Some Post-Election Ruminations–And Rumors
I should have spent time in Frank Burns’ district. I’m pissed off at myself. I should have made time.
Word on the street is that Our PAL Val and her supporter Kim Williams will likely be the new Speaker and Majority Leader. Not thrilled that pro-gun Williams might be second-in-command, but she’s good on a lot of other issues. Name I’ve heard most often for Majority Whip is Melissa Minor-Brown. But who knows whether Stephanie Buccini Bolden will take umbrage at that. You know, because she has lots of seniority. Doing nothing.
Pete’s absolutely done as Speaker. Will he even bother to serve out his term?
Stell Parker Shelby is absolutely the out-of-the-Blue surprise of the night. Will she be a force in holding police more accountable, or will she follow the lead of Franklin Cooke? I ask because the Kop Kabal forces are close to being decimated. Smyk’s gone. Ennis is gone. Larry Mitchell is gone. Pete’s a back-bencher. The key is whether the new Speaker provides a more democratic framework for bills to be considered and released from committee rather than stacking committees to bury progressive legislation. To me, that should be the deal that progressives demand in exchange for support. I also think the Business Lapdog Committee should be abolished. It was the ‘brainchild’ of Bryon Short, who now sits proudly on the NCC Chamber Board of Directors. It has become a repository for corporate special interest legislation and a graveyard for progressive initiatives.
But the biggest rumor and, when you think about it there is lots of logic to it, is that LBR might run for Governor. For all her wishy-washy bipartisanship, she’d be a huge upgrade over Carney. Why? Because she wouldn’t impede progressive legislation like Carney has. She expended a lot of political capital, including shoe leather, on behalf of Democrats this cycle. Including progressive Democrats. It’s the kind of thing one does when they’re running for Governor. The idea of being Delaware’s first Black governor has to appeal to her. If she’s not willing to challenge RoboCarper because,as Tom says, she was ‘one of my children’, then, I say go for it. She appeals to me more than either BHL or Matt Meyer, and would likely clear the field.
Oh, and then we’d have a wide-open race for Congress. Sarah McBride, are you paying attention? Why, of course you are. My (admittedly truncated) checkbook is at the ready.
ugh, LBR as governor. she has done NOTHING with her time in congress. N O T H I N G. if she had an annual review and had to show her annual accomplishments she would be fired for someone who was paid half as much and might do 2x as much. Can’t anyone with any drive and passion and policy push run?
That person doesn’t need to be the governor. If she’s a rubber stamp for a progressive state legislator, I’ll be happy.
Keep in mind, “nothing” is still better than Carney.
She will reliably support legislation that Carney has buried.
That is MORE than enough for me. Carney has sort-of Stockholm Syndromed us into thinking that it is normal for the Governor to be a stand-in for the Chamber of Commerce. Markell was similar.
LBR won’t be. And she has developed strong relationships with some of my favorite progressive legislators.
I understand your objections. Here’s where I differ–the General Assembly has traditionally paid undue fealty to the Governor’s wishes. With a more assertive General Assembly, which I think we now have, I look more for the governor to be a partner rather than a one-man stop sign.
I could be wrong, though.
Low in seniority, likely in the minority party, what’s a House member to do except dream of becoming governor?
That’s what happened with Pete du Pont, and Carney would likely tell you the same thing.
Not making excuses for LBR (well, maybe I am), but given her lack of seniority and the generally do-nothing mode of Congress, the absence of significant achievements is understandable.
She’s more of a people person than Carney the Comatose, and she exhibits far more passion (even for dubious bipartisanship) than Carney has for anything other than budget smoothing.
I’m not sold on her yet, but definitely an upgrade over “It’s My Turn” BHL.
Need to hear both LBR and Meyer explain their plans for improving the state. Could be a meaningful primary debate.
Considering she is the queen of bipartisanship (coons the king) I’m not sold that she will promote a progressive agenda without of course bringing our friends the chamber and police to the table.
She doesn’t need to promote a progressive agenda; she just needs to block it less than Carney to be an upgrade.
I’trying to imagine a three way race between BHL, Matt Meyer and LBR. Since that race will be won or lost in NCCO, I still think Meyer has the best shot. He’s still got one foot in the door of the chamber of commerce but has some socially progressive cred. LBR hasn’t done anything remarkable on the home front and BHL isn’t widely recognized.
The money her campaign spent on running commercials on Newsmax was well spent.
LBR makes sense, let’s say she is a go. That clears the field.
Not a fan of LBR, but she gets my vote, even though she’ll be another rubber stamp for big corporations and the chamber of commerce. Plus Not a mention of Kyra Hofner, her opponent, Mark Pugh, is a full race Maga type. Honestly you should have seen the mailer I got, full on Trump MAGA. If she prevails we have dodged a bullet in the person of Pugh. Even if it’s not in Wilmington.
You think Our Pal Val is going to “… provide a more democratic framework for bills to be considered and released from committee rather than stacking committees to bury progressive legislation.”
She was burying the progressive legislation in the last session to position herself to Speaker. El Som…. you know that… you know the double-talk speak…she professes…to get both sides of an issues to think they won.
I would fairly say… we don’t know what direction she will go….
hard for me to see Val as speaker, numbers just don’t line up for her beating Pete and a progressive challenger
The only, I mean ONLY, way Pete could end up Speaker is if he took his small coterie of mindless minions (Lumpy, Bush, Cooke and at least a few more) and somehow forced the vote onto the entire floor.
Other than that small group, he has no support in his own caucus.
