1. 1982 Called. They Want Their AG Election Back. Faced with the possibility of having either a pro- marijuana legalization candidate (David Skoranski) or a ‘nut’ (Tom Neuberger), as one party flak put it, the R’s are rumored to be pushing for Richard Gebelein to be their AG candidate. If the D’s nominate Charles Oberly, we would indeed have a rerun of the 1982 Attorney General’s race. Oberly squeaked out the win by a grand total of 1177 votes statewide. 92,917 to 91,740. BTW, 1982 was one of the most fascinating years in Delaware political history. It was the year that Tom Carper defeated scandal-ridden incumbent Tom Evans, who had apparently dallied with Paula Parkinson. It was the year of ‘Landslide’ Oberly. And it was the year that the D’s took control of the House, which they kept for only one term. Nobody saw that coming as the R’s had controlled the House redistricting process, but it happened. Check out Lonnie George’s R opponent in RD 1. That’s right, folks. That noted Republican, Ted Blunt. For a trip down Memory Lane, look through all the results. How many names do you recognize? I first got hired by the House after this election, thus starting my two decades-plus in Dover. Here is a deep trivia question: Which D legislative winner was not seated, and why? Even before the D’s took control of the House, they were already down one legislator.
2. Political Insider To Run For Paradee’s House Seat. Bill Bush, former legal counsel to Ruth Ann Minner and current legal counsel to the House Democratic Caucus. He’s also a member of the, wait for it, Del-Tech Board Of Trustees. And, if memory serves, he was one of the trustees who did not support Murray Hoy, who originally succeeded Lonnie George. In fact, who needs memories when we’ve got the record? Yup, Bill Bush was one of the guys who turned up the heat on Hoy to vamoose so that Mark Brainard could get the job. In other words, it’s hard to imagine a worse D candidate to succeed Paradee. A lawyer who enabled Ruth Ann Minner to cut the Tiganis an illegal break, a lawyer who enabled Tiny Tony’s illegal ascension to a position in DOL, a lawyer who is joined at the hip to Mark Brainard and Pete Schwartzkopf. Some other site wrote this about Bush: “Mr. Bush works as a lawyer who works for the House of Representatives Democratic caucus and was legal counsel to former Gov. Ruth Ann Minner (though we won’t hold that against him).” Well, I will! More candidates, please. Speaking of that other site, you notice how they don’t provide attribution when they take a story directly from our site? Two stories not posted elsewhere, not in any paper, only here. Hey, they’re welcome to our table scraps, just give us a proper citation please.
3. Three-Way R Primary For Bushweller’s Seat?
Looks that way. Camden Mayor Justin King has announced that he will file for the R primary. He would join Jason Stewart and Donyale Hall in the primary. King is, wait for it, a former Camden cop, who has made it his priority to increase police presence in Camden. Hmmm, let’s think about this. One white candidate and two black candidates running in a Republican primary. Who do you think has the edge?
4. Filings. Other than Bill Bush, no other filings this week.
That’s it for this week. What’d I miss and whaddayathink?