1. Money Talks. What Does It Say?
I’m not gonna go over every detail. You can get the inside skinny here and here. Here are my random takeaways.
*Kathleen McGuiness is for real. Except for that whole residency thingy. BTW, turns out she moved out to Park Slope b/c a couple of her kids are competitive snowboarders. Yes, she raised a lot of money. What really surprised me is that almost all of the money comes from Delaware. Pretty much every D in Sussex County with money has ponied up. Guess there are more D’s with money in Sussex County than I thought. Bethany Hall-Long has raised a lot of $$’s as well. Ciro Poppiti has enough money to be competitive. Sherry Dorsey Walker, Greg Fuller, and Brad Eaby don’t. Eaby gets the fundraising booby prize. Kids, please tell me how you can lend your campaign $15-plus K, raised a decent $30K, and already piss away $32 K by year’s end. His current cash-on-hand is less than what he loaned his campaign.
*Trinidad Navarro better get his ass in gear. Those who deal with the insurance commissioner’s office have apparently resigned themselves to, or more likely, fallen in love with the idea of, Incompetent Karen Weldin Stewart serving as Insurance Commissioner. He’s only raised $11K? Vs. $83K?
*I think Mike Purzycki is making a big mistake. Sure, he’s raised some serious dollars. But he has already spent almost all of it, apparently on office space and staff. $6 K on hand? Significantly less than Dennis Williams or Eugene Young. And Young may just be sitting on some serious PAC money as well. Elections have changed since Purzycki last ran for New Castle County Council. You don’t really need a paid spokesperson when people want to hear from you, not your spokesperson. You sure don’t need to rent a bleep-ton of office space when somebody’s living room can serve just as well as a campaign HQ. And what Young is apparently doing with volunteers is something that Purzycki has to for. Not to mention that he’s probably already knocked on more doors than Purzycki will all year. I’ll be among the first to say it: The Conventional Wisdom that Purzycki will be one of the last people standing in this race just might be wrong (cut-n-paste).
2. Hans Reigle Has Filed for Congress. Here’s his website. At least he’s not as wild-eyed as most.
3. So Have Sean Barney and Bryon Short. You can find links to their websites here and here. Gotta say, not much of anything on Short’s website. Which reminds me, here is the updated Bryan Townsend site.
4. D Primary for Bryon Short’s State Rep Seat. Robert Cameron of Ashbourne Hills has joined the race for this vacant seat. Former State Rep. David Brady had previously filed. I THINK that Cameron heads the Ashbourne Hills Civic Association, but he doesn’t yet have an online presence. Can anybody help me out here?
5. Other Filings. Ken Boulden is running for reelection for NCC Clerk of the Peace. And Leslie Ledogar has filed as a D in the Sussex County 3rd District race. There is an R primary between former D Frank Shade and disgraced former Smyrna Mayor Mark Schaeffer. Ledogar is an interesting candidate. A recently-retired attorney from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. Here is an admittedly slightly out-of-date bio:
Leslie W. Ledogar, Esq. is an attorney with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, Office of Legal Affairs, where she serves as in-house counsel on diverse teams of scientists and policy makers that formulate and amend the regulations through which New Jerseys environmental laws are implemented and by which the Department carries out its mission of protecting human health and the environment. Prior to becoming an environmental attorney, she was a consulting forester, managing portfolios of timberland assets for private non-industrial and industrial clients. Ms. Ledogar currently serves on the Board of Directors of NetworkArts, a non-profit organization whose mission is to provide an environmental education to inner city middle school children through a unique curriculum grounded in both science and art. She has also served on the Board of Directors of the Pennsylvania Chapter of the Society of Women Environmental Professionals, a cross-disciplinary organization of women with more than 400 members, and she is a former co-chairperson of the Philadelphia Bar Association Environmental Law Committee. She is licensed to practice law in Pennsylvania and New Jersey and in the Federal District Court of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
6. Any Rumors Updates? Specifically, do we know any more about Stephanie Hansen possibly challenging NCC Executive Tom Gordon? And is Chris Bullock gonna drop out of his reelection bid for County Council President?
That’s all I’ve got this week. What did I miss, and whaddayathink?