In addition to giving away too much too early, Carney and Acting Gov Pete lost Dem Andria Bennett, ostensibly over mortgage interest deductibility:
From the News Journal:
“House Majority Leader Valerie Longhurst, the bill’s sponsor, amended it eliminate tax increases for lower-income folks and hike taxes further on the wealthy. That was apparently a move to shore up support among Democrats, though it abandon any hope of GOP votes.
Yet when the vote came down, Democrats fell one vote short. Andria Bennett, D-Dover, voted no.
Bennett nearly broke down in tears when approached by reporters after the vote. She said her constituents did not like the bill’s reduction of itemized deductions for things like mortgage interest and charitable donations.
“[Democrats] don’t elect me, the people in my district do,” Bennett said. “Is everyone upset with me? Absolutely.”
These are serious times, and they call for serious people, and Andria Viola Bennett is not to be called upon. HB240, the bill that would have created a new tax bracket on the wealthy so that the rich could finally pay their fair share of the shared sacrifice demanded of all of us during this budget crisis, failed the House by a vote of 24-17. Andria Viola Bennett joined with her new Republican caucus in voting down the measure that would have raised new revenues so the state could avoid painful education and nonprofit funding cuts. Any revenue bill requires a 3/5th vote, or 25 votes to pass. Mrs. Bennett’s vote, had she stayed true to Democratic principles, would have been the 25th.
Via Blue Delaware