A VERY Special DL Open Thread: Thursday, August 1, 2024
I can’t sleep. I’m writing this at 1 a.m.
Ever since I started here at Delaware Liberal back in 2009, my overriding theme has been the toxicity of the Delaware Way, and how that inside deal-making has slowed and sometimes halted real progressive gains here. Democrats and Republicans consistently placed the interests of Delaware’s wealthy and the priorities of the Chamber over the well-being of the rest of us.
Never thought this would happen, but I now believe that the Delaware Way is in its death throes.
First and foremost because I no longer see how the candidacy of Bethany Hall-Long for Governor can survive. Make no mistake: The entire raison d’etre of her campaign is/was the perpetuation of that inside game. Supported by those with skin in the game. Quid pro quos all around. It appears that her campaign will be done in because she turned the casual corruption of the Delaware Way into casual corruption on steroids.
We already knew about the sign-stealing, Dana Long’s misuse of his position with New Castle County, the utter clusterbleep of their campaign finances dating back to 2015, at least. We now have the opioid slush fund that has drawn the approbation of two elected statewide Democratic officials.
But events in just the past two days are causing serious tremors throughout the Delaware political scene. BHL’s latest campaign manager has resigned. So has her finance director. About a week or so before they’re supposed to file their 30-day finance report. The State Committee sent out an e-mail today touting their endorsed candidates by name, and notably omitted the name of BHL. Word on the street is that Emily’s List has also withdrawn its endorsement. To me, these portend the shutting down of the campaign.
Kids, the denizens of the Delaware Way pushed all their chips to the center of the table by betting on her candidacy. Now just imagine what could happen if/when her campaign folds. I have, that’s why I couldn’t sleep.
First, let’s be honest–Matt Meyer is an imperfect change agent. But what if he endorses the candidates who are running against Delaware Way candidates like Val Longhurst, Bill Bush, both Michael Smiths, and Kathy McGuiness, among others? We’d be talking an enema of, by, and for the people. I think that either he or Collin, if he could muster a campaign in BHL’s absence, would and should seriously consider such a move. Even if Matt may not set hearts aflutter, Kyle Evans Gay is a true progressive and as smart a legislator as you’re likely to find. In hindsight, had we known how things would turn out, I’d have loved to see her run for Governor. But, her time will come and I think she’ll exert serious influence on anybody but BHL.
We already have a progressive AG, and a State Auditor who is determined to uncover fiscal malpractice. The Senate has become an engine for progressive change, and the House is but a few seats away from joining them. We owe the Working Families Party and Network Delaware an incalculable measure of gratitude for that. In other words, we’re right there.
With BHL out, I see that snowball effect. Val Longhurst will be gone, I have no doubt about that. Those legislators who sold out will get one, and only one, chance to support a progressive leadership team.
And look at the people waiting in the wings: Sophie Phillips, Madinah Wilson-Anton, Shane Darby (future Mayor?), Branden Fletcher-Dominguez, Eric Morrison, Frank Burns and many more. Their progressivism has kept them from having more influence. Look for them all to flourish with more enlightened leadership, including them. What’s that phrase that Kamala uses?: “We’re not going back.”
I believe that this can, and will, happen this year. Once BHL is toast, tell me why this isn’t possible.
I’m really excited!
(In the unlikely event this doesn’t happen, I hope you at least had fun dreaming about it.)
Which reminds me: And now, to sleep, perchance to dream.
What do you want to talk about?
Two words. Mike & Ramone.
It seems like the actual Delaware Way shot callers could easily find a new champion in the nudist. Also, if the actual Delaware Way shot callers need a candidate, why not Meyer? Sorry. But when is comes to the Delaware Way being overthrown, I have a large supply of wet blankets.
Delaware progressives have never answered how they would maintain Delaware’s corporate revenue stream while enacting their progressive agenda. The Delaware Way exists in the service of the corporate revenue stream and for that reason could just as well be Republican.
This is the heart of it. Anything that appears to threaten the corporate revenue stream is a non-starter.
It’s all pretty stunning. I remain amazed that it got to this point. Why did they continue to double down on this woman? It was very clear that she was very damaged and that there were serious problems with her. The sheer audacity and arrogance of people who thought they would just steamroll through this. There will be time to name names but it’s incredible.
Some real losers in this. And I’m very glad they’ve lost.
“The sheer audacity and arrogance of people who thought they would just steamroll through this.”
That, too, is a product of the Delaware Way, which is all about going along to get along.
If I were a member of the DSEA I’d be royally pissed. I’m still getting mailers from them. I guess Dana ran out of money for them to print up their own.
Three mailers so far.
I have a DSEA member in my family.
She’s royally pissed.
We got a DSEA mailer urging us to call Senator Kyle Evans Gay (we are not in her district) and thank her for her educational advocacy – without ever once mentioning the election or the Lt. Gov. office she is running for.
I don’t know that her name was ever on there, but BHL is not listed on the endorsements page of EMILY’s List: https://emilyslist.org/donate/all-candidates-2024/
The press release announcing her endorsement is still up, however: https://emilyslist.org/news/emilys-list-endorses-lieutenant-governor-bethany-hall-long-for-governor-of-delaware/
She certainly wasn’t gonna announce that she was un-endorsed. It’s not how she rolls.
Just woke up after a night of fitful sleep. Gotta make some calls…
I’m not sure about the EMILY’s List thing. It looks like the endorsement is still up on BHL’s campaign twitter too, along with John Carney’s endorsement video. You can also find that John Carney video on PornHub, under the “humiliation” tag.
Oh you kids…I didn’t mention that pathetic quote he gave someone in the last few days vouching for her integrity. Maybe I’ll try to find it after the coffee kicks in.
El Som, I hope you’re right but this is far, far from over.
Most Delaware voters simply don’t read the local news or follow state politics that closely. So most voters still don’t know about her campaign finance scandal.
And if they do know about it, they don’t understand it. They don’t understand that she stole money and blatantly & knowingly lied about it again and again. They’re likely to buy her story that it was all just “unintentional bookkeeping errors.” Meanwhile, the pitiful Delaware media is likely to move onto some other story and just stop reporting on this.
And yes, her campaign is in shambles. But there are outside groups who are loaded with money that are supporting her campaign. And I’m sure the money is continuing to flow into them. DLGA is still running ads for her. DSEA is still running ads for her. Building Stronger Communities will undoubtedly start running ads for her. And they’ll attack Meyer and try to (disingenuously) try make him look more damaged than Bethany.
Meanwhile, the craven Democratic establishment is sticking by her. John Carney re-endorsed her yesterday. Few public officials are publicly distancing themselves from her. This could easily all blow over, and the troops will rally behind her and push her across the finish line.
I’m not trying to be a downer here. All I’m saying is this- keep up the fight. Fight like hell to expose BHL and make sure everyone across Delaware knows who she really is and what she did. She stole. She lied. She is a complete and total mess. And she will be a historic catastrophe for Delaware.
Sad agreement, the big money boys have not given up on BHL, I see her incessant commercials in the damnedest places, on ROKU no less.
“in the damnedest places”
I saw a BHL commercial while watching a replay of Netanyahu’s speech to Congress on YouTube.
FWIW nails it. Cris Barrish and Karl Baker are the only two reporting on this, and their reach is limited.
I got an anti-BHL mailer the other day, but it wasn’t about the scandal, it was about her taking campaign donations from the state branch of the NRA a decade ago. It came from a PAC that gave no indication of who was behind it.
Disagree. Something’s going on. Her two top campaign officials just resigned. It appears that the Party is walking back their endorsement of her.
It’s not just about reporting now, I think something serious is really happening with that campaign.
Been wrong before, though…
Isnt this the second time her top campaign people quit?
At least.
She hired someone the Wilmington Ciry Council didn’t even want to hire
If BHL gets elected, we ought to consider moving to Florida. At least DeSantis is a transparent asshole.
Death before Florida! Transparent assholes or not.
I don’t follow politics as closely as most of you here but it seems we’ve elected ineffectual D governors in past— Minner and Carney, for example. What’s different here is BHL’s naked corruption and people in high places either ignoring it or shrugging their shoulders. Agree with FWIW that the moneyed class will still try to drag her over the finish line.
Sadly, I have come to believe that BHL is going nowhere. The only solution is her defeat.
