Delaware Political Weekly: April 5-11, 2024

1.  Three-Way In RD 14.  No, we’re not talking about any shenanigans between Lopez, McGuiness, and Speaker Pete.  Although you’re welcome to.  We are talking KMG entering the RD 14 primary, which already features Claire Snyder-Hall and Marty Rendon.  She announced at this week’s RD 14 committee meeting, and has filed her committee.  As you’d expect, she has the support of bosom buddy Pete Schwartzkopf.   Nobody epitomizes Delaware Way insiderism quite like McGuiness.  Elections commissioner deemed her an eligible candidate despite her having voted in Park City, UT;  named Pharmacist Of The Year even though she wasn’t a practicing pharmacist (she was ostensibly Delaware’s Auditor at the time); gave her daughter a no-show paid job in the Auditor’s office; had an affair with a State Senator, destroying his political career and his marriage; figuratively attached herself to the hip (and vice versa) with Delaware’s most powerful House member; oh and was convicted of a misdemeanor and driven from office.  Yes, she can win. Maybe.  But this race, along with at least two others, Kamela Smith vs. Our PAL Val,  and Monica Shockley Porter vs. Bill Bush, represent potential death rattle contests that could drive a stake through the heart of the Delaware Way.  (Links provided in case you would like to donate.)

2. Speaking Of Delaware Way Death Rattle Candidacies…John Paradee is hosting a big bucks fundraiser for Bethany Hall-Long at his home on April 18.   Featuring sell-out Kerri Evelyn Harris, Lumpy Carson, Bill Bush, Kyra Hoffner, Trey Paradee and Sean Lynn.  If you don’t remember how Trey carried John’s dirty water in Dover, this should refresh your memory:

The Paradee name has been big in D circles for decades. The old man was chair of the Kent County Democratic Party.  John got a job as a staff attorney when I worked for the Senate. While we had some excellent staff attorneys (Frank Murphy, Jeff Clark and Tim Willard come to mind), there was always room for someone whose only credential was political cronyism. John Paradee, who pretty much everybody grew to dislike, and quickly; and Becky Batson, who called the President Pro-Tem without irony ‘Uncle Thurm’. He’s now an attorney wired into all sorts of projects, and she lobbies on behalf of the powerful and connected.

Fast-forward to June of this year. SB 178, to be quickly followed by two substitute bills, is introduced on June 25.  The bill ‘allows the Kent County Levy Court to impose a lodging tax, not greater than 3%, in Kent County‘. The Bill is sponsored by Sen. Trey Paradee, aka Charles Paradee III. On its surface, the bill appears innocuous as it follows on similar legislation being enacted for the other two counties, plus some select municipalities, throughout the state.

However, this bill is different. Although it was not properly noticed in the bill synopsis quoted above, SB 178 provides that:

…The revenue collected from the imposition of the local lodging tax shall, when collected, be directed to the Kent County Regional Sports Complex Corporation, a nonprofit organization, which operates the County-sponsored DE Turf facility located in Kent County near Frederica. The Kent County Regional Sports Complex Corporation shall use the revenue provided exclusively for the DE Turf facility to allow the facility to remain competitive by advertising, promoting, and providing incentives for use of the facility, to establish a program to benefit youth by providing to youth organizations and scholastic institutions the opportunity to use its facility at reduced cost, and to maintain, improve, and support the facility through the payment of costs, expenses, and associated debt.

No other lodging tax legislation included such language specifying how the money was to be used.

Enter John Paradee, who has been involved in this controversial project since at least 2017.  In 2017, Kent County Levy Court went against the recommendation of its Planning Services division and approved, by a 4-3 vote, a rezoning that enabled the continuation of the project. John Paradee was an attorney for those seeking the rezoning.  (BTW, Paradee’s fingerprints are all over legislative initiatives pertaining to Kent County development proposals, including this plan for a publicly-funded access road to the Dover Mall). The bills were passed, but the expansion plans have stalled. Nobody wants to talk publicly about this. But, I digress.

The Delaware Turf Sports Complex had already benefited from an $18 million DELDOT project to open an interchange at South Frederica specifically for the purpose of providing access to the complex. which opened in the summer of 2018.

John Paradee is a member of the DE Sports Turf Board Of Directors, along with the usual suspects.  This board is the Kent County definition of the Delaware Way. Paradee not only actively pushed for the passage of his brother’s legislation, but, according to this News Journal article, which is a must-read:

With the hotel tax revenue, DE Turf says it would be able to bid for tournaments with more teams and bigger crowds.

John Paradee filed an application with the state for the development of ‘a hotel, restaurant and retail development on a 21-acre field adjacent to the sports complex’ two days after his brother’s bill passed the General Assembly. On the application, there were three listed owners of the 21-acre field, all limited liability companies.

John Paradee’s name is listed on the LLC’s filings held by the Delaware Department of State. He has represented at least one of the entities, JMER Properties LLC, at municipal government meetings.

In an email, John Paradee disputed the assertion that he would benefit from the proposed lodging tax “in any fashion whatsoever,” calling any suggestion otherwise “wholly unfounded and utterly reckless.”

He also said he was “not at liberty to divulge” information about the LLCs ownership stakes.

This proved too dirty for even the Delaware Way insiders to get away with.  Including Paradee’s sister, who was (is?) one of Carney’s attorneys.  Trey introduced legislation basically rendering this piece of shit null and void.  But only public exposure stopped this insider corruption from proceeding.  We already know that BHL has benefited from insider corruption via her husband, at the very least.  This is the Kent County branch of the Delaware Way.  Voting for someone other than BHL is a great way to rid ourselves of this stain on our state.

3.  D Files Against R State Rep. Jeff Hilovsky In RD 4.  To be precise, he has filed his campaign committee.  His name is Gregg Lindner.  While this is not his first foray into politics, it appears to be his first race in Delaware.  He displayed success and some sharp political elbows as a Democratic member on the Unionville-Chadds Ford School Board in Pennsylvania. Real sharp political elbows.  I like that.  After being reelected to the Board in 2015, he blistered Rethugs as follows:

“During the 2013 reorganization meeting, I was nominated to be the vice president of the school board, as was Mr. Hellrung,” Lindner said. “The head of the Republican Party of Chadds Ford showed up at our meeting for the only time in my four-year tenure to watch the Region C board member vote for Mr. Hellrung. Her attendance lasted 90 seconds. Now let’s move to the recent election. If Mr. Hellrung or any other board member wants to get involved in an election outside their region, that’s their right. But to torture the truth in order to get people elected is not OK. At least not OK for a school board election. And Mr. Hellrung did all those things in an editorial in [local online media]. Mr. Hellrung, among other things, said our political team was composed of political operatives. If that is the case, Kathy Do, Bev Brookes and I are a sad team of political operatives, because we had no party machinery, and a political committee that included only the three of us.”

Yet they won.  Might be worth keeping an eye on this race.  RD 4 is the district that was transferred from Wilmington (Gerald Brady) to Suxco in 2022.  It features a lot of communities that have sprung up in the beach area south of Rehoboth from Marshtown to Oak Orchard.  The district skews R, 7849 D, 9139 R, and 6506 I.  Hilovsky got 61% in an R primary against Bradley Layfield, then defeated D Keegan Worley with over 57% of the vote in 2022.

4.  Mike Spencer Drops Out.  He had filed to primary incumbent D State Rep. DeShanna Neal in RD 13, but withdrew his candidacy on April 5.

5. Filing(s): State Rep. Bill Bush (D-RD 29).

That’s all I’ve got this week.  What’d I miss, and whaddayathink?