Community College Infrastructure Fund to pay the principal and interest on such bonds. This Act adopts the county vo-tech structure to finance the Fund by authorizing the College’s Board of Trustees to collect a local property tax subject to a cap.
Anyone questioning why Lonnie George chose Mark Brainard as his preferred successor can stop asking. Now, kids, I want you to try to wrap your heads around this: The same General Assembly that can’t/won’t find revenues on its own to pay for an adequate infrastructure program for our roads HAS NO PROBLEM granting to the unelected (h/t to Chipman Flowers) Board of Trustees of Del-Tech the right to impose a tax on all homeowners?? W/O referendum or any say-so on our part? Oh, and the bill’s on the Agenda even though it’s still in committee? Oh, and no notice has been posted of a committee hearing? I guess there’s only one more question to ask: Did Mark Brainard scrawl ‘Make it happen’ on the legislative drafts he circulated to the Honorables? Del-Tech, for all the good the institution does, is a cesspool of inbreeding, nepotism, political cronyism and easy corruption. I am dismayed that so many of my favorite legislators are on this bill as sponsors. Which leads me to a Reader Challenge: Anyone with information about legislator tie-ins to Del-Tech, please send us that tip on our tip line. We will track down each and every one, and post them, once confirmed. Maybe the ‘Honorables’ can be shamed into not doing the wrong thing.
Sen. Townsend’s SB 59, which provides a ‘means for an undocumented immigrant to apply for and obtain valid driving privileges in the State of Delaware’, is also on the lengthy agenda.
Today’s House Agenda features the gray fox bill and the opt-out bill, both back from the Senate with amendments attached. The gray fox bill will pass, the opt-out bill will pass unless the prime sponsor doesn’t allow it to be considered. I hope he does run the bill. Passage of the bill reflects an institutional repudiation of Markell’s approach to public education. Who even cares if he vetoes it? The repudiation still stands. That’s why it should be passed.
I’ll be back tomorrow with a look at the final full schedule of committee meetings for the session. And I’ll be on the Al Show today at 10 am to discuss this and lots more.
Tags: Del-Tech, El Somnambulo, pot decriminalization, Sen. Patti Blevins, Steve Tanzer Delaware
SB 122 essentially grants the Department of Education “fast track” authority to redraw district boundaries along the lines of the WEAC report. There’s more, but the centerpiece is to move high-poverty schools (currently under DOE’s “Priority Schools” gun) from Christina SD to Red Clay, making Red Clay the sole city district (although I think Brandywine keeps some).
Apparently the plan is:
1. Hand Christina’s high-poverty schools over to Red Clay,
2. ???
3. Profit!!
I’m all for making the wealthier suburbs share the burden of county-wide poverty. But seriously, Red Clay can’t handle its own high poverty schools. Historically Red Clay has dealt with its poverty by segregation, and then as soon as the courts turned their backs they resegregated.
I think the end game is to turn over the bulk of enrollment to the charter-friendly Red Clay. The new Red Clay will be like the old Red Clay, only more so – the more advantaged students will attend new or expanded charters or magnets, while the high-needs students will attend ever-more desperate district schools.
But I would like to see the looks on the faces of today’s upper middle class Red Clay parents who think their kids will go to Cab or CSW, but who suddenly find Junior competing with hundreds of new students who were formerly ineligible but are now armed with the Red Clay preference. The public schools Cab and CSW will become even more exclusive, and pressure will increase to build more public white-flight academies.
I am trying to remain open minded, but for now I say back to the drawing board.
The profiles in courage on the Budget Committee seem to have decided to balance their books at the expense of local governments who get a share of real estate transfer taxes. So instead of facing the revenue problem head on (raise taxes), they are pushing the problem down to local governments who will need to so something to fill in the gap. Stupid, stupid management. And taking over the S&P settlement to balance the budget instead of using it to help homeowners or communities hurt by mortgage practices is just shady. Somebody please tell me that Harris McDowell is getting a primary opponent, because it is well past time for him to be retired!
True, but…
The JFC works with the money available to it. It cannot, for example, pass tax increases.
In fact, revenue enhancement bills generally are the purview of the respective Revenue and Taxation Committees, not the Finance Committees.
So, if the General Assembly will not raise taxes on the wealthy nor will it provide other additional revenue options, and if the budget is to be balanced, and if programs and workers are to be protected, the JFC has little choice but to pick from unappetizing options. After all, they HAVE to introduce a balanced budget.
I would LIKE to think that McDowell and the JFC members put this out there as a challenge to their colleagues. As in: “This is the best we can do with what we’ve got. Do you really want to take the heat from every municipality in your district?”
