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2015: The Good. The Bad. The Ridiculous.
Because this list is generally a critical review of the year’s events, I’ve decided not to place Beau Biden’s death or Joe’s flirtation with running for President on the lists. Who is to say how one should react under such circumstances? And how does one rank a death? Answer to both questions: I don’t know. So, I won’t do it.
We start as always, with the list with the fewest nominees: The Good. Because, let’s face it, on balance, this was not a good year for Delaware. Much closer to an annus horribilis, or whatever Queen Elizabeth calls it.
Wherever possible, I’ve linked to an article that provides context.
Delaware Liberal in 2015
As we all recover from Christmas, the Eagles losing, and prepare for New Years, it is time to look back on 2015 at Delaware Liberal. We added a new amazing writer here this year in Brian Stephan from the local blog, Those in Favor. He makes a great addition to our team of Jason300, Pandora, Cassandra, Rob Tornoe, El Somnambulo and yours truly.
Inside you will find our most discussed, visited, and viral posts of 2015, and this year, they reflected the most important political stories in Delaware in 2015.
Dear General Assembly, here is your “Honey-Do” List for 2016
1. Pass either House 181 (Kowalko), which simply creates a new tax bracket at $125,000 with a rate of 7.10%, and an additional bracket at $250,000 with a rate of 7.85%; or House Bill 196, which also establishes the two new brackets, but then gives all brackets a 0.05% tax cut.
The passage of one of these bills in non-negotiable. It must be the first order of business. No other bill or resolution or nomination can be considered by either House until one of these two bills is passed and sent to the Governor’s desk for his signature. No committee hearing on any other topic can be held until that time. If he vetos, the General Assembly must override. There is no other settlement money for you to raid, Democrats. It is time to stop being cowards, and time to make the wealthy pay just a fraction more.
2. Override the Governor’s Veto of House Bill 50, the Opt Out Bill.
3. Petition SB 40 (Death Penalty Repeal) out of the House Judiciary Committee for a full vote of the House on the floor. It at least deserves an up or down vote.
4. Pass HB 105 (No Excuse Absentee Voting) and SB 111 (Same Day Voter Registration). I expect all Democrats to vote for these two bills, for the simple reason that Democrats believe in making it easier for everyone to vote, while Republicans believe in making it harder, if not outright oppressing the right to vote. If any Democrat does not vote for these bills, you should simultaneously announce your switch to the Republican Party.
5. Pass SB 39 (Minimum Wage Increase).
Cons Win When Dems Stay Home
In what should come as no surprise (again) to any fence sitting or left leaning person in the US, Conservatives won big (again) in off-year elections because of poor voter turnout (again) especially among Democrat supporters (again). It seems we’re too addicted to the sh!t show produced by the GOP and right wing extremists in this country to actually get up off our sofas and do something (again). This is not unlike our fascination with “Reality” TV. Except unlike “reality” TV, these election results will continue us on the path toward becoming the ultimate laughing stock in the civilized world.
Nobody Wins in a Zero-Sum Game
If you have been following anything related to funding public schools in Delaware, you probably know that the system is severely broken and there are major changes being talked about. The Wilmington Education Improvement Commission is talking about needs-based funding (or weighted-student funding) and reallocation of the existing money in the system. Others are talking about changes to the equalization funding formula that’s been frozen for about 20 years. Some are talking about property reassessment. So who’s right? The short answer is: everyone, partially.
The Smarter Balanced Assessment Results Are In
I’m not even sure where to begin. I’ll start here:
Only half of Delaware students are proficient in English and fewer than four in 10 are proficient in math, according to results of the state’s tough new standardized test, the Smarter Balanced Assessment. (link takes you to the results)
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It’s no secret I’m not a fan of standardized tests, mainly because I think we’re using them incorrectly. We focus on handing out gold stars to schools who pass and slap “failing” labels on schools that don’t. But… maybe this is changing?
“There will certainly be an increase in regards to how the state allocates resources–and that’s really part of the value here–let’s understand which districts and which schools have the greatest struggles, and let’s make sure that we, as a state, are able to allocate resources to those students who need it most.”
