How Nicole ‘No Longer’ Poore Became Poor No Longer

I’ve been writing about the blatant conflicts-of-interest of Nicole Poore and ‘Our PAL’ Val Longhurst for, like, forever.  Here, for example (2017).  And here.  And here. And here.  And here. And here (2018).

There has been next-to-no coverage of the exploits of these two ethically-bankrupt public officials.  Or, there had been little coverage until it turned out that Longhurst had vanished from her PAL sinecure along with a whole lot of public money.  Not gonna lie, it’s been frustrating to me since it should have been long clear that they had crossed ethical lines, even for Delaware politicos.  Not to mention the blatant insiderism associated with the entire Delaware City Ft. DuPont debacle, which has similarly been ignored.  Yep, that, too was written in 2017.

Here we are in April of 2026, and look what just surfaced:

When Jobs for Delaware Graduates was seeking a new executive director in 2014, the agency wanted someone with a master’s degree who had worked in public education, had managed at a nonprofit, and could build relationships with state legislators.

Having connections with lawmakers was critical for the nonprofit that relies almost solely on state funding to help students overcome barriers and pursue academic, career, personal and social success.

JDG, as the agency is known, didn’t hire a leader with an advanced degree or experience in K-12 schools, though.

The agency did, however, hire someone with the strongest of connections to the General Assembly.

JDG chose an actual legislator — first-term state Sen. Nicole Poore.

Poore had only a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice and had never worked in education. Instead, she’d held managerial jobs in the health care industry and corporate worlds, with six months at a nonprofit children’s health care facility.

But the Democrat checked perhaps the biggest qualification box for JDG — the ability to network with government officials who control the state’s purse strings.

Since joining JDG, Poore has been re-elected three times by voters in her Bear-area district. She’s been Senate majority whip and majority leader, and sat on the two so-called “money committees” that oversee how the state spends its $7 billion operating budget and billions of dollars in major construction projects.

As Poore’s clout and tenure in the Senate have grown, tens of millions of dollars have flowed from the state treasury to her agency.

WHYY News, which reviewed state contracts, bid documents and payment data for more than a decade, found that in fiscal year 2025, JDG’s taxpayer dollars came from:

• An annual payment of exactly $1,395,197 from fellow lawmakers that’s among the top few stipends in the Grant-in-Aid bill to nonprofits and volunteer fire companies. In 2017 and 2018, Poore was on the Joint Finance Committee that allocated Grant-in-Aid money to her agency.
• Contracts worth about $2.7 million with schools and three state departments: Education, Health and Social Services, and Services for Children, Youth & Their Families. Some contracts haven’t required bidding against other vendors. Poore sits on the Senate Education and Health and Social Services committees.

• A contract that paid JDG nearly $500,000 with the Department of Labor and its affiliate, the Delaware Workforce Development Board that has Poore as a member.

Yes she’s unethical.  Yes, I’m glad that Cris Barrish has written this story.  Somebody (other than me, apparently) should have written the story back in 2017.

BTW, if you closely read Chris’ story, you’ll note the name of another legislator soon to appear in a story along similar lines.  A legislator who was on Joint Finance/Grants-In-Aid  Committee when their agency received state funding for the very first time.  Right after they got the job heading that agency.  I’ll say it right now–that was no coincidence, that was Delaware Way corruption.