Delaware’s Most Intriguing Primaries Of 2024: #1–Democratic Governor
Let’s not bury the lede: In recent Delaware history, meaning as far back as I can remember, there has NEVER been a candidate with such a lengthy litany of unethical and illegal behavior like Bethany Hall-Long. From the beginning of her political career up to the present, her actions and those of her husband create a clear picture of someone unworthy of holding political office:
Husband Dana Long caught stealing opponents’ signs. Caught on camera because BHL’s opponent was having so many signs stolen that they felt compelled to install cameras to catch the thief. It was Dana Long.
Dana Long illegally accesses Section 8 information (he was an inspector of Section 8 housing for the County) about residents in BHL’s district , and forwards the information to her campaign to be used for political purposes. Then-County Executive Tom Gordon complains that he’d like to fire said husband, but can’t because he has a “politically-connected spouse”.
Dana Long is transferred away from his home turf. He subsequently forms an LLC to use Section 8 insider information to identify and flip houses in his new area in and around Edgemoor in Brandywine Hundred. He forms the LLC with BHL’s then Chief Of Staff, who remains in those dual positions for at least a couple of years. BHL illegally fails to list this business on her tax forms even though she was a beneficiary of the business. That proves to be too much for the Meyer Administration, and Dana is informed that his services are no longer required.
Over the course of 20 years, BHL has only one campaign treasurer–Dana Long. In 2023, BHL suspends her campaign amid reports of financial irregularities in her campaign finance reports. We don’t need to go through the stories of the alleged audit which, to this day, has never been released. Which doesn’t really matter, because it wasn’t a real audit. Her staff begs her to end her campaign. She refuses. Virtually the entire staff quits. BHL’s campaign files a series of unintelligible amended reports. To this day, the Department Of Elections continues to withhold information about discrepancies in those reports.
Bethany Hall-Long is now on her third treasurer since Dana Long was relieved of his duties. The first, a genuine campaign compliance expert, resigned when BHL refused to provide her with bank statements that would either have cleared her or, um, not. To this day, we don’t know what happened to the $30,000 to $300,000 that went missing from her campaign, and especially how much went into their personal accounts. The second resigned just as the campaign filed its 30-day primary financial report. The current treasurer, and this is rich, is Tony DeLuca’s former paramour and current wife. Both Tony and Debra were double-dipping (or triple-dipping, depending on how you define ‘dipping’) working two jobs, one each for the Delaware State Senate and the Department Of Labor, but were never held accountable for the hours they claimed to work at DOL because their boss refused to release their time cards despite FOIA requests. (Pro-tip: Put this little anecdote together with that cryptic story I posted about a certain report gathering dust, and you just MIGHT figure out what the State Auditor is hiding, and on whose behalf she’s hiding it.)
Y’know, Bethany claims that people are biased against her. Especially reporters. Fact is, by her definition, that includes all the people who told her to abandon her campaign and then quit when she wouldn’t. Which, BTW, include both her most recent campaign manager and treasurer, who just quit within the last few weeks. She has virtually no campaign of her own and is essentially being kept afloat by Third Party PACs. And two Party hacks.
Add to all this the Opioid Slush Fund ($250 million? In her hands?) and the recent disclosure that her staff was doing campaign work for her while they were on state time and, well, isn’t that enough?
County Executive Matt Meyer has made his share of enemies. But, when you look at the enemies he’s made, the case for him becomes stronger. The police unions? Check. Jimmy Maravelias? Check. John Stinkin’ Carney? Double check. In fact, his willingness to hold police accountable could prove invaluable if he’s able to get some sort of LEOBOR reform passed. Plus, he’s in a much better position to bring more open government and transparency to Dover, especially given the likelihood that the House will be more progressive in the upcoming session. Yes, he’s been far too cozy with the development community in NCC but, with the entire Delaware Way aligned against him, he won’t owe those hacks anything. My biggest concern centers around the way the Greenville moneyed class has embraced him. What do they expect to get in return? Gotta say, I love the idea of Kyle Evans Gay serving as Matt’s Lt. Governor. Kyle is a true progressive, and I know that Matt campaigned on her behalf when she challenged Cathy Cloutier.
