News-Journal FINALLY Wakes Up To Ft. DuPont Boondoggle
9 years too late. Maybe someone, anyone, from the News-Journal could have read our coverage dating back to 2014? I’ll only link to one article this time. You can find the others.
While a lot of the skulduggery is omitted, this is a great look into what happens when the Delaware Way, especially Jack Markell, gets behind a money pit. Nothing, including laws and regulations, can get in its way.
My favorite lines from the article?:
“DNREC declined interview requests with DNREC Secretary Shawn Garvin, who sits on the board of directors, and Parks and Recreation Director Ray Bivens.”
“Longhurst declined an interview request.”
Cowards.
If I were Rep. Minor-Brown, who has inherited this scandal-plagued project from Our PAL Val, I’d try to call a halt to this project until/unless a proper accounting is provided. Including required testimony from all the cowards who have denied interview requests.
To members of the General Assembly: What more will it take to shut off the money spigot?
To our new State Auditor: Investigate the use of state money in this project.
To the News-Journal: Better late than never, I guess. Keep it up. BTW, you might want to stop by here to read DL every now and then. You could learn something.
Seems the fix is in for the developers, and in this case their evil compatriots in the government as well. Seen it all on Long Island, the results here will be similar with time. Smyrna is well on the way to being Middletown, and so is Milford, Milton and other assorted used to be nowhere towns. Same for filling up with out of staters, said out of staters are not Republicans and not conservative for the most part. Look for this changing demographic to put the Republicans even further towards irrelevant. See? A bright side to everything.
I thought the article did a real good job of detailing Markell’s outsized role in this. Also, Colin O’Mara’s.
Interesting how this was in the NJ AFTER they stopped allowing comments on their site.
Also interesting that most of the “new” photos for the story were taken in May of last year. So the story has been in the works for at least 9 months.
It ALSO would have been nice had the story been published prior to the passage of yet another blatantly-corrupt gift to the project in January’s mini-bond bill:
Section 187. Redevelopment of Strategic Sites (Fort DuPont). Notwithstanding the provisions of any other state law to the contrary, the Fort DuPont Redevelopment and Preservation Corporation is authorized to utilize funds appropriated under 83 Del. Laws c. 56 and the Section 1 Addendum of this Act for capital projects sitewide
which are ready to proceed.
Yes, the term ‘(n)otwithstanding the provisions of any other state law to the contrary’ means exactly what you think it does.
I TOLD you not to get me started. Let us not forget what happened last June, which was at least a month after the photos were taken:
“Sen. Nicole Poore and Rep. Heffernan, now firmly ensconced in their dual roles as members of the Ft. DuPont Board AND co-chairs of the Bond Bill Committee, gifted their Board yet another $2,250,000 from the public coffers. What they’ve done is blatantly unethical, but too many legislators have their own special ‘projects’.
You can read all about those other projects right here:
https://delawareliberal.net/2022/06/30/general-assembly-post-game-wrap-up-pre-game-show-thurs-june-30-2022/
In other words, belatedly a nice piece of journalism from the NJ but they’ve still got a hell of a lot of catching up to do to keep up with DL.
Delaware Call shout there in the NJ piece. 😁
I suppose it’s an inconvenient truth that it was a Rethuglican legislator, who had rigged bids at DSU, who resigned and got the job of handing out $$’s at Ft. DuPont–WITH the enthusiastic endorsement by the Rethuglican State Auditor who buried the unlawful actions of Dick Cathcart, the Rethuglican legislator in question.
Progressives, by and large, have been blowing the whistle on these corrupt officials in Delaware, whether they be D’s and R’s.
Sorry it doesn’t fit well with your fact-challenged meme.