My point on Val, who I despise, is, that in order to form enough of a majority to emerge as Speaker, she will HAVE to make concessions to the more progressive members of a growing progressive presence in that Caucus.
Not that I think her ascendancy is a done deal. I hear that the there’s loads of machinations and back-channel stuff going on.
Lots of time between now and Saturday, when they’re scheduled to meet in Dover.
If we did all of this work and Val is speaker then it was sort of useless.
Hello? WFP? Where are you? Get her out and get your people to say they want her out. They have usually have zero trouble talking about their feelings on things. Eric and Madinah and the new crop need to be bold leaders if they actually want to be leaders. And I think they can be. You will be backed up.
Val is useless and regressive but she scares people because she’s a sociopath. She can only hurt you if she’s in power so take her out.
Val is a politician. What if her potential ascent to Speaker depended upon, say, a new influx of progressive women Reps? And hypothetically Val knew her ability to lead the House and leapfrog Pete in leadership was orchestrated by a coalition that she’ll need to maintain that power? She could be expected to have a different agenda than she’s had, for example.
Theoretical thought experiment of course.
I think one of the perhaps most overlooked developments in the past three cycles is the influx of an incredibly strong group of female legislators.
I’ve long believed that there would be real benefits from such an influx, and I’m happy that we’ll now get to see whether that theory bears out. I think it will.
I doubt gender is a major factor. Just right thinking.
I’d say “I think one of the perhaps most overlooked developments in the past three cycles is the influx of an incredibly strong group of legislators.” and leave it at that.
I disagree. I’ve seen a collaborative approach among female legislators, and women in general, that is more prevalent than it is among men. For some reason (I’m really generalizing here), it just seems to come easier to them. Which I consider a great plus for the General Assembly.
Not to mention, more females means fewer testosterone-fueled battles as to who–well, YOU know.
I agree, Jason. The sex / gender of the elected is unimportant. And El Som, you’re underestimating women by blaming testosterone.
Since I don’t have a degree in gender studies, I’m not gonna argue the point on scholarly grounds. (Or anything else on scholarly grounds, for that matter.) However, I’m telling you, I believe that the increased collaborative trend I’ve seen is real, and I think that the influx of female legislators are a key reason why.
I don’t get your point about underestimating women when my point is that I think their heightened presence in Dover has been a boon to the legislative process.
The data is mixed, but there is some support for the idea that women are more likely to vote for a female candidate. There is more evidence that male independents are LESS likely to vote for a female candidate.
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/politics-and-gender/article/abs/do-women-vote-for-women-candidates-attitudes-toward-descriptive-representation-and-voting-behavior-in-the-2010-british-election/5B0C4D7E3CCFDD507AF849E5AE7AC39B
@BH: Testosterone is produced by both testes and ovaries. The levels vary by individual, so “testosterone poisoning” can affect any gender, or at least anyone with reproductive organs.
In my 20 plus years as a Sussex resident I did not know Stell well but when she came to my attention it was always around justice issues either on the Cape school Board or other issues. She has lived a long life in a challenging part of the state for a black woman. I look forward to seeing her set her course and I think it will be positive.
Not so sure on the positive part, the party is happy to say they picked up a republican seat, and that’s it. She herself is a former republican and backed KMG in the auditor’s primary. I’m not impressed
She is a 70-year-old black woman who got in politics when Blacks especially women were not welcome in the Sussex Democratic party. You know racism down there and all. The KMG thing was a mistake, but KMG was generally thought of as a martyr in Sussex, your lack of impressiveness is more of a C than an A:)
She literally ran for office as a member of the GOP in the 2000’s… and backed a corrupt candidate in 2022. Like I said, it’s a D pickup and that’s the extent of the positive things.
The worst part of this post is the idea that Kim Williams could be in leadership. She has shown no leadership skills that I have been able to observe. She has backed losers almost every step of the way.
I would be offended that she would be chosen over someone like Mimi, Kendra, Sherry or even Krista. Someone as bad at politics as Kim shouldn’t be in charge of a smart and diverse caucus.
Agree. For someone who introduced Bernie to delaware in 2016, she seems to be backing lots of non progressive candidates in the last cycle. she’s the best on education, but what are her core values?
She seems another in the Deb Heffernan mold — a valuable activist on one narrow issue but corruptible once in power. All too common.
Perhaps the best thing to come out of the election. this tweet from lenny dykstra:
Lenny Dykstra
@LennyDykstra
I am sorry about your loss in the election, @laurenboebert. Who knows what funny business was going on!?Anyhow, I know this must be a difficult time, and just keep in mind that you have someone right here to talk to (or whatever other kind of needs you may have right now). DM me?
How can you be sure it’s not a parody account?
Because if you’ve ever heard him on the stern show you know this is him
Wait – LENNY DYKSTRA??? NAILS???? I was a fan of his baseball career in the 80s! Haven’t thought about him lately. I knew he got into trouble with the law after but I didn’t really pay attention. I stopped listening to Stern long ago so I didn’t know he was affiliated with the Wack Pack. I assumed he was some kind of RWNJ, but now he’s trolling Boebert?
I haven’t but I know enough about him. I also know that phony accounts have exploded on Twitter today after Musk let people buy account verification. Dollars to donuts this is another.
And it’s tempest in a tea pot time.
Hard pass on LBR as governor. She’s the worst of old school carper Delaware way bullshit world.
Also can we stop saying she be good simply because “she be the first black women” to occupy a position. Black women have run under the gop banner in recent years and we didn’t run to support them due to white guilt. Seriously let’s judge people on qualifications and agenda please
11/10/22
Dear Diary,
It seems the primary race for Del Gov has begun.