FightDE Corruption, More Than 85 Delawareans, Call For Ethics Investigation Into Sen. Nicole Poore
The following petition was sent to all members of the Delaware State Senate this morning:
“We are petitioning to respectfully and urgently request that the Senate Rules & Ethics Committee review the appropriateness of Senator Nicole Poore’s sponsorship of HB 355.
We also respectfully request that this bill be reassigned from the Senate Elections & Government Affairs Committee to the Senate Executive Committee, whose membership is the same as that of the Senate Rules & Ethics Committee, to determine whether Senator Poore’s sponsorship of this bill has violated Senate Rules.
We further request that consideration of HB 355 on the Senate floor be delayed unless/until the Rules & Ethics Committee determines whether Senator Poore violated Senate Rules in her sponsorship of this legislation.”
The reason for the request is due to Sen. Poore’s sponsorship because the bill places her as being on the Ft. DuPont board at the same time as she is co-Chair of the Legislative Bond Bill Committee:
“The Board they (Poore and Rep. Heffernan, if HB 355 passes) serve on asks for the money, and the legislative committee they serve on gives them the money”, Jack Guerin of FightDECorruption said. “If that’s not a classic conflict-of-interest, I don’t know what is.”
As many of you know, the Ft. DuPont project has been the subject of controversy since its inception, with Rep. Longhurst and Sen. Poore being the sole legislative sponsors of every bill concerning it.
We’ve covered it since Day One:
https://delawareliberal.net/2022/01/31/yet-more-scandal-hits-the-delaware-city-boondoggle/
Truth in advertising: I assisted in the development of the petition and the correspondence to the senators.
Although not part of the petition, I intend to ask the Senate Rules & Ethics Committee to also consider whether Poore has used her position with Jobs For Delaware Graduates to place students in jobs at the project. I will also call for the General Assembly to arrange for an independent audit of all public funds that have been dedicated to the project. While I don’t know the total amount, we know that over $15 million has been allocated since 2015 alone.
The Senate, unlike the House, has adopted stringent ethics requirements. You can find them here under Section 17 which, by the way, did not exist when Dave McBride and Nicole Poore were in the top two leadership positions.
Maybe, just maybe, the disinfectant of sunlight may finally shine on one of the most ethically-dubious projects in recent Delaware history.
Deb Heffernan, while not a sponsor on the bill, voted for HB 355.
Meaning, she voted on a bill that would place her on the Ft. DuPont Board while serving as chair/co-chair of the legislative committee that would dole out the money to the board she serves on.
It’s a blatant conflict-of-interest. However, she is the chair of the Bond Committee precisely b/c Val Longhurst, who, not coincidentally, chairs the so-called House Ethics Committee, wants that money spigot to keep flowing. It’s the only reason she chairs that committee, and the only reason why Val wants her on the Ft. DuPont Board.
Another note about HB 355–not only does it wire in the chair/co-chair of the Bond Bill Committee to the Board, it also adds the head of Prosperity Delaware, the FOIA-exempt agency that sends tax $$’s to businesses, to the Board.
During the floor discussion on the bill, Rep. Longhurst misrepresented this as a ‘clean-up’ bill.
Although, to be fair, the Fort DuPont Board will ‘clean up’ if the bill passes. Which is all the more reason for the Senate to investigate Nicole Poore’s role in all of this.
Are you trying to kill this development? I am honestly mind blown that this great new thing for the state is taking so much flack.
This is legitimately funny.
Respectfully, @DefendtheFort, how is this a great new thing for the state? It’s basically a trailer park being installed in a ecologically sensitive area. The infrastructure is not equipped for a 460 unit trailer park, nor the roads, nor the volunteer emergency services. It will serve to line the pockets of a very few, and cause the citizens of Delaware City, who do not like being hoodwinked, the great loss of what it’s been like living in one of the last true small towns in Delaware. No thanks. But let’s not just look into Senator Poore, lets look into everyone sitting around that table at The Dick that saw to fill their wallets, not just legislators, but the citizens who betrayed the town.
@DefendTheFort: You can not be serious, while hiding behind a name such as “DefendTheFort”. When that is exactly what these posts are trying to do… As more information keeps dripping out, there is no one trying to prove otherwise. My mind is also blown that some are willing to look in the other direction at any cost.
Don’t blame the author for killing anything. That’s on the hands of those who muffed this project from the start.
“The Senate, unlike the House, has adopted stringent ethics requirements. You can find them here under Section 17…”
This is not accurate. The House has had almost identical language to this Senate Rule in their rules going back more than 20 years. It’s Rule 16 for anyone who wants to read them side-by-side.
140th (1999): https://legis.delaware.gov/BillDetail?legislationId=9738
144th (2007): https://legis.delaware.gov/BillDetail?legislationId=17778
151st (2021): https://legis.delaware.gov/BillDetail?legislationId=48272
Good point. They just haven’t used those rules. At least, not since John Atkins. And Pete did everything he could to keep Atkins in the House
When the least ethical member of the House chairs the Ethics Committee, and when said member uses intimidation to silence dissent, there is no such thing as an ethics watchdog in the House.
Great work on this. I will amplfy the DL post on my blog today and try to get more signatories.
Thanks, Nancy. Jack Guerin deserves so much of the credit for the research and advocacy he’s done.