General Assembly Pre-Game Show: Tues., June 9, 2015

General Assembly Pre-Game Show: Tues., June 9, 2015

The Biden viewing in Legislative Hall resulted in the cancellation of Thursday's legislation session. In fact, it's likely that legislative leaders spent much of Wednesday recalibrating scheduling plans for the rest of the month, due to the imminent loss of that Thursday session. This has thrown off the normal cicadian rhythms of session. And played with my head. Come inside to see what's on the agenda for today in the General Assembly, and you can catch me on today's Al Show from 10-12, where we'll no doubt toss around Delaware Dem's 2016 scenarios,  and lots more.
General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up & Pre-Game Show: Wednesday, June 3, 2015

General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up & Pre-Game Show: Wednesday, June 3, 2015

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The big news: Legislation decriminalizing possession of small amounts of marijuana for personal use passed the House Tuesday. Despite an amendment that weakened the bill, not a single 'small government' Rethug voted for the bill. BTW, the amendment sucks.  I can only guess that it was required to secure a sufficient number of votes to pass the bill.  Otherwise, it should not have seen the light of day.
Delaware General Assembly Pre-Game Show: Tuesday, June 2, 2015

Delaware General Assembly Pre-Game Show: Tuesday, June 2, 2015

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Let's not mince words. Not since 2009 has the General Assembly entered June with so much uncertainty and so much unfinished business.  I'd argue that it will even be a more difficult June than June of 2009. Back then, everyone recognized that Delaware, like virtually every other state, was suffering from an economic downturn.  The newly-minted governor was able to work with the General Assembly to craft a series of 'revenue-enhancers' to address the budget shortfall.  R's released just enough yes votes to enable bills to pass, in exchange for provisions sunsetting the revenue enhancers. Fast-forward six years.  This governor has lost a huge amount of political influence. So much so that his press flak has said that he'll watch what the General Assembly does, and not actively broker any settlements. He has, in particular, lost a lot of leverage with Democrats.  Some of this is inevitable.  Lame ducks almost never have much political capital to spend by Year 7.  Markell has also wasted political capital in ways that have earned him the enmity and distrust of D's in particular.  Whether it's the disaster of Race To the Top, his attempt to bypass the General Assembly while looking to get rid of the Port of Wilmington, his sabotage of a meaningful minimum wage bill, his inability to rally support for his gas tax increase, his cheerleading for charter schools, his refusal to consider any tax increase on his wealthy pals, and so much more, he is as close to feckless as any governor facing a budget shortfall can be. Except...he HAS, by Executive Order, created a panel to look at long-term changes to how Delaware funds government.  Unfortunately, Markell has chosen to place a vast majority of DINO's and Rethugs on the panel, ensuring that any recommendations it might make would not in any way address inequities in who pays what.  The good news: the ideas that are being put forward by this group are likely to be DOA. I mean, eliminate the estate tax? Really? These are not serious proposals except in a world where ALEC is king.
News Journal Finally Reports Walker Job…Leaves A Few Key Things Out.

News Journal Finally Reports Walker Job…Leaves A Few Key Things Out.

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Well, the story was broken here at DL, and it will remain an open question as to whether the so-called 'paper of record' would have even covered it if we hadn't. At least, they finally have covered it. The story, which is a good one, raises as many questions as it answers. Oh, and it leaves out one of the key elements of the whole stinkin' mess: Walker getting the job with an agency under the purview of the state police after carrying the cops' water in burying the death penalty bill in her committee. Under the approving eye of former state cop and current Speaker Pete Schwartzkopf. The questions revolve around how she got the job.  First, read these excerpts from the News-Journal article...
JFC Cuts Markell’s Bloated Education Budget for Bureaucrats

JFC Cuts Markell’s Bloated Education Budget for Bureaucrats

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Some real good news to start the Memorial Day weekend. Some of the cuts were to positions that had previously been funded by Race To The Top but are now transitioning to the state. They actually cut $3.75 mill in bloat:
The Joint Finance Committee voted to eliminate 10 controversial, high-paid positions in the Department of Education to find more than $1.5 million in savings as they continued to mark up Markell's $3.9 billion budget proposal. Lawmakers on the budget-writing committee also reduced funding for additional education initiatives, including teacher preparation programs, data analysis and recruitment efforts.
They almost did even more, as a proposal to cut an additional $2 mill in "additional funding related to Race to the Top failed by a 7-5 vote."
BREAKING: Ex-Legislator Rewarded For Burying Death Penalty Repeal Bill