Speaking of those with skin in the game, kids, can you guess who is BHL’s in-state fundraiser?
Why, none other than Tiny Tony DeLuca’s Significant Other Debra Allen.
Looks like she and Anne Farley are the two rats remaining on that sinking ship.
Unfortunately it’s not just her and Anne. Don’t forget Mike Houghton, Shaku Bhaya, Jeff Bullock…. the list goes on. Obviously the young, energetic, dynamic future of the party. Brilliant political strategists. We need to make sure all of these enabling, unethical losers get named.
This is the Delaware Way writ large.
Pretty much everyone who has impeded positive change has banded together for (what one hopes is)the last stand for the Delaware Way insiders.
Memorable, vintage speech by Joe Biden on the Supreme Court and Civil Rights in Houston on Tuesday, 7/30, with a special Delaware riff.
Joe mentions Bob Cunningham, Franny Kearns, the National Guard’s occupation of Wilmington and Gov. Terry’s Southern orientation.
He tells a story about how Henry Topel, Harris McDowell, Jim Tunnell, and Bert Carvel urged him to run for Senate.
His passionate embrace of human rights took me back to the Radisson in the 1980s.
https://www.c-span.org/video/?537431-1/president-biden-delivers-remarks-proposed-supreme-court-reforms
So I tied an onion to my belt, which was the style at the time. Now, to take the ferry cost a nickel, and in those days, nickels had pictures of bumblebees on ’em. “Gimme five bees for a quarter,” you’d say. Now where were we? Oh, yeah. The important thing was that I had an onion on my belt, which was the style at the time. They didn’t have any white onions, because of the war. The only thing you could get was those big yellow ones…
Any reporting on why exactly the campaign manager quit?
Is it possible they were pushed out as part of some kind of campaign “reframe”?
Or maybe they left, knowing that there is more bad stuff that will be coming out?
Pretty rare to see a campaign manager quit 40 days before an election.
If their brilliant decision is to reframe their campaign by having her driver manage it…………… good luck. I’ve never seen a campaign like this managed by someone who’s never actually managed a campaign? Of any size?
How does Trippi feel about this btw? Dougherty slammed him in the newspaper a few years ago.
Debra Deluca, formerly Debra Allen, is now the head finance person.
She and DeLuca embody the absolute worst of the Delaware Way.
In fact, Debra then-Allen was supposedly working two jobs simultaneously which were literally impossible to do. She was a full-time staffer for the Senate, and was also working with Tony at the Department of Labor.
DOL REFUSED to release time cards that would inevitably have shown that she was double-dipping, getting paid for far more hours than she could ever have worked.
She is the PERFECT Finance Chair for Bethany.
BTW, an excerpt from THIS article:
https://delawareliberal.net/2017/03/02/when-bad-things-happen-to-relentless-trolls/
“Debra Allen was simultaneously working for two different state agencies. Tony DeLuca publicly said that she wasn’t. Despite requests, including FOIA requests from the News Journal, neither the Department of Labor nor the State Senate have released any personnel records on either DeLuca or Allen. Tony DeLuca signed off on all Senate timesheets as President Pro Tem, including Allen’s, and either DOL Secretary John McMahon or Tony DeLuca would have signed off on her DOL timesheets. McMahon was in on this as, assuming the tipster is correct, she first worked for the Secretary before being reunited with Tony. Was she being paid as a full-time employee at either or both jobs? And was she legitimately working the hours for which she was getting paid? Or was she being paid twice when she was either only working one place or another? If either DeLuca or McMahon falsified her timesheets or pay stubs, it means that they, and Ms. Allen, have committed fraud upon the State. John, is it OK for the Acting Secretary to get to the bottom of this, or are you aiding the cover-up? AG Denn? This smells like fraud to me. Gonna investigate?”
Don’t really know if Bill’s comment at 11:59 is apropos of anything else in this thread, or if it’s original or comes from someplace else – Grandpa Simpson? – but I enjoyed reading it.
I think it was a diss on Chuck Durante’s link to a long-ago Biden speech.
Me? I think that speech is well worth hearing.
Yeah, should have looked at the context more carefully. His post does show a commenter can be both wrong and funny.
Take me, for example…