Consider this an addendum to El Somnambulo’s post this morning about the Joint Finance Committee. Just days after committee members soiled themselves like overeager puppies for the State Police, phony liberal Harris McDowell told Matt Denn to take a hike with his proposal for how to spend the $45 million windfall lawmakers already intend to squander elsewhere.
Denn called for:
• $10 million to send nurses to homes of low-income, first-time mothers
• $10 million for early education programs for low-income children
• $10 million in assistance to the 10 elementary schools with the highest percentage of impoverished students
• $10 million for after-school and summer programs to keep kids busy and off the streets
• $10 million to offer more support to juveniles leaving correctional facilities
• $2 million to create a high school solely for students recovering from addiction
• $2 million to create data systems recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to identify potential offenders in Wilmington
The response from McDowell, who for decades has kept up a pretense of progressivism by sponsoring good-government bills but spending no political capital on them: “You’re counting out money we haven’t seen in the piggybank yet.” This, a day after he fondled Mark “Doctor” Brainard’s balls when DelTech asked for a new tax on everyone so it can fix its buildings’ roofs.
Gov. Carney, through spokesman Jon Starkey, a good guy who’s now working for Delaware’s highest-ranking castrato, had this craven response: “As you know, the governor has submitted a balanced budget proposal for the General Assembly to consider. His plan includes $23.7 million in state and federal funding for substance abuse treatment and prevention. The governor looks forward to working with legislators as the Joint Finance Committee continues its work on the budget.”
Thanks once more to the Delaware State News and reporter Matt Bittle for keeping the public informed on the hearings before this all-powerful committee.
Thanks also to Matt Denn, who is making his last budget presentation to the JFC. Does anyone still wonder why he’s leaving government service?