“No ganja for you.” Thus saieth the Somoronic solons in Dover. The bill got 21 votes, needed 25. Only one R, Jeff Spiegelman, voted for it. Here are the D’s who went not voting and effectively defeated the bill: Bolden, Carson, Jaques, M. Smith, and, of course, Speaker Pete. To his credit, ex-cop Larry Mitchell voted yes. I knew the bill wouldn’t pass. At least we’ve now got the opponents on the record. Including D fave Mike Ramone, who supposedly will have an opponent any minute now. Betcha he’s out of touch with his district on this.
Other notable results from yesterday:
*Direct wine shipments barely passed the Senate, 11-10. It took this amendment to even get it passed. Roll call on the bill was all over the place, with plenty of D’s voting no. The bill still faces another House vote due to the Senate amendment. And then, who knows? Maybe Carney vetoes it? Who is opposing this bill? Any Leg Hall insiders have some info?
*Legislation providing bonuses to state employees and retirees unanimously passed the Senate and heads to the House. Already counting on my $400…
*Well, we knew that this would pass. The seven representatives who voted no deserve recognition for doing the right thing: Jaques, K. Williams, Kowalko, Lynn, Matthews, Potter, and Viola.
*Oh, and no surprise, insiders Vince Lofink and John Paradee were unanimously approved for their sinecures in the Senate.
The Senate leadership has apparently decided that discussion of most bills is superfluous. I look at the bills on Senate Consent Agenda 2, and I see a lot of substantive bills that aren’t just technical changes or charter changes. Guess the Senate is suffering from terminal boredom. Bob Marshall tries again to pass a relatively paltry minimum wage increase. Assuming that Cloutier is a yes, it may even survive Sen. Bushweller’s ongoing shilling for Dover Downs. For the record, Trey Paradee supports a minimum wage increase. He also supports marijuana legalization. Something to look forward to.
Key bills on today’s House Agenda:
*SB 151(Henry), which is even more important today than it was yesterday, ‘codifies the current federal requirement that health insurance plans include coverage for contraceptives and applies this requirement to individual, group, State employee, and public assistance plans’. Four downstate Rethug trogs voted no in the Senate.
*SB 113 (McDowell) encountered problems in the Senate before final passage. Any bill with the initials SEU in it deserves close scrutiny, and this bill includes those initials.
*The previously-mentioned bonus payments to state employees and retirees.
And then there’s this. Some of you may remember the back story. The brainchild of a politically-connected former Delaware Mother Of The Year (that phrase, of course, is redundant), legislation was passed making the Maypole Dance Delaware’s Official Dance, but only for a year. I had the very noive to write about it, which led to the politically-connected daughter of the politically-connected former Delaware Mother Of The Year (‘How dare you? Don’t you know my mom was once Delaware Mother Of The Year??’) castigating me on this very blog. Well, with the passage of HB 236, the Maypole Dance will now be Delaware’s Official Dance despite the fact that the Maypole Dance did not originate in Delaware (hmmm, German pagan fertility rituals, really?). The Chicken Dance? Of course. The Lap Dance or the plain old Pole Dance (anything for money)? Yes. But, in the spirit of what passes for bipartisanship, we have this. Oh, and the politically-connected daughter? She’s now on the Board Of Trustees of the University of Delaware. It was not her first political appointment and will not be her last. I admit I’m making a bigger deal out of this than the issue warrants. But it’s an insightful look at the bankruptcy of the Delaware Way and what passes for bipartisanship in Delaware.
I now recess until Saturday’s ‘long day’s journey into night’.