Delaware

2014: The Year for Primaries in Delaware [Updated with Townsend Statement]

Filed in Delaware by Delaware Dem on February 21, 2014 • 27 Comments

The chart is starting to fill in. But a lot of candidate recruiting remains, especially on the Republican side. One trend is clear: 2014 will feature a lot of primaries. Which makes some sense to a certain extent. Delaware is in many ways a one party state now. Some voters and some candidates recognize that and join the dominant majority party (the Democrats) and then the Democratic Primary is now the only place where there is a competitive election. Perhaps that is why we already have a primary for the 18th Senate District between Gary Wolfe and Patrick Emory.

Other primaries result from the actions and performance of the incumbent in office. These kind of primaries take three forms. First, you can have an organic, grass roots affair with a progressive newcomer challenging an entrenched establishment figure. That was certainly the case with Senator Tony Deluca v. Bryan Townsend in 2012. Second, you can have an incumbent so incompetent and/or vulnerable that multiple challengers enter the race. Indeed, the incumbent might be so incompetent and vulnerable that even the state party establishment will turn its back and endorse one of the challengers. And example of this is the 2012 Insurance Commissioner’s race with Karen Weldin Stewart, Mitch Crane, Dennis Spivak and Paul Gallagher. Finally, you can have a situation where the incumbent has pissed off the establishment in some way. It could be that the incumbent is rightfully (or wrongfully) challenging the status quo. Or it could be that the incumbent has several scandals that are damaging to the party’s chances of keeping the office should the incumbent be the nominee. Or it could be both, if your name is Chip Flowers. And so the establishment puts up a candidate against the incumbent in the hopes that the incumbent will lose.

Friday Daily Delawhere [2.21.14]

Filed in Delaware by Delaware Dem on February 21, 2014 • 0 Comments

By Morris Hunt on Flickr

Delaware Wages Decline is 5th Worst in the Nation.

Filed in Delaware by Delaware Dem on February 20, 2014 • 5 Comments

Wages in Delaware have dropped by nearly a dollar for low-wage workers since the Great Recession. With the minimum wage hike of a dollar by the middle of 2016, Delaware’s workers would get back to where they were in 2009. 7 years. No wage growth. All the while the wealthy in Delaware have never done better. Record profits and record shares on all income. And yet God forbid we dare increase their taxes a cent.

Is Wagner even running?

Filed in Delaware by Delaware Dem on February 20, 2014 • 6 Comments

Tom Wagner. A living example of an extinct species: a duly elected Republican in statewide office. He has been in office for years, so long that I was still in freaking middle school when he was first appointed to the office (I’m knocking on 40 now). And he has been living on borrowed time. In 2010, he barely got re-elected by 0.8% of the vote…. against the now indicted Richard Korn. This time around, he has a very credible upstart challenger in Brenda Mayrack.

Celia Cohen reported that Wagner has raised only $26,540. For the entire year of 2013.

Charter Schools ignore anti-bullying law.

Filed in Delaware by Delaware Dem on February 20, 2014 • 9 Comments

Most public school districts are complying with new state laws aimed at battling bullying, but fewer than half of charter schools have adopted new cyberbullying rules. And some schools are not sufficiently reporting incidents of bullying to parents, according to a report released by Lt. Gov. Matt Denn and the state Attorney General’s Office.

Emphasis mine. Do these Charter Schools, who receive more and more taxpayer money to the detriment of our already existing public schools thanks to dubious legislation passed last year, think state laws and rules do not apply to them? Fewer than half have even adopted the new rules? That’s pretty outrageous.

Thursday Daily Delawhere [2.20.14]

Filed in Delaware by Delaware Dem on February 20, 2014 • 1 Comment

Dog Bites Man. Carney Thumbs Nose At Social Security Protections.

Filed in Delaware, National by El Somnambulo on February 19, 2014 • 21 Comments

117 House Democrats, count ’em, 117, have signed a letter urging President Obama to exclude chained CPI from his FY ’15 budget. By now, you know where this is going. Once again, absent from this list is the truly-awful John Carney. You know, our Congressman.

Wednesday Daily Delawhere [2.19.14]

Filed in Delaware by Delaware Dem on February 19, 2014 • 2 Comments

Witness to Innocence Comes to Delaware

Filed in Delaware by cassandra_m on February 18, 2014 • 14 Comments

These events are sponsored by the Delaware Repeal Project. Witness to Innocence is a group of 15 death row exonerees who are visiting to discuss how flawed the death penalty truly is. I’ve taken the text describing all of these events directly from their FB Event page. Hope to see you at some of these, and be sure to invite your State Rep or Senator too:

Tuesday Daily Delawhere [2.18.14]

Filed in Delaware by Delaware Dem on February 18, 2014 • 0 Comments

The General Assembly is Back to Work and It Is Open Bamboozlement Season for the DE GOP

Filed in Delaware by cassandra_m on February 17, 2014 • 34 Comments

In the past couple of days, the DE GOP (almost extinct) has taken to the NJ editorial pages to push more of their innumerate BS — going back to their message of having all The Government You Can Eat for free. Even though that is not true, they’ve decided that no one will get the math — apparently taking their cue from Colin Bonnini. Both are taking aim at the .10/gallon gas tax proposal, and neither grapple with the fact that there are 1) real costs to getting road improvements and repairs done, 2) there have to be revenues to pay for those costs, or 3) be very clear about what improvements, repairs and programs they would be willing to see die on the vine in order to get the budget in shape: