DL Open Thread: Thursday, September 12, 2024
The Primary’s Over, But BHL’s Corruption/Ineptitude Continues Unabated. Turns out she handles her office’s FOIA duties as well as she and Dana handle the family finances:
The office of Lt. Gov. Bethany Hall-Long may have violated Delaware’s open records laws by not responding to Freedom of Information Act requests for several years encompassing nearly her entire time in office, from early 2017 to as late as October 2023, according to email correspondence and internal government records acquired by Delaware Call.
After the lieutenant governor’s office failed to comply with a FOIA request filed by Delaware Call on Aug. 16, Hall-Long’s director of communications admitted in an email today that there are no records of the office receiving or responding to FOIA requests prior 2023.
It gets better, just read Jordan Howell’s excellent reporting in Delaware Call.
Oh, and she handled her office’s FOIA duties as well as she handled her time cards at the University of Delaware. Right, Lydia? Lydia??
This raises a question, and I’m serious: Is it possible to place the office of a demonstrably corrupt and incompetent elected official into something like receivership? Failing that, what guardrails are in place to ensure that BHL doesn’t hand out that opioid slush money as party favors (I mean, any more than she already has)? Does SHE write the checks, or does someone else?
A brief rant: Can we stop all this focusing on voters who say they’re undecided, fer Chrissakes? They become in essence reality stars, as if the inner workings of the brain of someone who STILL can’t make up their mind will reveal profundities. All we learn is that these people are attention hounds.
Aaah, feel better.
The one video you must watch today:
This is as good a time as any to share Kamela Smith’s post-election message. Because it, like Aiden Clark’s dad, appeals to our Better Angels:
I am beyond humbled and grateful to announce that we have won the Democratic primary for State Representative in District 15! Twenty years ago, I made the decision to move my family to Delaware in search of a safer environment and better opportunities for our kids. Today, I am so proud to call this state our home.
I stand here today filled with gratitude for the trust and support you have shown me. This victory belongs to the people who believed in change, and together, we proved that our voice is strong.
My vision for the future is rooted in the need for change. We’ve seen the cost of inaction, and now it’s time to push for policies that improve the lives of working families across our district. We will pursue rent stabilization, stronger protections for tenants and homeowners, healthcare for all, and fair wages. A critical part of my platform is ensuring that mental healthcare is no longer an afterthought. I am committed to increasing access to affordable mental health services.
This journey has been one of the most humbling experiences of my life. Every story shared, every person I met, and every challenge we faced strengthened my resolve to serve our community. I’m honored to have been part of this movement with you, and I’m excited about what lies ahead as we move toward the general election.
Thank you for believing in me and our shared vision. Let’s keep the momentum going as we work together to bring real change to Delaware.
With gratitude and determination,
Kamela Smith
Not only is Val Longhurst gone, but she has been replaced by a person who seeks to lift up, not divide. She is a good person.
Frank Luntz Is An Asshole. However, he’s pretty good at his job. His take?:
Longtime Republican pollster Frank Luntz said the presidential election is basically over after Vice President Kamala Harris drubbed Donald Trump at Tuesday night’s debate.
“I’m trying to decide if I want to go on record and the answer is yes,” he told Piers Morgan on Wednesday. “I think that he loses because of this debate performance.”
He said Trump’s treatment of Harris and his refusal to even look at the vice president will hurt him especially with women.
“Donald Trump reminds women of their first husband’s divorce lawyer,” he said. “That is just absolutely disastrous.”
Luntz predicted that the effects of the debate will start to appear in polls within four or five days.
NYPD Worse Than Tiny Tony DeLuca’s Labor Law Enforcement Agency. They just toss out complaints w/o looking at them:
The New York Police Department has tossed out hundreds of civilian complaints about police misconduct this year without looking at the evidence.
The cases were fully investigated and substantiated by the city’s police oversight agency, the Civilian Complaint Review Board, and sent to the NYPD for disciplinary action. They included officers wrongfully searching vehicles and homes, as well as using excessive force against New Yorkers.
The practice of killing cases without review began three years ago as a way to cope with escalating caseloads that were approaching a deadline for discipline. But ProPublica found it has become more frequent under Police Commissioner Edward Caban.
The commissioner may not be in his position for long. He is under pressure to resign after his phone was seized in a federal corruption investigation. He has also faced criticism for failing to hold officers accountable for misconduct.
Since he took office last July, the NYPD has ended without review more than 500 incidents, about half the cases the oversight board referred to it, according to an analysis of board data. That rate has climbed to nearly 60% this year. Under Caban’s predecessor, Keechant Sewell, the department faced roughly the same number of cases, but about 40% were tossed without review. (Neither Caban nor Sewell responded to requests for comment.)
The tactic is part of a broader pattern under Caban, who has repeatedly used the powers of his office to intervene in misconduct cases brought by the oversight agency. This summer, ProPublica and The New York Times detailed how the commissioner has used an authority known as “retention” to short-circuit some of the most serious cases, which otherwise would face public disciplinary trials.
Oh, the Tony DeLuca reference? Once in that position, Tony DeLuca basically shredded every discrimination complaint that made it to its desk. BTW, my fave excerpt?:
OK, let me see if I’ve got this straight: Union electrician Tony DeLuca, who Tom Sharp recruited to run for the State Senate, and for whom Mark Brainard ran his election campaigns, is appointed by Secretary of Labor and former Senate Majority Leader/President Pro Tem Tom Sharp, who was appointed by Minner Chief-of-Staff Mark Brainard, to a newly-created position in the Department of Labor which just happens not to receive any Federal funds.
