The Shit Hits The Fan. Boy, does it. Read the entire thing. There’s so much to unpack that I can only scratch the surface with excerpts:
State Rep. Sherae’a Moore’s (D-Middletown) removal from the House Education Committee has sparked a larger conversation around due process and Democratic infighting within the Delaware legislature.
Moore argues her removal from the committee and its leadership was a coordinated political attack by House Education Chair Kim Williams (D-Stanton) and House Speaker Melissa Minor-Brown (D-New Castle).
Speaker Minor-Brown and Rep. Williams argue the move was due to Moore’s previous lack of licensure while teaching in the state, as well as a suggested bill amendment that would have professionally benefited her.
W-wait–Moore never introduced said amendment? She was thrown off the committee due to a suggested amendment? Yes:
“For her to lie, saying that the amendment had nothing to do with her and saying, ‘I don’t know why this needs to be on record,’ that was a lie. She knew it had everything to do with her,” Rep. Williams told Delaware Public Media. “She needs to get her stuff together. That’s not my fault, that’s not the speaker’s fault. I respect what the leadership has done. Speaker Minor-Brown has done an exceptional job. I’m proud of the work our leadership has done.”
Here’s why I think that Moore got thrown off the committee–and why Kim Williams needs to have her wings clipped:
But Rep. Moore remains an advocate for universal free school meals in Delaware and reintroduced her bill this legislative session on March 13, which now carries a $45 million annual fiscal note with a year-over-year phased-in approach.
Less than two weeks later, Rep. Williams introduced her own bill that would have expanded eligibility for free meals from 185% of the federal poverty level to at or below 225%, which carried an annual fiscal note of around $10 million.
Rep. Moore made her distaste over Rep. William’s decision to file her own competing bill clear during the legislation’s committee hearing, but both lawmakers blame the lack of collaboration on the other.
Rep. Moore sent a letter to Democratic leadership requesting their mediation on the matter, arguing Rep. Williams had not expressed any interest in working on a compromise.
Williams flat-out stole Moore’s initiative. After all, she is in a position to make sure that Moore’s proposal never goes anywhere–both as Chair of the Education Committee and as the House Chair of the Joint Finance Committee. Rather than explore common ground, as Moore reportedly sought, she just threw her weight around. She has too much power and doesn’t use it wisely.
We finally see the surfacing of an ongoing battle within the Caucus–the unwillingness of the Speaker and others to allow progressives to, in many cases, pursue policies that are at the heart of both the Democratic platform and that are popular with voters:
This legislative session marks the highest number of Working Families Party (WFP) — a progressive grassroots political party — members in the Delaware General Assembly to date.
Around one-third of the 27-member Democratic caucus have been endorsed by WFP, and public division between the more progressive group and the remainder of the caucus continues to grow.
Rep. Moore is a member of WFP, as well as State Rep. Madinah Wilson-Anton (D-Newark), who believes Rep. Moore’s removal from the committee was undoubtedly political.
“For Rep. Williams to say that Rep. Moore introduced an amendment improperly is also factually false because she didn’t introduce an amendment. So what are we even talking about? She also wasn’t present the day that we voted on the bill. So you can’t even say that she voted no on a bill because it impacts her personally. She wasn’t present. She didn’t lobby members to support it or not support it or lobby members to introduce an amendment. She did none of that. So to me, what I see is political actors in the speaker and Chair Williams choosing to try to justify actions that they’ve decided to make that are not just and that’s why it’s so confusing. I’ve had members of the public — I’ve had a lot of folks reach out to me in the last couple of days asking, what is this really about? Because it’s clear that it’s not about licensure,” Rep. Wilson-Anton added.
Kids, here’s the real reason:
“What’s disappointing is the expectations of members of the progressive wing of the caucus are completely different than the expectations for the rest of the members. We’re treated as if we’re not equal members of the caucus. We’re not seen as valuable members of the caucus. And I think the way that Rep. Williams has conducted herself when it comes to universal school meals is the perfect example of that double standard,” Rep. Wilson-Anton said.
There’s so much more. I, for one, am glad that it’s finally out in the open.
Y’know, this piece stands on its own. Feel free to comment on this, or on anything else that might ordinarily find its way into an Open Thread. Oh, and, yes, you can talk about that bill the Speaker has introduced which is far more blatant in protecting practitioners in her own profession of nursing than anything that has ever been suggested by Rep. Moore. Seriously, ‘We’ll give you three violations before we make anything public?’ How is that in the public interest?
What do you want to talk about?