Deb Heffernan’s Re-Election Strategy: Kill Climate Bill(s), Harvest Campaign Cash From Polluters
Prologue: On Monday, June 13, 2022, Delaware’s foremost corporate fixer/lobbyist Bobby Byrd joins the 6th RD Democratic Committee. His daughter, Rebecca Byrd, is already a member of the committee. Byrd, who heads up Byrd & Associates (which includes his daughter, and lobbyist Kim Gomes), has publicly pledged to raise as much money as it will take to reelect 6th RD Rep. Deb Heffernan. File this away for a few paragraphs.
Our Story: On June 2, 2022, Sen. Stephanie Hansen introduces SB 305, which ‘establishes a statutory requirement of greenhouse gas emissions reductions over the medium and long term to mitigate the adverse effects of climate change due to anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions on the State, establishing a mandatory and regularly updated plan to achieve those emissions reductions and develop resilience strategies for the State, and requires State agencies to address climate change in decision-making and rulemaking.’
It is a far-reaching and important bill. It has 25 co-sponsors. The first listed representative on the bill is Deb Heffernan. She is, after all, the chair of the House Natural Resources Committee. On June 9, 2022, SB 135 passes the Senate, 13 Y, 6 N, 1 NV (Ennis), and 1 absent.
On June 10, 2022, it is correctly assigned to the House Natural Resources Committee. A bill co-sponsored by Rep. Heffernan assigned to the committee she chairs. What could go wrong?
Here’s what went wrong: Heffernan delayed scheduling it for committee consideration until Thursday, June 25, the last committee day for the House this year. It was the only bill on the committee agenda.
And then, Heffernan canceled the committee meeting, thus killing the bill. She also failed to schedule a committee hearing for this bill as well. Are we seeing a pattern here yet?
But, you ask, what does any of this have to do with corporate fixer and 6th RD committee member Bobby Byrd? Here’s what: Byrd and his minions lobbied against the bill on behalf of Calpine Corporation, Chesapeake Utilities Corporation, Delaware Business Roundtable, Delaware State Chamber of Commerce, and the DuPont Company. You can read all about it right here.
Byrd and his mercenaries also lobbied against HB 466, This time on behalf of Allen Myers Inc., Calpine, Delaware Business Roundtable, and the DuPont Company.
This is the Delaware Way: Corporate fixer Bobby Byrd gets his money’s worth as Deb Heffernan kills two excellent environmental bills, Deb Heffernan gets her money’s worth from Byrd as he provides her gobs of campaign lucre in exchange for her selling out.
There may have been a time when Heffernan intended to represent her constituents. If so, she has forgotten them and/or just dismissed their concerns. She is now solely an instrument, and beneficiary, of the Delaware Way. Hand over millions to the ‘self-sufficient’ company running the Port of Wilmington (and remain unavailable for comment)? Check. Hand over millions to Our PAL Val’s corrupt Ft. DuPont scheme? Check. Quoting myself:
(Heffernan) has enabled the Kop Kabal with her support for them in leadership, and even helped Longhurst’s scheme to fund the Ft. DuPont boondoggle. Heffernan now holds the distinction of holding the purse-strings for the project while serving on the Ft. DuPont board that will ask her for the money. Totally unethical. She is also one of Buccini/Pollin’s beneficiaries. Leg Hall fixer Bobby Byrd has publicly promised to raise Heffernan all the money she will need.
Sell out Delawareans’ clean air, water and land in exchange for corporate cash? Check. Deny environmental protections for under-served communities? Check. Checks in the mail. All she cares about.
Her opponent, Becca Cotto, has pledged not to take one thin dime of corporate PAC money. She is the antidote to corporate malevolence that Delaware, and the residents of the 6th RD, need. Donate here, unless you’re a corporate PAC. She’ll just send your check back. Oh, and she’ll vote for bills like SB 305 and HB 466 after she’s elected, not bury them.
That’s a pretty disgusting (and very transparent) case of selling out.
I almost didn’t write the story b/c I sorta felt sorry for her.
But then, she refused to comment on her sending millions of taxpayers’ $$’s to the ‘self-sufficient’ firm running the Wilmington Port.
She used the Bond Bill to further that Delaware Way scheme along with funding Our PAL Val’s Ft. DuPont boondoggle.
That was too much. She’s a conduit for the Delaware Way. Oh, did I mention that I consider Bobby Byrd a boil on the Body Politic? He’s a ‘Democrat’ so that he can bribe Democrats to screw ordinary people on behalf of the corporations he represents.
