Delaware
Don’t Forget! Come Hang Out With Delaware Liberal
Can we get a head count? Let us know in the comments. Hoping for a good turnout!
Saturday, June 28th
7:00pm
Firestone’s (Wilmington Riverfront)
We’ll meet on the outside patio. In case of rain, we’ll meet in the bar area. There will be a DL sign!
Gridlock, thy name is Wilmington
Ever since the closing of the I-495 bridge (surprisingly not named after some local politician), a quick daily check of traffic through Wilmington on Google Maps reveals more red than an episode of “Game of Thrones.”
Delaware Political Weekly: June 14-20, 2014
Ted Kittila, a Seaford native and a Wilmington corporate attorney, announced that he would run as an R for Attorney General. He has not yet filed. Here is a background piece on Kittila from the News Journal. It also looks like Kittila will need to bring something a little stronger than his trying to contrast himself with Denn by essentially claiming that he is a lawyer while Denn is a politician. Denn’s response:
“I have practiced law in every court in the State of Delaware, representing both businesses and people with few resources or who couldn’t afford an attorney,” Denn said. “I have worked to improve the public safety system as chair of the Criminal Justice Council. I have experience protecting consumers as Insurance Commissioner, protecting children as Chair of the Child Protection Accountability Commission and getting laws passed as Insurance Commissioner and Lieutenant Governor to help families, businesses, schools and kids. I look forward to talking about my experience and ideas.”
General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show: Thurs., June 19, 2014
Last day of the DIY reports, I promise. Got next week’s work schedule, and it’s ‘green across the screen’. In the limited remaining time allotted to me today, I’ll now proceed to scour my resources for stuff that interests me…
Very happy to see the Senate pass SB 253(McBride), which ultimately conveys a parcel of property to Faithful Friends. Anyone who knows anything about Faithful Friends knows that they perform an invaluable public service in providing care and adoption services for stray and abandoned pets. A humane no-kill shelter with some of the finest staff and volunteers you’ll ever meet. I find it ironic that the three senators who voted no reside in an area known for housing Delaware’s worst (only?) puppy mills.
The FY ’15 Budget Bill was introduced and laid on the table in the Senate. If you have time, read the Epilog Language. That’s where all the sneaky stuff usually is.
Yay! HB 331(Kowalko) unanimously passed the House yesterday! The bill requires that both the University of Delaware and Del State comply with FOIA. And, unless I misread it, the House Amendment voted onto the bill strengthens the bill. The University must really have pissed off some important people.
Delaware Liberal Liberally Drinking
Come out and join us for an evening!
Saturday, June 28th
7:00pm
Firestone’s (Riverfront)
It’s been a while since we’ve done one of these. Hope to see everyone!
General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show: Weds., June 18, 2014
The most DIY Edition ever. I almost never have to go to work this early. But, today I do. It’s up to you, dear readers to provide content, snark, context, and that je ne sais quoi that I bring. Here are the raw materials I work with on a daily basis….
General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show: Tues., June 17, 2014
Roads Held Hostage: Day…um, I Lost Count. Seven legislative days remain, still no word of any sort of fix to the $70 (or $90) million hole in the State’s transportation/infrastructure budget. Looks like we’re getting in ‘patch, then kick the can down the road’ territory. The very idea that D’s can’t or won’t tout a needed $70 (or $90) mill road repair/jobs program pretty much defines what’s wrong with Delaware’s brand of ‘Democrat’. BTW, since it looks like the 495 repair will cost somewhere around $20 mill, I’m hedging my bets as to whether the hole in our transportation funding is $70 mill or $90 mill.
OK, there are only a few ways that I can write the same story day after day. Whether I’ll run out of ways to write it before a fix is arrived at remains to be seen. Check back tomorrow.
Oopsies. Did I say tomorrow? Breaking news, and it ain’t good. A real bleak fiscal picture, must-reading for anyone interested in what’s gonna get funded and what will not. Here’s the takeaway quote:
“The problem is that no one wants to raise taxes for anything. You don’t want to raise the gas tax. You don’t want to raise income taxes. You don’t want a sales tax. You don’t want any of these taxes, but you still want the infrastructure,” Bhatt told lawmakers.
Speaking of infrastructure, DELDOT’s capital proposal is $128 mill, $70 mill less than last year’s. Revenue-shifting and the General Assembly’s refusal to even consider a gas tax will mean deteriorating roads, bridges and infrastructure. Hey, hopefully they’ll be out of office when stuff actually falls down. Then they can blame it on someone else. Cowardice. Proof that these election-obsessives don’t live in a reality-based world.
![Monday Daily Delawhere [6.16.14]](http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5272/14381775694_80806eb1e3_c.jpg "Monday Daily Delawhere [6.16.14]")
![Sunday Daily Delawhere [6.15.14]](http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5534/14382743485_4f599cb45d_c.jpg "Sunday Daily Delawhere [6.15.14]")
![Saturday Daily Delawhere [6.14.14]](http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3838/14382743575_05b49bcf5a_c.jpg "Saturday Daily Delawhere [6.14.14]")
Delaware Political Weekly: June 7-13, 2014
2. Chip Flowers Creates Yet Another Issue For Himself
So, let’s see if I’ve got this straight. In order to ‘save the state money’, Delaware’s Most Ethical State Employee has cut deals with seven banks, all of whom manage state $$’s, to pay for his travel expenses and those of his staff. $5K per bank, times 7. $35,000 in travel expenses. Which is a lot of travel expenses. I would call this extortion were Flowers not so ethical. He, of course, is once again changing the subject. This issue isn’t/wasn’t that he traveled, it is/was that he was unable to account for how much he spent and who paid for it. If a treasurer can’t account for his own expenses, how can he account for the state’s finances?
3. I’m Not Loving Sean Barney’s Campaign
I got an e-blast from him yesterday. He’s been endorsed by a buncha lawyers. I like some of those lawyers. I don’t give two bleeps that they’ve endorsed him. He used some of the same boilerplate that I can’t stand when it comes to our Corporate Bar:
Our legal community in Delaware inspires trust and confidence the world over because of its reputation for upholding the highest standards of professional responsibility. Moreover, Delaware’s bar is exceptional in the manner in which it pairs the highest expectations of competence with the highest expectations of collegiality.
Computer-generated boilerplate.
I have people telling me on the QT that Sean Barney is really one of us. As in progressive. But he is running a risk-averse campaign where all we learn about him is about his military service, his high school schools initiative, and the fact that he’s been endorsed by a lot of the usual suspects. Haven’t even heard a dog-whistle from him to create any enthusiasm.
![Friday Daily Delawhere [6.13.14]](http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3842/14196149218_dd429731d0_c.jpg "Friday Daily Delawhere [6.13.14]")
General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show: Thurs., June 12, 2014
So, the I-495 bridge repair is gonna cost $20 million or so. About 60,000 vehicles, a lot of them trucks, are now grinding other Delaware roads, further degrading those road surfaces. Not so much as a peep out of the General Assembly as to how they’re gonna fund the $70 mill hole in the road/infrastructure funding. Which may now be $90 mill. Rethug signs still litter New Castle County, proclaiming ‘No New Gas Taxes’. Is anybody gonna do anything?
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