BREAKING: Ex-Legislator Rewarded For Burying Death Penalty Repeal Bill

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Remember Rebecca Walker? She's the former chair of the House Judiciary Committee who buried the death penalty repeal bill in her committee for most of 2013 and all of 2014. Remember Rebecca Walker? She's the former legislator who claimed she was running for reelection in 2014, had actually filed, waited until after the filing deadline, then withdrew her name, thus denying the Democratic voters in her district the right to choose her successor via primary. Remember why Rebecca Walker claimed she withdrew? She said that her work would not enable her to continue to serve. As if she just found that out right after the filing deadline. Well, guess what 'good fortune' has been bestowed upon former State Rep. Rebecca Walker? If you guessed a $96K state job that required no public posting and which reunites her with her police pals with whom she scuttled death penalty repeal, you would be correct.
Delaware General Assembly Pre-Game Show: May 12-14, 2015

Delaware General Assembly Pre-Game Show: May 12-14, 2015

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That was quite the interesting little week. HB 50 passes overwhelmingly, Gov. Markell announces he will sign death penalty repeal legislation should it reach his desk, and the General Assembly apparently has come up with a sorta-gimmick to close at least some of the gap in infrastructure spending.  At least the D's have. And my daughter graduated college with honors in Mathematics and Japanese, and now proceeds to a Masters of Arts in Teaching Program.  She wants to teach and inspire high school students to fully realize their potential in mathematics.  I sorta doubt that she sees the 'Smarter Better Test' as a means to that end. While it looks like there's gonna be some new funding for road projects, the Rethugs appear hell-bent on getting some sort of 'right to work for less' concessions in exchange for votes to close the budget shortfall. Because, you know, nothing furthers economic prosperity more than paying workers less. Hey, it's why they're Rethugs. The big showdown of the week takes place in the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday at 11 am in the House Chamber.  SB 40(Peterson), which repeals Delaware's death penalty, and has already passed the Senate by an 11-9 margin, will be considered.
Delaware General Assembly Pre-Game Show: Week of May 5-7, 2015

Delaware General Assembly Pre-Game Show: Week of May 5-7, 2015

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"The budget is broken," said Delaware Sen. Harris McDowell, a Wilmington Democrat who co-chairs the General Assembly's budget-writing Joint Finance Committee. "The options to fix it are to recognize that we have gotten to the end of the line of tricks." That's the truth. Some of the tricks upon which we relied to balance the state budget, 'abandoned property', gambling revenue, even our incorporation fees, have peaked, and will soon be in decline, if they're not in free-fall already. Of course, if you read the linked article by Jonathan Starkey, you have to wonder if the proposed solutions can or will in any way address the broken budget.  I think there's no chance in hell that they will.  First off, whose bright idea was it to create a bipartisan committee with at least as many R's as D's, with some of those D's being Markell appointees? Uh, they're the same as R's. Oh, it was Markell's idea, executed in an Executive Order he issued back in January.  I guess he wants to assure that his legacy of kowtowing to his wealthy Greenville buds is locked in for decades. Here are some of the ''solutions' this bipartisan committee is considering, according to Starkey's article.....
General Assembly Pre-Game Show: April 28-30, 2015

General Assembly Pre-Game Show: April 28-30, 2015

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OK. Let's put a stop to the idiocy that was the rumor that Gov. Markell would cut some kind of deal with the Rethugs on 'Right to Work For Less'.  It never made sense. Why? Because the bills won't pass the General Assembly, and will not get a single D vote. Plus, the governor has little influence over the General Assembly any more. He would have zero if he made that move.  'Multiple legislators', Nancy? I call bullshit. Any legislator who would float that rumor should recognize that doing so makes it less likely, not more likely, that HB 50 would pass. Yes, Monsignor Lavelle's SB 54 is scheduled for 'consideration' in Wednesday's Senate Labor & Industrial Relations Committee. Now, before you conspiracy theorists get your collective knickers in a bunch, here is the membership of that committee:
Chairman: Marshall Members: Cloutier Hocker McBride Peterson Poore
4 D's, 2 R's, one of the R's generally votes with labor.  Now, do you really suppose that Jack Markell asked Marshall for a 'solid', and that Marshall agreed?  Markell emasculated Marshall's last minimum wage bill, and tried to privatize the Port of Wilmington over his objections.  Use your heads, pipples. You're better than this.