General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show: Tues., May 14, 2013

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While we were busy celebrating the passage and signing into law of Delaware's Marriage Equality Act, the House effectively killed off legislation providing a modest hike in Delaware's minimum wage. Make no mistake: the killing of SB 6 was deliberate and planned, and the co-conspirators were all Democrats: Speaker Pete Schwartzkopf, Rep. Bryon Short, and Gov. Jack Markell. Here's how it happened. After bargaining in what he thought was good faith with Gov. Walker Markell, Sen. Robert Marshall agreed to amendments that significantly reduced the impact of SB 6. Specifically, he agreed to push back the effective date, to decouple subsequent rate increases from the rate of inflation, and to lower the amount of the increase. Markell praised the eviscerated finished product, and said he could support the bill. Which was the last 'support' he provided. And Speaker Pete got the memo loud and clear: Kill the bill! And he did. How? By assigning it to the House Business Lapdog Committee, aka the House Economic Development/Banking/Insurance/Commerce Committee, instead of to the House Labor Committee. Chaired by Rep. Bryon Short. You may recall that this is precisely the same tactic that former Speaker Bob Gilligan employed when Markell wanted him to kill the bill last session. And, for the second straight session, Short did not disappoint. SB 6 was passed in the Senate on March 21. It did not receive its hearing in the committee until May 8, and that was deliberate. Short allowed the bill to languish until the last day that, according to House rules, it had to be considered in committee. Many of you are aware of the full-court press opposition led by the respective Chambers of Commerce in the past two weeks. By delaying consideration of the bill, the committee chair enabled that campaign to have optimal effect. To the point where empty tabula rasas like Andria Bennett were reciting Chamber talking points verbatim in opposition to as Democratic a bill as you'll ever find. Gov. Markell demonstrated some slickness here. By saying that he would sign SB 6, he eliminates any political stigma that Democrats would attach to him in a future run for political office for publicly opposing a minimum wage increase. And he gets Pete and his DLC house cronies to kill the bill. Just like he did last year. Just remember, Markell's fingerprints are all over this. Cut'n save.

Open letter to the last remaining sane Delaware Republican

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Hi, I know we've had our differences. I know I've berrated you for allowing Christine ODonnell to ever address an audience. I've scorned you for voting for George Bush (twice!). I've scoffed, and spit on the ground as you've walked by to show my utter contempt. But I'm past all of that now. I'm just full of pity for you and honestly reaching out right now to see what i can do to help you. I've been moving in this direction for a while because I can see you are a decent person. It know you have some whack-adoodle notions about taxation, but I think you want a better, more just, healthy, and sustainable democratic future for our state and country. I know that you have about as much in common with John Sigler and his whack job a-holes who have taken over your party as I do. This, from Daily Kos, really brought that home for me. "The meetings didn’t take. “[Newt] Gingrich and [Mitt] Romney understood, … and I think they even believed the evidence and understood the risk,” [MIT scientist Kerry] Emanuel says. “But they were so terrified by the extremists in their party that in the primaries they felt compelled to deny it. Which is not good leadership, good integrity. I got a low impression of them as leaders.” Throughout the Republican presidential primaries, every candidate but one—former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, who was knocked out of the race at the start—questioned, denied, or outright mocked the science of climate change. Soon after his experience in South Carolina, Emanuel changed his lifelong Republican Party registration to independent. “The idea that you could look a huge amount of evidence straight in the face and, for purely ideological reasons, deny it, is anathema to me,” he says." While I used to say "tough titties" that's the party you created out of your cynical belief that you could control the idiots and Christianist maniacs, I now realize that "I told you so" isn't going to cut it moving forward. We can't have a two party system in which one party of openly committed to simply fucking shit up out of spite. So, I'm honestly asking - what can I do? How can i help the GOP return to some semblance of sanity and decent? You know how to reach me. Let's chat. I wouldn't be much of a liberal if I didn't think we could work things out. Sincerly, jason330 PS. What the fuck were you thinking voting for George Bush for a second term? Honestly. okay- just had to say that one more time. Now I'm don't with finger pointing. I promise. onward.

Pro Rassler Provides Sophisticated Analysis of Delaware Marriage Equality

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From the Bible of Pro Wrestling, Wrestling Observer/Figure Four Weekly, comes the following:
--Jay Briscoe got himself into trouble, deleting his entire Twitter account over what he tweeted Wednesday:
"The Delaware Senate passed a bill yesterday that allows same sex couples to get married. If that makes you happy, then congratulations!!!"
"..try and teach my kids that there's nothing wrong with that and I'll fucking shoot you."
About 12 hours later, after realizing that was probably not the right thing to say, he wrote:
"I feel very strongly about who should teach kids about certain things but I showed poor judgment by using that analogy and I'm sorry."
A few hours after that, he deleted his entire account. ROH released this statement: "Ring of Honor Wrestling respects and appreciates every fan regardless of age, gender, race, religion or sexual preference. The recent post by Jay Briscoe does not represent the views or opinions of Ring of Honor Wrestling, its owners, management or employees." ROH has said Briscoe will both make a public apology for his remarks on Saturday's house show in Belle Vernon, PA, and he has agreed to donate his pay for the next two weekend to the Partners Against Hate charitable organization.

