Have Developers Already Corrupted New NCC Council Members?

Filed in Delaware, Featured by on November 20, 2022

By ‘developers’, I mean Larry Tarabicos, who is to New Castle County what Bobby Byrd is to Dover.  A lobbyist whose campaign $$’s buy legislators.  To the detriment of constituents.

Here is how Tarabicos bills himself:

As the founding partner of Tarabicos Grosso, Larry represents many of the largest land developers, builders, and investors in the region in connection with their projects in Delaware. Some of the more prominent projects Larry is currently working on, or has worked on in the past, include: state-of-the-industry mixed-use development projects at Avenue North, Concord Plaza, Linden Hill Station, Barley Mill Plaza, and the Town of Whitehall; the campus expansion at Goldey-Beacom College; numerous residential communities, including Rothwell Estates, Ponds of Odessa, Village of Long Creek, the Village of Eastridge, Greenhill Estates, Brennan Estates, and Stonewold; numerous age-restricted 55 and older communities, including Village of Rocky Run, Little Falls Village, and Milltown Village; Christiana Mall development, redevelopment, and expansion; Christiana Retail Center; Governors Square; Apex Office Building; Hockessin Athletic Club; and development and financing of the Odyssey Charter School campus.

Now, try not to throw up when you click on this link:

George.Toole Invitation

Got that?  The contributions are to go directly to the campaign treasuries of Brandon Toole and Valerie George. From, and solicited by, the developer community.  Bundled by the developers’ fixer, Larry Tarabicos.  Should either Toole or George accept even a penny from these people, they have abandoned any claim they might have for serving the public in an ethical manner.

To Brandon Toole and Valerie George: You MUST immediately refuse to accept contributions from the developers you’re supposed to oversee and regulate. You must immediately separate yourselves from this blatant attempt by the developer community to bribe you.  We’re not letting go of this.  Come on here, or somewhere, and tell the public that you’re not for sale.  If this event takes place, you will have proven that, not only are you for sale, but you’ve already been bought.

To All County Council Members And Smarmy Matt: Donations from developers should be illegal.  They’re buying development. It’s certainly unethical.  From now on, we will be looking very closely at your campaign reports, and, we’ll be calling you out.  In fact, if you ran this year, I’ll be going over those reports this week.

You’ve all been warned.

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  1. paul says:

    Until private money is excluded from politics, we will be using a pint pail against a 3 foot hole in the bottom of our political boat.

  2. Started my inventory of NCC Council finance reports. Durham, Carter and Kilpatrick look pristine. Penrose Hollins’ report is LOUSY with developer money. Developers, contractors, relatives of developers, development lawyers. No opponent. Consider him bought and paid for.

    Valerie George is relatively clean. A couple of names I don’t like, but no real developer interests.

    Brandon Toole was OK thru the primary, but collected from both Larry Tarabicos and his firm for the General in the 30 day, and way too many development $$’s in the 8-day.

    Brandon–remember who helped you win that primary. DON’T SELL OUT.

    We’ll be watching.

  3. Need I point out that both George and Toole have been elected to 4-year terms?

    Tarabicos didn’t even have the sense to wait until, say, 2025, to bribe them. (Hey, he’s got projects to get through, meaning, he needs to bribe them NOW.)

    Only question is, will Toole and George have the decency to spurn the bribes?

  4. Whoa! Been doing a deep dive into the campaign finance reports of NCC County Council members.

    With very few, and I mean, VERY few exceptions, they’ve been bought by the development community–the same people who come before Council to get approval for their projects.

    I’ll post more once I’ve gone back a little more. But, virtually ALL council members, if you go back far enough, owe the solvency of their campaign coffers almost exclusively to the development community.

    BTW, it’s easy to dig this stuff up. It’s right there on the Department of Elections reports page. A reporter wouldn’t even require gas money to find out. Yet, nobody has. Until now.