General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show: Thursday, May 15, 2025

Filed in Delaware, Featured by on May 15, 2025 21 Comments

People who I respect had told me that Speaker Mimi Minor-Brown was even worse than Our Pal Val Longhurst.  Recent events, specifically Mimi’s running roughshod over members of her own caucus during the debate on the Musk-Pass bill, and the Speaker’s attempt to hijack the Democratic NCC County Convention, had moved me in that direction.

Her blatant power play in removing Rae Moore from the Education Committee makes me wonder why we simply can’t have a well-adjusted human being as the Speaker.  Here is the entire correspondence from the Speaker on this issue:

“After careful consideration, you are being removed from the House Education Committee as of today.”

Of course, Minor-Brown went on the attack in public comments.  There are several good articles about the give-and-take.  I’ll go with this one.  Why? Because it certainly appears to me that Rep. Kim Williams played a key role in getting Moore removed from the committee:

In an interview with Spotlight Delaware, Minor-Brown said her decision came in response to questions surrounding Moore’s teaching credentials, pointing to a News Journal report published last month that said she was among 450 public school teachers working in Delaware with expired or missing licenses.

Minor-Brown also asserted that Moore had inappropriately proposed an amendment to a bill  during an education committee meeting last month that she said would have benefitted Moore personally.

The bill, at issue, would mandate that all public school teachers have a valid permit or license to work directly with students in an unsupervised setting. During the committee hearing, Moore asked the committee chair, Rep. Kim Williams (D-Stanton), whether she would consider an amendment that would add leniency provisions for teachers who are working through a certification process.

Williams, in response, said she was uncomfortable with the suggestion because she believed Moore was talking about her own situation. Moore said she wasn’t.

A week after the committee hearing, Moore submitted a formal grievance letter to members of the House leadership that highlighted what she said was a series of events involving Williams that came to a head during the Education Committee hearing last month. Among her charges, she claimed Williams’ comments at the hearing made her private information public.

In the wake of the April meeting, Minor-Brown said she began receiving emails and hearing comments from people in Legislative Hall about Moore. She called that a problem, and one that “you cannot turn a blind eye to.”

But Moore said that Minor-Brown’s decision to remove is a political one. In an interview with Spotlight Delaware, she called any claim that she isn’t legally allowed to teach “a lie,” pointing out that she recently received an emergency certification to teach special education.

She blamed administrative delays as the reason that she was on the list of teachers without a certification after a previous temporary certification had lapsed. She said she began teaching in 2018 through a program that allows second-career teachers to gain a certification without needing to obtain a new degree.

Moore further said she believes her removal from the Education Committee is rooted in what she described as a growing animus between her and Williams. In her grievance letter, Moore highlighted a bill that Williams filed in March to expand school lunches.

“It is 1,000% about the school lunch bills,” Moore said of her removal from the education committee.

Asked on Wednesday about the removal, Williams said she didn’t have details about the decision and was not a part of it. Still, she didn’t believe it was about competing school lunch bills.  (Raising the question: Why would Williams introduce her own lunch bill when Moore had already introduced one?)

She said there are “people who have had issues with the behavior of Representative Moore during the committee hearing” – an apparent reference to Moore’s discussion of amending the school certification bill.

Williams said she doesn’t believe that Moore’s removal from the committee was a result of any larger political dynamics. Still, she did note her own displeasure with what she called “revenge voting” carried out by a progressive wing of lawmakers of which Moore is a part. Williams said those members have opted to not vote on several bills widely supported by the party as a way to protest other issues.  (It goes without saying that Williams, who has been fiercely protective of her control of all education legislation in the House, here reveals the real impetus behind many of the Speaker’s machinations.)

Yet another shitty Speaker.  Three in a row.

That is obviously the Big Story today.

Here is yesterday’s Session Activity Report.  Of major note–The Senate unanimously confirmed Joshua Sanderlin as Marijuana Commissioner.

The highlight of today’s Senate Agenda is SB 6 (Townsend), which, as I read it, attempts to streamline and root out delays in the health care pre-authorization process.  I also like SB 82 (Lockman), which ‘changes the period of time for which relief may be granted under a lethal violence protective order from 1 year to 5 years.’

I couldn’t find anything that floats my boat on today’s House Agenda.  Of course it’s fair to point out that agendas aren’t put together with floating my boat in mind.

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  1. Pole says:

    People should ask around. Not sure what Mimi is thinking but she has been pissing off alotttt of people recently, elected officials at all levels. Seems like the speaker thing got to her head. She has openly yelled and cursed at multiple electeds. Some have kept it under wraps to avoid controversy but it’s well known she hasn’t been even keel this year at all. Don’t see her lasting very long at this rate.

    • puck says:

      Assuming she cut deals to become Speaker, I think the people she cut deals with expect to collect on their investment, and don’t want to start over cutting new deals with a new Speaker candidate.

