Most Intriguing Primaries: New Castle County Council Districts 1, 4 & 6

We have two insurgent candidacies challenging back-benchers, and we have an outlier.  

Let’s start with the outlier. Perpetual candidate and realtor Vincent White is challenging Penrose Hollins in Council District 4.  If elected, White would join fellow family members Charles Potter and Velda Jones Potter in feeding off the taxpayers. Not to mention the unwillingly-retired Dennis P. Williams, who is likely collecting three taxpayer-funded pensions. What a family business.  The primaries in that portion of north Wilmington are shaping up as a referendum on the performance of the ethically-bankrupt Potter dynasty.  Penrose Hollins, for all his faults as a countywide candidate, has always been a good government proponent and has served with honor on County Council.  He’s not going to lose this race. 

In fact, I think that the major impact of White’s candidacy will ironically hurt Charles Potter’s reelection chances. Hollins has a loyal following who are now more apt to come out to vote than they would have been if he had been left alone without a primary. There is quite a bit of overlap between Potter’s House district and Hollins’ councilmanic district. A White victory would clearly be a downgrade on Council, and I don’t expect it to happen. But I welcome his candidacy as just one more way to bring out the anti-Potter vote.

The other two races pit impressive first-time candidates against back-benchers. Well, I suppose you can’t be a back-bencher in a legislative body with only twelve members and one looney-tune Council President. But, I define back-bencher as someone who basically shows up and votes, and otherwise leaves no imprint on a legislative body. Back-bencher is not necessarily a pejorative, as long as the back-bencher doesn’t serve as a proxy for amoral leadership. For example, someone who kissed Gordon’s butt w/o question.  Back-benchers are OK…until somebody better comes along.

Two somebodies-better have come along. Much better.  Jordyn Pusey in NCC District 1, and Dave Carter in NCC District 6.

In District 1, Ken Woods inherited the seat previously held by his back-bencher dad, Robert Woods. After Robert Woods died, Tom Gordon appointed Joe Reda to the seat. When Reda died, Woods won a special election to complete the remainder of Reda’s term. Because of Gordon’s appointment of Reda, Council changed the law to require a special election rather than enabling the County Executive to make the appointment. In a Special Election, the candidates are chosen by the Party leadership, not through a primary. Meaning, this is the first time that Woods is facing a Democratic electorate. Woods is a Business Agent for Sheet Metal Workers Local 19.  He also hands out giant checks (although it’s always Bob Weiner hogging the spotlight).  Here is his website. BTW, Ken? You might want to check out the spelling of the word ‘Red’.

Woods’ opponent, Jordyn Pusey, is simply a superior candidate and would almost certainly be a a major upgrade on Council. She has been the President of the Civic League for NCC since 2016, and has been President of her civic association, Brack-Ex/Roselle, since 2009.  She is a deeply-involved community activist.  You can find out more about her here.  If Matt Meyer is to eliminate the stench of the Gordon era, he will need council members like Pusey to help in the clean-up.

District 6 is represented by Bill Powers. a farmer who has represented the district since his election in 2006.  Both Powers and his opponent, David Carter, claim that this below-the-canal district has been underserved. In that context, do you want to continue with the council member who has been in office for 12 years of the district being underserved, or would a change be in order?  Carter, IMHO, is uniquely qualified for this job:

Carter said he’d been toying with running for office since he left DNREC as an environmental manager in 2012, but instead he went on to get his doctorate in public policy and administration at the University of Delaware, where he also adjunct teaches. Now, in 2018, he’s launching a grassroots campaign in an effort to unseat longtime incumbent Bill Powers.

“I’m going to take a good shot at it,” he said. “It’s kind of, oddly, maybe the job I’ve been training for and practicing for and preparing for my whole life,” he said, describing his education and governmental and advocacy work.

“I see a certain urgency, I see the window closing of making sure that we can maintain a lot of the wonderful things that we have in this area of the county, and to avoid a lot of the mistakes that we’ve made that have led to traffic problems and inequities north of the canal,” he said.

Carter would also bring a level of professionalism to the position that could enable him to work with Matt Meyer to address the concerns both he and Powers have outlined.

Pusey and Carter offer real upgrades for County Council, and that’s not a jab at the incumbents. The voters will soon decide if that’s what they want.