It isn’t often that Celia Cohen has a good point…

It isn’t often that Celia Cohen has a good point…

17 Comments
...but...
Coons has $3 mil in the bank, no opponent, and he keeps asking for money, anyway? Inquiring minds of irked Democrats want to know why
His campaign has basically taken over the Del Dem HQ building in New Castle, and they have been phonebanking every Wednesday and Saturday since February. In fact, I was in a meeting in the conference room at the Del Dem HQ last week, and I got a fundraising call from the Coons campaign from the next room over. There is being prepared, and then there is overkill.
General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show: Thurs., May 15, 2014

General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show: Thurs., May 15, 2014

2 Comments
Today's House Agenda features HB 308(M. Smith), 'create(s) an Office of the Common Interest Community Ombudsman' to address disputes between developers and residents in communities 'created by legal documents drafted by the developer and...intended to be managed by those living in these communities. As someone who did a lot of constituent service work, I can tell you that there were a lot of issues that could have used this mechanism to resolve w/o going to court. I think this is a real good bill. Once again, excellent legislating from Melanie Smith, one of the General Assembly's best.
General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show: Weds., May 14, 2014

General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show: Weds., May 14, 2014

13 Comments
Here we are in mid-May, and it's been weeks since we've heard anything about a gas tax for transportation funding and/or a revenue stream to clean our water. Is this a game of political chicken, or has everybody chickened out? Assuming no new revenues for transportation projects, there will be roughly $70 million less to spend next Fiscal Year on fixing our roads and bridges than has been allocated in the current Fiscal Year. This after one of the most brutal winters in recent memory. This also means $70 million less to invest in our workers and our state's economy. Is this really (not) going to happen? What a pathetic demonstration of what passes for political leadership in Dover.  There's still time, but is there political will?
General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show: Tues., May 13, 2014

General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show: Tues., May 13, 2014

19 Comments
Good news/bad news: The good news: One of this session's best bills was introduced. HB 331(Kowalko) 'removes the exemption from the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and thus fully applies FOIA to the University of Delaware and Delaware State University'. Delaware may now be the only holdout when it comes to requiring academic institutions receiving state funds to open their books. The bad news: The bill has been assigned to the House Administration Committee, where Pete Schwartzkopf and Valerie Longhurst are likely to keep it buried. I also wonder why this bill wasn't introduced earlier in session. It would have given proponents the chance to push for the release of this bill. The Senate also passed SB 209(Townsend), a good first step in considering the potential impact of granting additional charters on existing schools.  The bill 'requires the Department of Education to promulgate regulations to further define the meaning and process for consideration of impact in the charter school application review process, to be considered and approved by the State Board no later than its October 2014 meeting. It also clarifies the conditions that an authorizer may place on an approved application, and provides that the State Board of Education may place or modify conditions to address considerations of impact'. I think that people are finally seeing that public education is endangered by the worst elements/excesses of the charter movement. Based on the broad sponsorship here, let's hope that this can be brought under control before it's too late.

We deserve answers from Beau Biden

9 Comments
Beau Biden Tornoe cartoon Governor sickBy now, everyone's heard the news that Beau Biden, our intrepid attorney general and holder of the royal Biden coattails, has decided not to run for re-election and will instead focus on becoming Delaware's next governor. But there's a lot being left unsaid.
Delaware Political Weekly: May 3-9, 2014

Delaware Political Weekly: May 3-9, 2014

7 Comments
<strong>Whoa</strong>. Now <strong>this</strong> is interesting. <strong>R Judy Travis </strong>has filed to run in the Brandywine Hundred district currently held by <strong>D Rep. Dennis E. Williams</strong>. Williams is facing a D primary challenge from <strong>Sean Matthews</strong>. It had been expected that two-time loser <strong>Robert Rhodunda</strong> would challenge for the seat again. Instead, Travis, who previously challenged, and lost to, Rep. Bryon Short in 2010, has jumped in. No she didn't move. She was redistricted in 2012, when I think all of the 7th district west of Foulk Road was moved to the 10th. Although Short defeated her by a 57%-41% margin (there were two other candidates) in 2010, she would likely be at least as formidable as Rhodunda. Short is more firmly entrenched than Dennis Williams. So, does this mean that Rhodunda is out, or that there will be an R primary? Somebody, anybody? I mean, <a href="http://www.bobrhodunda.com/">based on </a><strong><a href="http://www.bobrhodunda.com/">this</a>, </strong>it looks like he's running. And Don Ayotte is back....
The Vote Tracker is Back and Updated.

The Vote Tracker is Back and Updated.

1 Comment
To break this down succinctly, the 147th General Assembly has two months of life left to it. (Quick, sci-fi fans, what movie is that paraphrased line from?). At the beginning of this session, all the way back on January 3, 2013, Delaware Liberal and the Progressive Dems began keeping track of our how legislators voted on legislation of interests to Progressives. Come inside to see our Vote Tracking Charts. Not included in the charts below are four bills that were just released yesterday concerning strengthening Delaware's FOIA statute. And I got a little excited when I saw the emailed press release come across my inbox, until I opened up the press release and saw the subtite: "Four bills sponsored by Reps. Atkins... " I actually felt a physical drop, sitting there at my computer. Because how good can an Open Government bill be if it is sponsored by John Atkins? I read further and discovered that this was a package of bills sponsored by four very different legislators, some of which are good, some of which are meh, and some of which will roll your eyes.

Tuesday Open Thread [5.6.14]

2 Comments
I am taking advantage of the two hats that I wear in Delaware politics (Delaware Liberal and the Progressive Democrats for Delaware) and introducing you to a new ad campaign for the PDD that you may have already seen in the social media. And at the same time that I am introducing you to it, I want to get further ideas for it from the DL Hive Mind. If you have a catchy slogan that captures one or more progressive principles, feel free to offer it publicly here or send it to me personally at delawaredem@delawareliberal.net.
General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show: Tues., May 6, 2014

General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show: Tues., May 6, 2014

29 Comments
Ban the Box passes! HB 167( J. J. Johnson), which would 'prohibit a public employer from inquiring into or considering the criminal record, criminal history or credit history or score of an applicant before it makes a conditional offer to the applicant', passed the Senate 15-5 on Thursday. As we've previously mentioned, the bill does:
specif(y) that once a background check is conducted an employer shall only consider felonies for 10 years from the completion of sentence, and misdemeanors for 5 years from the completion of sentence. Further, employers are required to consider several enumerated factors when deciding whether to revoke a conditional offer based on the results of a background check.
HB 167 does not apply to those positions where a criminal background check is statutorily mandated (law enforcement, the courts), but it does apply to contractors with state agencies. Sens. Greg Lavelle and Ernie Lopez were the only Rs to vote yes. Credit where credit's due. The bill now heads to the Governor's desk. BTW, Rep. J. J. Johnson is one of our most effective legislators. He is low-key, doesn't call attention to himself, but he quietly gets things done. Apropos of nothing, he's also a serious jazz buff. He deserves to be better-known.