I once envisioned Collin O’Mara as a viable progressive alternative, and was blown away by his presentation at the Working Families Party endorsement event. I thought he would jump-start his campaign following that event. But he didn’t. Didn’t get any mailings from him until earlier this month. And we still have that bleeping Doctor Doolitle talking animals spot, the cuteness of which has long since worn off. Yes, I know he lives in Delaware. But I can’t shake the impression that he has one foot in, and one foot out of the state. An impression that was reinforced by his lack of statewide visibility for the bulk of the campaign. I’m sure he didn’t intend to be a spoiler in this race, but he can’t win and most of the votes he gets would assuredly go to Matt Meyer otherwise.
I’m voting for Matt Meyer. Yes, with both eyes wide open because I am concerned about his wealthy benefactors. But this is in reality a two person race. And one of the candidates is irredeemably corrupt.
You can make the comparisons even simpler:
BHL is Carney covered with mud.
O’Mara is what candidate Markell promised in 2008.
Meyer is what Markell turned out to be as governor.
If we get Meyer, it’s not great, but it’s at least OK.
Spot on.
Good stuff–except I don’t think the Carney-BHL comparison is apt. BHL is a narcissist who is obsessed about being Governor, Carney wouldn’t have run for anything had Carper not pulled him out of obscurity, and foisted him on Ruth Ann.
The O’Mara and Meyer comparisons? Right on!
The BHL-Carney comparison was meant to relate primarily (sorry for that word) to policy, while noting that she’s far slimier than the governor.
Agree on personality, and would go so far as to say that Carney is the anti-narcissist. Whether it’s lieutenant governor, representative or governor, he has seldom exhibited any great enthusiasm for any office he has held. Wilmingtonians should shudder at the prospect of him sleepwalking through eight years as mayor.
Yeah, hard for me to get one of the earliest images of BHL out of my head–barrelling through our House staff room with a phone glued to each ear.
My analysis of the race, just under two weeks to go:
– Meyer’s to lose, will win, possibly decisively, with over 50% of the vote in a 3 way
– His Tv, mailer and ground game is much stronger, enables him to reach more people, due to both much more money, but also better campaign organization and more enthusiastic and broader base of supporters
– Majority of Sussex County Ds are newish to Delaware; his media advertisting is breaking through; Yes, BHL has more “establishment” support there, but numerically, by definition, the “establishment” and the average voter doesn’t even know who the establishment is. Wouldn’t surprise me at all if Meyer wins SC and Kent.
-Meyer wins well over 50% of the vote in NCC in a 3 way. Wins Wilmington.
-What’s the Omara factor? 1 on 1 Meyer wins in a landslide. But Omara takes some votes from both BHL and Meyer, probably more from Meyer though. Doesn’t seem at this point, the way things are going, 3rd party will impact the race outcome.
Seems like a pretty reasonable assessment–though I’ve heard that BHL’s (relative) strength is in Kent County.
Which is OK, even if Matt loses there, he’ll likely win.
Especially if a certain elected state official releases a certain report.
Just checked again–SHE STILL HASN’T.
I’ve got to admit part of me is worried about BHL. Her husband seems like such a tyrant that I worry she’s stuck in a Stockholm Syndrome trap. That being said, I’d never vote for her unless she divorces him and owns her transgressions.
Voting for O’Mara but I will be happy to Meyer wins, too. Literally anyone except BHL can win against a republican opponent.
I think it would a nice idea to vote for O’Mara, but at this late stage of the election any vote for him is like a vote for BHL. If you will be “happy” if Meyer wins, then just vote for him to avoid a possible disaster.
Yep. A vote for Omara is a vote for BHL. Period.
If you want to risk the disaster of Bethany Hall Long somehow slipping through, vote for Omara.
I’d say it’s more like voting third party, sort of the equivalent of not voting.
It’s amazing that BHL has nothing to campaign on.
Got yet another mailer today with her and Carney.
BTW, how fucking pathetic does the Delaware Democratic Party look now after embracing a serial scofflaw like BHL?
Personal reason for Carney to support BHL: He fears being fucked over as Wilmington mayor if Meyer is the next governor.
Well, there are two ways to take care of that.
Only one of which is electing Matt Meyer.
The other is to elect Velda mayor.
I’m rooting for both.
Just early voted in Kent and proudly supporting Collin. I just can’t vote for someone who is backed with money from builders like Meyer is, or someone like Bethany who is simply proven unethical.