North Carolina House GOP Approves Child Murder Bill

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Withholding treatment is murder, in my book. "Parents would have to give their teenagers permission before they could receive birth control or be treated for sexually transmitted diseases, substance abuse or mental illness, under a bill approved in a House committee on Tuesday." Heaven forbid they should get treated for life-threatening conditions without permission! Supporters say the aim of the bill is to restore parental control over teenagers lives. I say the aim is to kill teenagers who have sex or use drugs, and maybe if they're bullied and harassed for being gay, they can commit suicide rather than get counseling for depression. Remember, these same people want to make sure their teenagers have easy access to (and training with) their gun collections (or be able to buy them online if their hippie parents don't have any). The life of the child was never their concern.

PDD-DL Vote Tracker Update [5.9.13]

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The Governor signed HB 35 into law yesterday, surrounded by a group of parents who lost their children in the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting in Connecticut last December. The law extends mandatory background checks to most private gun sales this July. There are three other gun control measures that are part of the Governor’s gun control package: a bill establishing gun-free school zones (HB 67), a ban on high-capacity magazines (HB 58), and a requirement to report lost or stolen guns (SB 16). SB 16, the aforementioned bill that would require gun owners to report lost or stolen guns within 7 days after discovering the bill lost or stolen, has cleared the committee and is headed to the House floor for a vote. How anyone can oppose this bill is beyond me. Indeed, if you oppose this bill, you must be a terrorist or a criminal, or at least an enabler of the two. Represenative Kowalko’s HB 13 finally passed the House after six years of trying, 30-11. The bill bans lawmakers from becoming lobbyists after they leave the General Assembly for one year after leaving office. His previous bills called for 2 years. The Republicans have introduced that version of the bill in the Senate, and offered an Amendment was offered to increase the term to 2 years, but it was defeated. I am not sure why, but some Democrats in the House are really making themselves look like defenders of lobbyists by opposing this legislation. Some surprising names in the no column. And given that all the Republicans voted yes, it is obvious that they are using this and the double dipping issue to their advantage. And the Democrats voting no are dumb enough to let them. Come inside for the rest of the Vote Tracker....

Senator Chris Coons Calls Out Republicans for Not Getting to a Budget Deal

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Recall that the Senate passed its budget in March, and the House passed its budget before that -- meaning that if we're finally following the "regular order" of budgeting, there should be a Senate and House Reconciliation Committee so that these two bodies can come to some agreement on a budget. That budget -- a policy document only, it appropriates no money -- is supposed to guide the appropriation process. Except that the GOP doesn't want to work on a budget until we are much closer to the debt ceiling problem. We were supposed to have faced the debt ceiling in march or April, but the Treasury figured out a way to postpone that until Fall. So the GOP is stuck with a pretty bad timeline -- blowing up the economy over the debt ceiling just before they start campaigning is very bad juju. And they have NO negotiating position unless the debt ceiling is imminent they think. So Senator Coons took to the Senate floor today to call to get back to the regular order of the budget process and to stop the effects of the sequester:

Darrell Issa yet to link Benghazi and mystery spike in sea lion deaths

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Not that he isn't working on it.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Starving sea lion pups are washing up on Southern California beaches at a rate more than five times higher than usual, and scientists are scrambling to figure out why. Since the beginning of the year, 1,293 emaciated sea lions found stranded on beaches from San Diego to Santa Barbara have been treated at seven facilities in the state, Sarah Wilkin of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Wednesday during a conference call with reporters.

MARRIAGE EQUALITY IS THE LAW

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The Delaware Senate has just passed HB 75, the Marriage Equality bill, 12 to 9. The vote went as we expected, with Senator Hall Long deciding at the last minute to vote yes. Thank you to her. I know I and others have been tough on her, and I know her vote was not needed and so she could have skipped it or not voted, but she stood up and voted to be on the right side of history. And thank you to Senators Blevins, Bushweller, Cloutier, Henry, Townsend, Peterson, Marshall, McDowell, McBride, Poore and Sokola for your votes today. We will have your back. Senators Townsend, Marshall, Bushweller and Peterson gave amazing speeches, but I would like to clear up something for the national media, who are already running with this, but Karen Peterson has been out as gay for years. She did not break news today. But hey, who am I to ruin your story? I am told that Governor Markell is going to sign this bill right away, on the steps of the General Assembly. Here is a picture of him in the halls right now: We will have a pic of the signing in 10-12 minutes. Here is Rob Tornoe's great cartoon: And the Governor signs the bill, making the title of this post finally legally and technically accurate. How the votes broke down:

HB 75 (Marriage Equality) Senate Debate and Vote Thread

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The Senate will be gaveled into session at 2 pm, and the only thing on the agenda is HB 75, the Marriage Equality bill that passed the House on April 23 by a vote of 23 to 18. According to sources and scuttlebutt, Senator Cathy Cloutier and Senator Bob Marshall are voting yes. The only real mystery is the vote of Senator Bethany Hall Long. Those working this bill say they have 12 votes, and if the rest of the whip count stays as I display below, that would mean Hall Long is voting yes. Until it happens though, I won't believe it. Perhaps Senators Ennis or Venables will change their minds and be the 12th vote. Or perhaps Ernie Lopez of Greg Lavelle will surprise, though it is hard to see how Lopez survives politically in his party if he does vote yes. Lavelle may vote yes given his upstate district, but if he has hopes of higher office he will have to deal with his rabid bigoted Republican base, who will not take kindly to a yes vote. But all of that is academic, since, if all the Senators in the yes column stay true to their pronouncements, Marriage Equality will be the law of the land. Come inside to follow the debate.