Comment Rescue: El Somnambulo on HB1, Cook and Larson
The following is a public service announcement from El Somnambulo:
Speaking of fiscal notes and Sen. Cook, there is no doubt in the mind of the Beast Who Slumbers that it was Nancy Cook who sought a ‘killer fiscal note’ to derail HB 1.
Cook’s domain is the Controller General’s Office. Her modus operandi on the JFC for years has been cutting fiscal deals in JFC Executive Sessions, a way of life that would be jeapordized by HB 1. She is as anti-reform as they come, and she is a close ally of Uncle Thurm.
Finally, there is a couch in Controller General Russ Larson’s office, and Cook’s not-insubstantial buttocks (El Somnambulo is a master of understatement) perfectly match the permanent imprints in the cushion.
In order to defeat your enemy, you must know who it is. This message has been brought to you by El Somnambulo as a public service. Use this information wisely.
Oh, and if Russ Larson and Sen. Cook are really serious about fiscal responsibility, all they have to do is head across the hall from the Controller General’s office to Legislative Council, which is staffed primarily by long-time cronies of Sen. Cook’s. On most days, their most strenuous activity is to play solitaire on the computer. Either get one of them to actually do some work, or excise the dead weight, and you can more than afford the phony cost to carry out HB 1.
If Markell’s election has broken up the Delaware Way, why, as Somnabulo points out, are the appointments of the ‘hack’ jobs still given to the Minner loyalists?
I think Markell’s journey through the still-entrenched DE WAY members will mirror Guiliani’s fight against the Mafia of Brooklyn and Manhattan. He may win, but they’re going to fight hard against him.
1) The Controller General is appointed?
2) Somnabulo is El Rey del universo.
1) The Controller General is appointed?
The ever-helpful kavips has the answer.
I admit that FOIA requests are labor intensive — but it does seem to me that (at least to start) the GA does not need a separate infrastructure to do this. There are legislative aides and this Legislative Council — is this full time staff supporting a part time legislature? If so, there isn’t much reason for this pool of people to get the FOIA party started. Call it a test of the fiscal note.
These legislators also need to be aware that their constituents are all being faced with requirements to do more with no additional pay or support. These same legislators need to acknowledge that and not stand on their perks or the need to be sure that people in Leg Hall get an 8 hour day.
Cook is Jim Vaughn Part II. I don;t think we can afford the Copeland plan. Father Time is 100% effective, but not very efficient.
The answer to Reis’ question is that the General Assembly determines who gets hired in the Controller General’s office and Legislative Council. The Governor has nothing to do with those appointments. And Reis is right, this is the Delaware Way at its worst,
And it is the leadership of the General Assembly that comprises the committee that makes the appointments. That is, with one notable exception. Instead of the Senate Majority Whip, the third Senate D is the Chair of JFC, not so coincidentally, one Nancy Cook.
I’m crying crocodile tears for the extra work that the GA will have to do to comply with FOIA. Transparency is a service that should be provided by every government. Have they even explored ways of making things easier – like providing documents online so that people don’t have to ask for them? What about broadcasting legislative sessions?
So, I heard an interview with Larson on Loudell’s afternoon drive yesterday. He said there was a fiscal note (F/N) attached to last GA’s SB4. I went out and looked (use the link) and lo and behold, a fiscal note is notated on the page. Guess what, kids? You can’t navigate to that fiscal note. I tried, but couldn’t find it anywhere.
If anyone has any ability to dig up that corpse (since the bill died in committee last July…btw, check out the last amendment Adams put on that baby on JULY 1), it would be interesting to see how that fiscal note compares to this one and when it was applied.
This is all very interesting.
At some point the GA set up this thing called the “Controller General’s office” so they could get a ready made second opinion or the appearance of objectivity. Pretty slick.
er,..our GA didn’t ‘create’ CG’s office for nefarious ends even as they may use it for such.
There is no need whatsoever for that office. Assuming $300 million in budget cuts are needed, I see the first thing that could go. See you on the unemployment line, Mr. Larson.
Beyond that, where are the expenses involved in applying FOIA to the GA? They don’t deal in hundred-page documents. What we’re mainly looking for is access to JFC meetings — sorry, no more “executive session” — and the ability to find out how much of our money they’re wasting on trips, etc.
BTW, don’t count on Father Time to reduce the Cook influence. She’s been grooming her son to succeed her for years. The seat has been in the Cook family since, I have been told, 1948.
If you’re gonna have independent legislative and executive branches, you NEED something like the CG’s office. Otherwise, you are reduced to accepting whatever the Governor tells you as Gospel.
There are, IESHO, a couple of problems with how the Office works.
First, while there are several excellent analysts there capable of independent thought, there are also a few who basically regurgitate talking points from the agencies they are supposed to be analyzing.
Second, too few legislators avail themselves of the Office’s resources. They are either uninterested or unaware. In that sense, the CG’s office is an underutilized resource.
And, third, the corollary to #2, Nancy Cook and a few others view the CG’s office as their own personal staff. In that environment, analysts are more likely to craft favorable fiscal notes for those legislators who continuously peer over their shoulders. It’s just human nature.
BTW, don’t count on Father Time to reduce the Cook influence. She’s been grooming her son to succeed her for years. The seat has been in the Cook family since, I have been told, 1948.
Aye Carumba!
Underutilized? Maybe the Controller General can handle FOIA requests.
Geezer,
The expenses won’t come in reproduction of gigantic documents, but in the search time. Unless you have a single office responsible for searches, each legislative aide can take his or her good time in sorting through e-mails and files to get the stuff everyone wants… the correspondence to/from McDowell over Bluewater, any juicy political e-mails from Copeland accidentally sent from his state account, the travel records to the Virgin Islands, etc.
And when you consider that TNJ and DSN probably have had gigantic wish-list requests prepped and ready to go for the last year, to be filed the minute the bill goes into effect, and add in youse guys, John Flaherty, Dave Burris, the Chamber… it’s going to be a busy, busy job.
And a busy, busy job that needs doing.
Out in the real world, your employer either hires someone to do a job that needs doing or gets the folks that are already employed to get this done. With the latter choice being pretty much defacto these days. The GA can do the same thing — they do have staff as does the Controller General. No reason why these guys can’t join the ranks of the overworked too.
As rolls swell in the recession, workers find firms are contesting claims by alleging wrongdoing or quitting in a bid to not pay benefits.