Delaware Political Weekly: April 22-28, 2016.
1. Rethug Candidate Haul Less Than Meets the Eye.
Now don’t get me wrong. The majority of D State Senators are long in the tooth, and the D’s had better be looking for their ‘next generation’. Having said that, this ‘class’ of R candidates who were breathlessly touted by Messrs Copeland and Burris are pretty much the next generation of losers. Other than the announcement of a challenger to Sokola, there’s no new news here. James Spadola, Anthony DelCollo, and Carl Pace filed months ago, and we wrote about their candidacies then.
Spadola is a Newark City cop which, I believe, makes him ineligible to be a State Senator. The Supreme Court has held that law enforcement officials cannot serve in the legislative body b/c they would then be in a position of both making and enforcing the laws, which the Court holds is a violation of the State Constitution. Maybe he’ll quit as a cop, maybe he won’t. If he doesn’t, I think the law is clear that he then can’t serve in the legislature. He says he’s a social liberal, but an economic conservative. I think the 1st Senatorial District is not particularly hospitable to this ‘economic conservative’ BS.
Gun rights are the calling card for Anthony DelCollo, who is running in the 7th Senatorial District, presumably against incumbent Patti Blevins. Check out the non-specific blather on his issues page. But here’s where he gives himself away:
Anthony is a Delaware State Sportsmen’s Association director, Delaware Rail Splitters executive committee member (a Rethug organization) and a founding member of the Delaware Association of Second Amendment Lawyers.
In other words, a one-issue candidate. He has a higher IQ than most R’s, but he’s as partisan as they come. He ain’t goin’ nowhere in this district.
Stop me if you’ve heard this one. Among Carl Pace’s many short-lived jobs, he ‘…then served the community of New Castle County, as a law enforcement officer.’ Actually, Jason330 quoted that yesterday. I love his bio:
Carl’s proven record of leadership, dedication and community service will enable him to be a successful Delaware State Senator. Carl and his wife, Jade, own businesses in Delaware, with offices located in Middletown. In addition to being a local entrepreneur, Carl has volunteered with the Christiana Fire Company as an EMS Officer, Junior Adviser, and a member of the Board of Directors. Before deciding to lead & manage his business full-time in March 2015, Carl was employed by MBNA America and then served the community of New Castle County, as a law enforcement officer.
Meaning, if you don’t know what you want to do with your life when you grow up, you might as well run for office. Bruce Ennis is getting mighty old. And this is a district that might as well be in Sussex County. Pace is unlikely to win, but maybe next time…
Making the only ‘new’ news the announcement that one Meredith Chapman will challenge Dave Sokola in the 8th SD. She filed this week. She’s uh, not ready for prime time, which you’ll see if you click her web page. She’s a social media whiz at UD, meaning she masters the technology, but, so far, is content-free. Nothing to say, but knows where and how to say it. Making her a perfect candidate for…something. I say Lieutenant Governor–as the R mirror image of Sherry Dorsey Walker. Don’t think she’s knocking off the popular Sokola though. Her husband, Luke Chapman, served two terms on Newark City Council. She’s yet another ‘fellow’ from the R campaign factory, Delaware Leadership, Inc.
I fully understand that this is the best they could do, and that these candidates at least are young. But I’m looking for those ‘new ideas’ that were touted, and all I find are old ideas and R bromides being spouted by the next generation. YMMV.
2. About that Record-Setting R Turnout…
Yep, it may have set an R primary record. But, in fact, the D’s had an even better turnout. Meaning, that interest was high on both sides. R votes: 68,847. D votes: 93,640. BTW didja notice that a D presidential candidate Roque de la Fuente got more primary votes in Delaware than R’s Jeb Bush, Ben Carson, and Marco Rubio? Now you do.
3. Those Townsend Endorsements & What They Mean.
While the Trumpster talks about building a literal wall between the US and Mexico, Bryan Townsend is building a figurative electoral wall around the greater Newark area. His campaign HQ is in Newark, the preponderance of his grassroots efforts so far have been in the greater Newark area, and all of these endorsements are from legislators who more or less are from that area. It makes sense to me. Shows that his grassroots campaign is paying off. He now starts with a solid group of supporters largely based on geography. That’s a nice chunk of voters who he can count on. The question will become: To what extent can he expand and replicate that grassroots either throughout the state as a whole or in a more specific sense. A great start though. Haven’t contributed to his campaign for, oh, three weeks or so. Might be time to ante up again.
BTW, that Scott Walker guy did file as a D for Congress. He has even less of a reason for running than Mike Miller. Including some pretty hinky landlord-tenant stuff. Some things I just don’t get.
4. Neither Mayor Williams Nor Maria Cabrera Have Yet Filed for Mayor.
Just sayin’. Will there ever come a point when they’re prohibited from debating if they don’t file? Seems silly to me. Either you’re a candidate or you’re not. Until you file, you’re not a candidate.
5. More Wilmington Filings.
Gervasio Velazquez for Sammy Prado’s 5th City Council seat. Prado is retiring. Velasquez previously ran for County Council back in 2004, and finished a distant third in a primary won by Jea Street. Mark Murowany finished second.
Brunilda Luna-Mercado has filed as a D for an At-Large City council seat. Far be it from me to judge, but here’s her e-mail address: BRUNYSBAILBONDS@LIVE.COM. And here’s a little nugget that might only interest me. Here are the listed names of the owner and the principal of Bruny’s Bail Bonds:
Bruny Mercado, Owner
Brunilda Luna, Principal.
They’re both the same person. With different names.
6. Other Filings.
State Sen. Harris McDowell (D-1st SD).
That’s it for this week. What’d I miss, and whaddayathink?
