Consulting is Not Policing

Consulting is Not Policing

We've been talking for a few weeks now about former Philadelphia Chief of Police Charles Ramsey providing consulting services to the WPD. The NJ provides some detail on his $16,000/month contract -- namely, that there is a very ill-defined SOW for Ramsey's services, and that one of his Deputies from Philly is means to be on the ground here working. Working on what is still the question -- which is the question for all of the consultants that the Williams Administration has hired for the WPD.

In Which the Western Sussex Republican Club Gets Its Comeuppance

It's definitely political season and it's time to watch some of the local GOP dust off and exercise their resentments. They do this, of course, because they can't figure out how to connect with enough voters to actually govern. They also do it because they think that their resentments and bigotries are somehow supposed to entitle them to run the world. The latest local exercise in GOP bigotry was directed at Sarah McBride, who recently endorsed Bryon Short for the US House seat being vacated byJohn Carney. The Western Sussex Republican Club responded to Sarah's Facebook announcement by reposting it with a snide and hateful comment, with a screen shot shown below. Sarah had losts of people supporting her after this stupid bit of business was posted, including a quick (but deleted) comment from John Fluharty who observed that stuff like this is why the GOP can't win. The Western Sussex Republican Club has deleted its post, so the comments opposing them are gone. But both Sean Barney and Bryan Townsend took to Twitter to stand with Sarah and to denounce this hateful business. Note to the GOP -- this stuff may speak to somebody, but this is not the stuff of electoral coalitions. Not in Delaware, it isn't.
UPDATED: NCCo President Chris Bullock Not Running for a Second Term?

UPDATED: NCCo President Chris Bullock Not Running for a Second Term?

That's what my sources tell me this evening. I talked to a couple of typically excellent sources this evening who tell me that NCCo President Chris Bullock will not run for a second term. A variety of reasons were offered, not the least of which is that his church is experiencing some turmoil and he wants to address that full time. According to these same sources, NCCo Rep Penrose Hollins would run for NCCo President. If so, I'd say it's about damned time. Announcements from both men are expected as early as tomorrow.
Watching Mayor Williams Get Played By His Own “Take Credit for These Ideas” Strategy

Watching Mayor Williams Get Played By His Own “Take Credit for These Ideas” Strategy

I've been following the news from my Holiday Location and it is looking like Mayor Dennis Williams is being hung by his own “We’re Not Going to Let This Commission Take Credit for These Ideas” strategy in his effort to push back against having to live with the accountability (and potentially some consequences) that would come with a grant being provided by the Joint Finance Committee to help the City pay for foot patrols. You'll recall that the Williams Administration's response to the Wilmington Public Safety Strategies Commission report was to claim that they had already implemented most of the recommendations made -- with the help of the VRN folks, not the Governor. There is wide skepticism about this claim that they've implemented most of those recommendations -- especially from me -- and the JFC looking to send the Police Foundation back into the WPD to check on progress is an excellent accountability measure. And if I am Mayor Dennis Williams with a re-election hanging in the balance because he is widely seen as utterly ineffective in managing the crime problem (in spite of campaign promises) -- it would be Good News all the way around if one of the Commission's consultants could say that progress is actually being made as promised.
In Which We Find That Bud Freel Was Right

In Which We Find That Bud Freel Was Right

So jump to now, where we discover that the WFD is 6 months into its budget and $300,000 over its overtime budget for the year. What does that mean? It means that the rolling company shutdowns are back as a cost cutting measure AND both Goode and Williams are now quite open to eliminating those vacant positions: The higher-than-average overtime cost was blamed on five vacancies in the department and coverage for personnel out because of injury or extended sick leave. As a result, Goode said one of the city's fire companies will regularly be shut down on a rotating basis to offset the costs and he could move to eliminate a handful of vacant positions in the agency. [...]
Guest Post: Presents from Robbie

Guest Post: Presents from Robbie

This was first posted to Facebook by Jim Westhoff, whose family (featuring the amazing Robbie) started this Secret Santa effort last year.  I've posted the entire text of Jim's post…
The Clowning of Wilmington

The Clowning of Wilmington

The ABC network is going to take up the label that Newsweek slapped Wilmington with to create a new TV show called "Murder Town". It will be set in Wilmington, and be a legal drama. You can read about all of that in the NJ article. Hollywoodizing Wilmington and its troubles won't help those here that actually need some help and add to that a bunch of people who don't live here getting ready to profit from Wilmington's issues who probably won't be investing here. Still. The most appalling part of this article is this:
Sussex County GOP Purity Caucus Doesn’t Believe in Free Speech, Thought or Discourse

Sussex County GOP Purity Caucus Doesn’t Believe in Free Speech, Thought or Discourse

Frank Knotts is a blogger over at DelawareRight -- he previously blogged at DelawarePolitics until he was largely ostracized from there. I don't agree with Frank over much (and have never met him, either), but he's been the target of some really despicable actions by members of his party who don't much like what he has to say about them, their views or political actions. Today, I am calling attention to the fact that 3 Sussex GOP members have decided to sue Frank -- a blogger -- for defamation. Just go here to see the letter.
EDIT: City of Wilmington Mayoral Cattle Call — Announcement Season Edition 2015

EDIT: City of Wilmington Mayoral Cattle Call — Announcement Season Edition 2015

This is the first Cattle Call I've written for the Wilmington Mayor's race, even though there has been a fair amount of public positioning and "listening" going on among potential candidates. My work has taken up way too much of my time over the past several months, but it is well past time to start thinking about the folks who say they are running and who are "thinking" of running. What is interesting right now, is that so very many candidates are declaring and are circling around declaring for what would be Mayor Dennis Williams' second term. This is a field that you would expect to see when a politician is term-limited out and the field is open, OR you would see this kind of field when the incumbent is widely seen as incredibly weak and mostly a failure. There's been a rush of candidates declaring recently, so let's take a look at the field so we can talk about this again come the New Year.

John Kasich Shows How They Think They’ll Get Away With Cutting Social Security

Watch this clip of Kasich speaking about Social Security at an interview in New Hampshire recently: Got that? Kasich asks the audience if they even know what their benefit is going to be when they retire. Then he asks if people would be bothered by a smaller benefit in order to save the program. Did you see what he did here? By trying to show that people don't even know what their SS benefits are, he asks this audience if they would take less of this unknown for the health of the program. The person who would be bothered by a lesser benefit is then told that "they'll get over it".

Join the Wilmington Parent Advocacy Council for Education

If you live in Wilmington and are a parent, grandparent, foster parent, guardian, primary caregiver, student or just plain concerned community member -- this is a newly formed group that is going to advocate for better equity, access and educational opportunity for Wilmington kids. From the brochure:
The PACE Network joins adults, youth and educators together to imagine, create and advocate for equity, access and more effective learning in schools and community places. The Vision is to ensure all Wilmington youth safely attend quality early learning programs, read on level by 3rd grade, excel in reading, math, science, social studies, technology, arts, sports, extracurricular activities and graduate high school prepared for college/career success. The PACE Network aims to shape a unified voice to advocate for Wilmington students. Families and city residents play a critical role in our children’s education. Network membership is open to parents, grandparents, community members, guardians, foster parents, educators in early care, pre-schools, districts and charter schools enrolling Wilmington students.