General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show: Friday, June 30, 2023
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…
Ramone…Holy shit. I mean… jaysusfuckingchrist.
Made my first contribution to Dr. Monica Beard, Michael Smith’s opponent.
Join me, won’t you?
Make no mistake, this is a hostile takeover for majority control of Seaford. The numbers are stark:
Nicole ‘No Longer’ Poore’s phony baloney Jobs For Delaware Graduates is due to get, wait for it, $1,395,197 in the Grants-In-Aid bill. Complete waste of money.
Our PAL Val’s Police Athletic Leagues get the following:
PAL OF Delaware: $200,000
PAL Of Dover: $26,000
PAL Of Wilmington:$150,000
Keep going in this direction and PAL will pretty soon have as many branches as Del-Tech.
BTW, the Grants-In-Aid is a 3/4 bill, which I must have forgotten. When you read through it, you realize there likely isn’t a person in Delaware who is not in some way impacted by it.
Whoever emerges when the white smoke clears over Leg Hall (what, it hasn’t cleared in 2 1/2 weeks?) should extend NO COURTESY to the Rethug juveniles who are throwing tantrums. Either vote for the Bond Bill or explain to your fire companies, senior centers, etc, why they’re not getting their money.
Seaford’s form of government might shed some light on “Why does Seaford/Pete want this so bad?”
As I read this, council members are appointed (by the mayor?) and then confirmed by the voters, so every election has an incumbent. It’s not clear but maybe the mayor is also appointed by the council?
I’d guess the corporations want to replace any council members who might block whatever loathsome corporate excess they are planning. The Council meeting minutes might reveal something.
It may be as simple as the realization that if they don’t develop and expand, they have to raise taxes. Maybe involving a threat from a specific corporation to leave.
None of what you suggest is accurate. Seaford has normal elections like everyone else.
Is the Seaford website wrong?
It’s poorly written and you’re interpreting it ass-backwards.
I’m sure its purposefully this confusing — many here are. In Middletown, if no one signs up to run against the incumbent Mayor, there simply is not an election for Mayor (so no one knows they can sign up, or when). It’s really time for some consistency with basic rules about voting. But I guess I see why the Legislators don’t want to open that can of worms….
Very excited to read this site try to spin a Val/Mimi/Kerri leadership slate as a win for progressives, and not as what it really is, a total capitulation to Val and an outing of faux-progressives
Very excited to be pre-trolled. It takes me back.
Do you still feel pre-trolled?
Who has spun this as a win for progressives?
Nobody here.
Invite me on Mic’d Up
Who spun that? Nobody here.
I really hope Mike smith is on here reading this stupid blog because someone mentioned his opponent. Touchy touchy. Mike, you are an absolute pussy. And I say that with zero respect.
Given the content, I highly doubt it’s him.
You didn’t REALLY think the House was gonna go in at 2 pm, did you?
The session that was scheduled to run from 12-8 pm is now scheduled to run from 12-11 pm.
No, of course they haven’t gone in yet.
Senate has, though.
House coming in.
Rethugs present. For now.
And just like that, House D’s totally capitulate. The Seaford Charter Change passes with 35 yes votes.
Utterly pathetic.
I’m done. Only good news? So is Pete. He just said so.
No votes? I need to know who I’m supporting in 2024
Ridiculous.
The link to today’s Seaford roll call vote seems misconfigured as of this moment and is showing in XML format. Here is an untangled view:
Baumbach N
Bolden Y
Briggs King Y
Bush Y
Carson Y
Chukwuocha N
Collins Y
Cooke Y
D. Short Y
Dorsey Walker N
Dukes Y
Gray Y
Griffith Y
Harris Y
Heffernan Y
Hensley Y
Hilovsky Y
K. Johnson Y
K. Williams Y
Lambert N
Longhurst Y
Lynn Y
Matthews Y
Michael Smith Y
Minor-Brown Y
Morris Y
Morrison Y
Neal Y
Osienski Y
Parker Selby Y
Phillips N
Postles Y
Ramone Y
Romer Y
S. Moore N
Schwartzkopf Y
Shupe Y
Spiegelman Y
Vanderwende Y
Wilson-Anton Y
Yearick Y
“We’re horrified and disappointed that this bill passed. Corporations have no place in our elections — full stop,” said Claire Snyder-Hall, executive director of Common Cause Delaware. “In a state with more registered businesses than residents, this bill gives wealthy outsiders the power to override the actual people of Seaford. Hopefully, it will not make it through the Senate.”
In 2019, the Newark city council passed a resolution to stop artificial entities from voting in local elections after a Newark property manager in control of 31 LLCs, which own 31 parcels of land in the city, voted 31 times during a $28 million capital referendum. In 2018, Rehoboth Beach residents rose up to stop a proposal to allow LLCs to vote.
I eagerly await the excuses.
Some of those yes votes would not ordinarily vote that way under any circumstances.
I’m wondering if perhaps an understanding has been reached in the Senate?
I’m sure there is. However, they are still on the record for voting against democracy. Ooh.
True. But if the bill goes down in the Senate, it’s not like they’ll face a challenge from the left. I admit, though, there’s stuff we don’t know yet. But I’m pretty sure we’ll find out.
What I DO know, though, is that Madinah Wilson-Anton was the only rep to vote against that watered-down LEOBOR bill, so she gets a pass from me.
One of my favorite movies comes to mind. “Unforgiven”
Representative John Kowalko
Stephanie Bolden’s moving the primary to April bill gets, wait for it, ZERO, yes votes in the Senate.
And she and the bill earned every one of those votes. Incumbency protection indeed!
John Kowalko
Do I spot Bernard Brady still helping out in the Senate?
He just can’t quit that place. And the Senators just can’t quit him.
He remains the best ever…although Rich Puffer is now firmly in his class.
👍👍
The Coronation is complete. The reprehensible Val Longhurst replaces the reprehensible Pete Schwartzkopf, who WILL serve out the rest of his term, likely as her chief enforcer. Huge disappointment Mimi Minor-Brown will be Majority Leader, and Kerri Evelyn Harris will be Majority Whip.
While it’s great to see women in leadership positions, it’s not great to see THESE women in those leadership positions.
Next year’s gonna be rough. Good for the blog, bad for the General Assembly.
Thank you to Val’s constituents who have doomed this wonderful state to the biggest tyrant in State politics….since ‘um her deposed “Poore” friend.
These two’s small minded majorities have rewarded bullying, grift, and “silent” corrupt practices… but I am sure Val and nicole asked 4 state lawyers for an opinion of whether it was ethical practices. To which they said…. “…wwwwweeeeeellllll that is specifically not in the law.”
Let’s end the night and the session on a positive note. From Claire Snyder-Hall:
“On the final day of the legislative session, the Delaware Senate adjourned without bringing the controversial corporate voting rights bill to the floor for a vote. HS 1 for HB 121, introduced by state Rep. Daniel Short, would have allowed artificial entities like corporations, LLCs, and trusts to vote in Seaford’s municipal elections. So while the bill passed in the House, it will not become law this year.
Kerri has proved to be quite the fraud. You all got taken for a ride.
You’re not alone in that assessment.
Taking this leadership position means she’s a fraud?
No. And I’m not saying it, just reporting what people who I respect have said.
There is no world in which Pete+Val+Mimi >/= Val+Mimi+Kerri
True. I think a lot of the disappointment with Mimi and Kerri are due to what people saw as duplicity on LEOBOR.