Of many sessions, actually. For all involved, if you didn’t want your names besmirched in this piece, you never should have gotten involved, and stayed involved, in this grab of state land and money in order to line the pockets of some of the most unethical practitioners of the Delaware Way. At the beginning, we’re talking Gov. Markell, disgraced former Rep. Dick Cathcart, Delaware City Mayor John Buechheit, Sen. Nicole ‘No Longer’ Poore and our PAL Val Longhurst, with assists from then-DNREC Secetary Collin O’Mara and Tom ‘Suspendered Disbelief’ Wagner.
Only two members of leadership who were predisposed to corruption could ever have gotten away with it. They held levers of power over their members that others didn’t. Especially Longhurst, who, along with Speaker Pete, ran (and run) the House D Caucus through intimidation.
Have I yet mentioned that we’re talking the Underground City Of Fort DuPont? We are.
Which brings me to the most blatantly-corrupt bill of the session, featuring some relatively new additions to the Rogue’s Gallery. Including John Carney, DNREC Secretary Shawn Garvin, former State Rep. Bryon Short, and…no, we’ll save that one for a little later. A clue: A current state legislator who owes their current position to House leadership, and who has access to tons o’ funds.
Ladeez and gentlemen, allow me to present to you HB 355. Sponsored, as has every single piece of legislation on behalf of this boondoggle, by Nicole Poore and Val Longhurst, and only Poore and Longhurst. Gee, you’d think they’d at least try to get Mimi Minor-Brown on the bill since she will inherit this shit-show from Longhurst in November. But, no.
The bill’s stated purpose is to ‘fortify the Declaration of Purpose for the Fort DuPont Complex’. I suppose that’s true–if the purpose of the Fort DuPont Complex is to just steal as much state money as possible without accountability. Credit to Longhurst and Poore: They’re not even subtle about it.
Rip-Off # 1: ‘The Board is composed of the following directors:…The Director of the Prosperity Partnership.
Got that? They’re adding the director of the (they’re not a state agency, hence they’re immune from FOIA) of the quasi-public body that hands money to corporations with no accountability. There can only be one reason for this addition to the Board, and that’s to access more money. I suppose I should point out that this scheme was hatched in 2014. Here we are in 2022, and the need for this money pit to steal from Delawareans is stronger than ever. Even Val and Nicole introduced a bill last year basically saying that they could rip off the public for only one more year. It went nowhere.
The involvement of the ‘Prosperity Partnership’ is not coincidental. Warning: Gory Delaware Way details ahead. The Partnership was a John Carney wet dream designed to keep the prying eyes of the public away from all of these giveaways. The prime sponsor of the bill in the House was Bryon Short. You may remember him as the Father of the Business Lapdog Committee, and also the guy who made sure that minimum wage increases did not escape his committee. Oh, and as the guy who ran as the Chamber’s D candidate for US Rep. Well, guess what Short is doing now. Give up? He’s the Chair of the Fort DuPont Redevelopment And Preservation Corporation. Anyone wanna claim that it’s a mere coincidence that he’s in that position? Oh, his post-legislative job?: He’s the Executive Director of the Delaware Contractors Association. His job is to promote construction in all its forms. There’s a shitload of construction going on at Ft. DuPont. Mere coincidence? Right.
The cynicism of the Grifter Sisters (shout-out to Mediawatch) shine here in all its corrupt glory.
Apparently that new revenue stream isn’t enough for the Grifter Sisters. They have added (I’m not making this up) the Chair and Vice-Chair of the Capital Improvements Committee, aka the Bond Bill Committee). Talk about skipping the middle men. We’re talking direct access to the cash.
Who, you might ask, are these two chairs? The Senate Chair is (I’m not making this up) Grifta Sista Nicole Poore. Funny how that works.
The House Chair (Warning: Screed ahead) is Rep. Deb Heffernan. Deb Heffernan holds that position because, and only because, the Kop Kabal trusts her, and she will do anything they want. Otherwise, she would no longer be in that position, especially with the autocratic leadership style of Schwartzkopf/Longhurst. In other words, they can count on her to keep the money flowing, and to make sure that no nasty epilog language requiring an audit of this money pit be conducted. News flash: There has never been a legit audit conducted of this project since its inception. Nor will there be with the game fixed as it is now.
Now, let’s talk about Deb Heffernan. I will say it right up front: Representative, if you disagree with the following assertions, you are welcome to come on here and respond. In the interest of fairness, I will withhold critical reaction to your response. We’ve had discussions, even amongst some progressives, as to why Heffernan deserves a strong primary challenge, which she is facing. There are several reasons, but here is the one that’s germane to this piece: While Heffernan continues to shower her largesse on Val Longhurst and this corrupt project in Delaware City, she has openly threatened people right up here in Claymont and Brandywine Hundred that, if they don’t openly endorse her, she will put the kibosh on funding for vital projects. In other words, Val Longhurst at her best/worst. To me, that bespeaks someone unfit to hold public office. At first, the feedback on this was a mere trickle. Turns out she hasn’t hidden her intentions from anybody. Which brings me to a story.
We used to have a friend, kind-of an amiable ne’er-do-well, who showed up on occasion to share some pot and brewskis. He had a very kind wife, we always wondered what she saw in him. One day, he just disappears (‘Got a wife and kid in Baltimore, Jack, I went out for a drive and I never came back’). We don’t hear of him for years until I open the paper one morning, and see that he’s been arrested for an ill-considered jewelry heist in downtown Wilmington. The quote from the police officer, which became the title of a mix-tape we made, and which kicked off with the aforementioned Springsteen song, was ’50 witnesses can’t be wrong’.
No, 50 witnesses haven’t corroborated Heffernan’s threats, but we’re far past the point of having sufficient confirmation. Deb: Floor’s yours.
I don’t know what will jolt the General Assembly into action, or to have our Governor wake up from his nap and at least ask for an audit.
But I know corrupt intent when I see it, and HB 355 is the Unchallenged Champeen Of Corruption For 2022.