Unlike ordinary citizens who have to take off work to go to Dover ( only to be stiffed by Val Longhurst), Byrd hangs around the Hall offering the promise of campaign checks in exchange for working against the public interest.
He and his, wait for it, ilk, sicken me.
I am not a fan of Heffer-nope either, but there is not unlimited time here. This bill is a casualty of a “part-time” legislature. We don’t want them full-time…I mean how could Our Pal Val and Sen Poore-mouth do their 40-hour a week job and pass State budgets to fund their jobs….oh wait, nevermind.
Please….we already are living in a nightmare-world scenario…Let’s be critical of true failure. This bill is delayed…not dead.
Heffer-nope took orders to focus somewhere else. The legislature was in the middle of passing 6 weapons bills that were more needed.
The bill is dead. The session is over. It’s not as if all the legislature did was pass gun bills. BTW, did you know that DNREC Secretary Sean Garvin, who lives near Deb, made sure that nobody from DNREC was made available for that hearing? Now you do.
You’ve made my case for me. IF she ‘took orders’ to drop the bill, that illustrates her fealty to the Kop Kabal.
She had loads of time to (a) schedule the bill for a committee hearing; and (b) to have it voted on. Specifically, the bill passed the Senate on Thursday, June 9. She could have scheduled it for a committee hearing on June 14 or 15, or June 21 and 22, all of which were set aside for committee meetings. She didn’t. She scheduled it for Thursday, June 23, NOT a regular committee day, and then tabled the bill.
There was a bleepload of time-wasting on June 30. In a fraction of the time that the House spent ‘honoring’ spouse-beater Andria Bennett, they could easily have run that bill and many others.
All the gun bills had already passed by then. She really has no defense. She did it, she knows what she did, and she knows WHY she did it.
You, my friend, are wise…and I appreciate your knowledge.
Did you ever ask Debra Heffernan why she cancelled the June 23 Committee hearing on SB 305 ? Or, if they would take up the Climate Bill, Green Amendment and other bills unable to be passed this year on the first day of the new legislative session in January 2023 even if Rebecca Cotto is the 6th District Representative ?
What part of “unavailable for comment” do you not understand?
Do you have any idea how the General Assembly works?
The bills were killed because powerful special interests wanted them killed, and were prepared to pay off Deb Heffernan to make sure they got killed.
Mission accomplished.
Do you honestly believe that Rep. Heffernan would double-cross her corporate benefactors IF they were able to somehow get her reelected in the opening weeks of a new General Assembly?
The bills that did not pass are now officially dead. Everything now has to start from scratch.
Let’s turn your question around: Who would be more likely to help pass these bills–the legislator who killed them on behalf of those who are funding her campaign–or the candidate who has made environmental protection a cornerstone of her campaign?
“It could have been because of Covid concerns .Debra Heffernan did contract covid around that same time in late June and that was the reason.”
Oh really? And she didn’t announce this because…?
Come clean, fella — what is she to you?
I’m sorry but this is just absurd. House committee chairs haven’t been involved whatsoever in the scheduling of committee hearings for years. The chairs tell key committee staff that they want a meeting the following week and then the staff does their best to schedule hearings based SOLEY on the following: rooms available that will accommodate the size of the committee and the anticipated public that could attend, avoiding as best as possible scheduling conflicts so committee members aren’t scheduled for overlapping meetings, and meeting length to ensure ample time for their agendas. The staff try hard, but the staff are imperfect people doing their best to ensure as smooth a process as possible. I’m sure Rep. Kowalko can confirm as a committee chairman that he doesn’t know the exact day, time or location for his meetings until the staff posts it. So honestly your assertion that there was something nefarious at play because this meeting was slotted for a Thursday – it was only because there were 9 other meetings that needed to happen that week as well. Normally I couldn’t care less about the made up nonsense on this blog but to make these absurd and 100% wrong accusations about scheduling bs was just too ridiculous not to put on blast. Why don’t you people actually ask someone who still works there how things operate instead of making it up on your own? Sheesh!
Not talking about the committee schedule or timing only the absolute certainty that Bill Bush voted against releasing SB 305 the same bill that had passed the Senate thereby ensuring it wouldn’t be placed on the House agenda for a floor vote. And don’t think for a minute that certain Chairs will not delay bill hearings if Pete so advises. Pete took SB 317, a word for word rewrite of SB 9 and assigned it to the Admin committee for a hearing after the aforementioned SB9 did not receive enough votes for release in the Manufactured Housing committee I chair. That was a deliberate manipulation to allow a flawed piece of legislation to get a vote on the floor. Considering the unanimity of Republicans support on SB317 and the fact that they never vote for bills that advantage homeowners over wealthy landowners you can safely assume that SB 317 ( contrived by Sen. Townsend) favored the wealthy landowners at the homeowners expense. Rep Kowalko
You think I didn’t? Only difference is, I talk to people who are not merely happy to kiss the butts of the leaders.
