Delaware Political Weekly: December 3-9, 2021

1. Kathleen McGuiness Will Not Go Gently Into That Good Night.  She has adopted the Big Lie approach that is the Rethugs’ electoral model.  Here is her latest fundraising screed, which appeared in my inbox yesterday:

When I ran for State Auditor in 2018, I pledged to bring my small business background and common-sense solutions to state government. It’s evident that mentality doesn’t align with those that benefit from the Deal-aware/Delaware Way. My predecessor held this office for 30 years; it’s very obvious that change is difficult.

Since taking office in January 2019, I have worked tirelessly on behalf of Delawareans (especially my daughter). In the first 6 months of 2021 alone, I identified over $111 million dollars in government overspending and potential tax revenue.

I have championed for your independent Auditor’s Office to be a resource for a better working Delaware, I have been denied access to data for my teams, refusal of information, documents and cooperation. This affects all Delawareans from our pocketbooks to the pump.

There’s a stark contrast between those that are politicians and those that are public servants (Irony Alert.). People that know me best, like you, know of my decades of service and that I am an ethical, straight shooter. I have always fought for you and stood in your corner. Now more than ever, I need you to stand with me so that we can continue to champion transparency and accountability in The First State.

Can you contribute today? (No.)

The support I have received from Claymont to Laurel to Lewes to Wilmington has been overwhelming. I am humbled by the words of encouragement I receive daily from Delawareans up and down the state, and I pledge to keep fighting on your behalf.

p.s. Make no mistake, DC has come to Delaware. If you too are disgusted by the political theatrics, I need you to stand with me today so we can fight back.

So. Here’s what we know:  She is not, and never has been, ‘an ethical, straight shooter’.  DC ‘has come to Delaware’?  How, exactly? I haven’t heard a peep out of our Congressional delegation.  I just think she’s in ‘throwing shit up on the wall’ mode, desperately hoping something, anything, will stick.

BTW, the ‘ethical, straight shooter’ (what’s the comma doing there?) got caught this week forming a PAC and running it out of her campaign HQ.  Didn’t even try to deny it.  I think that’s, um, illegal.  And not, um, ethical.

OK, I have some questions.  Which party’s nomination will she seek?  She is almost certain to be sanctioned in some manner by the General Assembly, perhaps impeached.  Only one R, Rep. Michael Smith, has come out to call for her ouster.  Good on him.  McGuiness has at times been a D, an R, and even an IPOD member.  She’ll go wherever someone is willing to take her.  Don’t think she has any chance of surviving in a D primary…assuming, of course, that she’s not in jail and ineligible to run.

I simply can’t wait to see her end-of-year financial statement.  Let’s find out who is ponying up.  Besides the Delaware Pharmacists’ Society, I mean.

Does Andria Bennett Need To Resign Her House Seat?  I mean, now that she’s found her golden parachute? I’m not an attorney, but here’s how the relevant portion of the Delaware Constitution Of 1897 reads:

§ 14. Holding dual office or having interest in army or navy contract.

Section 14. No Senator or Representative shall, during the time for which he or she shall have been elected, be appointed to any civil office under this State which shall have been created, or the emoluments of which shall have been increased during such time. No member of Congress, nor any person holding any office under this State, or the United States, except officers usually appointed by the courts of justice respectively, attorneys-at-law and officers of the militia, holding no disqualifying office, shall during his or her continuance in Congress or in office be a Senator or Representative; nor shall any person while concerned in any army or navy contract be a Senator or Representative.

That reads like an ‘of course, she needs to resign her House’ seat to me.

Keep in mind, though, that a new position was created expressly for Tony DeLuca by Ruth Ann Minner and Mark Brainard, and that Beau Biden wouldn’t even look at the illegality of it all.  And that one was blatantly illegal:

First, the Cliff’s Notes Version. The Delaware Supreme Court issued an opinion holding that a public officer of the state may either serve in a position that makes the laws, or a position that enforces the laws. You can’t do both. Tony DeLuca does both, and he can’t do that.

In the same opinion, the Supreme Court held that, when one accepts the second position that violates the separation of powers, they will have effectively resigned their first position. In other words, Tony DeLuca effectively resigned his Senatorial office when he took a job enforcing labor law. Except he didn’t.

Please help me here. Wasn’t Tony DeLuca’s position created specifically for Tony DeLuca? Didn’t Minner/Brainard/Sharp/DeLuca create this new position specifically to get around any possible Hatch Act violations that might have interfered with DeLuca’s ascension to the job?

Unless I’ve completely taken leave of my faculties, the conclusion is incontrovertible: It is impermissible for one person to hold two public offices when one office makes the laws and the other office enforces said laws. That, my friends, is exactly what Tony DeLuca does. No stretch of reality is required to make that connection. He is simultaneously the President Pro-Tempore of the Delaware State Senate and the Director of Labor Law Enforcement at the Department of Labor.

Nobody in power gave a shit.  It wasn’t until Cerron Cade became Secretary Of Labor that DeLuca’s deadwood cronies were shown the door.

I believe it’s at least incumbent upon Bennett to request an opinion from the AG’s office. Failing that, someone concerned about ethical government should.

3. Is Rep. Steve Smyk Considering A Run For SD 6?  I can’t verify this directly, but this came from the tip line (keep ’em comin’):

Steve Smyk RD20 Republican Representative , unprompted, said in his constituent coffee meeting at Troop 7 this morning: He is “seriously considering running for Senate 6” instead of RD20 in 2022. Spent 45 min talking about all the good things he does for this constituents and the State. Mentioned in the speech that the new RD20 is losing some of his strongest supporters; SD6 includes those voters…

That’s it for this week. What’d I miss, and whaddayathink?