AG Jennings Goes There!
It’s where anybody who is paying attention should have already gone.
Bethany Hall-Long has engaged in so much illegal and unethical activity that any reasonable person should realize that she absolutely should not be our next Governor.
This unethical activity pretty much started when she first ran for office and (a) her husband stole her opponent’s signs, and (b) illegally accessed information about Section 8 residents in BHL’s district and forwarded it to the campaign to be used in an illegal manner.
I’ll save the rest for my write-up of the Governor’s race.
We now know that the Department of Elections withheld information damaging to her campaign until a FOIA request, and that they are withholding more information damaging to her campaign. How do I know? Because if it wasn’t damaging to her campaign, it would be public record by now. The State Auditor simply must conduct a performance audit of this long-time Delaware Way agency.
But that’s not today’s story, which was broken by Nick Stonesifer. BHL has been saying ‘Fuck you’ to the AG’s office for nine months:
The Delaware Attorney General’s office sent a letter late last week to the lieutenant governor’s staff demanding access to information about the state’s $250 million opioid relief fund.
The state’s chief prosecutor first sought access to monitoring information during a meeting more than nine months ago with the lieutenant governor, and has yet to receive information on any awardees, according to a letter obtained by Spotlight Delaware.
Now, kids, consider this: The only reason why Delaware secured these funds is because Attorneys General across the country litigated against the manufacturers and distributors on behalf of the public. Bethany Hall-Long had absolutely nothing to do when it came to securing this $250 mill.
Now, keep in mind that the so-called commission established to disburse and track these funds was established within the Lieutenant Governor’s office. Paging John Carney. Yes, the Attorney General co-chaired this commission, but, and this is important, has been consistently outvoted by BHL’s Mindless Minions when it comes to disbursing the funds. Which is what happens when only one person dedicated to protecting the public’s interest is on a commission.
We’ve seen some of the grifters who appear to have gotten money solely because of their fealty to BHL. BHL’s Chief of Staff is supposedly in charge of tracking how the funds are used. Except she hasn’t. Some of Bethany’s best buds have gotten a second ’emergency’ grant with absolutely no evidence that they have spent the first grant, and/or have spent it properly.
The response from BHL’s office is absolutely pathetic:
A spokesperson for Hall-Long’s office shared a response letter from Holloway to Davis with Spotlight Delaware.
The letter, dated Tuesday, said a request had been made in November for the DOJ to get access to the monitoring software, but that there was never any follow-up from the DOJ’s office.
I’m confused. Where the fuck does it say in state law that the AG’s office has to ask more than once for information pertinent to the AG’s position as the co-Chair of the Commission?
Not to mention, it has been well-documented that, on multiple occasions over the past few months, the AG has publicly called for the Commission to stop awarding grants until it can be determined that the money is doing what it is supposed to be doing. I mean, does anybody believe that Trippi Congo, having experienced a $450 K windfall, got right to work fighting the opioid crisis? I don’t. But even if one did, shouldn’t an adult audit what he’s doing with that money?
The mind reels. No doubt BHL will claim this is politically-motivated, just like she has with her totally screwed-up campaign finance reports and the missing money. (She, BTW, has admitted wrongdoing, albeit ‘inadvertent’ wrongdoing in that case. A crime is a crime nevertheless. Plus, her ethically-bankrupt husband served as her treasurer for 20 years. Puh-leeze.)
The fact is that the Attorney General has sought, and has been denied, access to critical information concerning the Opioid fund despite being co-chair of the Commission overseeing it. That access has been denied by the Lieutenant Governor and her incompetent and/or unethical staff.
Tell me again why anyone who isn’t knee-deep in her blatant abuse of governmental norms would ever vote for her.
Karl Baker deserves a lot of credit here. It is hard to imagine Jennings (or any Delaware AG for that matter) getting interested in this without being pushed.
I sorta disagree. She’s been demanding answers for at least nine months.
