BREAKING: Gerald Brady Resigns
Effective February 4. Special election to fill out the rest of his term to take place in late Feb./early March.
I’m sorry, but anyone who knew Gerald knew that he was messed up. His brains were scrambled. I was his legislative assistant in 2007-2008, and it was obvious to all. I salute his military service and the obvious physical sacrifices he made, but this still stinks to me.
Pete & Val made sure that he would not leave the General Assembly until after the maps had been drawn which got rid of his district.
How could this PTSD have gone undiagnosed for so long? Only way that I can envision it is if he never sought a diagnosis.
Anyway, this could create an interesting situation. A significant portion of what is currently RD 4 will be absorbed into RD 12, currently represented by Krista Griffith, who has never had any portion of Wilmington in her district before. Will the committee support a ‘caretaker’ nominee, who pledges not to seek reelection, or will they nominate someone who would be a strong primary challenger to Griffith? There will be no primary for this special election, the party committees will choose the candidates. (Please–Anybody but Sean Barney!)
Names, pipples, I want names!
Oh he had a reason, and maybe the PTSD is a way to excuse that reason.
https://bluedelaware.com/2022/01/21/gerald-brady-resigns-but-maybe-not-for-the-reason-he-says/
Just–wow. He really hasn’t been right in the head for a long time.
Obviously I’m no doctor, but this sounds like the sort of incident that might indicate some form of early-onset dementia rather than PTSD.
Mental illness/sociopathy is generally.regarded as a prerequisite for military service in the post-Vietnam order. He may be messed up by the American taxpayer should not be responsible for his care
“Mental illness/sociopathy is generally.regarded as a prerequisite for military service in the post-Vietnam order. ”
Arlo “got it”
A prerequisite? Actually, no. Lots of people aren’t sociopaths on arrival, so they have a training program that will turn you into one. And they don’t deprogram you when you’re discharged.
Which is why the government SHOULD pay to treat them.
Nah.
Its all volunteer. It’s not a mystery as to what they do and it has been that way for a long time. You join because you want to live out a GI Joe fantasy, or you are trying to score some valor to jumpstart a post military career. I don’t feel sorry for all the physical and psychological basket cases. They fucked around and found out.
I think you underestimate the role of economic factors. A lot of people who can’t afford college and don’t want to spend a lifetime in debt join for the educational benefits, others to gain skills — where’s the valor in aircraft repair? — that will serve them in the civilian world.
The problem isn’t who they are when they join. It’s who they are once they’ve come out of training. And deprogramming them would be good not just for them but for the rest of us, so I’m happy to foot the bill — much happier than I am to foot the bill for turning them into sociopaths in the first place.
Big thanks to John Kowalko for being a true progressive and putting pressure on Brady to step aside
I know it will seem like sacrilege to his defenders here, but he’s ineffective and curmudgeonly. A young progressive challenger might be welcome.
Same votes, different tone? not much to build a primary campaign on.
Not just votes, being able to successfully introduce and pass legislation. His record, since 2006, is pretty much non-existent when it comes to passing meaningful legislation.
I know, an inconvenient truth.
And well-liked by his constituents because of his constituent service. A truth you find inconvenient because of your personal dislike of the guy.
It’s not like progressives should actively recruit someone to run against him. But, if someone decides to run, we’ll see how good his constituent service has been.
He has consistently introduced legislation to increase the tax rates on higher earners. It is repeatedly rejected. Are you of the opinion that this legislation would be passed if only someone else were the sponsor? Because if so, I disagree.
Yes, I absolutely do. His inability to effectively build coalitions, even among the growing number of progressives in Dover is, in my opinion, a reflection of his go-it-alone-persona.
Having said that, he deserves great credit for introducing the bill and, indeed, the concept behind it. I don’t question whether his heart is in the right place. My frustration has always been that his combative stance has worked against his ability to pass progressive legislation.
Thankfully, less-combative, but equally-progressive legislators, have effectively moved the kind of legislation that John was never able to move.
Not the tax increase they haven’t, and for good reason — it doesn’t have the votes because the people who run the GA have made it clear that those voting for it will be punished.
I think you underestimate the role Schwartzkopf plays in ensuring his legislative efforts come to naught. Ask around. He challenges Pete in caucus when nobody else does. Worth nothing to you, maybe, but again I respectfully disagree.
I also respectfully disagree with your notion that his “combativeness” is a detriment. Elsewhere you’re making the point that Gerald Brady has been fucked in the head for what, his past seven re-elections? And nobody spoke up?
Yeah, the GA is full of people who shut up and go along. And you may prefer the Townsends and Baumbachs who choose their openings carefully. I don’t.
Voice in the wilderness is a thankless job.
Yes, you even get shit on by people who should be your allies who don’t like your style.
Ineffective legislators? I thought you liked Madinah?
Math? If you’re not just gonna troll us, say something intelligent.
Otherwise, it will soon be sayonara.
We needed a voice in the wilderness back in his early terms, and he was pretty much the only one. I salute him for that.
Problem is, it’s his ‘style’ or personality that has rendered him ineffective for at least his past ten years down there.
At this point, I’m not gonna convince you, and you’re not gonna convince me.
True dat. I just wish you didn’t feel the need to shit on him every time somebody brings up his name in a positive context. At this point the regulars are well aware of your position.
Someone brought up his name in a negative context in this case. Near the beginning of the thread. The fact that he didn’t seek an ethics complaint against Brady.
BTW, on Brady–and this is true as there were multiple witnesses, including police and firefighters–a few years ago, he had to be coaxed down from the roof of his house as he was threatening to jump. What’s that Warren Zevon line?: ‘He ain’t been right since VietNAM.
https://www.wdel.com/news/asian-american-group-claims-brady-is-using-ptsd-as-a-convenient-excuse-for-quitting/article_588a02b6-7bbe-11ec-ac03-d31914352342.html
“Asian American group claims Brady is using PTSD as a convenient excuse for quitting”
The statement on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AsianDelaware/status/1484705307888603136
What they don’t know is that he has displayed all the signs of PTSD for well over a decade. But he’s been enabled by legislative leadership who saw him as a useful idiot.