Delaware
Can We Learn From This?
There’s been an interesting evolution in the DL comment section. I wanted to give my take on it.
Whenever the subjects of race, women’s issues, religion (mostly concerning Muslims), LGBT, etc. come up and white privilege is pointed out we hear white people quickly saying “not all white people” and then sharing their reasons as to why they are the exceptions to whatever is being discussed. This derails the conversation, moving it away from whatever social issue is being discussed and putting the focus on white people’s concerns. I have lost count on the number of posts on DL where this has happened, and I’d like to figure out how we can stop doing this.
If you hated Delaware’s apology for slavery, you might be a racist
Delaware’s mea culpa is just the first step.
Delaware (Let’s Face It, Not Really…) Political Weekly: Feb. 5-11, 2016
1. Joe Daigle Enters Three-Way D Primary for 7th RD Seat. I must say I’m impressed. If the name seems familiar, it is because Daigle and his husband Dan Cole were the first gay couple not already in a civil union to be married in Delaware following the passage of marriage equality. Both were also […]
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.
Yippee! $10.50 an hour… in 2020. Maybe.
I should be celebrating. After all, the Delaware Senate actually managed to pass a bill last week that would increase Delaware’s paltry minimum wage to $10.50 an hour.
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.
Have We Witnessed the De Facto Repeal of the Death Penalty in Delaware? Yes. Maybe.
Hear me out. This is exciting.
As you may be aware, a hold has been placed on all death penalty cases in Delaware by the Delaware Supreme Court.
The reason? The U. S. Supreme Court deemed unconstitutional part of a Florida statute that grants exclusively to judges the right to determine a sentence of death in capital cases.
Guess what? Delaware has the exact same provision in its statute. The irony is that it didn’t used to be that way. No, AG Jane Brady, Sen. Tom Sharp, Sen. Jim Vaughn and others demagogued the sheep in Dover into taking the power away from juries and giving it to judges. Why? ‘Coddling criminals’, blah blah blah. How great would it be if they ended up sowing the seeds for death penalty repeal?
I’m not a lawyer, but I don’t see how Delaware’s statute can be constitutional if Florida’s is not.
Here’s where it gets interesting. Only the Delaware General Assembly can change the statute. Come inside to see why that’s important….
This One’s For You, Kevin
Earlier today I asked Kevin O. to stop turning Delaware Dem’s death penalty post into an abortion post. My comment was brief, but I should have taken the time to explain that his comments were off topic and that he was free to post his thoughts on an open thread. For that, I apologize. Kevin […]
Delaware Political (More Or Less) Weekly: January (More Or Less) 22-28, 2016
Kathleen McGuiness is for real. Except for that whole residency thingy. BTW, turns out she moved out to Park Slope b/c a couple of her kids are competitive snowboarders. Yes, she raised a lot of money. What really surprised me is that almost all of the money comes from Delaware. Pretty much every D in Sussex County with money has ponied up. Guess there are more D’s with money in Sussex County than I thought. Bethany Hall-Long has raised a lot of $$’s as well. Ciro Poppiti has enough money to be competitive. Sherry Dorsey Walker, Greg Fuller, and Brad Eaby don’t.
Trinidad Navarro better get his ass in gear. Those who deal with the insurance commissioner’s office have apparently resigned themselves to, or more likely, fallen in love with the idea of, Incompetent Karen Weldin Stewart serving as Insurance Commissioner. He’s only raised $11K? Vs. $83K?
Representative Mike Ramone, Charter School Lobbyist
Mr. Ramone needs to read the regs pertaining to per student funding in public education. When a student moves from a District school to a Charter school, the tax money collected by the original district for spending on that student goes with the student to the charter. There is no fiscal “responsibility” borne by the Charter, the sending District is paying that child’s per-student expense. If Mr. Ramone doesn’t believe that, I have a $21 million charter bill Christina School District is paying this year for him to look at. Email me, Rep Ramone: brianstephan@gmail.com and I can help you understand how public schools are funded in this state.
General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show: Weds., Jan. 27, 2016
We could still have an epic week in store–or it could turn into a nothingburger. The minimum wage bill still awaits Senate action, and death penalty repeal maybe gets considered in the House. Or not. Probably depends on whether the respective sponsors think they have the votes. If you haven’t contacted YOUR legislators, what are you waiting for?
The minimum wage bill has already been amended primarily to reflect the fact it wasn’t considered last year. Senate Amendment 3, which passed by a 13-8 vote, adjusts the effective dates for the increases, and accordingly delays the implementation of the COLA increase until 2021. Pure party line vote. The bill appears to need at least one more D vote to pass. DINO Brian Bushweller is one of the holdouts. Who are the others? BTW, check out Colin Bonini’s amendment to the bill. The guy is a joke.
General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show: Tues., Jan. 26, 2016
Undaunted by the prospect of blowing yet a greater hole in the budget for the next few years, the State Senate joined the House in passing legislation that would ‘remove disincentives’ for job creation for the corporate overlords. The Senate passed the bill with only one ‘not voting’ (Townsend, who was a co-sponsor on the bill), and the bill goes to the Governor. Keep this in mind in June when the Honorables (ongoing h/t to Ralph Moyed) shrug their collective shoulders and lament the ‘tough choices’ (read screw anybody but the corporate overlords) they had to make. They, of course, didn’t have to make them. They made clear that bowing to their corporate overlords is business as usual. A projected $50 mill shortfall to the budget over the first 2 1/2 years the legislation is in effect. Just curious: Who, if anybody, will keep track of all those new jobs the corporate overlords will create now that the ‘disincentives’ have been removed? Based on previous experience, my prediction is ‘Nobody’. A pure unvarnished giveaway.
Delaware’s ‘apology’ for its role in perpetuating slavery passed the Senate. Three no votes. Hocker, Lawson, and Bonini. None of whom have likely ever cracked a history book and read of Delaware’s role in perpetuating slavery.
Wilmington Mayor Race Cattle Call — Show Me the Money Edition
Campaign finance reports for the year ending 31 December 2015 were due into the Department of Elections by 20 January 2016, so let’s take a look at what those reports might tell us about the race for Mayor of Wilmington:
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