“HOSTAGE-TAKERS WIN. YOU LOSE.”
That will likely be the headline from the last day of session barring something unexpected.
Especially with the Rethugs seemingly determined to abdicate any responsibility to be, um, responsible. For purely id(iot)eological reasons, the R’s have tied any willingness to cooperate to screwing workers through their obsessive need to push for ‘right to work for less’. They have also abandoned any pretense of thinking for themselves, leaving all talking points to their ALEC overlords. Check out their refusal to stop the escalating infrastructure crisis from getting any funding. Check out the result. Greg Lavelle perhaps cemented (the use of ‘cemented’ is deliberate) his position as the Worst Legislator in the General Assembly by his phony demands for ‘reform’ which, for anyone paying attention, simply is a transfer of administrative costs from the Transportation Trust Fund to the operating budget w/o providing a mechanism to pay for it:
Republicans also sought a lock-box amendment that would force state officials to use new revenue on capital projects, not administrative costs. But top lawmakers from both parties were unable to reach an agreement before Thursday’s vote.
“What we have before us is a bill with no reforms associated with it,” Senate Minority Whip Greg Lavelle, a Sharpley Republican, said in Senate floor testimony. “We have promises. We’re not here to vote on promises. We’re here to vote on solid reforms to fix a system that there is widespread agreement on is broken.”
“We are abusing the trust fund,” Lavelle said.
Although Colin Bonini’s not inconsiderable girth is still in the running:
Sen. Colin Bonini, R-Dover, and a Republican gubernatorial candidate in 2016, said it was “laughable” that Democrats want to blame Republicans for the gridlock. Democrats had “absolute domination” for years and could have raised taxes to fix infrastructure whenever they wanted.
“If you wanted to raise taxes, you could have done it last year. You didn’t need us,” he said. “You could have done it the year before that, and the year before that.”
Got that? The Rethugs had no intention of funding repairs to our crumbling infrastructure. None. The D’s (‘you’) should’ve done it when you had the super-majority, they say. While they’re partially correct, their refusal to do what even they know is right is irresponsible and cynical to the nth degree. And unprecedented in times of fiscal crisis during my time with the General Assembly. Their official position is, “We don’t give a shit if the roads fall apart, we must maintain our talking points about taxes regardless of the costs to the public.”
Forget about the fact that it was then-Gov. Mike Castle and his fellow felon henchman Kermit Justice who, once the Transportation Trust Fund was established, immediately raided the fund by using it to pay DELDOT administrative costs. The simple fact is that, under cover of demanding phony reforms that will have to be paid for somehow (they, of course, don’t propose how), Lavelle and his Rethug colleagues are playing chicken with our eroding infrastructure. Might I suggest Russian Roulette instead? On each other? Both Greg Lavelle and Colin Bonini are pompous jerks. The difference is that Bonini (a) pretty much knows it and makes light of it; and (b) is essentially harmless most of the time. In other words, the ideal R to run for Governor. Lavelle (and Danny Short, who reportedly put the kibosh on a deal negotiated between the construction trades and designated caucus member Ruth Briggs King that would have yielded some movement on ‘right to work for less’) does real harm while pushing his agenda. Now that the Church has an enlightened Pope, I guess Lavelle needs to look elsewhere for spiritual guidance, and has found it in ALEC. Just as long as someone else writes his talking points for him. Memo to Ernie Lopez and Cathy Cloutier: Do you really want to have to explain to your constituents why you won’t fund long-overdue infrastructure projects and why your constituents will have to pay for auto repairs caused by that crumbling infrastructure? Uh, if they don’t die first in a tragic accident caused by infrastructure failure? Because I guarantee you that you will be asked those questions over and over. No sense asking the other Rethugs. They’re beyond redemption.
Due to legislative unwillingness to create any new revenue streams, the Budget Bill, the Bond Bill, and the Grants-In-Aid bill (see the Budget Bill link) are essentially cobbled together with some one-time funding and a series of cuts that will inflict unnecessary pain. Oh, BTW, next year will be worse. If the General Assembly didn’t have the courage to do anything this year, can you imagine them addressing this budget crisis next year? Didn’t think so. The only semi-delicious irony is that John Carney who, along with Ruth Ann Minner, kicked the can down the road in 2008 and left it to their successors to clean up the mess from the economic slowdown, will now face virtually the exact same scenario if elected governor.