Where I part ways with the AG, and I REALLY part ways with her over this, it is absolutely essential that her office investigate the fiscal malfeasance of BHL’s campaign finances.
This bullshit protocol that they won’t do anything until/unless the Department of Elections refers something to them just doesn’t wash. Not just because DOE has absolutely no investigative capacity, but because Anthony Albence and others have conspired to keep information damaging to BHL from the public.
It is quite possible that significant sums of money were, what’s the word I’m looking for, STOLEN from her campaign account to fund her family’s lifestyle.
If that’s not something worth investigating, I don’t know what is.
A note of correction: Spotlight’s reporting on the opioid fund has been headed by Nick Stonesifer, who wrote today’s story
Corrected.
As Dr. Strange would say, “Curse me for a novice”.
Journalism 101: You should never serve as your own editor.
Spotlight Delaware is doing great work. Jake, if you’d like to moonlight…
You gotta love BHLs staff…”yea they asked for it but only once. if they had asked a couple more times we would have given it to them.
It drives me nuts that the ONLY person on the commission who actually helped secure the money is the AG.
Everybody else charged with carrying out its mandate is on the LG’s staff.
The General Assembly has to fix this ASAP. It’s a fox/henhouse situation.
I don’t get why Jennings’s office is putting BHL on the hook to “give her access” to software. Why doesn’t Jennings just call the Delaware IT department herself? Does BHL have some secret password that even IT admins don’t know?
Because the information is the property of the LG’s office?
You can’t just go in and take the stuff w/o the proper protocol.
Too Little too late but she may be able to get the skinny-dipping Guv to go after her:)
BHL is a crook. She should leave the race now before we send her packing in an embarrassment of a primary election.
Probably premature of me, but there’s more coming.
Trust me.
Thanks to intrepid reporters like the folks at Spotlight Delaware, Randall Chase and others it is only a matter of time before the applications will eventually be obtained and reported upon…..
Whatever they are so reluctant to release will no longer be hidden from the public.
Well, you can see what the applicants claim they will do with the money.
But (a) much of it sounds like bureaucratic gobbledygook that in no way will help people or families facing the opioid crisis, and (b) there is absolutely no tracking of what, if anything, the recipients are doing with that money.
$250 million bleeping dollars. In the grubby paws of BHL.
The CRDC’s Recovering Claymont Lives program in the opioid devastated community of Knollwood has submitted extremely detailed and accurate reports on where we are with the benchmark goals we laid out in our grant application. Included in our monthly reporting is a financial accounting of every dime received and spent. Casting dispersions with such a wide net on those organizations working in underserved and challenged communities such as Knollwood, does not help. In fact it could make it more difficult for us or any other organization to counter the effects of heavy drug use in the community if the residents think we are “grifters”.
Tell me why are you concerned “they” would think that?
What’s with the “they” in quotes?
Building trust in that isolated and sometimes insular community a key element to making real progress. I figured you’d understand that?
Just so I have this straight, Mr. Saddler, your contention here is that some of those getting continuing treatment for substance abuse issues might read this blog and become disillusioned with your efforts?
That strikes me as unlikely. Even highly unlikely. Don’t you trust that they will put more stock in their own experience than in a political blog that I’m guessing very few of them even know exists?
I’ll simply repeat:
$250 mill in the grubby paws of BHL.
It’s great that you are following the rules. Have you looked at all the other grant recipients and how they’re spending the money?
Susan Holloway hasn’t. And she’s who is supposed to have done it. It’s a political slush fund for BHL’s beneficiaries and supporters.
That’s what the AG is trying to stop. I think she should seek a court order to stop with the disbursement of funds until/unless some accountability is built into the process.
I’m sure that many/most of the recipients are well-qualified and doing good work. But these high-quality organizations should be the MOST furious with Bethany. Her obvious ineptitude and alleged corruption is what is casting a shadow over all the work of the recipients of the funding.
In short: yall should be mad at her, not the journalists who uncovered the glaring problems.
Brett,
You should be saying this to Bethany, not El Som. She’s the one who’s giving opioid grantees a bad name.
I’ve said this before, and I’ll say it again. I don’t know much about your program, but it seems like a solid program, and it looks like you’re doing very good work.
At the same time, most of the grant recipients (including you) are donors to Bethany’s campaign. And there were a lot of good programs that applied for opioid grants but were rejected.
Given that, you can’t blame people for wondering- did Bethany bump certain grantees to the front of the line because of their contributions to her campaign? And/or did she bump up the dollar amount of their grants?
Let me stress- I’m not pointing the finger at you, I’m pointing the finger at Bethany. You may have just donated to Bethany because you like her, and you did not intend to sway her decisions in any way. But when most grantees are Bethany campaign donors, one cannot help but wonder if BHL is inappropriately showing favoritism. And you can’t expect everyone to just shut up about it.
So if I were you, I would be mad at Bethany. It seems like your program could probably get a grant on its own merits. But now you have to contend with people wondering whether you got the grant cleanly, or whether it was just quid pro quo. It sucks, and I’m sorry.
The solution is simple though- instead of having a secretive process run entirely by BHL and her staff, we need a robust and transparent process involving a wide array of experienced grant reviewers. And if Bethany wants to take campaign contributions from people applying for opioid grants, then her office should have no role in reviewing, evaluating, or selecting grants at all. Once that happens, no opioid grant recipient will need to worry about people questioning how they got the money.
Why aren’t you writing for us?
I’ll pay you TWICE what I’m making.
Regarding current DEMOCRATIC Lt. Governor’s campaign for DEMOCRATIC Governor.
Yes, there should be a performance audit conducted by our DEMOCRATIC State Auditor. Additionally, a criminal investigation should be conducted by our DEMOCRATIC Attorney General. Our DEMOCRATIC Governor should also exert pressure on our DEMOCRATIC Elections Commissioner to ensure he performs his duties with integrity. Furthermore, our DEMOCRATIC-led legislature should call for an investigation into this matter. It’s likely that we wouldn’t be in this situation if we had an INDEPENDENT Inspector General involved.
Retired Chief Justice Veazey highlighted the core issue in his 2014 speech to the Wilmington Rotary Club:
“There’s a real need for federal resources because of the structural difficulty of having state prosecutors pursue state officials,” said Daniel Stein, the former head of the public-corruption unit in the U.S. Attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York. “Federal prosecutors bring a degree of independence that can sometimes help make those cases.”
Independence is crucial, and a state Inspector General or equivalent would provide that.
Her supporters won’t get mad at her because that would require some intellect or self reflection. They knew what they were getting when they stuck with her despite knowing she’s a disaster. The reasons are plentiful but it ends up being that they don’t like Meyer. For some inexplicable reasons they can never really articulate. They’re also on the dole. So I can understand if the choice is to feed your family or not. Then you side with a crook.
To get mad at her is to admit they are stupid and/or craven.
No. She will lose and then they will blame her. And Matt Dougherty. And shaku bhaya. And Anne Farley. And Nicole poore. And Stephanie Hansen. All of these little loyal dipshits around her will get the blame. In fact Bethany is already blaming them. Because that’s what she does. No accountability. It’s always someone’s fault.
I don’t want the chaos and mess that is Bethany hall long around my state anymore. Vote for Meyer. Vote this corrupt enterprise out of office.
“No accountability. It’s always someone’s fault.”
Thanks for this. It explains why she keeps that dead weight of a husband – he’s such a fuck-up it’s easy to pin stuff on him.
So I’m starting to suspect she knew about the sign-stealing from the get-go, just as she obviously had to know that he was commingling funds from personal and campaign accounts.
This article and the response letter from her staff also seem to permit additional FOIA openings, as it’s clear personal accounts are being used to do public government work. Yet didn’t the AG deny expanding the APs FOIA to copied gmail addresses? The State doesn’t allow use of Google Drive, or other non secure file servers.