DL Open Thread For Friday, May 28, 2021
Kathy McGuiness Crosses That Ethical Line. Again. When you’re an elected official, it’s bad form to announce a supposed new initiative AND solicit campaign funds in the same e-mail. But that’s what she’s done, not for the first time:
Dear Steve,Today, I announced my accountability and transparency initiative dubbed Project: Gray Fox.Since I have been sworn in as your State Auditor, I have fought to make Delaware more accountable and transparent. With Project: Gray Fox, Delaware can become a leader in financial information transparency.I am working to make sure your hard-earned tax dollars are spent as intended. As I fight to bring accountability and transparency, please consider contributing to my campaign.Please contribute $100, $50, or $10 if you want your money accounted for.-Kathy
What, you may ask, is Project: Gray Fox? Here’s the breathless press release (yes, I realize that a press release can’t technically be ‘breathless’).
What it means is that she’s doing the job she’s been elected to do: Track the money. A job she has not always done, especially when it comes to certain charter schools. Now she wants you to line her campaign coffers for finally doing her job. Or at least part of it. Can someone please tell Dennis E. Williams to stay the fuck out of a primary so that we can get rid of this self-promoting self-dealer? BTW, it’s now legal to kill the Gray Fox (Delaware’s State Animal) in Delaware. Just thought you’d like to know. A Dead Gray Fox is an apt metaphor for her time in public service.
Milton Hershey School Banks Big Money At Expense Of Poor Kids. Excellent investigative reporting. Inspirational Quote:
As a charity, the Milton Hershey School doesn’t pay federal or state income taxes. In exchange for those big savings, the school is expected to serve the public good through its stated purpose: housing and educating low-income and at-risk children.
“The tax breaks are intended to support efforts in the public good and it’s not for the accumulation of wealth, particularly at this historic moment when the needs are so great,” said Mae Quinn, a professor at the University of the District of Columbia’s law school who has written about wealth accumulation at elite private colleges.
Uh-Oh–Weisselberg Entrapped In Yet Another Trumpian Scandal. Looks like he was deeply involved in the Trump Inauguration Committee cash grabs. It’s this simple–if he rolls, Trump’s done.
Amazon’s Despair Closet. Where despondent Amazon workers go in despair. Break up this monopoly. Which reminds me, Bernie’s attempt to keep Bezos from yet another $10 billion grab was shot down in the Senate. Remind me again as to how much money Delaware’s economic slush fund has paid to Amazon for warehouse jobs? Hopefully, there are despair closets in the warehouses.
Are Progressive Populists Poised To Put Neo-Liberalism Out To Pasture? Yes, I think so. 2024 could be the watershed year in Delaware. Carney’s gone, and Carper could be too. A must-read, even though the story is not about Delaware. It will fill you full of hope.
Wilmington Says Its Ticketing And Towing Practices Are ‘Ethical’. What saieth thou?
JFC OK’s Salary Increases. Great news and, if I read this right, it should clear the way for a $15 an hour minimum wage:
Gov. Carney proposed lifting all state salaries to a minimum of $15 an hour, and to that end, the budget contains language that would begin the phase-in process, setting the floor at $26,500 annually (equivalent to about $13.60 an hour for those who work 37.5 hours a week).
What do you want to talk about?
“Gray Fox”? Wasn’t that the movie about the stagecoach holdup bandit turned train robber? Wonder why she came up with that name for her project.
It’s the Delaware State Animal. A couple of years ago, the General Assembly legalized the hunting of the Delaware State Animal.
And here I was thinking that it was about highway robbery!
Eugene Young, cabinet secretary? https://baytobaynews.com/stories/state-housing-authority-director-leaving-to-join-dsu,49220?
EDIT: I see RE beat me. Drat!
Another story involving DSU: Tenured professors at Wesley College have sued to stop the sale.
https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2021/05/28/wesley-college-professors-sue-over-merger#:~:text=The%2014%20professors%20who%20filed,Behavioral%20Sciences%20at%20Delaware%20State.
Senate Rethugs Kill Commission To Investigate Jan. 6:
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/05/28/senate-republicans-filibuster-jan-6-commission-likely-dooming-independent-investigation-491323
Uhh…”killing independent investigation”? WTF? Allowing half the members of the committee from the political party that backed the insurrection doesn’t sound very “independent” to me.
I am glad to hear this. It would have been a media shitshow and nothing more. Investigate it with the DoJ, and fuck Congress.