General Assembly Post-Game Wrap=Up/Pre-Game Show: Thurs., March 22, 2012

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As predicted by Yours Truly, legislation adding public employees to the State Employee Benefit Committee has been assigned to buried in the House Administration Committee, where Pete Schwartzkopf will help Jack Markell kill the bill, just like Pete Schwartzkopf is helping Jack Markell to kill HB 126. While the House Administration Committee has generally been seen as the counterpart of the Senate Executive Committee, the leadership of the committee has rarely exercised the same kind of heavy-handed tactics employed by Thurman Adams and Tony DeLuca on the Senate side. That is, however, what they are doing with these two bills.

Calls For Sanford Police Chief To Resign Over Trayvon Martin Case

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Police chief Bill Lee, of Sanford police, has insisted he carried out a "fair and thorough" investigation of the killing and that he cannot arrest George Zimmerman because he has told police he shot the teenager in self-defence and there was no evidence to contradict his account.
A thorough investigation? Not a chance. No evidence to contradict Zimmerman's account? Well, if you don't look for or gather evidence then there won't be evidence, now will there? Gross incompetence of the Sanford Police would be a generous description at this point. Let's look at what the Sanford Police didn't do.

It Appears I’m Not Alone In Not Forgiving Komen

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A Komen insider told HuffPost that "employee morale is in the toilet" since Komen leadership made the controversial decision to defund Planned Parenthood, one of the nation's most prominent women's health and family planning organizations. The move was led by anti-abortion executive Karen Handel, then Komen's senior vice president for public policy, who has since resigned. "Brinker in complete meltdown," the source wrote to HuffPost. "People want her to resign but she won't."

General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show: Weds., March 21, 2012

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An item I found intriguing was the fact that SB163(Marshall), which would increase Delaware's minimum wage by $1 over a two year period, and which passed the Senate on January 26, was finally assigned to a House Committee yesterday. And not the committee that you'd expect, which would be the House Labor Committee. No, the bill has been assigned to the House Economic Development/Banking/Insurance/Commerce Committee. It could be nothing, but my Spidey Sense is tingling here. First, the bill is slow-walked. Then, it's assigned to a committee whose history has been to remove any pesky impediments to economic development, including regulation. Not the most worker-friendly committee, IMHO. Let's just see what happens here. I do know this: If Jack Markell supports this bill, it passes. If he doesn't, well, it just could get buried in an inhospitable committee. Stay tuned.

I gotta steal from Kavips….

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Obama’s budget just got scored by the CBO (Congressional Budget Office) at a $3.5 Trillion Deficit by 2022….. Ryan’s budget, will yield a whopping $36.5 Trillion by deficit by that same year. Which number is smaller?

Delaware Gets a C- on the Corruption Risk Report Card

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The State Integrity Investigation has conducted a year-long study of the effectiveness (or even existence) of each state's laws and operating procedures in place to deter corruption and promote government accountability and openness. This report is done and published as of yesterday (19 March 2012) and Delaware gets an overall grade of C-, ranked #22 in terms of least corruption risk out of all 50 states. The state that came in the best? That would be New Jersey, with a grade of B+. Take a look at Delaware's report card:

General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show: Tues., March 20, 2012

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When we last left the House Democratic Caucus, black smoke was pouring from the Leg Hall chimney and nobody, not even the crickets, was making any noise about the fate of Rep. John Atkins. A reasonable person would have concluded that pulling rank on state police for having the nerve to pull Atkins over for speeding was not considered sufficient grounds by the Caucus to sanction Atkins for his action. End of story. Until Sunday. Thanks to Cris Barrish’s story in the News-Journal, we find out that Atkins had to be lying about his (lack of) involvement in a tire-burning incident at his father-in-law’s place. We also found out that the Georgetown Volunteer Fire Chief, the 911 dispatcher, and a couple of others helped Atkins to cover up the nature of the fire and Atkins’ involvement in it. In other words, we found out what we already knew: Atkins is incapable of telling the truth; Atkins holds himself above the law; and Atkins consistently has public officials covering his back. The Caucus now knows that this story is yet another example of Atkins’ unfitness to hold public office.

Who will be Romney’s VP pick?

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It is a given that Romney will be the GOP's nominee this year, so who will be willing to "take one for the team" and go down in flames? Romney/Santorum: No. Rick will be looking to 2016 and I doubt that creating "party unity" is going to be on his agenda. 0% Romney/Huntsman: Too sane. Also, an all LDS ticket? Not so likely. 0% Romney/Bachmann: A crazy conservative woman to make Romney seem sane while winning back women who hate women? 1% Romney/Gingrich: The most hated man in America? We...