DL’s MVP (Most Valuable To The Progressive Cause In Delaware) Awards For 2021
This, of course, is my list. Your lists, no doubt would vary. I considered all of the suggestions and nominations that you put forth, meaning, you will see some of your suggestions on the list.
Let’s go!
10. Rep. Larry Lambert & Sen. Kyle Evans Gay. Did I mention that this is my list? In just one year, they have already become by far the best Representative and Senator that we’ve ever had here in the 7th RD. I know that both are preparing some serious legislative initiatives for the upcoming year. I’m also thrilled that Claymont, which had been too often neglected or ignored previously, is the beneficiary of the community involvement of Larry and Kyle. And…
9. Sen. Sarah McBride. Though she will be ceding some of Claymont to Kyle after redistricting, she’s already made her mark there. Plus, check out her legislative record. Especially SB 72 and SB 109. Bonus points for telling Sen. Richardson to stick it where the sun don’t shine after his no vote on a Gay Pride Month resolution. Spoiler Alert: If she’s able to get SB 1 passed, she’ll wind up much higher on this list in 2022.
8. Maria Matos. John Carney has a way of muttering meaningless platitudes to assuage community leaders and to encourage them to be ‘team players’. After seeing the lack of results when it came to COVID protections in the Latino community, LACC Executive Director Maria Matos was having none of it:
“We have proven to them that we can bring out, overnight, 94 to 100 people, old people, seniors, abuelitos to get vaccinated–so let’s do more of that,” said Matos…
“Equity means that you have to do things differently. And it’s OK to say ‘I’m not happy with those numbers.’ Then, do something about it…think outside the box but don’t stand in a press conference Mr. Governor and tell me that you’re not happy with the 2%, but you’re not setting aside any vaccine that will go directly to the people that need it the most because the people who are getting the sickest the most are Latinos and African Americans.”
She called a lack of vaccine an excuse.
“I don’t think people know the definition of equity,” she said. “If you have 100 vaccines, and 10% of your population is Latino, then you take those 100 vaccines, and you set aside 10%. If you stick them all in the basket, which is what they’re doing now, they’re sticking all their vaccines in a basket, and hoping that Latinos and African-Americans are able to reach in and get some of their vaccine, it’s impossible to do it because there are barriers.”
“We have Westside Health clinic, and we have ChristianaCare, that know how to reach into the community, but what does the state do? They want DEMA to do it, or they’ve hired this company from I don’t know where to do it,” she said, referencing Curative, based in Los Angeles, California.”
“The same thing I’m telling you, I tell them all the time…you’re talking about vaccine equity. Equity means that it has to be different for every single community,” said Matos. They have to reach right back into the community there is a community there that is willing and able to volunteer to help the state vaccinate those populations that are difficult to reach.”
Carney’s nonsensical bureaucratese?:
“To make sure that we get equity in the distribution of first and second doses. Therefore, our partners show that they will be evaluated on a week-by-week basis based on whether they’re achieving our equity goals, and we will be able to re-allocate to others who are doing a better job of meeting those equity objectives,” said the governor.
I’ve long been a fan of Maria’s. This is but one example why. She knows bullshit when she hears it/sees it/doesn’t see it, and she cuts through it.
7. Rep. David Bentz. It’s finally dawned on me that he’s someone who deserves consideration every year. A solidly progressive legislator who churns out really good bills annually. Here’s this year’s list. We can only hope that HB 75 passes in 2022 as a fitting coda to his legislative legacy. We can also only hope that his successor has similar progressive proclivities, and similar ability to get things done.
6. Shyanne Miller. Coordinator of the Delaware Campaign For Police Accountability. How’s that for a heavy lift? Yet, despite all odds, the campaign had some significant triumphs this year. Police body cameras, changing the definition for police use of force from ‘belief’ to ‘reasonable. With the Kop Kabal firmly in control in the House, those were remarkable achievements. Here is more on Ms. Miller:
Shyanne Miller is Black American woman, born and raised in Wilmington, Delaware. Shyanne Miller earned her bachelor’s degree in Wildlife Conservation from the University of Delaware, and her Masters in Sustainable Development from SIT Graduate Institute. She specializes in policy advocacy and community organizing, and serves as board member of the Coalition to Dismantle the New Jim Crow in Delaware and the Campaign Manager for the Building People Power Campaign. She focuses on fighting racism through reforming the criminal justice system and promoting democratic, economic justice. Shyanne’s passion is to support anti-racist efforts by building the ability of all community members—regardless of race, gender, age, ability, or experience– to participate in the political process.
She is also the Wilmington Organizer/Building People Power Coordinator For Network Delaware. Hmmm, wonder whose district she resides in…
5. Rep. Madinah Wilson-Anton. Not just for being a stalwart progressive in her first term, but for being the only legislator to stand up to the Kop Kabal and demand an Ethics Committee hearing on Gerald Brady’s racist screeds. She also publicly criticized the Kop Kabal’s whitewash on Brady’s behalf. Closed door hearing. Press release ‘exonerating’ him. When the Kop Kabal is gone, and it could happen in 2022 with your help, Rep. Wilson-Anton has already displayed leadership that too many others in that caucus have run from. Meaning, I hope she runs for a leadership position and wins.
4. AG Kathleen Jennings. Not only did she work behind the scenes to help create some of the progressive legislation that made it to the Governor’s desk, she is the first AG to take on the casual corruption of the Delaware Way. Not just Kathleen McGuiness, but also Rebecca Walker and Bill Freeborn. And Darius Brown. I doubt that anything could threaten the casual corruption of the Delaware Way more than facing legal consequences for participating in it.
