Looks like Jeffrey Bullock and the self-anointed ‘grown-ups’ are gonna stick us with a, wait for it, $100 million price tag. Oh, and try to hide it from us. From the News-Journal:
Delaware will get less money from the Port of Wilmington following its failed deal that privatized the port and taxpayers could be on the hook for $100 million or more, according to documents obtained by Delaware Online/The News Journal.
The next operator of the port would pay a third of what its predecessor paid to operate the port and contribute a smaller portion of the estimated cost of a planned port expansion under proposed terms obtained by Delaware Online/The News Journal. Secretary of State Jeffrey Bullock said he expects taxpayers to contribute at least $100 million toward the expansion, according to minutes of a closed-doors session.
Bullock, who serves as the chair of the port corporation board, said all of these negotiations are unfolding on parallel tracks. He plans to convene the board in early July to consider a final agreement with Enstructure, which he expects to be similar to what’s outlined in the proposed terms. Bullock hopes Enstructure will take over as the new operator by the middle of next month.
“It’s very important that we move quickly,” Bullock said.
Ah, yes, before the public sees what’s going on. To wit:
The Diamond State Port Corporation is a corporate entity of the state that oversees a now privately-operated business. There’s been little public deliberation of the merits of the proposals received by the board — from companies who prefer their negotiations be cloaked — and the role taxpayers will play in funding the port’s expansion.
Time to call a halt to this bullshit:
The terms are now subject to negotiations between Enstructure and the port corporation. Any agreement will need to be approved by the port corporation’s board of directors and leaders of the General Assembly.
Those so-called leaders must insist on transparency, including public hearings, before they agree to anything. As to Jeff Bullock, who started out as Tom Carper’s driver when Carper was running for Congress, nobody, not even Claire DeMatteis, has fallen upward despite a long record of incompetence quite like him. Shouldn’t competence be at least a minimum standard for wielding this type of power? I mean, $100 mill coming from the taxpayers? Enough already.