Hey, that sounds like equitable funding. Could it be? I’m skeptical tho, since I lived through the Priority School fiasco. “Allocate resources” is usually followed with the threat of charter conversion, privatization and closure. We’ll see. That said, if these tests were actually used to help struggling schools (instead of punishing them) I’d change my tune.
Wednesday Open Thread [8.26.15]
![Wednesday Open Thread [8.26.15]](http://delawareliberal.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/DL.Open_.Thread.White_-240x180.png "Wednesday Open Thread [8.26.15]")
Some idiots on Fox News complained about a Tennessee school’s decision to ban students from displaying any flag due to the renewed controversy over the Confederate flag. The exception of course, is the American flag flying on flag pols.
“This is a about a long-term trend where the people who run everything — the elites in Washington, New York, and L.A. — despise rural America and its culture, suspect anybody who doesn’t live in their cities of being a bigot, and they’re trying to crush that culture by banning its symbols — not just the Confederate flag, but the American flag,” “Fox and Friends” co-host Tucker Carlson said on Sunday. “They hate expressions of patriotism. It makes them uncomfortable.”
Co-host Anna Kooiman chimed in to say that “Americans are feeling guilty” about their patriotism.
Flying the American flag is about patriotism. Flying the Confederate flag is about treason, which is the opposite of patriotism.
Delaware General Assembly Pre-Game Show: May 12-14, 2015
That was quite the interesting little week. HB 50 passes overwhelmingly, Gov. Markell announces he will sign death penalty repeal legislation should it reach his desk, and the General Assembly apparently has come up with a sorta-gimmick to close at least some of the gap in infrastructure spending. At least the D’s have. And my daughter graduated college with honors in Mathematics and Japanese, and now proceeds to a Masters of Arts in Teaching Program. She wants to teach and inspire high school students to fully realize their potential in mathematics. I sorta doubt that she sees the ‘Smarter Better Test’ as a means to that end.
While it looks like there’s gonna be some new funding for road projects, the Rethugs appear hell-bent on getting some sort of ‘right to work for less’ concessions in exchange for votes to close the budget shortfall. Because, you know, nothing furthers economic prosperity more than paying workers less. Hey, it’s why they’re Rethugs.
The big showdown of the week takes place in the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday at 11 am in the House Chamber. SB 40(Peterson), which repeals Delaware’s death penalty, and has already passed the Senate by an 11-9 margin, will be considered.
General Assembly Pre-Game Show: April 28-30, 2015
OK. Let’s put a stop to the idiocy that was the rumor that Gov. Markell would cut some kind of deal with the Rethugs on ‘Right to Work For Less’. It never made sense. Why? Because the bills won’t pass the General Assembly, and will not get a single D vote. Plus, the governor has little influence over the General Assembly any more. He would have zero if he made that move. ‘Multiple legislators’, Nancy? I call bullshit. Any legislator who would float that rumor should recognize that doing so makes it less likely, not more likely, that HB 50 would pass.
Yes, Monsignor Lavelle’s SB 54 is scheduled for ‘consideration’ in Wednesday’s Senate Labor & Industrial Relations Committee. Now, before you conspiracy theorists get your collective knickers in a bunch, here is the membership of that committee:
Chairman: Marshall
Members: Cloutier
Hocker
McBride
Peterson
Poore
4 D’s, 2 R’s, one of the R’s generally votes with labor. Now, do you really suppose that Jack Markell asked Marshall for a ‘solid’, and that Marshall agreed? Markell emasculated Marshall’s last minimum wage bill, and tried to privatize the Port of Wilmington over his objections. Use your heads, pipples. You’re better than this.
Vote Tracker For the Week of March 30-April 3, 2015
Last week the Delaware Senate passed again, as they did last year, the repeal of the Death Penalty. And as last year, the voting produced odd bipartisan ‘alliances,’ which demonstrates that on this issue, and perhaps only this issue, partisan considerations take a back seat to considerations of faith and conscience. Republican Senators Cloutier, Lopez and Republican Minority Leader Simpson all voted to repeal. Democratic Senators Hall-Long, Ennis, Marshall and Poore voted to keep the Death Penalty. Monsignor Lavelle, as El Som is fond of calling the Minority Whip, was absent, in today’s display of a lack of courage or conviction.
