In a dog-bites-man story, the despicable House Majority Leader Valerie Longhurst, aka ‘Pete’s Enforcer’, sought to essentially narc out someone who had the temerity to question the raises that D House leadership bestowed upon its staff. Longhurst did it by leaking an e-mail exchange and issuing a veiled threat to the constituent’s employer. This News-Journal story captures the essence of Longhurst as well as anything I’ve read.
Please read the story. You’ll see that Longhurst is first utterly disingenuous in somehow claiming that she HAD NO IDEA whether the e-mail in question reflected the official position of the University of Delaware. Her intent was clear: To get the employee in trouble, and to underline that the General Assembly, due to its infinite charity, provides funds to the University of Delaware and, gee, wouldn’t it be a shame if that relationship was threatened by this e-mail?
And, now, to the Lie of the Year. In Delaware, this is almost certainly the Lie of the Decade:
“I was just asking a question,” Longhurst said. “I’ve never bullied anybody. If that’s the perception, that’s the perception.”
“How is it intimidating?” she told The News Journal. “I just raised a question.”
‘Bully’ is not just something that Longhurst does, it is who she is. Other than her pets, she has bullied pretty much everybody on that staff. Not to mention other legislators. And citizens who have the nerve to challenge her. I speak from personal experience. In my case, she took personal delight in it. On my last day working for the House (I didn’t know it was to be my last day), she stormed in to my office, started ripping posters off the walls, told me I had twenty minutes to vacate my office, and thrust a letter in my face for me to sign claiming that I had resigned (if I had signed it, I would have been ineligible for unemployment). When I said that I didn’t know why I was being fired and I thought I had done a good job, her response was: “This will be a learning experience for you.” She was pretty much giddy that she had done this to me.
Tossed out during the worst recession in my memory without explanation. To this day, I still don’t know what went down.
Longhurst has repeated this kind of behavior with many other staff members, and with a lot of people who have the nerve to question her. Like this policy scientist who had the very noive to question these ridiculous raises while everyone else working for the states gets screwed.
The whole story of Pete & Val is that they govern through fear and intimidation. What used to be a wonderful collegial environment under speakers of both parties has now become a fearful environment.
And if the House Democratic Caucus allows them to remain as leaders, then it is on them as well.