3. Sen. Marie Pinkney. Compassionate, progressive, and, the reason why she’s this high on the list, a diligent and effective legislator. While she ‘only’ passed three bills this year, check out the three bills that she passed. I still don’t know how she got SB 147 and SB 148 through the House. I’m all in on her. Can’t wait to see what she does next.
2. The Fight For $15 Campaign. IMO, passage of the $15 minimum wage was the singular accomplishment of this past year’s legislative session. It simply doesn’t happen w/o the single most effective progressive grassroots campaign I can recall pushing for it. I will quote the words of the person who nominated them for the list:
“To me this was the most well run and strategic grassroots issue campaign on a small budget I’ve seen. The campaign focused on specific legislators districts with canvassing, digital communications, etc. instead of just broadly pushing everywhere or NCC specifically which I think would have lost. In particular, they raised the potential of electoral challenges to incumbents. I think every future issue campaign should follow this campaign as a model.”
Especially if the results are similar. Did I mention something about SB 1 earlier?
1. Senator Dave Sokola. With attendant shout-outs to Senators Tizzy Lockman and Bryan Townsend. The progressive sea change that washed over Dover this year cannot be overstated. Sure, defeating Dave McBride and reducing the power of Nicole Poore was key. But, if you talk to the progressive senators, particularly the newcomers, all they could talk about was the encouragement that they got from Sokola and the leadership team to be engines for progressive change. As President Pro-Tempore, Sokola ensured that the key committees had sufficient progressive membership to get bills released from committees. The senators tell me that it’s a happy place to work now, that their work will be honored and supported, and that they don’t have to kiss the rings of the leaders in order to promote their priorities. I can’t think of a single key piece of legislation that was held up in the Senate this year because it was ‘too progressive’. Of course, the same can’t be said of the other chamber, the chamber where the Kop Kabal governs through fear, and screws up legislation, especially when it deals with gun safety and/or the cops.
I’ve known Dave Sokola since his first campaign for office, and had the privilege to volunteer on it. He’s always been progressive (I know, he’s been too much of a charter school supporter for some folks), level-headed, an advocate for those who have suffered from discrimination, and very easy to work with. In other words, a truly good person who finally found himself in a position where he could have a greater impact on the process than ever before. And impacted it in an incredibly positive manner.
He is my MVP in a year when there were so many deserving contributors to the progressive cause.
“Progressive” and “charter school supporter” are contradictory. It cannot be emphasized enough how much irreversible damage to equity was done by Delaware’s charter school law and the cruelly-named Neighborhood Schools law. These are the laws which normalized and institutionalized Delaware’s suburban white racism.
Police reform? how many of Delaware’s un-reformed cops graduated from Sokola’s white flight schools?
I can understand how a progressive might be misled into thinking at one point that charter schools would be a “reform” leading to more equity. But now that history has proven that to be wildly incorrect, a progressive would have reversed course and worked for restoration of the public schools.
Sokola’s leadership is a Pyrrhic victory for progressives. His support for other progressive goals is welcome, but he is permanently barred from my MVP list.
Well, he’s turned the Senate into an engine of progressive reform. As a result, the Senate passed more progressive legislation in a year than they did in the entire preceding decade. There’s nothing Pyrrhic in that victory.
And this is the 2021 MVP list. His contributions were absolutely essential to the progressive renaissance in 2021.
If he’s barred from your list, it’s a testament to your blinkered vision.
Plus, anyone who knows about institutionalized educational racism in Delaware knows it goes back to the so-called ‘Christian schools’ that popped up when Delaware’s schools were desegregated.
‘Christian’ meaning ‘For Whites Only’.
Sen. Sokola is far from perfect but he set the table and facilitated and continues to facilitate Marie and Sarah’s work. It’s kinda like “Coach of the year” and that’s a great thing!
He’s more than just a coach, though.
I’d forgotten that he received this honor once before. Here’s what I wrote back in 2011:
“1. Sen. Dave Sokola: It’s hard to be an effective progressive in the Delaware State Senate. Evolution and enlightenment come slowly there, if at all. While the Senate is nowhere near as neanderthal as it was when Uncle Thurman Adams, Nancy Cook and Jim Vaughn were roaming the corridors, it continues to be far more resistant to change than the House. Since his initial election in 1990, Dave has consistently remained true to his progressive beliefs. Unlike Patti Blevins, who was first elected the same year as Sokola, Dave has not sold out those principles for power, money and/or personal gain. This year, Sen. Sokola faced by far the most difficult challenge to SB 30, the Civil Unions Bill: getting it passed in the State Senate. Unlike the House, the Senate had never voted on the bill before. The bill had never made it to the floor before. Whether the bill had sufficient votes was in question up until the time of the vote. The task was made much more difficult when two supposed supporters of SB 30, Senators Dori Connor and Cathy Cloutier, chose to skip this historic vote. Still, thanks in large part to Dave Sokola’s calm and dignified stewardship, SB 30 passed with 12 yes votes. Allow me, through his own words, to demonstrate why Dave Sokola has earned this spot this year:
“The last five words of the pledge [of allegiance] are ‘liberty and justice for all,’ “(Sen.) Sokola said. “By taking this step, we give those words real meaning to more people here in Delaware.”
“It’s because they have friends, family, co-workers and neighbors who are gay,” he said. “Now, those people can come out with greater comfort. They are people who contribute to our communities, patrol our streets, defend our country overseas, teach our children and contribute in many positive ways.”
and finally:
“Sokola said he has had calls from voters who say they will never vote for him again, “but better legislators than me have lost for supporting the civil rights of others.”
While it may or may not be true that better legislators than Sokola have lost while fighting for a worthy cause, there was no finer, nor more effective, progressive leader in the State of Delaware this year. He is my MVP for 2011.”