DL Open Thread: Monday, December 9, 2024
Matt Meyer Was Right. And, yes, insiders are putting their thumbs on the scale when it comes to the Special Elections:
Frustrations over political jockeying and an alleged lack of transparency have emerged among Wilmington-area Democrats in advance of a Monday vote of party insiders that will decide the candidates who will run in special elections early next year.
The field roughly divides between candidates who have worked within establishment Delaware politics – such as United Way executive Dan Cruce and former lawmaker Raymond Seigfried – and those who have sat farther away from the levers of power. Those include Shay Frisby, a state social services supervisor; Adriana Bohm, a sociology professor; and David Vagnoni, a Brandywine High School teacher.
Dwayne Bensing, a Democrat from Wilmington and legal director at the American Civil Liberties Union of Delaware, said the lack of transparency has sparked cynicism toward the party’s leadership. He said his preferred candidate – Bohm – hasn’t been given sufficient information about ways to contact voting members of the local party, putting her at a disadvantage.
“I don’t know if I could be any more cynical” about party leadership, he said.
Bohm declined to comment for this story.
Katherine Caudle, committee chair of the New Castle County Democrats, and Cassandra Marshall, chair of the Wilmington Democrats, did not respond to an emailed question about complaints from party members about transparency.
Spotlight Delaware has learned that a handful of influential Delawareans have been lobbying several of the dozens of Democratic Party precinct leaders who will attend the Monday event to decide on the candidates to run in the special election.
Among those doing the lobbying are Freel, Rep.-elect Melanie Ross Levin, and lobbyist Kim Gomes. (Doing Bobby Byrd’s bidding.)
In an interview with Spotlight Delaware, Freel said he has had several private conversations with the party’s local voting members about Cruce, who he supports among the field of seven vying for McBride’s seat.
Gomes – a partner in a state lobbying firm ByrdGomes – said she has called various party members to see where they stand on the special election candidates, stating that “anybody on the extremes is not going to be helpful.” (Translation: Delaware Way all the way.)
She said she is not being paid for her outreach, but noted that she represents clients from several industries and her “job is to advocate for their needs in the state of Delaware.”
She also said her preferred candidate to replace McBride is Cruce.
For the nomination to replace Gay in Senate District 5, Ross Levin said in an email to Spotlight Delaware that she has made calls to a few voting members to express support for Seigfried. She noted his previous experience in the legislature, saying “I know he’s ready to hit the ground running.” (Four years after having been soundly rejected by the Democratic voters in his district?? WTF does Melanie Ross Levin, who hasn’t even been sworn in, know? Nothing. Prediction: If Seigfried somehow wrangles the nomination, he could well lose to a Republican. Democratic voters have already soundly rejected him, R voters aren’t coming to save him. Not to mention, how many of these insiders are prepared to blitz the doors for the uncharismatic Seigfried in a snap election? I’m going with “None”.)
While such lobbying is unsurprising in advance of a nominating process, some critics have said the efforts only further the belief by some that the nominees are being selected by party leaders rather than party members.
Will Biden Pardon This Mississippi Miscreant?: A fascinating read that will make you even more depressed at what goes on behind the scenes. Oh, and will make you like the Bidens even less than you already do:
BOONEVILLE, MISSISSIPPI — In this sleepy county seat dotted with vacant brick storefronts, the immense estate that dominates the southern approach into town stands as a monument to legal savvy and political pull.
The property’s endless brick walls and winding footpaths represent the tangible fruits of decades of courtroom wrangling and backroom deal-making that made Joey Langston Booneville’s leading citizen — and a longtime political ally of the Biden family.
Now, the Langston family’s relationship with President Joe Biden could be the difference between freedom and incarceration for one of its members.
His ascent began in the 1990s, when he fell in with a loose-knit fraternity of larger-than-life Mississippi lawyers who cozied up to judges and legislators — including, most prominently, Joe Biden — while making a fortune in complex, politically sensitive lawsuits.
He forged a partnership with legendary tort lawyer Dickie Scruggs, a brother-in-law of former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, positioned himself as Biden’s man in Mississippi, and became one of several members of his Southern legal crew to pursue business deals with Biden’s brother, Jim.
He then came back from a sensational case-rigging scandal and saw his eldest son, 39-year-old Keaton, establish another generation of Langstons in Booneville with a local pharmacy venture and a gated property of his own on the other side of town.
For his part, Keaton Langston made millions in health care and, working with his father, continued the tradition of doing business with Jim Biden.
Intrigued? I was. Lots more ethical misdeeds to follow. I led you to water. Now, drink.
