…on the current and should-be future Labor Secretary, Patrice Gilliam-Johnson.
Who are Nicole and Tony? That would be Senator Nicole Poore and disgraced ex-Senator Tony DeLuca. Poore has a six-figure sinecure from Jobs For Delaware Graduates. And DeLuca has a sinecure from the Department of Labor as Director of Labor Law Enforcement. Neither are at all qualified for their positions.
Which is why the two of them have joined together to oppose consideration of Acting Labor Secretary Patrice Gilliam-Johnson to continue in that position under Gov. Carney. She represents an existential threat to their ongoing sinecures. They even share a MYSTERY ACCOMPLICE, and you won’t believe how she’s involved with both senators.
That’ll have to wait just a wee bit longer, though, while we explain in vivid detail why both Nicole ‘n Tiny Tony fear Gilliam-Johnson’s confirmation. Starting with Tiny Tony.
Gov. Markell’s naming of Gilliam-Johnson to the Secretary of Labor post immediately represented an existential threat to DeLuca’s job. In fact, her nomination was largely driven by the perceived need to stop DOL from burying civil rights complaints:
“The News Journal in a series of stories chronicled allegations of discrimination by a coalition of African-American ministers and the NAACP that said widespread racism exists within the agency and elsewhere in state government.
Just before stepping into a closed-door meeting with the governor on Jan. 6, the Rev. Silvester Beaman, pastor of the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church and coalition member, said Markell must make “immediate personnel changes” within his government. On Tuesday, John McMahon, 73, announced he was stepping down as labor secretary.
The News Journal described DOL as ‘an embattled agency that has faced accusations of workplace racism during much of the past year.’ As to the complaints:
The DOL’s Office of Anti-discrimination found that just one of 190 claims of illegal discrimination brought by state employees had merit from 2012 until June 2015.
These weren’t investigations. These were burials caused by tossing the complaints into the trash for three years.
The two key practitioners of these civil rights coverups were DOL Secretary John McMahon, who allegedly ‘resigned to spend more time with his family’, and his trade unions henchman, Tony DeLuca. McMahon is gone, and DeLuca is in a precarious position since he was key to preventing investigation of alleged violations.
Let us now consider Sen. Nicole Poore. It must be said: She is every bit as avaricious and ethically-bankrupt as Tony DeLuca. She parlayed her Senate position into getting a job as President of Jobs For Delaware Graduates. Didn’t even take her two years. She utilized her position both in leadership and as a member of the Joint Finance/Grants-In-Aid Committee to ensure ongoing funding for her agency which, of course, is why she’s President of JDG. She used her position in leadership and on the Senate Executive Committee to place a roadblock in front of the proposed renomination of Gilliam-Johnson. Why? Did I mention the existential threat to her agency? This is purportedly a jobs program. A ‘private’ non-profit which receives significant funding from the General Assembly.
Well, take a look at a bill sponsored by Sen. Dave Sokola last session, a bill that Poore also put the kibosh on. This bill was a Markell initiative, designed to create more accountability for jobs programs, including JDG. Programs would have been judged on a competitive basis, which would not display the useless JDG in a positive light. Sources have confirmed to me that Sen. Poore used her influence to keep that bill off the Senate Agenda. Ordinarily, bills like this fly right through. However, once again, Nicole Poore misused her position to protect her fiefdom. If the Senate Ethics Committee was concerned with ethics, they would sanction these violations. But it’s not, and they won’t. Besides, guess who is a member of that committee? That’s right.
As to that MYSTERY ACCOMPLICE. Her name is Debra S. Allen. She was Tony’s Significant Other (not to be confused with his then-wife) back when she was shuttling back and forth between his Senate office and his Labor office, where she was allegedly ‘volunteering’ her time while being paid by the Senate. I made a point of keeping her name out of my articles on DeLuca b/c I felt her identity was neither relevant nor necessary in telling my story. It is now. She is still Tony’s Significant Other.
While you might have expected that Tony’s defeat at the hands of Bryan Townsend would have ended her employment with the Senate (employees don’t have Merit System protection), you would be incorrect. Patti Blevins not only kept her on without ever investigating whether she was being paid on the Senate’s dime while ‘volunteering for Tony’, but Blevins promoted her to Assistant Chief of Staff at a real nice salary boost. If you’re wondering why, keep in mind that DeLuca and Blevins were the Senate leaders before DeLuca’s defeat. And keep in mind that both of them had ‘second’ jobs courtesy of the taxpayers. And Blevins rewards Tony’s paramour with a big salary increase. Betcha she was even permitted visiting hours over at DOL. With none of that annoying ‘paperwork’. More Delaware Way crap.
By this time, you’re saying, well, Steve, this is all well and good, but what does this have to do with some unholy cabal between DeLuca, Poore, and Debra Allen?
Ladeez and Gentlemen, please allow me to introduce you to:
Debra S. Allen, Legislative Assistant to Sen. Nicole Poore.
That’s right. Allen currently works for one and only one senator: Nicole Poore. And shares her world with Tiny Tony DeLuca. All the better to coordinate opposition with, my dear. So there you have it: Tony DeLuca influencing the Senate from beyond his political grave to save the job he should never have had. And Nicole Poore using every underhanded measure to keep her useless agency afloat.
There’s one more player in this story, although ‘player’ is perhaps too strong a word. That would be Jellyfish John Carney. You see, he hasn’t technically renominated Patrice Gilliam-Johnson to be Labor Secretary. He likes her, he respects her, he went to school with her, he wants her for the position, but he’s twiddling his thumbs hoping that this impasse somehow works itself out. Only Carney’s timidity and Nicole Poore’s roadblock is holding up the nomination and confirmation. So, John, are you gonna give into the racist at DOL and the self-dealing ethical sinkhole in Dover? Or will you stand up for your friend, who happens to be good at her job? Oh, and if you’re willing to get rolled on this one, is there anything over which you won’t get rolled? Other than supporting a minimum wage increase, that is? You do have some limits.
Folks, all I can do is to offer up these stories. At some point, someone with some backbone needs to stand up and put a stop to all this. Someone or someones in elected office.
