Chip Flowers – Page 2 – Delaware Liberal

General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show: Thurs., Jan. 23, 2014

By El Somnambulo January 23, 20146 Comments

Today's highlight, of course, will be Governor Jack Markell's State of the State Address. I, for one, want to hear whether the Governor has developed even the slightest empathy for those Delawareans who have been hurt by the increasing concentration of wealth that the Governor has helped to enable. Something, anything, to provide hope to those who don't live in Greenville, and don't attend the same cocktail parties the Governor attends, and can't afford to. My prediction? Whether this week, or next week, when he introduces his proposed budget, those who have been screwed will be asked to make even more sacrifices. The wealthy will not. Maybe he'll prove me wrong. For once. All Senate and House committee meetings were canceled yesterday, and none were rescheduled for today. Many thanks to House and Senate staff who provided the public with today's agendas yesterday.

General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show: Thurs., Jan. 16, 2014

By El Somnambulo January 16, 201414 Comments

Well, one day in, and already one of my predictions has gone down in flames. (Or is it 'up in flames'?) Thought it would be easy for the Senate to resurrect HB 88(Barbieri), which would establish procedures to try and keep guns out of the hands of the dangerously mentally-ill. We weren't talking about passing the bill, we were just talking about restoring the bill to the Senate calendar. However, this signature initiative of Attorney General Beau Biden went nowhere on Tuesday, likely prompted by the notable absence of Beau Biden. From the News-Journal story:

Senate Minority Leader Gary Simpson, R-Milford, said he expected Biden to be in Legislative Hall to make his case. “If this bill is that important, I would think the attorney general would be present to debate it,” Simpson said. “He should be on the job and seen and heard from, rather than his staff speaking in his name.” Biden’s chief of staff, Timothy Mullaney, said Biden spent his day in meetings to discuss violence in Wilmington. Biden was not available for interviews to discuss a new Wilmington crime plan announced by Mayor Dennis Williams. Joe Rogalsky, who leads legislative efforts for Biden, said the attorney general would not give up on the gun-control issue.

Simpson's right, you know. Perhaps a little cruel, but right. Were Biden up to the task, he would have been in Legislative Hall. It's not a long drive from Wilmington. However, it proved to be a Route Too Far to revive his signature bill. You do the math.

‘The Unelected Cash Board’

By El Somnambulo January 15, 201464 Comments

Chip Flowers in full asshole mode. Words fail me. Count the number of times he says 'unelected cash board'. Says Benner saved the state 'hundreds of millions' of dollars. BTW, Benner is no longer on the state payroll. According to Chip.

Delaware General Assembly Pre-Game Show: Tues., January 14, 2014

By El Somnambulo January 14, 201427 Comments

The 2nd Session of the 147th General Assembly begins today. For newbies, or for those who forget easily, here's what you need to know. Each legislative term lasts two years, from election to election. The 147th General Assembly runs until Election Day. Since this is the second year of the Assembly, all legislation that was in play on July 1, 2013 remains in play today. Of course, that doesn't even consider new bills, new nominees, new controversy and, of course, new snark from Yours Truly. The General Assembly meets for three weeks in January, breaks for six weeks for Joint Finance Committee hearings until mid-March, meets until Easter, breaks for two weeks, meets until around Memorial Day, breaks for two weeks (this is usually when the fiscal bills are finalized), and then meets until the early hours of July 1. But that's getting ahead of ourselves. This can and should be a busy and productive January session. It WILL be a contentious session. Here's just some of the stuff that likely will be considered during January....:

The Year End Chip Flowers Fingerpointing

By cassandra_m December 26, 201335 Comments

This is a comment rescue, from a piece that John Manifold linked to for us from Delaware State News, where Chip Flowers is still trying to avoid taking responsibility for the basic management of his office. This time, he wants you to know that the OMB is responsible for terminating an exempt employee that he hired. And "politics" is at fault for the OMB leaving him with the Personnel bag, as it were, even though the employee has already resigned and is done with her medical leave:

Time for Chip Flowers to Get Serious and Work with the CMPB

By cassandra_m November 27, 201336 Comments

So let's start with a serious question -- if Sheriff Christopher is the Sheriff of Nuttingham, what character would we assign to Chip Flowers? Today, the Attorney General's office rendered an opinion based on questions that the Cash Management Policy Board asked the AG to weigh in on. Those questions are:

In Which We Find Chip Flowers Changing the Credit Cards Story AGAIN

By cassandra_m November 17, 201344 Comments

Delaware State News reports on the Chip Flowers' travel document dump, and we find that that the State Treasurer still can't quite wrap his mind around the escalating mismanagement of these credit card issues. For one (and the most jawdropping to me), we find that Flowers wants us to know that he lost all of those receipts because the corporate world he came from has differing standards:

Not keeping the original receipts was a mistake that Mr. Flowers acknowledged, and he attributed the discarded receipts to following the general policies of corporate business during his transition to public office in 2011.

UPDATE: The Chip Flowers’ Travel Expenses Data Dump

By cassandra_m November 13, 201339 Comments

State Treasurer Chip Flowers had his news conference this AM that preceded the release of travel documents from his office. You can see a clip of the news conference at WDEL plus their story. The NJ also has some video and a story. Both stories highlight the apology (from WDEL):

Yeah, He Lied

By cassandra_m November 3, 201399 Comments

Any better conclusions than that? Seriously, after the huffing and puffing and bluster that the News Journal and his critics were trying to mislead people or trying to hurt him or trying to delegitimize his function in office -- Treasurer Chip Flowers finally meets with the News Journal and what we find out is that he really is that incompetent. And we find out that records requested are conveniently missing. From this morning's NJ, where Flowers admits that there are financial records missing from his office:

Late Night Video — Chip Flowers Takes His Denial Tour to TV

There's more on Chip Flowers and his inability to manage the travel budget of his organization today in the NJ. And at this point, this is more about his inability to live up to the transparency he keeps promising and the failure of his epic spin to get him out of this thing.

Can Chip Flowers Manage His Department’s Budget? All Signs Point to No

By cassandra_m October 6, 201336 Comments

In a bold act of *disclosure* this past Friday afternoon, at 4:30pm, State Treasurer Chip Flowers released his so-called "definitive and final report" on the problems his Agency has had with one employee in using her credit card in accordance with State regulations. This is a great example of the Friday afternoon data dump -- in which you hope that members of the media won't pay much attention and print your spin on this item. The Treasurer's "report" was dumped so late on Friday afternoon, that the press release that came with this thing didn't even get posted to the website yet. But perhaps this report was rushed out in an attempt to counterweight the News Journal article today that provides a big window into how mismanaged the expenses on Ms. Erika Benner's state-issued credit card were.