Dog Bites Man: DeSantis ‘Hypocritical’. Schedules two special elections swiftly in contrast to delaying special elections in Democratic districts. This sums it up:
Analysts of Florida politics, meanwhile, say DeSantis’s maneuvering is nothing out of the ordinary.
“Throughout his tenure in office, to an extent during his first term but in particular after his re-election, he has really been a governor who has pushed the limits of his constitutional authority and power to try to promote both conservative policy priorities and also the fortunes of the Republican party more generally,” said Nicholas Seabrook, chair of the University of North Florida’s department of political science and public administration.
“He scheduled these elections essentially as soon as was possible under Florida law, so it’s hard not to look at that and conclude that, particularly given that the overall House majority was fairly narrow in both instances, a narrow Democratic majority coming out of the 2020 election, and an even narrower GOP majority coming out of 2024, that there’s an element of politics in the situation.
Did I mention that Lara Trump has resigned her position with the RNC to ‘consider’ a bid for the Senate seat that could be vacated by Mario Rubio? ‘Consider’ it a done deal:
“It is something I would seriously consider,” she told The Associated Press in an interview. “If I’m being completely transparent, I don’t know exactly what that would look like. And I certainly want to get all of the information possible if that is something that’s real for me. But yeah, I would 100% consider it.”
Millsboro To State: ‘We Fucked It Up, Now Help Us Unfuck It’. ‘We’, in this case being Suxco Council. But still:
MILLSBORO — Town officials will request state legislative support to address traffic volume they say has become a serious safety issue.
The concern — discussed during a Town Council meeting Monday — is the area of Plantation Lakes Boulevard and Godwin School Road on the west side of Millsboro. The location includes a busy stretch of Del. 24, compounded by hundreds of new town homes in Plantation Lakes’ South Shore, as well as road closures necessitated by the construction of the north Millsboro bypass.
Build hundreds of new townhomes, experience increased traffic volume. Who could possibly have predicted that?
We close on a proud personal note! My oldest daughter Cindy has become a nationally-certified math teacher after having successfully completed a year-long process that included portfolios, videos of classroom presentations, and successfully completing a rigorous and comprehensive national certification examination. When I congratulated her and suggested that now she could afford to take us out to dinner, she said that she instead plans to use her bump in salary to pay for the Trump tariffs.
What do you want to talk about?
My wife also got her NBCT certificate this weekend. And the bump is so minimal its laughable
Congrats!
To figure out the grading for each component requires a doctorate
I know.
My son-in-law has one.
Me? Not so much.
A point I neglected to make about the special elections and the Delaware Way meme about ‘anybody on the extremes is not going to be helpful.’
We’re replacing Sarah McBride and Kyle Evans Gay in these contests, not, say, Larry Mitchell or Sean Matthews.
What we’re seeing is an attempt on the part of Delaware Way insiders to replace genuine reformers with backroom hacks.
And to impede Meyer in favor of all those fucking Freel- and Byrd-adjacent assholes.
You can see what this is about. These assholes, and they dominate the Democratic Party and bureaucratic establishment, are sucking the public teat by doing favors for corporations, and want to keep doing so.
Industries aren’t citizens, and anyone who values them over citizens is the enemy.
They dominate the insiders of the Democratic Party. Their candidates have been overrun in recent years by more progressive and popular candidates.
This is their one chance, through a process that favors insiders, to stunt that progress by choosing successors to Sarah McBride and Kyle Evans Gay that Sarah and Kyle would never have chosen, had it been their prerogative.
I was unclear. I meant they dominate the party establishment, not the party members.
Good exposure on how insiders rigg politics to keep Delaware Way in place. Another good thing is D/L identifies the fakers & takers. It’s no wonder Corporate Dems defeated the Inspector General bill this Governor pledged to support it.
LongHurst & Bethany lied about support for Inspector General bill and they both went down to defeat. That’s karma against the delaware Way and their public pirate partnership when corporations control elected officials.
I don’t think that, in this case, the process was specifically devised to benefit insiders. Can’t ever remember a situation like this where two state legislators have been elected to higher office, necessitating special elections.
However, that is the result of the process.
The likes of Kim Gomes having real influence is truly wanning to anyone watching DE politics over the last 10 years. This is their last gasps of life, these insider games.
Yep. If either of these corporatists are chosen this year, we’ll just gear up for 2026.
The usual OSINT sleuths are standing down in the search for the UHC CEO shooter:
https://news.yahoo.com/why-top-internet-sleuths-wont-021107977.html
Congratulations to your daughter.
Thanks! It’s quite the rigorous process.
Just wanted to congratulate your daughter as well. Best wishes on her career
Out of curiosity, how was Matt Meyer right? If this was done as a primary, don’t you think that these same people would have been sending direct mail on behalf of their preferred candidate? Wouldn’t they be dropping $$$ in direct and indirect funding? I grant you that they might be a little less about knocking on doors, but in a quick campaign (30-45 days) what is going to make the difference here?
