How to Handle the Walking Dead — or, The Casinos Are Coming for Your Tax Dollars

How to Handle the Walking Dead — or, The Casinos Are Coming for Your Tax Dollars

73 Comments
In the stuff I missed over the past couple of travel weeks, was this notice from the NJ that Delaware's zombie casinos are still hanging around looking for more bailout effort from Delaware's taxpayers:
One casino executive is hopeful lawmakers will provide relief for the state's ailing casinos when they return to Legislative Hall in January. But don't call it a bailout, says Dover Downs Hotel & Casino president Ed Sutor. Talks about potential long-term fixes to keep the casinos competitive are set to begin by mid-September. "They (the state) like the jobs created and the revenue," Sutor said Tuesday afternoon during a quarterly meeting between casino stakeholders, industry professionals and state department of finance. "They know that if something isn't done, some of that is in jeopardy," he said.
Governor Markell on NPR Talking About Common Core

Governor Markell on NPR Talking About Common Core

10 Comments
Yesterday morning, I heard the Governor on NPR in a quick (4 minutes) interview on Common Core and the fact that there is some movement in a few states to disown the curriculum/process/name. I can't really tell what is being walked away from really. But it looks like Governor Markell is not expecting the standards to go away entirely, just the name:
SIMON: So if a lot of states pull out of the Common Core, is there really a Common Core? MARKELL: Well, it depends what they replace it with. I mean, I think a lot of states, you know, who are talking about getting rid of the Common Core are quite likely to replace it with something that looks quite similar. If they call it something else, that's up to them. If they want to, you know, tweak the standards somewhat, that's up to them as well. I can tell you, in Delaware we're going forward because we really think it makes the most sense for our students.
Weekend Open Thread [8.3.14]

Weekend Open Thread [8.3.14]

3 Comments
Dana Milbank on the logic of the House Republicans, such as it is:
After conservatives on Thursday brought down House Speaker John Boehner’s bill to address the border crisis, the new House Republican leadership team issued a joint statement declaring that President Obama should fix the problem himself. “There are numerous steps the president can and should be taking right now, without the need for congressional action,” the leadership quartet proclaimed, “to secure our borders and ensure these children are returned swiftly and safely to their countries.” Just the day before, House Republicans had voted to sue Obama for using his executive authority. They called him lawless, a usurper, a monarch, a tyrant — all for postponing deadlines in the implementation of Obamacare. Now they were begging him to take executive action to compensate for their own inability to act — even though, in this case, accelerating the deportation of thousands of unaccompanied children coming from Central America would likely require Obama to ignore a 2008 law.
I personally guarantee that whatever Obama does in his executive authority with respect to immigration will be the basis for impeachment. It is just so fracking predictable.
Brenda Mayrack Lures ‘Bulo Out of the Shadows

Brenda Mayrack Lures ‘Bulo Out of the Shadows

8 Comments
Other than doing door-to-door with Bryan Townsend and hosting Mitch Crane at the Arden Fair, I've not been out front in actively campaigning for political candidates since I took my leave of the Delaware General Assembly. Brenda Mayrack has changed that. To the extent that I'll be on her Host Committee for this upcoming event:
Darley House Meet & Greet Thursday, August 7, 2014 | 5:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Darley House (Corner of Philadelphia Pike & Darley Road) 3701 Philadelphia Pike | Claymont, DE 19703 Additional parking available next door at the Church of the Ascension. Buy your tickets now. Friend: $30 | Supporter: $75 | Host: $100
That's right. As a host, I'm ponying up $100. Why? Because, for all intents and purposes, we haven't had an auditor, let alone a competent auditor, for however long Tom "Suspendered Disbelief" Wagner has been in office. I've argued on this blog for years that we really need a competent auditor. A competent auditor can and will save the state lots of dollars. It's not even mostly about waste, fraud, and abuse, it's about working with agencies to save the state money while not cutting services.
The Wilmington City Council Clown Show, Part Whatever

The Wilmington City Council Clown Show, Part Whatever

48 Comments
The effort to start getting Wilmington’s long-term budget problem under control had a major setback last night when they failed to override the Mayor’s veto of an ordinance that defunded 8 vacant WFD positions. Sherry Dorsey-Walker, Trippi Congo, Bob Williams, Justin Wright and Sam Prado were cravenly joined at the last minute by Darius Brown, who apparently thought that since this vote might lose, he should get off of the reform train.
“Can’t Anybody Here Play This Game?”: Chapter, Oh, 1,000,000 and Something.

“Can’t Anybody Here Play This Game?”: Chapter, Oh, 1,000,000 and Something.

14 Comments
Wilmington City Council pays $1000 so that Councilman Mike Brown can fly back from Florida on the city's dime to cast the deciding vote to override the Mayor's veto of cuts to the Fire Department budget only to come up...TWO  VOTES SHORT. Oh, and for reasons that not even Mike Brown can explain, he lied about where he was vacationing. Why? I have no idea. Apparently, neither does he. From Amy Cherry's WDEL story (watch and listen)...

The Latest Performance from the DE GOP Clown Show

14 Comments
Remember in 2012 when Jeff Cragg and Sher Valenzuela perfected the technique of campaigning for a Delaware office someplace other than in Delaware? That was seriously awesome, even though I don't see those SE PA votes tallied anywhere on the Delaware Department of Elections site. But I digress. This cycle, Kevin Wade is taking that technique of campaigning for Delaware votes someplace else To A Whole New Level. Kevin Wade has gone to Israel:
on a week-long fact-finding mission in Israel, on the ground right now (July 29). Wade is researching the situation on the ground and interviewing many. Kevin Wade is also a co-host with the Conservative Commandos Radio Show. Wade will be posting interviews on YouTube from the war zone in Israel.