Besides, your argument doesn’t hold water. With committee meetings now starting as early as 11 am in the House, you have from, say, 11 to 4 on a given Wednesday to schedule meetings. I’m not even including Tuesdays, which generally feature 4 or 5 meetings. More than enough time for, oh, say, about 20 committee meetings total in a given week.
You telling me that poor Deb couldn’t wrangle a slot to run this very important bill over the space of two weeks? If she really wanted to push the bill, you know damn well that she would have.
Are we clear now?
Sheesh.
“Besides, your argument doesn’t hold water. With committee meetings now starting as early as 11 am in the House, you have from, say, 11 to 4 on a given Wednesday to schedule meetings.”
The House convened on Wednesdays at 2pm until approx 3pm to read in committee reports and pass resolutions. So that 11-4 window was actually 11-1pm and 3-4pm.
“According to you, she scheduled the bill for consideration on June 16, NOT a committee day. Then, according to you, ‘ran out of time’.”
House Administration, House Natural Resources and House Sunset held committee meetings on June 16th.
“Didn’t schedule a meeting for those days. Rather, scheduled it for June 23, NOT a committee day.”
House Agriculture also met June 23rd.
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That’s not the entire statement that I wrote, and you, whoever you are, know it. I wrote, and I quote:
“With committee meetings now starting as early as 11 am in the House, you have from, say, 11 to 4 on a given Wednesday to schedule meetings. I’m not even including Tuesdays, which generally feature 4 or 5 meetings. More than enough time for, oh, say, about 20 committee meetings total in a given week.
You also wrote:
“According to you, she scheduled the bill for consideration on June 16, NOT a committee day. Then, according to you, ‘ran out of time’.”
House Administration, House Natural Resources and House Sunset held committee meetings on June 16th.”
Yes, and (a) those committees actually met, you know, didn’t ‘run out of time’; and (b) Thursday is not a committee day. Never has been.
You, whoever ‘you’ are, also wrote:
“Didn’t schedule a meeting for those days. Rather, scheduled it for June 23, NOT a committee day.
House Agriculture also met June 23rd.”
Yes, and (a) Deb canceled the scheduled meeting; and (b) Thursday is not a committee day, never has been.
Which, come to think of it, doesn’t matter, as Deb didn’t hold a hearing on SB 135 on either of those days, not to mention on any Tuesday or Wednesday.
Keep digging. All you’re doing is reinforcing the point that I made: Deb Heffernan buried those bills.
The disingenuousness of this post is pathetic. Hiding behind Legislative Council (hey, they ALWAYS respond to comments on a blog at 10:50 on a Friday night) to comment after you said that your last comment was your final comment. Just so you know, I’m not gonna go silent just b/c you’re using these slimy tactics that reflect the ethical bankruptcy of your bosses.
But, hey, thanks for sharing that IP address.
June 16th meeting- sb 305 is on the NR agenda, but because the meeting needed to be over by the time session convened (because per house rules committees aren’t allowed to meet when session is convened), action was deferred for the following week:
https://www.legis.delaware.gov/MeetingNotice/32866
June 23rd meeting- scheduled then cancelled at the request of the Gov who didn’t want to move the bill this session as his admin stated it needed work: https://www.legis.delaware.gov/MeetingNotice/32886
June 29th- sb 305 is heard and was not tabled. A motion was made, then seconded to release the bill but that motion didn’t receive enough votes to get the bill to the ready list. The recording is clear, no one even made a motion to table nor is that action listed on the Actions History on the main page for that particular bill. https://www.legis.delaware.gov/MeetingNotice/32908
For those keeping score, this bill was scheduled not once, not twice, but three times for a meeting as soon as it was prefiled and assigned to committee in the House. Having timing issues for the first meeting, then a request from the Gov to not proceed- those delays clearly had no impact on the fate of the bill. Sometimes bills won’t get the votes they need to get to the ready list- which says to the most seasoned electeds and staff that the advocates in favor didn’t do what was needed to get the votes required for the bill to proceed. Those are the breaks, you come back and try again next year. For example, Hb 77 took years to get done but the sponsor just kept trying and trying and eventually they succeeded.
