Claire Snyder-Hall’s “Delaware Voice” Calls Out Insider Bullshit
Learning that Sneaky Pete gave his insider cronies a 16% raise is soooo not shocking.
…So it’s disheartening – make that infuriating – to learn that the bosses Delawareans have hired for our state government, the Democratic and Republican leaders of the General Assembly, are spreading scarce state dollars around among members of their political staffs, while keeping a tight rein on the salaries of those who keep us safe, nurse our sick, pave our roads, and do the other jobs that help make Delaware special.
To give favored legislative staffers pay hikes of up to 16 percent while denying rank-and-file state employees even the 1 percent raise proposed by Gov. Jack Markell is a grotesque abuse of power. Perhaps just as bad, we’re learning that all this happened months ago, engineered behind the scenes by lawmakers who doubtless took care to hide it because they knew voters would find it outrageous.
Claire for Lt.Gov.
Bet Pete and Patty would love that.
If you like Claire, check out Sherry Dorsey-Walker.
I know Sherry well. At a much earlier stage in our lives, she worked for me.
Gag!! Yeah, because if we hate insider cronyism… we should look to the City of Wilmington’s elected officials for the answers. (Extreme Sarcasm)
And this is where the Snyder-Halls officially lose me. Help Sherry fix that cesspool in Wilmington government before you claim she is the answer statewide.
^^^ Yes, Bane.
I’ve known Sherry for 20 years or so, and I think she’s a great talent, but her work on city council hasn’t bowled me over. She’s not my first choice for lieutenant governor.
^^^Yes.
I haven’t known Sherry all that long. She is a very nice woman who has the retail part of politics here down. But she’s done almost nothing as far as governing this city is concerned. And it isn’t because there is a lack of opportunity to govern or to effect change here. I’ve noticed that she’s done more to advocate for the abolition of the death penalty (I support that) than she has for any city issue. Any.City.Issue. She’s very ambitious, no doubt. But she needs to give people more than a hyperactive Facebook page to vote for.
What’s the former legislative aide on the DL team think of all this?
I have no problem with people getting paid what they’re worth, and people who work for the GA have fewer protections than other state workers. But the apparent sneaky way this was done rubs me the wrong way. The hypocrisy of saying no to social workers, counselors, secretaries, inspectors, nurses and prison guards and YES YES YES to their political attachés is just stunning.
Correct me if I’m wrong, El Som, but don’t a lot of those Leg Hall folks drop off the government payroll and go on the political payroll for a while every election year?
SW: The full-timers do not drop off the payroll in election years. Of course, they may take ‘vacation days’ which is not really vacation to help out on campaigns. Of course, they get a lot of vacation days and days for medical leave. You see, they can’t do political work while on the clock and, at least in the case of the House D’s, while they’re in their state offices. When Terry Spence was Speaker, the entire Rethug House staff was doing political stuff. It really pissed us off.
As a former legislative aide, I’m jealous of the raises.
No, seriously, what bothers me is that these are really large increases in a year when legislators continued to screw other state employees, with the enthusiastic assistance of the governor.
Pete and Patti’s tone-deafness, not just on this, but on their apparent unwillingness to raise revenue on people (and corporations) who can afford it, might just be their undoing. Are they really gonna cave to the Chamber and to the Business Roundtable, and cut $$’s for health care, education, and state workers? If not, they’d better come up with something other than ‘we always find a way to balance the budget in the end’.
That’s just lame. Plus, we all saw who they screwed this year.
These raises were only for a select few. The majority did not receive these raises. Yes the pay for LAs is not the best, but compared to the private sector and other job opportunities, it’s still a great and rewarding place to work. If you’re there for the $ then you’re in the wrong field. Just my opinion but this job is more about helping constituents.
And please realize that many state employees make salaries that qualify for welfare. State employees have have no raise or cost of living adjustment since this administration came in. And all the while the state has taken away benefits and made employees pay more for health insurance so in reality state employees have been losing standard of living for 8 years while some people get taken care of.
The article in the NJ hit a cord with me and many of my colleagues on so many levels it’s hard to begin to list them. So what action can be taken? Picket, sick out, how about requiring every inquiry coming from Leg Hall to be log in FOIA. A bit extreme but maybe some extreme measures are needed to rid legislative hall and governmental agencies of cronyism. Thanks for allowing for the rant. On a serious note, Delaware’s government needs to maintain a high level of professional and knowledgable staff to govern. The required level of technical skills will continue to evolve and all positions will demand abilities many governmental employees currently don’t have to assess performance, streamline functions and improve efficiencies. Can this happen at the rate employees are paid today? solutions can’t be found in a blog. Thanks for providing a place for one disappointed employee to anonymously express my frustrations.
senator Lopez is coming to our Lewes DNREC facility tomorrow . Did he vote for this pay increase ?
Did Sen LOPEZ vote for legislative aide pay raise ? I will see him in Lewes tomorrow.
I don’t think ANYbody voted for the pay raises. This was done on the inside by the so-called leaders. The legislature has a budget, and basically the leaders can do whatever the bleep they want to with the money.