  2. Jonathan Tate says:

    Not a huge bill but definitely a fan of HB 129 on today’s House agenda since my dad is a family court public defender in the juvenile defense unit. Definitely appreciate all the work Cyndie Romer has done for juvenile justice reform.

  3. Paul T. says:

    There are a limited number of days left in the session and removing them at this time has little meaning. I’m guessing it is more about “looking” fair considering the Hensley decision. I’m sure she will be added back next year when her certification issue is resolved. I have never known K. Williams to vindictive, and it seems like opposing bills is not a good enough reason to want someone off of a committee. I would need a lot more information on their interactions to make that jump. I have been down to leg hall a few times lately and haven’t really seen any outward hatred between the Dem. legislators. They all seem to be working toward shared goals. The most tension I have noticed comes from the lack of a presence in the office upstairs. No one has seen the Governor in the hall in months. No chance to have conversations.
    I judge Speakers by the results of their terms rather than personality or other conflicts. I will wait on this session to end to grade Rep. Minor-Brown just as I do for every other Speaker. If you are a Liberal and a series of liberal agenda items are passed while maintaining financial stability for the State, I would consider it a win. You, of course, would look at the items not completed and add them into formula as well after understanding why they didn’t get addressed. Addressing the financial fiasco in Washington with cuts makes getting some items hard to accomplish.

  4. Y’know, with Mimi expressing umbrage over the amendment that Rae Moore suggested, you wouldn’t expect that Mimi would do THE EXACT SAME THING for nurses (yes, she’s a nurse), basically giving them a chance to ‘make things right’ w/o sanctions.

    But she did:

    https://legis.delaware.gov/BillDetail?LegislationId=142250

  5. Trollspotter says:

    Being speaker brings a series of lose-lose decisions which always results in a decrease in popularity. This is true no matter the person or the legislative body.

    Mimi made the right choice. Also, she knows that Rae won’t be back next term one way or another. Rae’s move introducing that amendment was either straight hubris or the actions of someone incredibly stupid.

    • Paul T. says:

      Rae is not returning?

      • Huh? says:

        This is probably one of Rae’s previous 2020 primary opponents commenting. He thinks he’s going to take her seat. He lost once and withdrew last year when he threatened a primary against her. He has delusions of grandeur and loves puppeting GOP talking points. I think Rae is safe.

        • Trollspotter says:

          Incorrect, I have not had half my brain removed. Nor do I live in her district.

        • Jake says:

          No love for Minor-Brown or Williams here, but this is yet another slap in the face to WFP donors who are putting their trust in the membership to properly vet and support their candidates. People knew Rae was in a trouble months ago, just like they knew Branden didn’t have a valid address and that Colin was an empty suit. We have a lot of dedicated and resourceful people who could have helped Rae get her certain and put Branden up in a room, but those in the know think they know better?

          I don’t want to hear any whining from Rae. The check engine lightt has been on for the last 1000 miles. I hope you have AAA

          • Oh, please. We can spot a Worry Troll a mile away.

            Also a troll masquerading as a Trollspotter.

            First and last warning to both of you.

            • Jake says:

              Suit yourself. You called it worry trolling when a bunch of us called foul on biden’s ability to mount a second run, and then doubled down when we questioned Kamala’s viability.

              • Y’see, this is where you give yourself away.

                “You called it worry trolling when a bunch of us called foul on biden’s ability to mount a second run.”

                Never said anything of the sort, in fact, said he absolutely, positively should not run.

                When you express concern for WFP, you’re not really concerned, you’re just trolling. There are at least two candidates likely to be endorsed by WFP who will knock off incumbents next year, probably more.

                Why? Because grassroots campaigns work. Yes, entrenched Democrats resent that fact, but that’s because they’ve gotten so lazy in office and feel they’re entitled to keep their jobs.

                Now, move on to something else if you wish to keep commenting. Otherwise you can share war stories with your friends about how you got kicked off the blog. That’ll make for some scintillating conversation. We square?

  6. The MoMo says:

    Moore celebrating Charter School day today should’ve been the last straw in her Education Committee membership.

    • Wasabi Peas says:

      Do you feel the same about the other legislators who were there? I generally can’t stand charters, but holding one person to a set of standards to which no one else is held is BS.

    • Hard to imagine any legislator on an Education Committee not at least attending such an event.

  7. May says:

    Wow am I hearing this correctly? The same day Speaker Minor-Brown kicked Representative Moore off of the education committee for a perceived conflict of interest, she introduced a bill to protect nurses, and she is a nurse, from public complaints? What is going on here?

    This Act updates the Board of Nursing’s enabling act to allow the Board to issue confidential letters of concern to licensees who have acted in manner warranting concern but have not violated the Board’s statute or regulations. The purpose of the letter of concern is to encourage the licensee to improve such practice. The bill further allows the Board to require any licensee who receives 3 or more letters of concern to appear before the Board for a hearing to assess the licensee’s competency, at which time the letters of concern would no longer be confidential.

    https://legis.delaware.gov/BillDetail?LegislationId=142250

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