Perhaps instead of making up false narratives and baseless accusations, maybe those most passionate about this bill will do the work now to get it over the finish line next time.
Bill Bush voted against releasing SB305 without expressing any objections. The Republicans have continued their anti-renewable, pro fossil-fuel agenda that threatens our very existence. HB 77 which protects children and firefighters in all of its previous iterations should have passed years ago. The Chemical and Petroleum industry lobbyists and their legislative lackeys have fought tooth and nail against renewable energy and for profitable/unregulated product manufacturing. They and their supportive electeds should be ashamed of themselves. If you choose to avert your glance from them or excuse that behavior from public servants than you should be ashamed of yourself. Rep. Kowalko
I’m sure your employers will give you a nice pat on the back. You and I know who they are. I’d be embarrassed if I were you.
She had four, count ’em, FOUR,committee days, to release the bill.
Tuesday and Wednesday, June 14 and 15. According to you, she scheduled the bill for consideration on June 16, NOT a committee day. Then, according to you, ‘ran out of time’.
Tuesday and Wednesday, June 21 and 22. Committee days. Didn’t schedule a meeting for those days. Rather, scheduled it for June 23, NOT a committee day. According to you, she decided not to proceed because CARNEY DIDN’T SUPPORT THE BILL.
Uh, that’s not a defense, that’s an indictment:
CARNEY: I want you to kill that bill.
HEFFERNAN: OK.
The failure of this bill isn’t about ‘breaks’. It’s about deep-pocketed interests lobbying to kill the bill (something you didn’t address), and a legislator only too happy to do so in exchange for campaign $$’s.
BTW, as long as you came over here, perhaps YOU can tell us–where’s Pete?
This will be my last comment. But you literally have no clue how difficult it is to stream every meeting AND provide remote participation for the public in every meeting as well. That is a significant strain on staff resources every day hearings are held- especially when you consider we were all getting and giving each other covid and were out of commission for many days unexpectedly.
Not to mention the new technology we used to stream these meetings had issues that required regular troubleshooting by folks who are not trained to be streaming and AV equipment technicians. They are researchers and aides and interns whose jobs you should recall encompass a lot more than committee responsibilities.
I hope you realize you that you don’t come off as a tough guy with all the answers. You are a guy who hasn’t set foot in that place since 2008. A lot has changed since you graced those halls. I don’t expect you to know what all those charges entail but can you cut some public servants who’ve been navigating running the GA throughout this pandemic some slack? And take our word for it that we made operational decisions in a manner we felt best served the electeds, the stakeholders, and the public?
No one will be thrilled with my indulging in this exchange, as you are unlikely to ever admit you might be wrong and that you may have made assumptions based on your personal biases and not the facts at hand. But for anyone else reading this who doesn’t just assume the worst about certain electeds in the house- it’s those folks that I hope will read my comments and understand that what you are saying is simply and unequivocally not true. I’ve never felt it necessary to correct the record for you before, and I can’t imagine I’d ever bother trying again, as this is 100 times worse than trying to convince my teenager they don’t actually know every single thing in the world.
Believe me, I know that it’s a tremendous challenge, and the staff deserves all kinds of credit. I’ve never written or implied that staff is incompetent or doesn’t work hard. You’ve tried to raise that false flag.
For the record, every single other committee was able to schedule meetings on committee days (including the Appropriations Committee, which never bothered to post their meetings, but still managed to kill good bills).
To think that only Heffernan was unable to do the same defies logic–especially when she didn’t want to run the bill, which was in concert with both the Governor’s and the lobbyists’ wishes.
Not trying to come off as a tough guy, trying to provide information and context. Like everybody else, yes, I have strong opinions about what ‘in the public interest’ means.
Readers know that I don’t just ‘assume the worst’ about legislators. Their performance dictates my response. I praise legislators who, in my view, advocate on behalf of their constituents, not just their fundraisers.
In fact, if there’s been a theme to the past two years, it’s that the Senate has come a long way towards effectively promoting progressive legislation, including SB 135, while the House, particularly its leaders and Pete ‘n Val’s chosen allies, have obstructed a lot of great legislation, including SB 135.
Yes, including Deb.
‘…maybe those most passionate about this bill will do the work now to get it over the finish line.’
We’ve learned who is not passionate about the bill–Deb Heffernan.
Heffernan has always just been a puppet mouthpiece. Years and years and years ago before she was on the BSD board she would come to board meetings with a picture of her kid and lambast anyone who would listen about the horrors of the spec ed program. all with crocodile tears. however, the entire time she was doing this she would be looking to the back of the crowd to have her husband pointing out her next statement. she is and has always been a complete phony who was just looking to get her hands in the cookie jar.
