1. Matt Meyer Publicly Supports Marijuana Legalization And Regulation. Here’s his op-ed:
Delaware decriminalized small amounts of marijuana in 2015, but Delawareans, and disproportionately Black Delawareans, continue to be arrested for marijuana possession. According to an ACLU report of arrest data from 2018, Black Delawareans were more than four times more likely to be arrested for marijuana possession than white Delawareans even though marijuana usage rates are roughly the same among these two groups.
As legalization advocates like to remind us, marijuana is the only industry that is begging to be taxed. Last year, legal marijuana sales generated more than $3.7 billion in tax revenue for 11 states. The proceeds were used to fund schools in Colorado, health insurance for low-income families in Washington, mental health and drug treatment in Oregon, reentry programs for the formerly incarcerated in Alaska, public transportation and local governments in Massachusetts, conservation efforts in Montana and many more worthy programs. Every year that we fail to legalize, regulate and tax marijuana is another year that we deprive Delawareans of additional funding for these types of valuable programs.
The Governor’s Race for 2024 has already started. At least we know that the two avowed D candidates will support legalization.
2. Did Cops ‘Discourage’ Challenge To Franklin Cooke? Word on the street is that an incredibly-qualified challenger had emerged to challenge Kop Kabal fixer Rep. Franklin Cooke in this minority-majority district. You know, the Black legislator that Speaker Pete used to kill LEOBOR. The challenger had committed to the race. Then, county cops started appearing everywhere the candidate and the candidate’s family went. The candidate opted not to run, citing privacy concerns for their family. I call on County Executive Matt Meyer to determine whether such intimidation was used by police to deep-six this candidacy. If this happened, it is unconscionable. Let me emphasize that I do not know the name of the candidate, but I consider my source completely reputable.
3. Personal To Colleen Davis: It’s not a good idea to meddle in local legislative primaries. Especially when the Treasurer’s Office would in no way be disadvantaged by the result of said primary. Especially when one reason for said involvement is due to the former employment of one of your top aides. Don’t make enemies unnecessarily. We square?
4. Rethugs Find Some House Candidates. None of whom have a chance to win. But still, here ya go:
*Mark Gardner in RD 1, challenging Nnamdi Chukwuocha. I clicked on his website. You can, too. Go daddy, go.
*Michael Krawczuk in RD 6, challenging the winner of a D primary between State Rep. Debra Heffernan and Becca Cotto. Looks like he has been ‘groomed’ by Chris Kenny. At least he doesn’t have a non-existent website to click on.
*Carl Phelps in RD 14, challenging Speaker Pete. To his credit, he’s the only one of these three with any sort of public profile whatsoever. A good one. Retired from working at the VA in order to run for office. I know it’s not likely, but, as Gene Mauch once said, “Sometimes you add by subtracting.” What do our downstate scouts think? At the least, he’ll keep the leader of the Kop Kabal at home. Good.
5. Downstate Rethug Reps File. No, I can’t verify the rumor that they jointly took a clown car over to Sussex Dep’t. of Elections. Those who filed this week: Jesse Vanderwende (RD 35); Ronald Gray (RD 38); Danny Short (RD 39); The Extreme Right Reverend Tim Dukes (RD 40).
6. Let’s Go, Brandon. One Brandon Toole has filed to run as a D in NCC District 1, currently represented by legacy political hack Ken Woods. You might think this would be cause for rejoicing. You might be wrong. Toole’s webpage is particularly sketchy and devoid of information. I half-expected the following: ‘Designed By Bot’. Prove me wrong. Although–we should always have at least one candidate every cycle who sports a Mohawk.
That’s all I’ve got this week. What’d I miss, and whaddayathink?