Shoutout to Spotlight Delaware for reporting this positively delicious story:
The Police Athletic League of Delaware, a celebrated and taxpayer-funded nonprofit, is facing an upheaval after its prominent executive director – former House Speaker Valerie Longhurst – announced her resignation this month.
It is not immediately clear why Longhurst is leaving her post, but she does so just as the organization she had led for more than seven years faces a precarious financial future.
Two board members told Spotlight Delaware that the nonprofit’s cash reserves have dwindled recently, even after the group received a record $5 million from taxpayers in 2024, as well as hundreds of thousands more in 2025.
Exacerbating the financial precarity is the state’s decision last month to freeze more than $500,000 in additional grants that lawmakers awarded in June to the PAL of Delaware, as it is commonly known.
Rep. Kim Williams (D-Stanton), who serves as chair of the legislative committee that awarded a portion of the grants, said she pushed for a funding pause because of “inconsistent information,” provided by Longhurst to various Delaware officials regarding the amount of money the PAL had requested.
On July 15, Delaware’s Controller General Ruth Ann Miller sent Longhurst a letter stating that the PAL of Delaware needs to submit financial records to the state before any of the newly approved dollars could potentially be distributed.
Those records – some of which were delinquent – include copies of a recent audit, and of project-completion reports for nearly $4 million worth of taxpayer-funded construction going back to 2022.
The nonprofit also has been an integral piece of Delaware’s political landscape, with elected officials regularly making public appearances at its locations.
And, up until last year, it also was one of several prominent Delaware organizations led by a state lawmaker.
That ended last September when Longhurst – then among the most powerful politicians in Delaware – surprisingly lost her seat representing the Bear area to now-Rep. Kamela Smith, a Democrat, after just a year in the top spot for the House.
Though the PAL of Delaware may be facing a drought of private donations, it received substantial cash awards from the state, federal and county governments in recent years. Those include a $1.8 million federal subgrant award in 2024 that was distributed through then-Gov. John Carney’s office, according to Delaware’s Open Checkbook website.
When asked about Longhurst’s requests in recent months to elected officials for funding, Witmarsh said he has not spoken with her about that. But he noted that part of nonprofit work is “about leveraging your contacts and hoping they can help you do good work.”
Asked if her value as an executive director was her role as a legislator, Whitmarsh said, “For me, no.” (Fact Check: It was her only value as Executive Director–unless being delinquent in filing required reports was part of the job description.)
As long as we’re on the subject of Our PAL Val–somebody, somebody, must investigate the use of state funds for the Underground City At Fort duPont. Whether the State Auditor or the eventual Inspector General. I can’t imagine such an investigation not turning up graft and corruption, likely on a massive scale. No more hands-off when it comes to these public miscreants.