The Vote Tracker, January 23, 2015

The Vote Tracker is a joint project between Delaware Liberal and the Progressive Democrats for Delaware (PDD). Each week we will be keeping track of how our General Assembly votes on bills of progressive or liberal interest.

Now, this chart does not follow all the legislation that has been filed. We don’t report on perfunctory bills, nor do we follow the progress of judicial nominations, executive nominations, or Concurrent or Joint Resolutions unless they are a matter of controversy. So the legislation that is listed is a matter of concern and priority for those of us on the liberal / progressive side of the aisle. I review every piece of legislation as it is filed, and if I miss something, Senators and Representatives on our side of the aisle usually call me out on it, so if I miss something it won’t be missed for long.

As you can see below, and with all due respect to the legislators who have already introduced and are working on those House or Senate Bills, nothing really of note has been introduced yet, save the listed legislation below. You’ll note that the Alex Pires Banking Bill has already cleared the House. It pays to know the Speaker. Here is what El Som had to say on this bill earlier in the week:

Perhaps this is the week that Alex Pires gets his customized banking legislation passed. If not, then next week will be the week It’s already passed the House unanimously. As Nancy Willing pointed out, this bill was introduced at the behest of Alex Pires, and it will only benefit Pires’ bank. The article further points out that this may not be the first time that Pires has had undue influence on the General Assembly. Let me state the obvious: If you or I were disadvantaged by some ‘arcane’ statute, do you think we could get the Speaker to sponsor it, fast-track it, and get it through the General Assembly within a week or two? And just because the Bank Commissioner, who largely does the bidding of the banks, says it’s ‘arcane’, is it really arcane? Or is it merely an impediment to a connected businessman who wants to write his own rules and get the Speaker to sponsor them? Whether the bill deserves passage on its merits is hardly the point. The point is that representative government does not represent most of us. But it DOES represent people with lots of clout, regardless of how they accumulated it. Which is why Alex Pires will get his banking bill.

Meanwhile, Jason’s favorite Delaware writer, Celia Cohen, has some interesting demographic stats on our new General Assembly.

The geographical divide is stark:

Statewide
Senate: 12 Democrats, 9 Republicans
House: 25 Democrats, 16 Republicans

Wilmington
Senate: 3 Democrats, 0 Republicans
House: 4 Democrats, 0 Republicans

Suburban New Castle County
Senate: 7 Democrats, 2 Republicans
House: 16 Democrats, 4 Republicans

Kent County
Senate: 2 Democrats, 2 Republicans
House: 4 Democrats, 4 Republicans

Sussex County
Senate: 0 Democrats, 5 Republicans
House: 1 Democrat, 8 Republicans

According to Celia, the longest serving legislator is Senator Harris McDowell, who was elected the fracking year I was born… 1976. That means he has been serving for at least 38 years. Then there is a huge 20 year gap between the next longest serving legislator, with Representative Debbie Hudson and Senator Colin Bonini being elected in 1994, which is 20 years ago.

The oldest member is Senator Bruce Ennis at 75. The youngest member is Representative Sean Matthews at 28. The generational gap in the General Assembly is also large. The Silent Generation (1925-45)(9) and the Baby Boom Generation (1946-1964)(35) have 44 total members; while Generation X (1965-1980)(15) and the Millennials (1981-2000)(3) only have 18 members.