Yes. My God. People who build things. Terrible people.
With your vote, and God’s help, we can have a future where nothing is built in Delaware.
People who build warehouses next to schools and neighborhoods. I’m not anti-development, but comprehensive rezoning as Meyer attempted to use it was unethical.
Can you be specific? Which warehouse, which school/neighborhood?
Conrad High School seemed to have done fine despite its proximity to a auto assembly plant, now warehouse. I would imagine the warehouse operation is much less toxic.
Concord was next to a gambling establishment, now shopping center.
I’m not sure where one can build anything in NCC without arguably being near a school or a neighborhood.
But I am open to new information. The sort of eye-rolling exasperation and conclusory statements are unhelpful, as I, like most normal people, do not closely follow the ins and outs of zoning policy. So, I really want to know what and where, specifically, these impacts have been.
Conrad High School was built in 1935. The auto plant was built in 1947.
The “gambling establishment” was a racetrack, separated from school athletic fields by woods and a 4-acre pond, though they’re apparently shrinking the pond.
So you understand that everything will be built near something, but you don’t understand that whoever’s already there will complain about it and try to stop it? That seems unlikely, but here, I’ll explain it for you:
They’re worried about their property values. And you knew that, so stop playing dumb.
Just for the record, I don’t have a lot of sympathy for most of these complaints. But I don’t pretend not to understand them, either.
As a matter of fact, many people who build things are terrible people, so your sarcasm there falls pretty flat.
As for the need to build things, the issue isn’t building things, it’s where they’re built, as you well know. And manipulation of the political system helps determine who wins and who loses in the development game, as you well know. And so it’s a legitimate concern.
My criticism of anyone voting for O’Mara is simple: If he can’t run his campaign any better than this, how is he going to run a whole state?
Since none of the three is ideal, I’ll go with Meyer because I think running New Castle County is better experience than anything either of the others has done. I don’t expect to agree with everything he’ll want to do, but if the legislative races break the right way he’ll have to contend with a more progressive General Assembly.
Okay, so what has been built where, in particular, that demonstrates this manipulation and, I assume, harmful impacts. I genuinely want to know what it is that seems to be well-known to some. Can you let me in on it?
Oh come on, do your own homework. It’s been mentioned by other commenters and isn’t hard to find.
Not even a link to the other commenters?
I don’t know what it is you expect me to look at. Construction permits? What?
Seriously, if someone has built or is building a warehouse next to a school, I don’t think it is hard to point out where that is happening or proposed to happen, instead of thinking that I have some kind of magic “homework” skills that will answer what I thought was a simple question.
What I have seen from other posters trying to persuade me that I shouldn’t vote for Meyer is a lot of handwaving with no specifics, just like is happening here again. If someone wants my vote, then it is not my job to do “homework” in order to figure out why I shouldn’t vote for the candidate with whose record and background I am familiar, and of which I approve.
If there is something I don’t know that would change my mind, then I would expect that someone promoting a competing candidate would do better than say, “Go figure out why you shouldn’t vote for him.” Well, no, I’m not going to do that. So in the absence of whatever these awful dirty deals might happen to be, I see no reason not to vote for Meyer. I don’t believe the burden is on me to persuade myself otherwise.
But I’m not promoting a competing candidate. I don’t promote candidates, or tell people who to vote for. But I do call out bullshit arguments. “Development doesn’t bother me” isn’t the ringing endorsement you seem to think it is.
You could at least look up what I’ve written, which is that I think all the candidates suck, and I’ve explained why I’m voting for Meyer.
I hope I’ve made clear that it’s not my job to educate you. It’s up to voters to educate themselves. Since I don’t much care who wins and have no influence on the outcome, why would I waste my time trying to convince you of something you’re dead set against researching yourself?
What money is backing omara
There are a couple of conservation groups backing Collin.
But the ‘tell’ is that he has loaned his campaign a whole lot of money–but didn’t spend any of it. That told me he wasn’t serious about competing.
Nailed it. The two things I constantly see about Meyer is “people don’t like him” and “he is funded by evildoers”. On the first count, yes, getting shit done often doesn’t win friends, and from what I can tell he is disliked by all the right people. Oh my, the NCC police don’t like him. Oh my. Are these the same NCC police that used to wash and wax Tom Gordon’s car? Good on Matt.
