Delaware Political Weekly: March 18-24, 2016

1. Wilmington City Treasurer Candidate Has No Accounting Experience.

As if Wilmington doesn’t have enough problems.  City Councilman Darius Brown filed this week for City Treasurer.  If you go to his website, you will find out nothing about Darius Brown.  Just his slogan: “Meet Me at the Intersection of Finance and Technology”, and a link to donate. No bio.  Well, here’s his bio from the Wilmington City Council site.  No accounting background there, just some tremendous puffery.

Here are his educational bona fides, according to the Our Campaigns site:

Darius received his early education in Delaware Public Schools within the Christina School District. He attended Howard High School concentrating in the Public Service career area, Delaware Technical & Community College earning a Paralegal Certificate and Delaware State University majoring in Political Science.

See any accounting background there? My point being that the city’s treasury should not be in the hands of someone with no background in finances.  Why is he even running for Treasurer if he has no such background? If I lived in the city, I’d be very suspicious and afraid. The retiring City Treasurer, Henry Supinski, had a BS in Business Administration from LaSalle, and a law degree as well.  The treasurer is responsible for about $350 million in city assets.  And we’re going to hand that over to an ambitious politician with no financial experience?  Good luck with that.

2. IPOD Fields a Wilmington Mayoral Candidate.

Steven Washington. Here’s the article from Delaware Politics.  Hey, he’s on Channel 28 once a month.  That’s worked wonders for Herman Holloway, Jr.  I would’ve suggested he run for the non-D City Council At-Large seat. Maybe IPOD could supplant the R’s as the city’s second largest party…

3. Kim Williams’ 2014 Opponent Running Again.

Realtor Jim Startzman startz anew. Doesn’t even look like his webpage has been updated. Here’s why he says he’s running:

You’re probably wondering why I’ve decided to run for State Representative and what it is that makes me more qualified than the incumbent. During the last 6+ years I have become more and more aware of the negative effect of our state government towards the citizens of Delaware.

Ho-kay. Anyway, Williams defeated him in 2014 by a 3128-1788 margin. She is one of Delaware’s best legislators and best progressives. She’s part of the solution.  My theory as to why Startzman’s running? Real estate business must be slow.

4. Yet Another R Running for Peterman’s Seat.

The other two are from Milford, this one’s from Harrington. His name is Robert James Scott. I tried to find out more information about him, but failed. (I did, however, learn that there’s a pro golfer named Scott Harrington.) That makes 3 R’s running for the soon-to-be-vacated 33rd RD seat currently held by chronic absentee Rep. Harold Peterman.  Anyone out there with anything to add?

5. Who Is K. Emmanuel Magruder?

He’s running for a Wilmington City Council At-Large seat. In his one picture, he’s standing in front of a banner with lots of religious slogans on it.   He started a ‘Go Fund Me’ page in January.  To date, no one has contributed. (Memo to ‘K’: There’s a reason why the piano player has a bill or two taped to the bottom of the tip jar. You might want to try it.)

6. Filings.

State Sen. Gerald Hocker ( R-SD 20: one of the worst in Dover); State Rep. John Viola (D-RD 26); James Brittingham (L-Candidate for RD 39); New Castle County Councilman Tim Sheldon (D-6th CD).

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