At least all of the candidates have access to the electors and can have real conversations with each of them, if they so choose.
I don’t know because elections matter? If people were selected by party insiders we have Governor hall long and speaker longhurst.
Campaigns and candidates matter. Rise of social media, and the ability of local candidates to connect more have taken money out of it much more and quality of candidates much more into view.
Geek, if you haven’t read the Spotlight Delaware piece and see how Byrd/Gomes is all over this contest. So is Bud Freel.
The Delaware Way full-court press is sickening.
You will recall that I agreed with you early on about the process.
But when the hypothetical turned into this, I couldn’t change my mind fast enough.
@Ed – I have seen what boots on the ground and volunteers can do. I know that in a normal campaign cycle money can be defeated by good organizing.
But in 30-45 days, that may not play out the same way. A tidy sum of money can go a long way to thwart a non-Delaware way candidate.
The Senate can and will make sure the candidates have more than enough money to run a credible campaign. You’ve probably seen how everyone circles the wagons around them in the past.
The boots on the ground are what will make a difference–if they’re there.
And enthusiasm. ‘Vote for the Democrat, for example, just won’t cut it in a district where said Democrat lost a primary race by a 59-41 margin as an incumbent.
I’ve been on both sides of these campaigns and the ones around this time of year are the worst. I remember when Diana McWilliams resigned from the Delaware General Assembly right after the 2008 election.
The Democrat, an attorney and a real nice guy, had all the money he could ever need. But we lost that special to that Novak guy (remember him?) b/c the D’s just didn’t want to come out to vote.
The registration figures in that race were similar to the current registration in SD 5. Should the electors make the wrong choice tonight, I fear we will lose that seat which we only won for the first time in 2020.
Because these candidates will be selected by a small insular group of voters. Pretty well influenced, close to being dominated, by Delaware Way insiders.
I know that you don’t have a dawg in this fight.
But I’ve been there, and I’ve seen it. There is every likelihood that at least one, and possibly both, candidates chosen would have finished far up the track in a primary.
And, in one case, would place a seat in significant jeopardy of flipping from D to R.
SD1 might be an exception here, since there are so many well-connected Dems (I was shocked by the number of elected and retired officials live there) but the members of the committees and by-and-large activists, not foot soldiers for the Delaware way. I doubt most of them know who Ed Freel and Bob Byrd are.
I look at the members of the 7th RD who you pointed out wouldn’t even vote Ray S on to your committee. Those folks aren’t insular. They were thoughtful and open to the idea that he shouldn’t be put on the committee. I’m not sure why we paint them all with this brush of insularity and insiders.
You and I know plenty of activists, progressives and democratic socialists that populate both committees. They aren’t generally going to be moved by a phone call from Ed or Kim Gomes, especially if they got a call from an actual candidate.
I agree about our committee. But what I’ve found out is that our committee is not like some of the other committees up here.
I kinda thought they were, which is why I was in agreement with you. But trust me when I say that the Delaware Way squeeze is on, and some people are susceptible to it. Just hope they aren’t the majority, but it’s gonna be close.
BTW, I know that Shay and Ray have reached out to all the electors numerous times. They have met with those willing to meet with them.
Also, SD 1 is an insider’s paradise. One would have hoped that Sarah would have had more influence there.
But it’s dominated by insiders, including Bobby Byrd and his daughter.
And Bethany’s policy director who is now a partner at B/G.
Cruce at 43
Bohm got 25
Frankel at 5
Senate 1 just elected itself a centrist at best. Someone who won’t prioritize the poor and working class and who won’t fight for their issues. But at least the lobbyists will be well represented. Good luck with that.
Siegfried got 23
Frisby got 20
I’ll save commentary for a later time
I hope you, like me, are drinking now…
I’m more eating my feelings than anything else.
An elector in SD1, I was contacted by I think all but one of the SD1 candidates directly (which suggests to me it wasn’t hard to get my name and contact info; I talked to all of those who asked) and I was NOT contacted by anyone lobbying or whipping on anyone’s behalf. I am not an insider, just a volunteer who started showing up at Dem committee meetings and introducing myself a few cycles ago, which anyone can do. No doubt there are problems with the “Delaware Way” and all things considered in the future a primary would be better, but this time I am just not seeing the “insiders” and “establishment” types putting thumbs on scales or twisting arms or whatever metaphor you like.
Fair point. But, if you read the Spotlight Delaware story, it was the lobbyist herself (Kim Gomes) who said that she was lobbying in that SD 1 race.
Maybe she didn’t contact you precisely b/c you weren’t an insider.