On the second count, tell me more about these evil people funding Matt Meyer. What horrible things have they done, and what does it have to do with Meyer. Sure people donate money for access and an opportunity to make the case for whatever it is they are after, but please tell me what horrible things they’ve done or plan to do, and which Meyer is supposedly facilitating. And be more specific than “developers” because that doesn’t really tell me much.
BHL’s campaign is a dumpster fire at this point. “I’m endorsed by everyone who owes me favors, and did you know I was a nurse?” is not doing it for me. The only thing that would move me in her direction would be if she was accused of beating Tom Carper’s ex-wife since that’s always a crowd pleaser in Delaware elections, and he’s just not up to it anymore.
Just wanted to make a point which might–or might not–have anything to do with that report the State Auditor is sitting on.
It would be a flat-out natural to show Bethany mentoring her students in nursing.
Wonder why we haven’t seen that. Even the dolts remaining with her campaign could have figured that one out.
“The only thing that would move me in her direction would be if she was accused of beating Tom Carper’s ex-wife since that’s always a crowd pleaser in Delaware elections, and he’s just not up to it anymore.”
LOL!!!!!
And here I was wondering why no one else seems to remember he’s a woman beater.
I was working in the House, my first two years there (1983-84) when the issue broke. I’m telling you, it was legit. You can’t believe how the party honchos circled their wagons around Carper.
To her eternal credit, Paula Lehrer, who was our Chief of Staff at the time, and a GREAT Chief-of-Staff at that, hired Carper’s by-then former wife to work for us.
A show of solidarity before its time.
That is amazing! She sounds like a sterling individual.
At some point in the last ten years I saw/read an interview with Carper where he said his ex-wife had Borderline Personality Disorder and was so terrible that even her kids don’t talk to her.
I was left scratching my head as to how this man remained in power. If someone truly is that awful you leave them, you don’t use their disagreeableness as an excuse to beat them up. And I say beat them up rather than slap because I’ve never known a person who got a black eye from a slap.
There’s a reason we call him RoboCarper.
Any semblance of human behavior is purely coincidental.
She died some years ago.
I moved here in 1983 and was appointed lobbyist for my teaching local in 1984.
He’s not funded by evil-doers, he’s funded by the old Castle Republican contingent. Do you need spelled out what their agenda was? Chamber of Commerce, pro-Charter School, etc. It’s nothing we can’t live with, as it’s not much different from what you’d get from any of them, O’Mara included.
The key element is keeping BHL and the old guard of Democratic Party leeches away from the office, so Meyer it is.
I hate being right about how Bethany is going to win this primary with 35% of the vote.
Don’t think so.
There are also the people who are upset about the Meyer administration’s handling of comprehensive rezoning. Upzones to allow warehouses near residential areas and schools shouldn’t have been hidden by some other more neutral zonings. It was dishonest, especially the way Meyer effectively told NCC Council to stand down when NCC Council already was going to vote against it.
It also feels disenguous when Meyer says he was a public school teacher. He did Teach for America and worked for a charter school.
Anyway, I’m voting for O’Mara. Meyer is likely going to win unfortunately, but O’Mara has the best policy positions and isn’t Meyer or Hall-Long.
“O’Mara has the best policy positions…”
And that’s all they are, policy positions. He’s a dilettante.
I think I’m voting Omara and have heard many whispers of others doing the same. I like his message the best and I dont like the nastiness between Meyer and BHL. I think it turned a lot of people off.
That’s jus me tho
And that’s why Jason thinks BHL will win, and I’m not sure he’s wrong.
“His message.” Jesus Christ, did someone drive a turnip truck full of Delaware Democrats over a speed bump?
Lol
I’ve gotten a couple of mailers the past two days that show BHL is leaning hard into the “I’m a woman, and he’s not” argument.
One smeared him for his donations to Republicans, which makes him just as bad as Trump, apparently, and glommed onto the “We’re not going back” slogan.
The other smeared him with “turning a blind eye to sexual harassment,” citing the complainant in a lawsuit. If they had more than an allegation, they of course would have cited it, but that’s what they had to hang “we’re not going back” on.
He didn’t install cameras, two guys staked him out.