The Headlines:
Speaker Pete Picks The Absolute WORST Time To Go Through Man-opause.
House Rethugs Revolt So That LLC’s And Corporations Can Vote In Seaford. They’re ‘not serious people’.
This HAS To Be Schwartzkopf’s Last Day As Speaker, Either By (His) Choice, Or Otherwise.
Here’s what happened: Speaker Pete had promised the Rethugs that he could get the House Democratic Caucus on board to back the Seaford Charter Change. He couldn’t, and didn’t. Even the billy club that he had used for twelve years to bludgeon the D Caucus into submission went soft at quite the inopportune time. Make no mistake, he made that promise. From Joe Edelin’s article in the Delaware State News:
Lawmakers had come to an agreement on passing House Substitute 1 for HB 121 last Thursday, but since then, Seaford’s charter change lost yes votes from Democrats who originally committed their support, according to Rep. Ramone.
No, it wasn’t ‘lawmakers’, it was Pete ‘n Val. From Meredith Newman’s News-Journal story:
He (Mike Ramone) praised the efforts of the speaker and Majority Leader Valerie Longhurst in trying to negotiate a deal.
“If you go to the birthday party, you’re watching those kids take all the cupcakes and all the candy and all this stuff and eat it, and you’re watching the other five kids be deprived of everything. Then, they finally are getting Skittles. And then suddenly the other kid runs and grabs the Skittles and says ‘I don’t want you to have that either.’
Read that last paragraph again. S-l-o-w-l-y. Perhaps if we make Skittles the State Candy and make it available at all Maypole Dances (yes, a Ramone bill) around the state, will the Rethugs come back?
The truth is that the bill never had the votes. Pete lied to Ramone, figuring he could ‘whip’ enough members into shape as he’s done before, then couldn’t deliver due to the onset of man-opause. He did, however, out some of his ‘useful idiots’ who vote for anything he wants, as if they needed any more outing. Their names?: Bolden, Carson, Cooke, and Matthews. I cannot recall any of them ever crossing Pete on anything.
Now, what can you say about a Caucus that walks out because LLC’s and corporations won’t be able to vote? In Seaford. While, like his Democratic counterpart, Mike Ramone appears to have gone off the deep end (pool analogy deliberate), that doesn’t mean that his underlings had to walk the diving board (which hasn’t been recently inspected) with him. But they did.
Make no mistake, Ramone has gone bonkers. Reread the Skittles paragraph above. (If only someone had intervened at that birthday party when Mikey was seven, things might have worked out differently. But, I digress.) Read yet more of his lunacy. From the Meredith Newman story:
Ramone attributed the standstill to the progressive wing of the Democratic caucus. He felt Seaford is being “singled out, apparently as a means of punishing the city for opposing the establishment of a Planned Parenthood clinic there”.
My favorite, other than, of course, Skittles?
(T)here’s no motivation for us to have to pass a bond bill.”
“As a matter of fact,” Ramone said, “I kind of hope we don’t pass a bond bill so we can get that $1.4 billion back in tax reductions to all the people.”
Ramone can’t be that dense, can he? Let his district roads, schools, parks, etc., deteriorate b/c LLC’s and corporations can’t vote in Seaford. Oh, and he’s also threatening to try to screw up an EV bill as well? Like Logan Roy said about his offspring, “You are not serious people.”
One of those ‘not serious people’ is Michael Smith, who has a district only b/c Speaker Pete did a favor to him and Ramone during redistricting. Gee, if only someone was running…
LADEEZ AND GENTLEMEN, we interrupt this diatribe to bring you BREAKING NEWS! Michael Smith DOES have an opponent, she’s awesome, and you can contribute to her campaign right here:
https://secure.actblue.com/donate/friends-of-monica-beard-1
I know her, she’d be a true change agent in Dover, and I can goddamnguarantee you that she won’t support the Kop Kabal leadership team. Contribute, I’ll be right there with you.
Now where were we? Ah, yes, let’s look at that Seaford Charter Change. Quoting again from the Meredith Newman article:
Under this bill, more than 200 entities would be allowed vote and possibly determine the outcome of Seaford elections. In a municipal election this spring, just 340 ballots were cast.
The Delaware Voting Rights Coalition, consisting of 40 voting rights organizations and advocacy groups, urged lawmakers in a June 20 letter to vote no on the bill. It includes the ACLU of Delaware, YWCA Delaware and Delaware Center for Justice.
The coalition wrote the bill “directly contradicts the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment” because it extends voting rights to property owners, but not to those who rent property.
This is the hill the House Rethugs plan to die on. Likely also the hill where Speaker Pete’s speakership will be buried.
I say, let someone, ideally a State Rep, but possibly Senator, read from the Bond Bill every single item that would benefit the people living in these Rethugs’ district. I don’t care if it takes a couple of hours. The point will have been made.
The House Of Representatives: One Caucus in open revolt with the cruel leadership who have ruled over it for 12 years. The other Caucus spoiled children missing their Skittles. And their marbles.
For completists:
Yesterday’s Session Activity Report.
Today’s Senate Agenda. Oh, no, Rep. Bolden’s bill moving the primary date to April is on the Agenda.
Today’s House Agenda. As if…well, looky here. The Grants-In-Aid bill has surfaced. If Rethugs don’t show, they won’t vote for funding for their fire companies, senior centers and other pet projects. Speaker Pete (or whoever is Speaker when they go into session) should cut them no slack. Make them hang around before they can vote for it and try to escape the beach traffic. Better yet, split the Grants-In-Aid so that all the D projects are in one bill and all the R projects are in the other. Then withhold votes for the Rethug projects until they slink back to pass the Bond Bill. Two can play this game, but only if Pete stops running interference for the Rethugs. As a wise commenter wrote yesterday:
The other thing is that Pete is basically a Republican, so the GOP supports him as Speaker.
What’s that? Rumors are circulating? What??!! Gotta go try to track ’em down while I also track down how much money has been shoveled to Jobs For Delaware Graduates and the Police Athletic League…