Governor Jack Markell Inaugural Address

If you did not get a chance to hear or see Governor Jack Markell today give his inaugural address, it has been posted on the new Delaware.gov website in this section, and reprinted below. Governor Markell seems clear here about the magnitude of the financial difficulties we face and that there will be some pain in getting to a balanced budget. But he will be looking for opportunities in this period of crisis to lay some foundation for building towards a few important objectives — schools and industries for a 21st century economy. What do you think about the direction being set today? (ps. Has anyone noticed that Mike Mahaffie has a glorious photo on the banner of the new website?)

…Nearly a half-century ago, President John F. Kennedy declared: “Let the word go forth from this time and place that the torch has been passed to a new generation.”

That torch has been passed again, in a ritual that marks the constant renewal, reinvention, and revival of the spirit that has made America – and Delaware – great. It is a torch that continues to light our way, even in the darkest times.

From the beginning, progress for America has originated in Delaware. The ratification of the Constitution, establishing the greatest democracy the world has ever known, was led by our state. And today, our nation is led by President Barack Obama and by our new Vice President, Delaware’s own Joseph R. Biden, Jr.

Yesterday’s historic Inaugural marked the realization of change we truly can believe in. It reinforces our faith that America can still meet any challenge and that our best days do indeed lie ahead. This is the American creed… and Delaware has lit the way.

Marches and MLK Day

The NJ reports that Councilman Kevin Kelley, Councilman Sam Prado, Father Mike Tyson of St. Paul Church and Reverend Christopher Bullock, pastor of Canaan Baptist Church have organized a march…

Watching Delaware State Government with Requests

Or more precisely, the Legislature.

I’ve been looking at ways to keep track of what goes on in Dover, which means looking beyond the NJ.  The State’s website actually provides some useful tools that were new to me, so I thought I would share some of these for the (probably very few of you) who didn’t know, either (note, RSS links prompt you to add feed to a reader):

Classy

Obama will honor John McCain at a pre-Inaugural dinner -- one of three bipartisan dinners given that night in honor of McCain, Colin Powell and Joe Biden. Each dinner has…

Governor Minner’s Last Budget

Gov. Minner released her final budget today, recommending an operating budget total of $3.06 billion for FY10. This budget is a 8.9% decrease from FY10, but doesn’t close all of the projected $556.8 million revenue gap. This budget included $190 million worth of cuts leaving $366.8 million of additional cuts to close the projected gap to the incoming Administration and Legislature.

The NJ provides a summary of the proposal:

• $128.1 million by driving down mandated costs and discretionary spending: Reducing program expansions, delaying the addition of four state troopers in Sussex County, not authorizing several judgeships in the Judicial branch, not authorizing the addition of workers in the Attorney General’s office to handle increasing caseloads, no new school-based health centers or provider payment increases, reductions to mandated costs to Medicaid.

• $31.1 million from maximizing special funds: Reductions by $10 million each to the open-space and the farmland preservation funds. Movement of funds from Abandoned Property from Transportation to the General Fund.

• $30.8 million in base budget reductions: Eliminating 37 vacant positions, cutting pass-through funds by 15 percent, cutting the higher education budget by 3 percent and closing the Governor Bacon and Emily P. Bissell long-term nursing homes.

The work to close the FY10 budget gap is further complicated by the fact that the Legislature still needs to pare about $160 million in spending from the FY09 budget to close this year’s gap due to the financial meltdown.

Certainly this is going to be a very big job and once this is resolved, there will be massive cutbacks in the services provided by the state, probably across the board. Interestingly, Acting Office of Management and Budget Director Mike Jackson provides a way to visualize the magnitude of the cuts to come:

He said $556.8 million also could be covered by completely eliminating Health and Social Services, an agency that provides Medicaid, children’s health insurance and a long list of public assistance programs.

BoA Bailout Funds Update

The WSJ reports that BoA is close to getting its new bailout funding: Reeling from previously undisclosed losses from its Merrill Lynch & Co. acquisition, Bank of America Corp. is…

SB 7 — Eminent Domain

Senator Venables' bill is introduced and synopsized as follows: This Bill requires state, county, or municipal governments, or State agencies or other condemning entities to use their eminent domain authority…