Delaware

While the Trumpster talks about building a literal wall between the US and Mexico, Bryan Townsend is building a figurative electoral wall around the greater Newark area.  His campaign HQ is in Newark, the preponderance of his grassroots efforts so far have been in the greater Newark area, and all of these endorsements are from legislators who more or less are from that area.  It makes sense to me.  Shows that his grassroots campaign is paying off.  He now starts with a solid group of supporters largely based on geography.  That's a nice chunk of voters who he can count on.  The question will become: To what extent can he expand and replicate that grassroots either throughout the state as a whole or in a more specific sense. A great start though.  Haven't contributed to his campaign for, oh, three weeks or so.  Might be time to ante up again.

Oh, Jeez, Frank Luntz must be consulting with the House R's again.  Today, Greenville's Debbie Hudson and Monsignor Greg Lavelle are pushing the, wait for it, Parent Empowerment Education Savings Account Act in the House Education Committee.  If the bill's title leads you to suspect that this is another scheme to take $$'s away from public schools, you are correct:

This bill provides opportunities to parents of special needs students to select the most appropriate and productive educational pathway for their children by using funds otherwise allocated to their residential school district. The co-sponsors of this legislation appeal to the General Assembly to dignify parents of special needs children, by approving an innovative experiment to empower certain parents with the authority to design their special needs children’s education plan, subject only to state approval of vendors to be managed by the state Department of Education or its designee.

And, of course, those parents who aren't 'empowered' will find resources even scarcer than ever. Why do Rethugs hate public education?

NCC Councilman Joseph Reda passed away yesterday at the age of 73. A ‘sheet metal worker, union man, bartender, husband and politician’, Reda earned the affection and admiration of all of his colleagues, regardless of political differences. I encourage you to read the obituary. He did a lot of good for a lot of people. People really liked him. Folks like that deserve to be remembered.

I don't think it was on yesterday's Senate Agenda, but this was the best, and potentially most important, bill passed yesterday. SS2/SB 130 (McDowell) creates Complete Community Enterprise Districts, and here's the statement of policy as to what they're supposed to do:

(1) Encourage development that maximizes the economic value to the citizens and the government of the State of both existing and new transportation infrastructure. (2) Strategically deploy transportation funds in ways that meet the mobility needs of the people of the State at the lowest total economic cost to the people and government of the State. (3) Encourage transportation solutions that enable the formation of new households in the State that have less than one vehicle per adult worker.

Should the bill become law, local communities could enter into agreements with DELDOT to create districts using the synergies described above. McDowell has been at this issue for virtually his entire career.  Troglodytes like Kermit Justice and a succession of like-minded Transportation Secretaries have kept Delaware far behind the national curve when it comes to innovative mass transportation alternatives.  Justice fought commuter rail tooth and nail.  Until, of course, his conviction for taking kickbacks.  Jason330's new BFF, Colin Bonini, was a co-sponsor, leaving only three downstate Troggs to vote no. Hocker, Lawson and Simpson. It looks like this bill has the strong support of the current DELDOT secretary, so maybe better things are ahead.  I know that this would be a boon for the ongoing Claymont renaissance, so I'm for it.

The Governor and leaders of the General Assembly, along with the State Chamber of Commerce, are repeating the same strategy they employed so effectively to emasculate a decent minimum wage increase two years ago. The exact same strategy, in fact. Step One: Get some DINO like Brian Bushweller to express reservations about the bill, thus requiring supporters to weaken it in order for it to pass the Senate. Step Two: Have Speaker Pete put it in the House Business Lapdog Committee, instead of the Labor Committee. Step Three: Get a couple of putative D legislators to parrot Chamber talking points and express 'concerns' they have with the bill. Step Four: Either kill the bill in committee or, failing that, make the bill even weaker than the bill that passed the Senate. While states like New York and California have passed bills establishing a $15 minimum wage, and while several municipalities have done the same, what passes for D leadership here seeks to water down a bill that would provide a phase-in of an eventual $10.25 minimum wage.  This, of course, after tossing something like $50 mill to corporate serial polluters to stay here.

That was a pretty weak non-denial denial, wasn’t it? The person who could shed light on it refuses, claiming that it is a confidential personnel matter. If nothing happened, if he never took those lists, then wouldn’t a simple ‘He did his job, he didn’t take the lists’ be justified? I also love the part about how the complainant was invited to come in, but didn’t. You live in Section 8 housing, you’re gonna head on up to Cop-land? Whole thing smells like a cover-up to me with ex-cops acting as the enforcers. Since Gordon is no stranger to ethical violations or even illegalities, and since everyone knows it, I don’t know whether it will impact him. But he clearly did a 180 on that tape when he found out who the alleged miscreant was. Will the primordial ooze flowing through county government flush him down into one of NCC’s sewers this time? It depends on whether his D opponent, Matthew Meyer, runs an effective and aggressive campaign. It’s also possible that if Barry Nahe, who has filed as an R for County Executive, turns out to be a non-ideological candidate running on the issues of transparency and competence, he could defeat the ethical black hole that is Gordon. Nahe has been Chief of Building Operations and Maintenance in NCC since 2008. As to Bethany Hall Long, I think it could damage her campaign for Lieutenant Governor. Even if it turns out that Dana Long did nothing wrong, she could unfairly wind up as collateral damage. She barely got a mulligan on the first one (the sign-stealing), but people may start seeing this as a pattern, even if there’s no pattern. It also places John Carney in a bit of a predicament. He’s made no secret internally that he would prefer to run on a ticket with BHL. If he no longer prefers to, her candidacy takes a huge hit. Does Carney want to risk having Gordon sewage all over him? I don’t think so. BTW, let me go back to the sign-stealing thing for a moment. Long didn’t just steal signs, he was a serial sign-stealer. Dana Long got caught b/c his opponents’ signs had gotten stolen so much that they got frustrated and essentially set him up on camera. I fully understand that. My signs were selectively stolen when I ran against Wayne Smith, and I fantasized about catching the thieves in the act. So, Dana Long doesn’t get a pass from me. As of now, we don’t know if Long did anything wrong and/or if BHL knew about anything he might have done wrong. Don’t know if people are in the mood to give her the benefit of the doubt this time.