We have a few primaries in races for the General Assembly that we, as liberals and progressives, would like to weigh in on. We have an open seat in the 9th Senatorial District, a challenger to Speaker Schwartzkopf in the 14th Representative District, and a rematch between current Representative Sean Matthews and former Representative Dennis Williams in the 10th Representative District.
9th Senatorial District
Nobody can replace retiring State Senator Karen Peterson, who is one of the very few legislators who made history and who made this state and its people all the better for having served. Two Democrats are vying for the nomination to succeed Peterson: Caitlin Olsen and Jack Walsh. Peterson has endorsed Olsen, and her judgment has rarely gone awry.
Olsen also demonstrates promise as someone who will focus on family issues. She has assisted women in filing protection orders and has worked for Prevent Child Abuse Delaware. She holds an MPA from the University of Delaware with a focus on non-profit and community leadership. She also worked as a Legislative Fellow with the House Democratic Caucus in 2011.
Her opponent, Jack Walsh, is a union electrician and active community volunteer. Like Olsen, he is a lifelong Delawarean and has lived within the senate district his entire life. He has pledged to carry on Peterson’s agenda. One notable difference between the two is that Olsen has promised to focus on the education crisis when elected while Walsh has publicly said that he is ‘studying the issue’. Both candidates appear to be worthy successors. However, on the strength of Olsen’s background, familiarity with the legislative process, Peterson’s endorsement, her potential, and what we believe is Olsen’s stronger grasp of the issues, Delaware Liberal endorses Caitlin Olsen for the 9th Senatorial District.
10th Representative District
Two years ago, Sean Matthews defeated incumbent Dennis Williams (the other one) for this seat. Matthews, who was a huge instant upgrade over Williams, became one of the leading education reform advocates in Dover and was also one of the most progressive legislators in the General Assembly.
Williams, OTOH, proudly proclaimed that he couldn’t be bothered to read all of the bills that came before him, which in and of itself is OK, few do, but publicly stated (at a Drinking Liberally get-together, no less) that he hadn’t even bothered to read the most important education bills facing the General Assembly. Which is perhaps why his votes on education were so misguided. And definitely why DL backed Matthews two years ago. Sean has not let us down.
For some reason, Williams has decided to run again. He offers nothing to the voters of his district. It’s all about him, not about his constituents.
Sean Matthews offers progressive leadership and is one of the most promising young figures in the Democratic Party. He has consistently voted with the progressive wing of the caucus. He deserves to win a resounding victory in this primary.
14th Representative District
Speaker Schwartzkopf rarely faces Republican opposition in his races for reelection, yet alone a primary challenge. But he’s got one this year and in our opinion, Democratic voters in the 14th RD should take this chance to thank Mr. Schwartzkopf for his service and send him into retirement. Why?
Because a Democratic leader should not be delaying or impeding the Democratic agenda, and that is what Speaker Schwartzkopf has done with respect to the repeal of the death penalty and raising the minimum wage to $10 an hour. Both bills were sent to committees were they allowed to die in 2015, though the threat of a petition allowed the death penalty repeal bill onto the floor for a vote in 2016. Thankfully, the Delaware Supreme Court has ruled Delaware’s death penalty unconstitutional. But how many of us are willing to bet that Speaker Schwartzkopf will allow a Republican bill to reinstate the death penalty to come to the floor faster than he let the repeal bill? How many want to bet he will vote for it?
Likewise, efforts to reform Delaware’s non-progressive tax structure (where those who earn $60,000 and $6 million a year pay the same top tax rate) so as to give the state much needed new revenue have also been met with resistance by the Speaker. To put it simply, Speaker Schwartzkopf is not a progressive. We could live with that, given his district’s location in Sussex County, if he were not the Speaker. But as the Speaker, he is the leader of all Democrats in the General Assembly. And he is the wrong leader of the party for this time. The party is a liberal and progressive party now, not a moderate or a conservative one. It should be led by someone who shares those values and wants to see the Democratic agenda advanced in the General Assembly, rather than by someone who wants to hinder it. And that goes for Governor Markell too, who record is progressive on social issues so as to cover up the fact that he is a conservative on economic ones.
Schwartzkopf’s primary opponent, Don Peterson, is a progressive Democrat who is hoping to walk in Bryan Townsend’s shoes. You see, Bryan Townsend ran a strong grassroots primary campaign to knock off a Democratic leader in the Senate who was similarly blocking the Democratic Agenda. Peterson supports a higher minimum wage, progressive tax reform, criminal justice reform and the repeal of the death penalty. These policy positions are the reason we at Delaware Liberal support him. But there is another, almost as important, reason.
As Don himself stated in his own Delaware Voice column back in May in the News Journal, he is challenging the old school old-boys-club Delaware Way of party politics that Schwartzkopf and Delaware Democratic Party Chairman John Daniello favor.
In January, the Democratic committee for the 14th district took the unprecedented step of endorsing Schwartzkopf before anyone even had a chance to file as a primary candidate. And to make matters worse, they did so in direct violation of their own committee guidelines that were adopted unanimously in 2010: “Given that the Democratic candidates for office are typically highly committed and effective leaders, it shall be the general policy of the 14th District Democratic Committee not to endorse nor recommend for endorsement Democratic candidates running in primary elections.”
And even if there is a “compelling reason to endorse,” such an endorsement may only be made after the committee has reviewed “all Democratic candidates who are running in the primary.” Clearly, that cannot happen until after the candidacy filing date, which is July 12.
Why did the committee give an early endorsement to Rep. Schwartzkopf in direct violation of its own longstanding policy? As clearly stated at the meeting (I was there) to keep anyone else out of the race and allow the incumbent to preserve his resources.
In other words, to protect Pete Schwartzkopf from a primary. From accountability to his Progressive base. Given the Speaker’s record, he had good reason to suspect he might face a Progressive challenge this time around, and so, while he denies any involvement or forehand knowledge of the 14th RD’s early endorsement, we quite simply do not believe him.
Preventing the emergence of new leaders may be the “Delaware Way” but it’s hardly the essence of the democratic (or Democratic) process. [I] had just recently had a confrontation with [former Sussex County Administration and Schwartzkopf supporter Joe Conaway] at a candidate forum at the Sussex County Democratic headquarters. As soon as he saw me, he became visibly angry: “Who do you think you are? You have no business running against Pete Schwartzkopf! I used to run this county, and I’m going to do everything I can to see that you lose.”
Conaway epitomizes the old Delaware Way – the good ol’ boys with their backroom deals, party elites fighting desperately to hold onto power and maintain the status quo. People like that believe the party establishment gets to decide who runs for office.
Bryan Townsend upset the Old Delaware Way in 2012. Here’s hoping that Don Peterson can do it again.