The Business Roundtable Is A Clusterbleep Even Before It Gets Started. Let’s start with this quote:
The board, for instance, will not be required to hold public meetings or publish minutes of its discussions. Financial disclosure documents that would reveal potential conflicts of interest also will not be released to the public.
“I’m a big proponent of transparency,” Carney told The News Journal last month. “But there is a balance we need to strike between being transparent and being confidential when necessary. How we do that will be something the board will need to look at once it’s in place.”
There’s no fucking balance here. It’s why Carney and the Chamber made sure this wasn’t a public agency. (Deep cleansing breath). OK, let’s check out the membership:
Governor John Carney (co-chair)
- Rod Ward, President, CSC (co-chair)
- Desmond Baker, Founder, Desmond A. Baker & Associates
- Alan Brangman, Executive Vice President, University of Delaware
- Patrick Callahan, Founder, CompassRed
- Eric Cheek, Associate Vice President, Delaware State University
- Doneene Damon, Executive Vice President, Richards, Layton, & Finger
- Jeanmarie Desmond, Co-Controller, DowDuPont
- Robert Herrera, Co-Founder, The Mill
- Nick Lambrow, President of Delaware Region, M&T Bank
- Senator Greg Lavelle, Delaware State Senate
- Greg Moore, Vice President, Becker Morgan Group
- Lori Palmer, Ventures Executive Leader, Trellist Marketing Technology
- Rob Rider, CEO, O.A. Newton
- Representative Bryon Short, Delaware House of Representatives
- Richelle Vible, Executive Director, Catholic Charities
- Senator Jack Walsh, Delaware State Senate
- Representative Lyndon Yearick, Delaware House of Representatives
Anyone see any possibility of conflicts-of-interest here? Yes, I thought so. And what a group of legislators! Greg Lavelle, Bryon Short, Lyndon Yearick, Chamber lackeys all, and Jack Walsh, who we still don’t know anything about.
Oh, and they’re still months away from being operational:
One of the first things the new board is expected to tackle is the search for a chief executive officer and staff to handle the partnership’s day-to-day operations.
Until then, Delaware’s economic development efforts – such as the pursuit of Amazon’s HQ2 project – will be headed by the Delaware Division of Small Business, Development and Tourism, a state agency created at the same time the former Delaware Economic Development Office was dissolved.
I’ve been around the Delaware General Assembly a long time. This is one of the most disgraceful and short-sighted initiatives I have ever seen. The fact that taxpayers are paying for this crony capitalism is a scandal in and of itself–and it’s only a preamble to the scandals that will inevitably follow. The only question is: Can anybody penetrate the veil of secrecy to report them to the public?
Blatant Carve-Outs In Cassidy/Graham. That one was for Ron Johnson. This one is for Lisa Murkowski.
Uber Kicked Out Of London. Just wouldn’t follow the rules.
Ex-NFL Player/Felon, Had Brain Of a 67 Year-old Man. He was 27 when he hanged himself in jail cell.
How Another State Shields Corporation From Scrutiny. It’s like Delaware on steroids. Wisconsin under Scott Walker.
What do you want to talk about?