Senator Poore’s bill implementing the IEP Improvement Task Force Recommendations was rescued from the table and passed the Senate 20-1, with the sole No being Republican Gubernatorial candidate Colin Bonini.
Senator Townsend’s SB 47, which modernizes and reorganizes the Public Defendant’s Office in order to ensure that indigent people charged with crimes are well represented, passed the Senate 20-1. The sole NO vote? You guessed it. Republican Gubernatorial candidate Colin Bonini.
Rep. Lynn’s bill to require the use of helmets when bikers are riding their motorcycles on Delaware roads (HB 54) has met the anticipated opposition (wearing helmets = tyranny) and has been left in limbo in Committee. The Committee did not table it, nor did it vote it down or release it. It’s just hanging there in mid-air in suspended animation. Much like a biker is when time slows down after an accident has thrown him or her from their bike into air. It is during that moment in time that the biker realizes he or she is about to die, and probably really should have worn that helmet. Lucky for all of us, we no longer have to deal with the idiot opinions of that biker, because he or she will be dead.
Delaware General Assembly Pre-Game Show: Week of March 31-April 2, 2015
Kids, imagine that you’re the governor of a state. Assume that you’re, oh, around 54 years of age. Imagine that you’ve grappled with numerous issues of enormous complexity during both your private and public careers. Imagine that debate over the death penalty has been a constant during your entire adult life. Is it plausible to […]
Redrawing School District Lines
I have been on record saying that Delaware has too many school districts. 19 public/Vo-Tech school districts and 18 (and counting) charter districts. Each charter school is its own district. To me, that’s simply too much administrative overhead. Which brings us to the plan of reducing the number of districts in the city of Wilmington. Something I support, but know that the devil’s in the details.
When the Wilmington Education Advisory Committee (WEAC) submitted its report to the Governor, one of its suggestions was removing Christina and Colonial School Districts from the city and having the only two districts (Red Clay and Brandywine) serve the city.
As a city resident the idea of fewer school districts sounds wonderful. Having four districts fractured the city’s voice. It was hard to organize and advocate for city kids since school districts would only listen to people who lived in their district about concerns with their district. I do understand that, but it was extremely frustrating. Especially since 99% of our concerns applied to every district. But those district lines sent us off in four different directions, with less people, and were easily ignored. And, make no mistake, we were ignored. The districts’ go-to solution was always to form a committee to study the problem. Where all those committee reports ended up… I have no idea. And it was infuriating to keep bringing up the same concerns year after year only to have district administrators feign surprise and call for a new committee. So, most city residents would be happy with fewer school districts – if it’s handled correctly.
Delaware General Assembly Pre-Game Show: Week of March 24-26, 1015
Yet another sneaky maneuver from Markell’s Merciless Minions in their ongoing war on state employees. After agreeing to postpone their plan to screw state employees and retirees by shifting more health costs onto them, Ann Visalli and her henchpersons nevertheless convened a meeting of the ironically-named State Employee Benefits Commission to ‘temporarily’ increase premiums. In other words, shifting more costs onto the workers. And going back on their public promises. When it comes to state employees, Markell is taking his cues from Scott Walker. Or perhaps vice versa. From Day One, Markell has done little to hide his disdain for the worker bees. Guess he admires smooth-talking used car salesmen like himself much more. Right back at’cha, Jack. Glibness made you rich and made you governor. Hey, maybe that’s why Jack looks down on state employees…not glib enough for him and, of course, not wealthy enough for him. Memo to the General Assembly: We’re watching. It’s time to tax Jack’s pals. They collected all the spoils of the so-called economic recovery. Stop Markell’s transfer of more wealth to the wealthy. This. Is. Unconscionable.
The Delaware General Assembly has a new easy-to-navigate website. It’s really really good, but does not lend itself to linking as well as the previous website. Rather than doing a cut-and-paste of huge swaths of text, I’ll post highlights and encourage you to check out the site. It’s definitely much easier to access and search than it used to be, which makes me even less essential (I know, I know).
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