DeLuca Escapes
So Senate President Pro Tem Anthony DeLuca has been cleared of the recent charges that he violated the federal Hatch Act that prohbits elected officials from exploiting government jobs for personal or political gain. Deluca says he is now completely exonerated for anything and everything he has ever done in life. He is ready for the Rapture tomorrow.
Still, a federal investigator said in a May 10 letter to DeLuca they did find “inconsistencies” between statements he and Department of Labor staff made and official records that suggest an anti-discrimination program reported to DeLuca during his first two years on the job.
DeLuca, D-Varlano, has faced intense criticism in recent months from fellow Democrats for his dual employment and how he wields his power in Legislative Hall. He said Thursday the letter “completely exonerated” him of any wrongdoing.
The letter did not say DeLuca is completely exonerated.
The Office of Special Counsel said it could find no direct evidence DeLuca had direct control of federal funds for a discrimination contract with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. If DeLuca had controlled federal funds, he could have been forced to choose between running for re-election in the 11th District next year or resigning from his $68,913-a-year job at the Department of Labor.
That’s not complete and total exoneration. That’s the federal government saying “You’re fucking lucky punk.” It means the Office of Special Counsel cannot prove it with direct evidence. It means DeLuca got away with it.
Gogan wrote, the inquiry “uncovered evidence that — to some extent — corroborated the complaint’s allegations,” such as conflicting job descriptions for DeLuca and organizational charts that suggested DeLuca was involved in discrimination investigations.
Hey, Anthony, come here. Listen close. Take this good fortune you have just received and go to Vegas. It is time for you to retire.
“That’s not complete and total exoneration. That’s the federal government saying “You’re fucking lucky punk.” It means the Office of Special Counsel cannot prove it with direct evidence. It means DeLuca got away with it.”
We probably haven’t heard the end of this story yet. The quotes from the letter in the paper don’t exactly ‘exonerate’ him from any/all wrong doing.
And he still got a $68K job for which he is totally unqualified, courtesy of Ruth Ann Minner, Tom Sharp and Mark Brainard.
At least now he’ll have even less to ‘do’ to ‘earn’ the money.
And here we go… Personal grudges are causing the mud to fly (courtesy of the shameless “writers” at DL.)
ElS, How in the world can you take yourself seriously when you consistently bash the SAME handful of people that EVERYONE knows you have a personal vendetta against?
Hey NoGrudge, why don’t you run back and tell this handful of people to stop misbehaving on the taxpayers dime so maybe they wouldn’t have to withstand the scrutiny of taxpayers who aren’t happy that these guys live in the shelter of the Delaware Way bubble.
EVERYONE knows? You did it in all caps, so it must be true.
I’ve written primarily about the Delaware Way for around 2 1/2 years now. The same handful of people that you reference are the same handful of people who represent the rot at the core of the Delaware Way.
Calling something a personal vendetta doesn’t change the facts about their behavior and about how they’ve mutually scratched each others’ backs at the taxpayers’ expense. I’ll keep harping at it until it no longer exists or until I stop blogging. Because I think the public needs to know what’s going on.
If you say that DeLuca is guilty even though there is no evidence of it and nobody can prove it, then can you tell us (a) What exactly do you say he ‘done’ and (b) what evidence do you have?
I read the news story. What the U.S. Department of Justice said, as I understood it, was that what DeLuca did IS NOT ILLEGAL. It wasn’t about a lack of evidence. It was that there is no law against what he did. As I understood it, he was simply administering two different programs at at the same time that some people think should not be comingled. I believe the DoJ determined that there is no law against it.
But if you have evidence that the DoJ doesn’t have, shouldn’t you share it with us, and the DoJ? What evidence do you have of wrongdoing by DeLuca?
I say DeLuca is guilty the same way I say O.J. Simpson is guilty. Legally, and technically, they are not guilty. But that does not ever mean they are both innocent.
First of all, Alan, nobody appreciates a suck-up. Let’s get that understood right up front. If you want to french-kiss Tony DeLuca you’ll have to elbow his secretary out of the way first.
Next, you should acknowledge that the offense to the people of Delaware is his hiring in the first place, not the potential Hatch Act violation. I don’t give a crap about him handling federal funds; I care very deeply that he was unqualified for the job he got, just as his political mentors have been unqualified for the jobs they have given each other.
Now to the gist of your comment.
“If you say that DeLuca is guilty even though there is no evidence of it”
You obviously didn’t read the story very well or thoroughly. It clearly stated there was plenty of evidence that the complaint was valid: “DeLuca’s job description, agency organizational charts, budget documents from the past six years and other documents also suggested DeLuca was supposed to be in charge of discrimination investigations.
“The federal investigation appears to have accepted the Department of Labor’s argument that despite the fact the Office of Labor Law Enforcement’s budget included the federal funds for discrimination investigations, DeLuca wasn’t really in charge of administering all programs his job description says he was.”
Your reading comprehension problems aside, that sounds like evidence to me.
“…and nobody can prove it…”
Before you get all giddy, remember that the DoJ office is now run by Charlie Oberly, nobody’s idea of an independent operator. He had years of experience ignoring political corruption as AG, so how surprised am I supposed to be that a Democrat AG won’t prosecute a high-powered Democrat in the General Assembly? I think that this would have been fairly easy to prove at trial.
“It wasn’t about a lack of evidence. It was that there is no law against what he did.”
You’ll have to show me where the story says that. I couldn’t find it. Further, the story states,
“To alleviate the problem, the Joint Finance Committee on Tuesday split DeLuca’s office funding from the Office of Anti-Discrimination, which existed only internally at the Department of Labor.”
If there was no problem with the arrangement, they wouldn’t have taken this step.
So, basically, Alan, take your Democratic Party morals (“it wasn’t against the law, therefore it isn’t immoral) and stand in line for sloppy seconds with your hero.
Alan, just to clarify. I’m not saying that he’s guilty, never have.
However, his getting a $68 K job courtesy of the Minner Administration displays the ethical bankruptcy at the core of the Delaware Way, as does his building his own Fortress of Solitude on the taxpayers’ dime.
However, in the world of his defenders, “Ethically-challenged, but technically not guilty’ appears to be an admirable epitaph. After all, it could well qualify as their own.
I beg to differ.
Charlie Oberle 1; Tony DeLuca 1; public 0
“Ethically-challenged, but technically not guilty’
Best second example of this lately was how Lee Ann Walling came to keep her job at DNREC.
A lawsuit decided by the State Merit Employee Board (appointees) allowed her to retain her job even though a significant amount of evidence presented showed that she was an appointed Minner stooge who was placed in John Hughes office as a Governor’s liaison with the expectation that her non-merit $100K + position would be eventually morphed into the highest paid merit employee position in the entire Dept.
Whereas most Government stooges get lateral movement into an institution of higher learning so they eventually can collect a fat pension, Lee Ann got the chance to practice her incompetence in continuing with the state agency of her choice.
[She’ll read this and challenge me in an email to prove she’s incompetent and threaten me with lawyer and libel suits, no doubt, since she’s done it before.]
Oh, BTW: The internet provides no evidence that any individual named “Alan Geskin” even exists.
He is guilty of double dipping. We need to get some double dipping laws passed. Why are we going to pay for two pensions? How many others are double dipping..plenty! Its an outrage and I hope Al and DL stay on it…its time to call a spade a spade.