Sounds to me Arthur like you have sour grapes and crocodile tears of your own to spew forth . Why not just stick to commenting intelligently on the issues at hand?
Not at all. I was just an observer at the time.
Yo, Ray. I must’ve missed it. Did we grant you mod privileges?
If not, please stop acting like we did.
Or, you know…
Hey, Ray, what’s your connection to Deb Heffernan? Because this would be a mighty strange show of loyalty to a politician from an otherwise disinterested voter.
I didn’t know this about her background but it makes sense seeing the horror show Heffernan has been making around monies she controls on the Bond Committee siphoned off to fund a BSD Special Needs School and the Capano Brandywine County Club development process that she inserted herself into along with a willing Karen Hartley-Nagle that set up a win for everyone (Capano, BSD, NCC) but the neighbors who had been working with Capano for 3-4 years to achieve a doable plan. In a very ugly manner, their interests were kicked to the curb because the powerful legislator huffed and puffed.
Heffy had attended a myriad of virtual NCC meetings with her following of crocodile-teared moms who’d been obviously coached to gum up the land use process with unrelated sob stories about their special needs kids while viciously attacking Councilwoman Dee Durham as hating children (Dee was representing said neighbors’ interests, not the school district). Long, sad story. Listen to Chair Karen Peterson begging these Heffy plants to stay on the subject of the land use proposal during the Planning Board hearing on the project. They didn’t listen. A real What the fuck.
Heffy got what she wanted in the end. It was disgusting and she deserves to lose her primary in a big way. Go Becca.
Replace “Haffernan” where it says “The State” in this article.
I had many of the same thoughts Jea Street expressed the other day back when I attended a special panel discussion meeting on BCC that KHN had without inviting the neighbors to be represented on the panel.
When it was apparent to me that the district may be better off putting the new school inside its Wilmington boundaries, a district land use person claimed they had looked high and low for a suitable location and there just wasn’t one in the city or nearby. LIAR. Bundling up very, very young Wilmington special needs children and shuttling them up Concord Pike to the suburbs every day didn’t seem like the best plan.
Good job from Larry Nagengast (who comments here under a pseudonym. )
https://www.delawarepublic.org/show/the-green/2022-07-08/development-plan-for-old-brandywine-country-club-approved-but-battle-looms-over-proposed-early-education-center
Heffernan has to go! Our lives may depend on it. Becca Cotto can be trusted to do the right thing for her constituents, not corp pacs or lobbyists!
Cotto is just another professional volunteer without work experience who seeks to benefit herself with a job she couldn’t otherwise get in the private sector- the same way Tizzy, Val, Poore, Madinah, and others have. No thanks.
She has plenty of work experience. Her own business, years in retail, and heading up the YWCA Social And Economic Justice Program. But, then, you wouldn’t know that.
Anon, we know trolls when they surface. Thanks for playing.
Fact is SB 305 would have been released from its most recent committee hearing if Bill Bush had voted for its release. It could and should have been brought to the floor if it could clear the Schwartzkopf/Carney hurdle. Delaware Way strikes again. Rep. Kowalko
Except–Bush insisted that someone from DNREC be at the hearing. Heard that Ol’ Lump did as well. Heffernan and Garvin made certain that nobody from DNREC attended.
BTW, John, do you know if anybody has heard from Speaker Pete?
Pistol Pete is scheduled to attend the 14th RD Democratic Committee meeting on Wednesday, July 13 at 6 PM. The event is at the Iron Hill Brewery in Rehoboth Beach.
I haven’t despite my efforts to provoke him out of hiding.
This is truly bizarre. Starting to wonder if Pete beats Kathy to the exits.
is this usually the time pols head to cancun when they are feeling the heat?
Y’know, we try to give the trolls fair warning.
It rarely works.
Imagine getting that worked up about Deb Heffernan of all people.
If she were to be judged by the trolls who have come on here to throw shit, which she shouldn’t be, she would be better off hanging it up now.
I found a bio on this Ray Johns guy, he says he graduated from the U of D, but he doesn’t live in the state, at least according to him.
I’ve never heard of him, and don’t know what ties he has to Heffernan.
Seafarers’ Union. Maybe he admires her throwing millions at the ‘self-sufficient’ company running the Port of Wilmington?
That’s the best I can come up with.
Ah, a union man. My least favorite Democrats, except for Bobby Byrd and his ilk.