Not that Gov. Markell or the D’s are blameless. Far from it. Taking his cues from second graders, Markell removed himself from the discussion: “You didn’t listen to me last year so KMAGYOYO (Kiss My Ass Goodbye, You’re On Your Own)”. And, yes, the D’s should’ve done something about the gas tax last year, but Val Longhurst was and is still a ‘leader’, so her ignorance served as a substitute for serious legislating. Still, any Rethug who claims that they aren’t responsible b/c the D’s should have somehow unanimously passed ‘new taxes’ w/o their support is correct on one point: They’re not responsible.
One person who deserves credit is DELDOT Secretary Jennifer Cohan, who has carried that chunk of concrete from hearing to hearing to illustrate just how bad things have gotten. Too bad the legislators’ heads are harder than that chunk of concrete.
BTW, this just in, Wilmington Mayor Dennis Williams is still a clueless jerk:
“They waited too long to come to a conclusion on a budget agreement. Things went pretty much haywire,” said Wilmington Mayor Dennis P. Williams, who for three years chaired the General Assembly’s budget committee as a state representative. “If I had been the chairman, personally, I wouldn’t have let it go this long.”
Because, you see, Dennis Williams is renowned as a conciliator, above all. Just check out his estimable body of work as Mayor.
But I digress. Fact is, a majority of legislators could not agree on even the most harmless of revenue increases, and now the folks at home are blasting the General Assembly for failing to fund their pet projects. Memo to the legislators: You’re the problem. Here’s a case in point from Monday’s Starkey/Offredo News-Journal piece:
Delaware’s southernmost county took another big hit, as well. As of Jan. 1, Delaware is cutting the more than $2 million it provides to cover Delaware State Police patrols in Sussex County. The program is jointly funded with the county, and pays for 44 troopers. Come next year, that patrol presence could be reduced by half because of the cut, imposed by budget lawmakers without public input with just days left in the legislative session.
“We will fulfill our commitment,” (Todd)Lawson of Sussex County said Friday. “Whatever the state does with their state police staffing requirements is up to them really.”
Lawson called the funding predicament “very disappointing.”
“The fact that in a $3 billion budget, the state looked to cut roughly just over $1 million and it directly impacts the public’s safety, it’s fairly alarming,” Lawson said.
Of course, each person/agency that experienced cuts only focuses on their narrow interests. So, when Lawson bitches about the $1 mill cut, he ignores the dozens of other $1 mill (more or less) cuts that are also in the budget. Maybe if someone from Sussex County government called for additional revenues, they might influence the votes of the lockstep Sussex County R legislators. But, they won’t b/c taxes. So don’t cry about the policing cuts. Pony up the $$’s your own damned selves or STFU.
I hope I haven’t been too subtle for anybody.
It’s also pretty clear now that a lot of legislation will have to wait until next year. I’m surprised that the General Assembly did not opt to convene on Monday. Usually, there are at least one or two additional legislative days added during the last two weeks, but such is not the case this year. The House is not even scheduled to go into session until 7:30 p.m. The Senate? 6 p.m.
In fact, one piece that’s being rushed through with little thought is SB 144(Peterson), the so-called Beau Biden Memorial Bill. While the intent of the legislation is laudable, the bill paints with too broad a brush. I’ll give you an example from our sylvan burg of Arden. We have a summer program for our kids called ACRA. The staff, of course, already must submit to the requirements of the bill. But members of the community, some of them in their 80’s, volunteer and are not in any way dangerous. This bill would require these long-time contributors to go get ID’s and a background check? To provide the neighborhood kids who have known them forever gardening tips? And this has to be rushed through, why exactly? But I digress.
There is still some hope that about $24 mill in additional road funding will pass, assuming that one Senate R crosses the aisle to do so. I think that it’s time for Cathy Cloutier to cross the aisle permanently and caucus with the D’s. The days of Bob Berndt, Myrna Bair, Jane Maroney, Gwynne Smith, Dave Ennis, Steve Amick, Jim Neal, Joe DiPinto, and, yes, Phil Cloutier are long gone. Left to her conscience, Cloutier will do the right thing. Only the unforgiving doctrinaire rigidity of her caucus stands in her way.
And in our way.