The very idea that, of all Delawareans, union electrician Tony DeLuca was most qualified to head the anti-discrimination unit of the Department of Labor was Tom Sharp’s and Mark Brainard’s idea of a sick joke. Kinda like Henry Ford naming the company town that housed black auto workers ‘Inkster, Michigan’, which at least brought us the Marvelettes (h/t to Dave Marsh). After all, no one stands up against discrimination more than trade unionists, especially electricians. The Plumbers’, Electricians’, Carpenters’, et al, locals are notorious for severely limiting minority opportunities in their shops. Unless you consider the Irish, Italians, et al, minorities. These have traditionally been closed shops which have been forced, by laws, of all things, to grudgingly admit more qualified minorities. Something that falls under the purview of ‘anti-discrimination’.
But, I digress. Y’know, though, the primaries are over, the results were (largely) immensely satisfying, and I can literally smell the coffee. Mmmm, coffee.
Well, I’m caffeinating. And still basking in the afterglow of Val’s demise. So I’ll stop here. Which is where you come in:
What do you want to talk about?
The remedy for FOIA non-compliance is with the AG, who will only take action in response to a complaint. So the question is, how many FOIA complaints has the AG received about BHL? and what was the outcome of those complaints?
Some of us will remember Jack Markell’s blatant disregard of FOIA requirements as he assembled his charter school funding giveaways in secrecy. A lot of people complained to the AG’s office (headed by an ailing Beau Biden), and the response came down long after the legislation had passed: “Guilty, but no action will be taken.”
Actually, the AG complaints were noted in the linked article. My bad for posting my hot take before reading.
Kam Smith’s victory and her message are a breath of fresh air. The defeat of BHL and McGinnes true justice. 50 years ago “the Delaware way” actually had a positive meaning of bipartisanship for the good of the state. With these results maybe we can get back to the old definition.
The old definition of ‘The Delaware Way’ was overrated.
It basically meant that R’s and D’s coalesced around whatever shit the Chamber of Commerce was shoveling.
Don’t let Celia hear you say that.
It was an easy transition for her from chronicler to fangrrrl of that blandest and most insidious of Delaware institutions.
50 years ago Mike Ramone was working for a whites-only swim club.
But that is a story for another time and thread.
Can a DE politician be indicted for the corruption when they are out of office? Can BHL be prosecuted in January when she doesnt have the DE WAY politicians at her back?
Sure. If Lydia York deigns to release the report she sitting on, it’s possible BHL could be indicted any time…
Should that occur (I’m skeptical), how long will it be before BHL whines that Meyer, with his former chief of staff as AG, is weaponizing the Justice Department?
Judging on where she is based on this interview, I’m gonna guess she’d be locked, loaded and ready with that claim.
https://www.wmdt.com/2024/09/bethany-hall-long-opens-up-about-her-loss-in-the-primary-vowing-to-fight-attack-pac-funding/
So she’s a hypocrite on top of everything else. Who funded her attack ads? And where’s the evidence that she’s innocent? I haven’t seen her produce any.
What an asshole.
In that previous TV interview, she defended her dirty ads as coming from ‘hard working union people’.
Plus, just what exactly was that Healthy Delaware PAC other than a dark money PAC? Plus the so-called ‘Democratic Lieutenant Governors’ PAC must be wondering why they wasted so much money on that race.
She told us who she was with the sign-stealing in her very first race. We didn’t listen.
BHL already deleted her campaign facebook and took her website down. NO public statement. Embarrassing
Oh, well, she’ll always have her professorship at the U of D.
Wait, what?
Oh, wow. Check out who ISN’T on the staff of UD’s school of nursing. And then, check out who IS (you have to click on the ‘Staff’ link):
https://www.udel.edu/academics/colleges/chs/departments/son/faculty/
If you spotted the name of Melissa Minor-Brown, dingdingding, you’re a winner. UD and The Delaware Way–perfect together.
El Som,
Found BHL in the UD people directory. She is listed as “retired.”
https://udapps.nss.udel.edu/directory/search/results
Didn’t say whether it was voluntarily retired or involuntarily retired, did it?
Lydia, care to shed some light on this??
I don’t agree a lot with Mimi of late, but I knew her professionally and she is an outstanding nurse , with solid credentials including as an educator and administrator. I’ll leave it there.
Was she employed at UD before she was elected? I’ve searched the intertubes, and she never mentions working there.
If not, then if you think her elected position had nothing to do with her getting that job, then you’re not the Joe Connor I know.
I’ll leave it there.
BTW, remember that endorsement she cut for Dave McBride? I, for one, haven’t forgotten.
Seems to me she embraced the Dark Side of the Delaware Way. And Val Longhurst.
YMMV.
There are limits to my comment. I believe Mimi is a competent professional and I know for a fact she is a good teacher. I took a DOC required mandatory training course of about 30 hours that she taught. I don’t however, know when she got the UD gig but I’m guessing post November ‘18. I have no doubt that being a State Rep was not an impediment to the hiring 🙂
The reporter is a former shill on Rehoboth right wing WGMD. Interesting 🙂
Who briefly worked in the Auditors office with McG!
Cracked Compass Carney failed to answer FOIA request for emails on moving the Bus stop at Rodney Square. But $50 million for commercial real-estate in Wilmington defiantly needs to be looked into by the Dept of Justice in DC. He is no angle, more like Ruthann’s enabler. Could be violations of the HATCH ACT? All his stooges in Leg-Hall should be demoted. They don’t deserve leadership.
Can she be impeached prior to taking over when Carney resigns?
Who knows what mischief she will get up to in that short interval.