General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show, Thurs., May 10, 2012

23 Comments
The Sheriff of Nuttingham and His Posse Comatosis could be nearing the end of their lawless reign. HB 325(Schwartzkopf), which would make clear that would-be Wyatt Earps can't mete out their own brand of frontier justice in the untamed badlands of Sussex County, cleared the House Administration Committee, and is on today's House agenda. It will pass overwhelmingly. The only question is whether any of the bill's original downstate House R sponsors will vote for the bill they had previously sponsored. My prediction? Most of them won't, and will go Not Voting, the ultimate cojone-less copout.

General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show, Weds., May 9, 2012

21 Comments
With great fanfare (a press release within minutes), the House of Representatives passed a ‘campaign reform’ package yesterday. The key bill is HB 300(Gilligan), which seeks to undo some of the incalculable damage of the Citizens United decision. The Roves and Koch Brothers (and Rodel) will still be able to dump huge sums of money if they’d like, but HB 300 would require more transparency about who is behind those anonymous ads. Which is why not a single Rethuglican voted for it. Bill passed on a strict 24-13 party line vote. Not surprising since, without a bottomless pit of anonymous right-wing dollars, the Rethugs are not competitive any more, not with their loco right-wing teabaggers driving the lopsided bus (subtle Steinbeck reference), and they know it.

General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show, Tues., May 8, 2012

8 Comments
Legislators expressed shock, shock, at how bad things are over at DELDOT. Might I point out to them that, until now, there have been two types of DELDOT secretaries dating all the way back to the creation of the Department? You've got your wheeler-dealers like Kermit Justice and Nathan Hayward, and you've got your Ann Canbys, who tried to reform the culture, but realized that the long-time powers within the Department could simply wait you out. Legislators have known just how slick many of the inside DELDOT players have been since the beginning, but it was to their advantage to play ball with them b/c favorable attention from DELDOT was Incumbency Protection of the highest order. Their potholes were filled, their sidewalks got done, their streets got paved...all before Election Day. They had no skin in the game to reform the system b/c they were often the beneficiaries. Dropped right into the middle of this culture is Shailen Bhatt, who Governor Markell appointed to lead the Department out of the Dark Ages. Bhatt is doing just that, as is chronicled in this 'password-protected' News-Journal story.

Delaware Political Weekly: March 31-April 6, 2012

12 Comments
This was quite a week. While I wish that this had happened two years ago, I am psyched that Charles "Trey" Paradee has decided to run again. You may recall that Paradee almost knocked off Pam Thornburg in this Kent County 29th District back in 2008. In fact, initial results indicated that he had. Willis has established himself more effectively than most during his first two years, IMHO. However, this has all the earmarks of a competitive race. This oughtta be fun.

General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show: Thurs., April 5, 2012

32 Comments
A glimpse inside the Delaware Way, and what it has wrought. Helene Keeley's legislation seeking to reign in predatory lending in the form of payday loans, made it out of committee. But not before one of Delaware's most malevolent lobbyists got an interest rate cap stripped from proposed legislation. Which, of course, wasn't enough for him. From today's News-Journal story:
Speaking for the Online Lenders Alliance, a payday-lending trade group, lobbyist Dave Swayze said efforts to curtail short-term lending fly in the face of Delaware's landmark Financial Center Development Act, the 1981 law that eliminated the state's usury statutes and allowed banks to charge unlimited interest rates. "We will let the marketplace, we will let the buyer and seller, the contract entered into by them, determine the terms of the loan," he said.