General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show: Wednesday, April 6, 2022

I doubted that anybody would vote against the Ft. DuPont/Delaware City ‘Charter Change’ in the House.  I was correct.  Perhaps this is the time to call out ‘Mimi’ Minor-Brown.  Representative, the official reorganization of the Delaware Democratic committees should be completed by May. At that point, you, not Valerie Longhurst, will represent the residents of Delaware City and Ft. DuPont. So far, you have voted with Longhurst on every single bill concerning Ft. DuPont.  Do you intend to stand up for the residents once they are your constituents?  Do you actually support what Val and Nicole have done there? Or are you afraid to cross Val?  You know the answers, your constituents-to-be don’t.  Time for some answers.

This is also the time to point out that Schwartzkopf and Longhurst have run the caucus through intimidation and fear. For more than 12 years now. It is their operating principle.  If you don’t line up with them, they will cut out your legs and make an example of you for all to see.  Which is what they did with Kowalko and Baumbach. ‘You see what happens if you cross us? You’d better not cross us.’  My experience with the General Assembly only dates back to 1982, so I can’t speak to what happened before.  However, during the last 40 years, this kind of leadership is unprecedented.  Unlike any leadership style I’ve ever seen. Simply put, these are not good people.  For them, it’s power for the sake of power. And for the police and for whatever scheme Val is cooking up.  A no-show job here, an unfathomable boondoggle there. Not to mention, there’s a reason that she’s the prime sponsor of virtually every major bill that comes through the House.  Because she demands it.  Even cabinet secretaries bow to her requirements.  More later in this very column.

Here is yesterday’s Session Activity Report.  Somebody, I don’t know who (the print was small), has been actively lobbying against SB 231 (Gay), which passed the Senate yesterday by a bare minimum 11 Y, 8 N, 2 NV.  I got a bunch of pop-up ads about it on my desktop yesterday.  No info, just contact your legislators to vote against it.  The one D no vote was Darius Brown (campaign contribution forthcoming? already delivered?), the two D’s who went not voting were Ennis and Mantzavinos.  Does anybody have the back-story on this?  BTW, Spiros is who we thought he was–a Chamber D, the Senate’s answer to Bill Bush. The D’s can do better in that district.

The Senate has a brief Agenda today—one bill and probably some nominations.

Otherwise, it’s an all-committee day.  Lowlighted, of course, by Val ‘n Nicole’s clusterbleep of a bill designed to funnel state money to the Ft. DuPont stinkhole perhaps forever.  HB 355, which, of course, has been placed in the House Administration Committee chaired by, you guessed it, purports to ‘fortify the Declaration of Purpose for the Fort DuPont Complex’.  What it does is add two separate cash cows to the Board, including the FOIA-exempt Director Of The Prosperity Partnership (BTW, I wonder how much money God told them to hand over to Amazon for that Seaford warehouse…), and, wait for it, both chairs of the Bond Bill Committee, including Val’s partner in corruption, Sen. Nicole Poore.

The bill also did away with community representation on the Board.  That proved to be too blatant for, well, at least someone, so Val has added a lipstick-on-a-pig amendment.  Here’s the operative language:

Finally the appointees by the Speaker of the House and the Senate President Pro Tempore are directed to be a resident of Fort DuPont and of Delaware City respectively.

Got that? Speaker Pete will appoint whomever Val wants.  Even if Dave Sokola nominates a community activist like, say, Erica Lindsey, the Board will be overwhelmingly driven by Delaware Way insiders. Like it already is, only with fewer of those ‘annoying’ residents having any say on the project.

Here’s the deal, though: The real problem with this bill is that it provides a virtually unlimited supply of state funds for seemingly forever for a project that should already be self-sufficient. The corruption and ethical bankruptcy that have been the hallmarks of this enterprise from the beginning will continue apace unless somebody stands up to Val and Nicole.  I doubt that it will happen in the House.  But the Senate has the power to either stop the bill or, failing that, require an independent audit of the project from the very beginning right up until the present, and to make any funding contingent upon said audit demonstrating that the money has been spent properly. No, this audit must not be conducted by the State Auditor, who is not only under indictment, but was of course endorsed by Val Longhurst. The money to pay for the audit can come right out of the state auditor’s line, or, better yet, from the slush fund of money currently available to the Ft. DuPont Board.  Maybe the Controller General can be tasked with identifying a suitable firm to conduct the audit.

BTW, did I mention that Val Longhurst gets to grab any bill she wants for herself?  She’s the prime sponsor (the only prime sponsor) on the $300 giveaway bill, also in her very own House Administration Committee.  Anybody think the idea was hers, and hers alone?

Other House Committee highlights:

SS2/SB 1 (McBride), aka the Paid Medical And Family Leave Act. It remains to be seen whether the Chamber (aka Bill Bush) tries to weaken the bill. Health & Human Development.

HB 333 (Bennett).  Something to do with making the declawing of cats a crime.  Mentioned only because, if the House leadership wasn’t corrupt, Andria Bennett would be relegated to her sinecure with the City of Dover, and would no longer be a legislator.  She voted for them for leadership, though, so she’s still there.

HB 380 (Griffith) provides for a student repayment loan plan for new attorneys who choose to serve in the public sector. Judiciary.

HB 326 (Postles).  In case you’re wondering what the Rethugs do in place of legitimate legislating, it’s stuff like this:

This Act creates the Delaware Education Right to Know Act to give parents, guardians, and other education stakeholders more information and opportunities to evaluate public and charter school education in Delaware and to express concerns to school officials.

WTF does that actually mean?  We know, of course. Just designed to gum up the works of public education.  Remember, kids, the less-educated the citizenry, the more likely they are to vote for Rethugs. Education.

Today’s Senate Committee highlights:

SB 253 (S. McBride) ‘provides flexibility for nursing and assisted living facilities to make hiring decisions contingent on staff influenza vaccination status.’  Because, believe it or not, current law prohibits facilities from requiring influenza vaccines. Who dreamed that up? Yrene Waldron?  Health & Social Services.

SS1/SB 4 (Sturgeon) ‘requires the Department of Education (Department) to maintain and publish a list of evidence-based, reading instruction curricula for grades kindergarten through 3. Each curriculum on this list must align with the essential components of literacy, known as the “science of reading” and use high-quality instructional materials.  Education.

Pshew.  Sorry I didn’t get this done in time for the first committee meetings.  Wednesday morning is PT for my hip replacement (working hard to be able to go out and knock doors soon), and, on rare occasion, I tend to be a tad long-winded.

Back tomorrow.  We’ll see what Val tries to rush through the House then.