Just 5 of the 13 Wilmington City Council members appeared at Thursday’s meeting, which was called after Mayor John Carney vetoed a bill that would have prevented water shutoffs for households having a person with a disability, children under 5, or the elderly.
Wilmington’s rules state a veto must be overridden within 15 days, and Thursday, August 6 was the 15th and final day after the July 22 veto, killing the legislation.
The five members who appeared were Council President Trippi Congo, bill sponsor Shané Darby, along with fellow supporters Alex Hackett, Christian Willauer, and Coby Owens.
The other two people in support last month, Chris Johnson and Zanthia Oliver, were no-shows, with Council President Congo explicitly saying Oliver asked to be excused, but gave no reason for Johnson’s absence.
All five council members who voted against it last month, James Spadola, Maria Cabrera, Nate Field, Latisha Bracy, Michelle Harlee, had all asked to be excused, along with Yolanda McCoy, who was not at last month’s vote.
Their absences were all extra noteworthy, because Thursday’s meeting was a one-topic agenda, and Wilmington City Council allows for virtual participation in meetings.
Let me first state the obvious: Asking to be excused from a virtual meeting is no excuse. These people just don’t give a shit. Second–Yolanda McCoy, that name is familiar–ah, yes, she’s running for House District 3. What’s her campaign slogan–‘You Can Count On Her Not To Show Up For You’? It should be.
Legislative Leaders Sign Off On Newly-Created Surgeon General Position. While criticizing lack of communication from Governor’s Office:
Delaware’s top Democratic legislative leaders said Thursday they will approve Gov. Matt Meyer’s new surgeon general position, despite their concerns the role was created and filled with little transparency.
The position’s salary and benefits is expected to total $270,000 a year.
Meyer established the state-level surgeon general within the Delaware Department of Health and Social Services through an executive order last month. For the position, he tapped Neil Hockstein, an ear, nose and throat doctor who is also a close advisor and friend.
Senate President Pro Tempore David Sokola and House Speaker Melissa “Mimi” Minor-Brown said Thursday they agreed to support the new position, despite being blindsided by Meyer’s move and not getting a commitment from his office for more cooperation with lawmakers.
Sokola and Minor-Brown met Wednesday with Controller General Ruth Ann Miller and DHSS Secretary Christen Linke Young. No representative from Meyer’s office was present.
“The speaker and I conveyed concerns that the position was not discussed during the legislative budget process in May and June, only to be decreed by executive order, despite the responsibility of the legislature to reclassify the position before it could be created,” Sokola said in a statement.
Minor-Brown told WHYY News she had a great conversation with Young, but said she would like to see more transparency and collaboration from the administration.
When WHYY News asked the governor at a bill signing ceremony Thursday if his office could have worked with state lawmakers on creating this position, Meyer instead read from a statement on his phone that railed against President Donald Trump and U.S. Health and Human Service Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for “abandoning a commitment to science and medicine.”
It’s true: Meyer has a bad bedside manner–including when he doesn’t show up at the bedside.
Governor Signs John L. Lewis Voting Rights Act Into Law. The prime sponsors are two of my favorite legislators–Rep. Larry Lambert and Sen. Marie Pinkney:
Advocates and legislators lcheer following the signing of the John Lewis Voting Rights Act in Wilmington on Thursday. | SPOTLIGHT DELAWARE PHOTO BY JACOB OWENS
Delaware Gov. Matt Meyer signed legislation Thursday that ensures key protections from the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965 will be retained in the state, regardless of what may happen in the future.
In doing so, Delaware became the second state to write prohibitions against voter discrimination, voter suppression and vote dilution into state law following a landmark ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court in April that overturned parts of Section 2 of that pivotal civil rights legislation.
In the case Louisiana v. Callais, the Supreme Court ruled that considering race in Congressional redistricting was an illegal gerrymander. It further required that plaintiffs prove a state “intentionally” sought to gerrymander districts to diminish opportunities for minority voters, a high bar that experts believe could impact up to a dozen Congressional districts that have a majority of minority voters – typically in Republican-led states.
The NAACP, which advocated for the federal legislation more than 60 years ago, condemned the decision, calling it a “betrayal of Black people.”
While codifying protected rights already held by the national Voting Rights Act, the new state legislation also crucially specifies that intent does not have to be proved for future violations of electoral discrimination. It also empowers the state attorney general, along with individuals and organizations, to bring complaints against offending agencies or jurisdictions.
The bill creates a “democracy canon,” which instructs courts and officials that, when election laws are ambiguous, they should interpret them in favor of protecting voting access.
House Speaker Melissa Minor-Brown, who is the first Black woman to preside over Delaware’s lower chamber, noted that the protections afforded by the Voting Rights Act of 1965 are so recent that many residents remember the time before them.
“It’s only been 61 years since the federal government actually put a system in place that allowed Black Americans to register to vote,” she said in comments at the bill signing, held at the historic Shiloh Baptist Church in Wilmington. “So many sacrifices were made, and yet here we are in 2026 watching the Trump administration work to strip us of everything that our friends, our neighbors, our colleagues, our parents, our grandparents, and our great grandparents work hard for.”
You know what? I’m gonna end today’s Open Thread here. Something positive to help us face the day.
What do you want to talk about?
