After playing Charlie Brown with the football again on gun control legislation, Delaware progressives are grumbling so loud Matt Bittle of the State News heard them. His story carries a classic Dems-in-disarray headline: “Split Over Gun Control Roils Delaware Democrats”
But the Democrats aren’t actually in disarray. They’re just beholden to unions, which in Delaware are more conservative than Tom Carper. From Bittle’s analysis:
“I got a sense that my caucus isn’t interested in doing this. I can tell you that straight up,” [McBride said]. … He estimated just five of the 12 members of the Senate Democratic caucus backed the proposals. Four senators — Harris McDowell of Wilmington, Bryan Townsend of Newark, Dave Sokola of Newark and Laura Sturgeon of Woodbrook — sponsored or cosponsored each of the three measures, while Sen. Elizabeth Lockman of Wilmington signed on as a backer of the permit to purchase proposal. Broadly speaking, those five belong to the Democratic Party’s more liberal wing…
Upward of 900 people crowded into a union hall in Newark a few weeks ago to express anger over the legislation, and while the gathering was not an official union event — the state’s major unions were deliberately neutral on the bills, according to Delaware AFL-CIO President James Maravelias — many of the attendees belong to labor organizations. Mr. Maravelias posted a picture of the meeting on Facebook, urging individuals to pay attention to “the writing on the wall” and tagging Sen. Jack Walsh, a Stanton Democrat with strong ties to labor.
This is why any Constitutional amendment dealing with Citizens United should deal with cash-based political power across the board. Read the whole thing to understand why Delaware is Democratic but not progressive, and why any fight against status-quo politics in the state involves attacking the state’s entrenched Democrats more than its antediluvian Republicans.