It’s Amateur Hour for Wilmington City Government — Again

It’s Amateur Hour for Wilmington City Government — Again

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Last Thursday, the Wilmington City Council introduced a bill to make the first amendment to the newly approved City Budget. This new amendment would restore the $300K that was eliminated from the Mayor's Contingency Fund and adds back $80K for a position in the Finance Department, and:
The amendment also would restore $89,000 to the Human Resources Department and $18,000 to the Planning Department. A $250,000 allocation for an enhanced trash and recycling program will be reappropriated, while $142,000 earmarked for small business development will be reduced to $50,000. Should the amendment pass, next year’s budget will increase by about $487,000 to $145.6 million and leave Wilmington with a surplus of $108,141.
Acting GOP Chair Nelly Jordan to fire staff if the Chateau Country money doesn’t start rolling in…

Acting GOP Chair Nelly Jordan to fire staff if the Chateau Country money doesn’t start rolling in…

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Since 2010, if not before, the battle between the old guard state GOP (i.e. the DuPonts, Castle, Copeland, etc). and the upstart downstate social conservatives (O'Donnell, Urquhart, Christopher, etc.) has been a fun one for us Democrats to watch. It kind of reminds us of the little flare up we Democrats had nationally in 2004-2005 (i.e. Howard Dean, 50 State Strategy), although on a much larger scale here in small First State. Any way, here is the background on the latest chapter.... Last month, State GOP Party Chair John Sigler resigned after having be reelected the month before. His resignation turned not on party business or party divisions but instead on conflicts of interest between his private career and his role in the state party. That meant that the newly elected Vice Chair, downstate activist (meaning downstate tea party social conservative activist) Nelly Jordan would ascend to the top spot, for a little while anyway. She would remain Acting Chairman of the Party until a special state convention could be held in 60 days to elect a new state chairman. Well, it would seem that things are not going that well for Mrs. Jordan during her stewardship of the party. Delaware Liberal has obtained a copy of a letter sent out last night to State GOP Executive Committee members. A copy of the letter is below (I have redacted Mrs. Jordan's personal contact information). As you can read, it would seem that party fundraising has dried up during her tenure as Acting Chairman and the state party is basically broke as of this moment, and there is the possibility that staff will have to be laid off and offices closed...
General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show: Weds., June 19, 2013

General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show: Weds., June 19, 2013

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The Great Grubby Gold Rush of 2013 has begun. Millions for an Archmere mansion(?), $8 mill for racinos w/no strings attached(?), more $$'s down the aglands preservation rabbit hole(?), $2.2 mill to buy a Sussex hunting preserve(?). A disproportionate number of these requests for downstate projects. The News-Journal covers it here. And the racino $8 mill rationalizations here. Enjoy (or despair of) Bloviator Colin Bonini's contradictions within mere paragraphs of each other. Must be Bond Bill time. The idea of giving $8 mill to the racinos that were already given legal monopoly status with no licensing fees and slot machines video lotteries subsidized by the state is brain-dead. What other casinos in this country received such a sweetheart deal? As Al Mascitti pointed out on our show yesterday, it's not our fault that idiots at Dover Downs somehow decided that theirs would be a 'destination resort' that required hotels and restaurants. Nothing says destination resort quite like anonymous concrete strip malls and traffic lights every 20 feet. Why in hell should they get even a penny of bailout money? In this case, true to Markell form, this lame cash dump doesn't even require the racinos to forestall layoffs, which is just what they're threatening to do if they don't get relief. Markell is simply doubling-down on someone else's bad bet. With our money. Let's see...$8 mill earmarked for racinos, $7.5 mill pissed away on agland preservation, you could more than pay for a 1% increase for state employees with that money. Jack, Jack?

Conflict of Interest by 3 Wilmington City Council Members

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Or at least the appearance of a conflict of interest by 3 Councilmembers who work for or have recently worked for Connections CSP in Wilmington. Sunday's NJ has a great article by Andrew Staub and Beth Miller detailing the concerns that quite a few people have had over what appeared to be conflicts of interests between the roles of City Council members and Connections employees or consultants for Hanifa Shabazz, Mike Brown and Darius Brown.
John Carney Joins the SNAP Challenge Protest — UPDATED

John Carney Joins the SNAP Challenge Protest — UPDATED

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The House of Representatives is getting to vote on its version of the Farm Bill -- this GOP led version cuts 2.5% of SNAP funds. It is estimated that this might throw about 2.5M Americans who need food help off of the program. As a protest -- 26 Democrats in the House have started a week-long SNAP Challenge (some reports have some of their staff joining them), where they pledge to live on the $4.50/day subsidy SNAP provides. Our representative, John Carney, is on the list of Democrats doing this challenge.