Great round up. The DEGOP recruitment efforts are obviously easier, since they don’t have to worry about stepping on the toes of incumbents. But I’d still love to see some active recruiting on the D side.
Carper and Markell are busy feeding their staffers into the candidate mill. Isn’t that enough recruitment for you?
We Dems are actively recruiting in Sussex. Not an easy task. Know anyone interested in running for legislative or county council seats? We have some openings. We can offer campaign training and support from statewide candidates and officeholders. The county Democratic Party is also in strong financial shape and will help fund campaigns.
BTW, speaking of grassroots campaigns (and I know Pandora was involved in this), THIS is how you run an effective grassroots campaign. From Eugene Young:
“On Tuesday, Wilmington came out to vote, and we were the only mayoral campaign that had volunteers at polling stations in every district throughout the city.
Can you believe the mayoral primary is still five months away? The dedication of our volunteers is a reflection of just how many people want to create a new direction for our city.
Volunteers went to P.S. DuPont Middle School, The Park View Apartments, Thomas Edison Charter, Bancroft Elementary, Hilltop Lutheran Neighborhood Center, Bayard Middle School, Zion Lutheran Church, and Highlands Elementary. I was at the P.S. DuPont Middle polling site greeting voters all morning, and at Bancroft Elementary all evening. Together, we spoke with hundreds of voters!”
There are no shortcuts. I am so impressed with Young’s campaign.
Thanks for the shout out, El Som! Yep, I was at one of the polling stations! We received a great response from voters.
“Know anyone interested in running for legislative or county council seats?”
Sure Mitch, I’d love to run for the Sussex County Council. Unfortunately, I have neither the temperament nor the patience to suffer the council members and members of the public who want everything but can’t imagine there would be an associated cost. In short I avoid situations where I am driven to violate a core value to not be an a**hole. Plus I’m in George Cole’s district and I don’t think he is going anywhere. However, I do have the means to support any viable candidate you can find for any district. But, it will be tough to find someone to go up against I.G. Burton who is vying to replace the retiring Deaver, the only (D) on the council.
I thought Luke Chapman still serves on city council, no?
When Jerry Velasquez ran for County Council in 2004, he was running in a new district that had been created. I forgot that Mark Murowany also ran in that race. Jerry would be an excellent choice — he is pretty well known throughout the 5th and has been involved with a few community organizations. Jerry is also my neighbor and his wife is one of my best friends, so there is some bias. But he’s got the beginnings of a solid team to help him over the finish line in the 5th.
ALSO — Bruny’s Bail Bonds is in the same block as Bovell’s Bail Bonds. Weird, right?
Dave, thanks for the offer. FYI George Cole (4th District) is not up until 2018. He and 5th District Councilman (and Trump campaign manager) Rob Arlett were elected in 2014.
Yes, the lone Democrat, Joan Deaver, is retiring, but the district favors a Democrat not connected to developers or rubber stamping most development proposals. The sole Democratic candidate is environmental attorney Leslie Ledogar. She has strong support and has been running hard. IG Burton III has a tough primary before he can worry about the November election. This Burton family scion and County Planning Commission member faces 4 other candidates in the Primary.
Now I am still looking for candidates to run for the 1st and 2nd district seats held by Mike Vincent and 19th century stalwart Sam Wilson.
@Cassandra, About the best one can say about Trump is that he is not a conservative. I wouldn’t say he’s a liberal either. He’s probably more agnostic than anything when it comes to politics since he stands for Trump and Trump only. Even if he was a liberal, a whack job is a whack job liberal or conservative and he is a disaster regardless of which way he leans.
Voting for Clinton leaves a bad taste in a lot of people but it’s kind of like our whole democratic form of government – it sucks, but its better than anything else out there (although a number of progressives here like some of the European models – not Italy of course, since they’ve had 61 governments since 1945. So they would be a bad model. LOL)
@Mitch Crane: I’m sure you’ll work the same magic on their campaigns that you worked on your own. Some of us know bullshit when we smell it from Pennsylvania.
If this is a progressive blog, what are hack Democrats doing all over it?
“The sole Democratic candidate is environmental attorney Leslie Ledogar.”
She will have my support.
“still looking for candidates to run for the 1st and 2nd district seats held by Mike Vincent and 19th century stalwart Sam Wilson.”
Good luck. Considering the districts that’s a challenge.
Considering Mike Vincent was unopposed in 2012 and 2008, when Dale Dukes basically invited him to take the seat, it’s kind of late to start now. He also has name rec as council president and his fire company connections. I’m not seeing Mike going down. But he may be rusty, too – hasn’t had to run a competitive race since he challenged Dale and lost by a few hundred votes in 2004.
The R primary for Deaver’s seat is interesting. Four people running for a part-time job – and when the last nominee was Don Frickin’ Ayotte – tells me there’s a lot of pent-up ambition being stymied by the current officeholders in northeastern Sussex. If Schwartzkopf wasn’t seen as unbeatable there’d be a major fight for his seat, and if Lopez and Simpson were stepping down, the Rs would see bitter legislative primaries instead of a four-way for county council. You don’t think any of those Republicans actually wants to spend four years talking about zoning changes and sewer districts, do you?
Sam’s going to win again if he runs. His health issues make him sympathetic, and his politics are right in line with the district. He could be knocked off from the right by a young connected go-getter, but not from the left. The only hope to dilute the northwest Sussex ultra-conservative voting bloc is to get control of the council – which will take another few years – and redraw the districts to split that one up.
Great article I love it. I accidentally found it. Let’s clear up the name I am Puerto Rican we have 2 last names, how the public records notate it is beyond my control and Bruny is my nickname as far as Bovell we are 2 very very different people. Thank you any time you want to reach me my number is 302-494-6212 would love to talk.
I do agree with you if you have not filed you should not be debating this goes for some others as well.