Delaware
Saturday Daily Delawhere [3.9.13]
![Saturday Daily Delawhere [3.9.13]](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8373/8510976873_af8aa0c4da_z.jpg "Saturday Daily Delawhere [3.9.13]")
We begin Irish week here at Daily Delawhere. My favorite Irish pub in Wilmington is at Catherine Rooney’s, on Delaware Avenue in Trolley Square.
Friday Daily Delawhere [3.8.13]
![Friday Daily Delawhere [3.8.13]](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8229/8512088830_47223b4e83_z.jpg "Friday Daily Delawhere [3.8.13]")
This is St. Ann’s Roman Catholic Church, on Union Street in Wilmington. The church is the center of the Forty Acres neighborhood, which was settled by Irish immigrants in the 1860s through 1880s. St. Ann’s was built in 1887.
Money Isn’t Working In School Board Elections
When it comes to school board elections something is different. Just ask Michael Bloomberg, Rupert Murdoch and Michelle Rhee. They lost big in Los Angeles.
Despite Michael Bloomberg, Michelle Rhee and Rupert Murdoch’s big contributions, LAUSD board member Steve Zimmer was re-elected to the board, defeating their hope that Los Angeles would become the next big pathway to privatized education.
It seems that money, which is a must in other elections, doesn’t count for much in school board elections. And we don’t need to look at Los Angeles for proof. We experienced this phenomenon in Delaware.
Last year I wrote several posts on the upcoming school board elections. I hadn’t been paying much attention at the time, but as the election drew near, my attention was snagged. Something different was happening:
I haven’t really commented on the upcoming School Board elections, mainly because I can’t wrap my head around what’s going on. With all the attention on these races – phone polls, money, PACs – I keep feeling I’m missing something – Big. What is going on? What’s on the line? And why the hell is so much money being dumped into an election that, I predict, will still have a dismal turn-out.
Basically, what’s the agenda? For the life of me I don’t see it. Yeah, I get the split is between Charter and Choice (Ed reformers) supporters vs Traditional Public School supporters, but that’s hardly new. What’s new are the aggressive tactics being employed and the money being spent. All of this keeps me wondering… Am I missing something about these races; something that makes them vitally important? Is something major about to change depending on who wins these elections? If so, what?
So that’s where I started. The amount of money being dumped into our local school board races caught my attention. What held my attention was the emergence of Voices 4 Delaware, a nebulous PAC, that, in essence, became the school board candidate. You couldn’t turn around without being hit with one of their mailers or receiving another one of their phone calls. As I write this today, I can’t even remember the names of most of the candidates they supported, but I remember them.
And just like what happened in Los Angeles, big money lost in Delaware last year.
Thursday Daily Delawhere [3.7.13]
![Thursday Daily Delawhere [3.7.13]](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8111/8510976913_2d83082381_z.jpg "Thursday Daily Delawhere [3.7.13]")
Alexis I. DuPont built St. Joseph on the Brandywine Roman Catholic Church, which is located on Old Church Road, near the intersection of Montchanin Road and Delaware Route 141 near Greenville. The church was built in 1841.
School Boards and the big picture
What the Appo referendum brings home for me is the fact that the Republican Party never sleeps. They are very good at playing the long game. There are no small elections for them. Whenever a voting booth is set up, it is an opportunity to build up competencies, mailing lists, donor channels and candidates.
If you doubt it, just look at how “Appo Truth” goes from being “all about the kids” and “we respect the teachers” to “Markell, Denn, Ennis, Hall-Long, and Walker must be defeated” in under 300 words. Beating Democrats is the north star, and a measly little referendum is acceptable collateral damage.
When you have no policies that can connect with most voters, all you have left is hustle and they have it in spades. Between hustle and their willingness (eagerness?) to not be bound by the truth, the GOP is still a force to contend with here in Delaware and nationally.
As Democrats, we only rally ourselves to match their hustle every four years. That doesn’t cut it.
Wednesday Daily Delawhere [3.6.13]
![Wednesday Daily Delawhere [3.6.13]](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8377/8510976821_e2a0447191_z.jpg "Wednesday Daily Delawhere [3.6.13]")
A statue of Louis Redding, in front of the Louis Redding City/County Building on French Street in Wilmington.
Tuesday Open Thread–The Progressive Calendar [3.5.13]
![Tuesday Open Thread–The Progressive Calendar [3.5.13]](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8251/8531709286_e0a4170028_z.jpg "Tuesday Open Thread–The Progressive Calendar [3.5.13]")
We have a lot of local progressive events coming up, and I wanted to use this open thread to highlight them. From the PDD meeting tomorrow on gun control (weather permitting) to a forum on Drones on Thursday, to a Delaware Death Penalty Repeal rally next Tuesday in Dover, to a Town Hall on Delaware’s Budget in Newark in two weeks and a panel debate on Governor Markell’s gun control legislation on March 19, the calendar is packed with interesting events.
Tuesday Daily Delawhere [3.5.13]
![Tuesday Daily Delawhere [3.5.13]](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8239/8510976907_c9d9054cc0_z.jpg "Tuesday Daily Delawhere [3.5.13]")
The Wilmington Institute Library, on 10th Street across from Rodney Square in Wilmington. The library was built in 1923 with funds from Pierre S. DuPont. The library was meant to be one of the cornerstones of Rodney Square, along with the DuPont Building, City Hall and Courthouse, and Post Office.
Serious Question.
I broke down and started reading the details of the Miss Delaware Teen USA “scandal” this morning. I had been purposefully avoiding it because I don’t consider such things actual news. Who the hell cares that a stupid teenager was stupid enough to allegedly engage in sexual activity on camera? Who the hell cares about a Miss Delaware Teen USA? What the hell is a Miss Delaware Teen USA, and for that matter the winner of any of the other beauty pagents out there? Why do we even hold them up as some kind of paragons of virtue? I guess I can understand holding a contest to determine which of the contestants is the most beautiful and well rounded person in that year’s competition. But why then do we act like the winner of that meaningless contest is somehow given royal duties and then acts like a Head of State for a year?
Deep Pocketed Lying Cowards Still Lying in Appo
I have to hand it to people like Joanne Christian who have integrity. She opposed the Appo referendum, but at least she did it with some dignity on honest grounds, and under her own name. Right now the anonymous trolls who upended the referendum with their blatant 35% property tax increase lie are now attacking someone running for the school board with lies about them getting illegal campaign contributions from teacher’s unions. I’m not going to go into the details of the lies here because I think the chatter serves the liars nefarious purposes. [If there was any wrong doing, you would expect them to seek out the proper authorities.] Rather, I’d like to point out that there seems to be a pattern emerging.
![Monday Daily Delawhere [3.4.13]](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8235/8510976847_27b4e7746d_z.jpg "Monday Daily Delawhere [3.4.13]")
Sunday Daily Delawhere [3.3.13]
![Sunday Daily Delawhere [3.3.13]](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8519/8512088866_edd186a299_z.jpg "Sunday Daily Delawhere [3.3.13]")
The Green was the colonial core of the Dover, centered with the state house, seen on the right. The Old State House was built in 1792, after the state capital moved to Dover from New Castle in 1777, and functioned as the capitol until a new one was built in 1932.
Saturday Daily Delawhere [3.2.13]
![Saturday Daily Delawhere [3.2.13]](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8513/8510976837_2a69c85922_z.jpg "Saturday Daily Delawhere [3.2.13]")
The Wilmington Friends Meeting House, on West Street in Wilmington. The Quaker meetinghouse was built in 1817 and is the namesake of the Quaker Hill neighborhood.
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