As to McDowell, he generally has primary opponents, but has been fortunate in the quality of said challengers.
BTW, we’ll talk about this on the Al Show today, beginning at 10.
I vote “NO” on the new “I need to pay my cronies lots of money” tax. We’re already taxed for Del Tech.
On the DelTech tax, the devil is in the details. Properties are assessed at different percentages of market value in different years in each county. So, if the rate is X cents per $100 of assessed value, property owners in NCCo are likely paying more than property owners in Kent or Sussex. If we’re going to have some sort of statewide property tax, we also need a statewide property reassessment.
On the DelTech tax, the devil is in the details. Properties are assessed at different percentages of market value in different years in each county. So, if the rate is X cents per $100 of assessed value, property owners in NCCo are likely paying more than property owners in Kent or Sussex. If we’re going to have some sort of statewide property tax, we also need a statewide property reassessment.
Not at the beach
Why not at the beach?
Not at the beach because it will afflict the long suffering millionaires who abide there.
SB 122 and HB 148: I am hesitant on both of these bills. It happened TOO fast, even though some individuals have been planning this for 20 years, 2 years, or 9 months depending on who is talking. If I were Red Clay, I would be looking for additional legislation giving them some type of protection from falling victim to any types of shenanigans…
Kevin O, your positions have now pitted you against the civil rights community (Opt Out) and the African American heavy WEAC (SB122 and HB148). You support the efforts of the people in Hockessin who never wanted poor blacks in their school district, and you are now using the #1 line of everyone who has ever stood in the way of progressive legislation without a valid reason “IT’S HAPPENING TOO FAST”….. Is there something you want to tell us?
The most expensive real estate in DE is at the beach and thus the highest taxes
Joe Six Pack, I am looking out for the African-American students, the special needs students, and the low-income students of not only Wilmington, but our whole state. I firmly believe certain individuals have ulterior motives at play with this legislation, and I don’t think it is in the best interests of ANY student in Delaware. I am not in opposition of these legislative actions, but I do think it needs to be handled a bit slower and with LOTS of oversight.
To say I am pitting myself against civil rights groups with opt-out is ludicrous. As a father of a special needs child, and the numerous majority of parents who DO NOT agree with the civil rights groups opposition of opt-out, we have just as much say as they do when it comes to OUR children. They are operating on false notions that have been debunked time and time again. Here is just one example of the latest debunking: https://exceptionaldelaware.wordpress.com/2015/06/22/if-you-thought-the-first-delaware-pta-letter-sent-to-the-house-was-great-wait-until-you-see-this-one-slam-dunk/
I sincerely hope there won’t be a time when I have to say “I told you so” with SB122 and HB148. I think the priority schools initiative exposed a lot of people to what is really going on behind the scenes. The DOE, Rodel, business leaders, and the Markell administration have long sought a goal of making Wilmington an all-charter district. This is not a secret. With the vast amounts of corruption and fraud going on in our charter schools, it would be very unwise to turn the hard work of WEAC and other groups in Wilmington into this eventual goal. I am not saying that will happen, but it would be prudent to put in safeguards to stop that as a possible eventuality.
“The most expensive real estate in DE is at the beach and thus the highest taxes”
I don’t believe that’s true. But if you disagree please show your work.
Furthermore Joe Six Pack, saying I represent the citizens of Hockessin is pretty funny considering I have been there once in my life. I am against further segregation in our schools, and we all know the statistics, so please get your facts straight. If anything, the very same arguments the civil rights groups have with opt-out as well as potential underhanded goals of SB122 and HB148, would only further segregation in our state.
@JoeSixPack: “stood in the way of progressive legislation”
What the hell is progressive about rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic? The Red Clay handover will only accelerate the disintegration of our public school system. If RCEA supports this because they think it protects teacher jobs, they are deluded.
Why are you so anxious to hand over voting control of city schools to “people from Hockessin?”
I happen to be a Hockessin parent, and I know that outbound busing from the city to the suburbs doesn’t work. The evidence is in and has been for years, so why do more of the same? Definition of insanity, right?
Bring me a solution that works, and I will be happy to pay increased taxes for it, which is a more popular position than you would expect.
Why is there no serious proposal for new schools in Wilmington? Actually Wilmington HAS a public high school but somehow it is full of well-advantaged suburban kids. Fix THAT.
Mouse/Pandora:
“The most expensive real estate in DE is at the beach and thus the highest taxes”
I don’t believe that’s true. But if you disagree please show your work.
Mouse’s statement is half-right. Most expensive residential real estate in Delaware is at the beach, judging by top sale prices. See http://www.delawaretoday.com/Delaware-Today/March-2015/Delawares-30-Priciest-Homes/
The highest tax rates are in New Castle County.
Take a break from Tax Diddling, School Games and the Blatant Corruption of “our” politicians to consider this: Marijuana ( pot to the non politician or police amongst us ) will be decriminalized in 6 months. For one brief, shining moment common sense has prevailed in Dover and we may not see it’s like again. Money will be saved and lives will not be ruined for nothing despite the best efforts of social conservatives. Even better the Police State and Prison Industry has suffered a rare loss. Huzzah! To say the least.
Re SB 122 and HB 148 — Here and on Al’s show this morning, I’ve heard what I believe are a couple of misstatements concerning district lines and these proposals.
1. Based on the WEAC recommendations, the proposed legislation would enable moving Christina and Colonial territory within Wilmington into the Red Clay district. Those recommendations said nothing about the portion of the city served by the Brandywine district. (Personally, I think there’s merit to a realignment that would give a greater portion of the city to Brandywine, perhaps by making the Brandywine Creek the boundary between the districts within the city, but I’ve also heard that Brandywine officials have no interest in taking on more city kids.)
2. There have been assertions made that, many years ago, a city portion of Brandywine that contained relatively lower-income kids was redistricted into Red Clay. I don’t believe that ever happened. If it did, it did not result in the transfer of any school buildings from Brandywine to Red Clay, so its impact would have been minimal in terms of school district revenue and school performance.
Moving forward, history shows us that it wasn’t a good idea to divide Wilmington into four districts , and I’d argue that the negative outcomes result in part from the disenfranchisement of Wilmington parents within the school systems that occurred through adoption of the four-district system.
Dividing the city between two school districts will likely give Wilmington parents a larger voice, at least in Red Clay, but that, in and of itself, does not necessarily lead to better educational outcomes for city residents. Indeed, count me among the many who find it ironic that Red Clay, whose leadership in promoting choice and charters was instrumental in accelerating the resegregation of city schools, now stands poised to take over their management.
Given the current situation, I favor the two-district alignment, with Brandywine being assigned a larger portion of the city … BUT (and this is huge) with any realignment there must also be significant reforms to school finance statewide so that districts with higher percentages of low-income, low-performing students receive additional resources that can be directed toward meeting their needs.
If that does not occur, Red Clay suburban parents will likely trash any plan that is developed (previous comments on this thread suggest that has already begun).
More likely, however, is that members of the General Assembly, particularly those from downstate, will squash any effort to reform school finances when it becomes clear that this will require increased taxation.
2016, as we all know, is an election year, so candidates will not even be allowed to whisper the word “taxes” next year.
I could go on, but if you’ve gotten this far, you’ve got my point: Something should be done, it should start now, but achieving the desired result won’t be easy and the process won’t be pretty.
http://www.delawaretoday.com/Delaware-Today/March-2015/Delawares-30-Priciest-Homes/
People from up there always underestimate the wealth and cultural sophication of the DE beaches.
Oops lol, Mediawatch posted the same thing first. Tax rates in Sussex are crazy low because of the transfer tax. I pay like 700 bucks a year in 2600 Sq ft on a wooded 1/2 acre 3 miles from the ocean
It’s time to cut the budgets big time. The folks paying the bills will send a clear message and walk across the border to PA. Delaware has a spending addiction and the solution isn’t by raising taxes. Although that’s the only solution in the Liberal playbook…
They have taken from the Transportation Trust Fund $40 million.
They have too many Charter schools, that their trying to fund. With too many school districts.
DELDOT is over the top and needs to control it’s wasteful spending.
Wilmington is one of the worst for Heroin!
Poor investments and pipe dreams; Fisker & Bloom. I know go ahead and bust on me bringing up Fisker & Bloom. Their still hoping for Fisker will build cars here!! Bloom, the Bloom deal is like a bad baseball players contract!! Look how bad this deal was and what has it gotten us………NOTHING!! I’d rather see that money go directly to infrastructure, which would have produced jobs. No, maybe not…..our elected officials would have mismanaged that money.
Maybe if the Republicans could field some candidates who can run on something like effective government instead of sexual issues, fear and Ebola…
It’s time to cut the budgets big time.
What, exactly, would you like to further cut? I’m curious.
The folks paying the bills will send a clear message and walk across the border to PA.
This person thinks that the wealthy are “paying the bills” which, under our flat income tax system, is not he case.
Delaware has a spending addiction and the solution isn’t by raising taxes.
So the “solution” is additional tax and further spending cuts. Great plan. It is working like gangbusters in Kansas and Wisconsin.