Delaware Political Weekly: March 4-10, 2016

1. Lisa Blunt Rochester Enters Congressional Race.

It’s official.  The anticipated four-way race (with Mike Miller perhaps providing comic relief) is now set.  The former Delaware Secretary of Labor filed this week.  I’ve always liked Lisa, and I’d probably support her if we didn’t have such a great progressive like Bryan Townsend running. Check out her website.  An unanticipated consequence of the presence of Rochester and, to a lesser extent, Sean Barney, in the race has been that it has left the Carper machine more or less on the sidelines.  And it’s hurt Bryon Short’s campaign.  Without the experience of the Carper ‘braintrust’, Short has really floundered.  On his own, he may or may not be more compelling than Sean Barney, who almost makes John Carney seem animated. I’d love it if the primary ended up as more or less Townsend vs. Rochester.  Whoever won, we wouldn’t have to settle.  Townsend has laid out a serious set of positions, and has run by far the most substantive of the campaigns, while Rochester is just starting.  We’ll see if she provides a similar level of substance. Anyway, I’m glad she’s in the race.

2. Mayor Dennis Williams Just Won’t, Or Can’t, Grow Up.

You’re probably aware that there is a Wilmington mayoral debate on March 15. You may be aware that there are six filed candidates for Mayor.  You may also be aware that none of those filed candidates are named Dennis Williams.  OK, when the forum was scheduled, quite some time ago, one of the requirements for participating in the forum was that you must be filed as a candidate.  Didn’t seem unreasonable, still doesn’t seem unreasonable.  But, from a highly-placed source (wink wink) this caused Wilmington’s Embarrassment of a Mayor to go into high dudgeon…how dare they require that someone must be filed as a candidate to participate in a candidates’ debate?  Junior high school stuff. But, the organizers relented. So, if Mayor Williams, for one of the very few times since he’s been mayor, deigns to grace the crowd with his presence, he’ll be welcome.  Of course, if he had just filed, like a reasonable person, none of this faux-drama would have been necessary. But he just can’t help himself.

3. Delaware’s Annie Oakley Files For Governor.

Yep, Lacey Lafferty has taken dead aim on Dover.  Filed her paperwork yesterday. Didja know that she was both a farmer and a model?  Oh, and a police officer.  First nominee for Best Sentence of the Year (I’m not making this up):

She made life and death decisions in the flick of a moment from living on the edge, utilizing her profound problem solving techniques during high intensity events.

She is the gift that will keep on giving.  Yet another excerpt from her website:

I stand on firm ground in supporting, defending and protecting the Declaration of Independence, Constitution and Bill of Rights. It is because of these rights, my passion runs red, white and blue deep within my family’s heritage, where it is ingrained in my DNA. I was hardwired from birth to defend what my great grandfather (9th generation) John Morton sacrificed by signing the Declaration of Independence two hundred and thirty-seven year ago. His decisive decision to sign the document in the mist of hostile forces (were they taking a group leak on him while he was trying to sign?), in the hopes everyone could live a better life for generations to come.

I didn’t know what I was going to do today.  But I’ve been inspired to write a song called The Mist of Hostile Forces.  I’ll sing it for ya when I’m done. Next Drinking Liberally.

This is one of the funnest (?) candidate websites ever.  Oh, and it’s stuff like this that really makes me miss the Al Show.

BTW, I doubt that Colin Bonini will file today.  Friday’s nap day.

4. Gay-Hater Running for Insurance Commissioner.

You may have forgotten about George Parish, who has filed as an R to run for Insurance Commissioner.  We haven’t.  He first said he’d run for IC about a year ago.  He was the anti-gay Sussex County Clerk of the Peace who decried civil unions and same-sex marriage as ‘discrimination against heterosexuals’.  I, for one, don’t want to see him monkeying around with the rights of gay couples when it comes to insurance issues.  I’ve never voted for KWS, and I won’t. But I will definitely vote against George Parish.

5. Eugene Young and Robert Marshall Unveil Mayoral Proposals. And Purzycki Officially, Officially, Kicks Off His Candidacy.

Have I mentioned how impressed I am with Eugene Young?  If not, I’m really impressed with Eugene Young.  Check out his public safety proposal here.  Sen. Bob Marshall, another mayoral candidate, has unveiled a proposal for downtown redevelopment.  Unfortunately, Gov. Markell has punted Marshall’s proposal to Dennis Williams and Theo Gregory, both of whom are also candidates for mayor. Oh, and Mike Purzycki officially kicked off his campaign, four months after he filed.   Guess he wanted to make sure that all the comfy furniture had arrived at his HQ first.

6.  Preacher to Run for City Council At-Large Seat.

A street preacher, Ty Johnson, announced that he’ll run for an At-Large seat on Wilmington City Council.  He will join Loretta Walsh, Maria Cabrera, Rysheema Dixon, and no doubt several others, to contest the three at-large seats.

7. Filings.

State Rep. Sean Matthews (D-10th); State Rep. Jeff Spiegelman (R-11th); State Rep. Deborah Hudson (R-12th); State Rep. David Bentz (D-18th); State Rep. Kim Williams (D-19th); State Rep. Paul Baumbach (D-23rd); State Rep. John Kowalko (D-25th); and State Rep. Lyndon Yearick (R-34th).

That’s it for this week. What’d I miss, and whaddayathink?