WTF, John?
Gov. John Carney is expected to soon veto two tax bills after a “pocket veto” – an arcane rule aimed at preventing bills from becoming law without the governor taking official action – fell apart in recent days, according to multiple sources.
A spokesman for the governor did not respond to a request for comment Friday.
Carney’s decision to deny the legislation has bewildered some legislators and threatens to further the divide between the governor and lawmakers in his own party. Both bills were sponsored by Democrats and easily cleared the General Assembly on the last day of the legislative session.
The timing of the vetoes is unusual. Over the last 25 years, only four bills have been acted on by a Delaware governor this late in the year, mostly due to lingering constitutional questions.
That does not appear to be a factor with the legislation Carney plans to nix – both of which had bipartisan support.
When this midterm is over…it is on.
Here’s the link:
https://www.delawareonline.com/story/news/politics/2018/10/26/gov-carney-veto-two-bills-backed-house-democrats/1772370002/
Story sez Schwartzkopf broke custom, sent Carney the bills unsolicited, forcing Carney to explain himself, so Pete’s your hero here.
One of the bills would provide a tax refund to low-paid workers who don’t qualify for Delaware’s earned income tax credit. The other would means-test the state’s senior tax credit.
Paul Baumbach was given the explanation last month: “The governor does not like to do tax policy piecemeal.”
Yep, a full court press to dump Carney. These two bills could not be more innocuous, one would actually save money. It should have been a slam dunk, for a real Dem that is.
Yet, as the story notes, Carney wanted the assault weapons ban that the GA Dems couldn’t get done. So no matter who’s on which side, the more liberal policy fails.
“The governor does not like to do tax policy piecemeal.”
Translation: I’m not signing this unless it is bundled with tax cuts for the rich.
Nailed it.
Define “rich”…
As it currently stands, the scale tops out at $60,000 of adjusted income, IIRC, so something above that. I believe the Kowalko proposal put the next step up at $125,000, again IIRC. You could look it up.
It sounds like Carney is having a fit of pique over the failure of his horrendous budget smoothing amendment.” From the NJ:
“That measure included a proposal to institute certain means-testing on the state’s senior tax credit, similar to what was included in Williams bill.”
If Carney can’t have the whole horrible package, we can’t have the good parts either.
That was Simpler budget smoothing plan.
Just for us non-insiders (I know, a very small percentage of your readership), what are you talking about? How about a synopsis of the bills instead of the blabbering about the crypto-politics of the process?
The link is in the first comment as well. Read the story and you’ll know what we’re talking about.
The relevant News Journal story from today is here:
https://www.delawareonline.com/story/news/politics/2018/10/26/gov-carney-veto-two-bills-backed-house-democrats/1772370002/
and Carney’s budget-smoothing amendment failed to pass the legislature in June:
https://www.delawareonline.com/story/news/politics/2018/06/28/budget-smoothing-bill-life-support-delaware-legislature/741422002/
It’s all in there. Last June, Carney wanted to pass a constitutional amendment he called “budget smoothing.” It was never brought up for a vote so it died on the shelf.
And then he passed an “executive order” (not sure such a thing exists at the state level) declaring the same thing, though the General Assembly is free to ignore it.
It’s game theory. Any single-party government inevitably splits into factions.
The Executive Order only applied to his administration. It only has an impact on how executive branch agencies put together their budget proposals. Once Carney’s budget is submitted, that’s pretty much the end of the executive order.
Might I point out that ‘budget smoothing’ is something that both Ken Simpler and Carney want? We’re talking Concord Coalition crap. Carney put on his green eyeshade and figured that the way to neutralize perceived threat Simpler was to adopt his anti-progressive proposals.
I hope that they both soon meet the fate they deserve.
Why did the House of Reps force Carney’s hand? Don’t get me wrong. They should have. It forced Carney to either sign or veto the bills rather than pocket veto them after the election. But the question of ‘why’ remains unanswered…and intriguing.
Is there a legit challenger to Carney waiting in the wings? Enquiring minds want to know.
A legit challenger to Carney who has juice with Pete? I doubt it. But yes. There is a story beneath the story.
And also Puck did nail down part of this. Carney is simply horrible and has no support in Leg Hall.
Pete may not be so solid in leadership. So, it’s possible he did this at the urging (read: insistence) of the sponsors of the legislation.
“Why did the House of Reps force Carney’s hand? ”
No mystery, it’s an election year and House candidates wanted to run on tax cuts. I can’t imaging Pete doing anything solely at the insistence of Paul Baumbach or Kim Williams.
Wh-what?