The ‘Plastic’ Straw That Broke The Kabal’s Back?

AKA ‘The Starboard And The Styrofoam’.

This is a story about how Delaware’s worst miscreants, both legislative and others, conspired to kill a bill that would have taken a whole bunch of plastic and styrofoam out of the waste stream.  In fact, this bill was so popular that I simply assumed that the bill had passed and been signed into law.  I was wrong.

First, a disclaimer.  Because of the vindictive nature of the people involved, I want to emphasize that Sen. Trey Paradee was not one of the sources for this article.  Yes, I thought about contacting him.  But I didn’t because he doesn’t need to have his effectiveness in Dover diminished by the assholes who killed his bill.  Besides, there were loads of people in Leg Hall on June 30 who could provide more than enough information for this story.

The bill in question is SS1/SB134 (Paradee), which ‘prohibits a food establishment from providing consumers with a single-service plastic coffee stirrer, cocktail pick, or sandwich pick or with ready-to-eat food or a beverage in polystyrene containers’ with a few enumerated exceptions. It ‘also prohibits food establishments from providing single-service plastic straws, unless requested by a consumer.’  Similar legislation has already been enacted in Maryland, Virginia, New Jersey, D. C. and New York City.  The bill passed the Senate on June 10.  Two Democrats voted against it–Darius Brown and, wait for it, Nicole Poore.  We all know that Darius will sell out on any vote for campaign contributions.  As to Nicole, more on her a little later.

House leadership set about killing the bill.  Speaker Pete, who has publicly waxed rhapsodic about his pals at the Starboard, assigned the bill to Bill Bush’s House Lapdog Committee, where it languished for 19 days. Including two committee meetings where the bill was not brought up.  Pete is also close with Carrie Leishman, head of the Delaware Restaurant Association, which was lobbying against the bill.  BTW, it bears mention that Bill Bush replaced Trey Paradee in the House when Paradee was elected to the Senate.  What a downgrade.

Anyway, the bill was finally released from committee on June 29.  Val Longhurst allegedly promised Trey Paradee that she would run the bill on June 30.  However, according to bill supporters in the House Democratic Caucus, she never brought the bill up for discussion, and, as Majority Leader, the person who runs the House Agenda, she never brought the bill up for a vote.  More on her and Nicole in just a little bit.  Acording to Caucus members, the bill had enough votes to pass.

But, first, a final word on Speaker Pete.  Pete spends a shitload of time at the Starboard. Maybe he really has been hiding out at the Starboard since KMG’s conviction.  On June 30, the final night of the General Assembly, the owner of the Starboard publicly bragged to anyone who would listen out in the lobby, that he had ‘singlehandedly’ killed SS1/SB 134.  Many people listened.

Now back to Our PAL Val and Nicole ‘No Longer’ Poore. Why would they team up to kill this bill?  Because they have a struggling business in their district that makes, wait for it, styrofoam and plastic products.  It’s called Dart Container, and it has fallen far short of providing the jobs it had promised in Delaware.  You will note that the puff piece comes courtesy of the Delaware Prosperity Partnership, you know, the people that give away your money to corporations while remaining exempt from FOIA.  Including, yes, the Dart Container Corporation.

Once again, what passes for the leadership in the Delaware House Of Representatives opted to protect the special interests as opposed to protecting marine animals, Delaware Surfriders, beachgoers and, of course, school kids scraping toxins off of their styrofoam plates.

I’ve written a lot about the cruelty of Val Longhurst and, yes, I’ve experienced it firsthand.

Accordingly, it’s only appropriate to conclude this piece with Val displaying her classiness for all to see: