Tag: El Somnambulo
General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show: Thurs., June 19, 2014
Last day of the DIY reports, I promise. Got next week’s work schedule, and it’s ‘green across the screen’. In the limited remaining time allotted to me today, I’ll now proceed to scour my resources for stuff that interests me…
Very happy to see the Senate pass SB 253(McBride), which ultimately conveys a parcel of property to Faithful Friends. Anyone who knows anything about Faithful Friends knows that they perform an invaluable public service in providing care and adoption services for stray and abandoned pets. A humane no-kill shelter with some of the finest staff and volunteers you’ll ever meet. I find it ironic that the three senators who voted no reside in an area known for housing Delaware’s worst (only?) puppy mills.
The FY ’15 Budget Bill was introduced and laid on the table in the Senate. If you have time, read the Epilog Language. That’s where all the sneaky stuff usually is.
Yay! HB 331(Kowalko) unanimously passed the House yesterday! The bill requires that both the University of Delaware and Del State comply with FOIA. And, unless I misread it, the House Amendment voted onto the bill strengthens the bill. The University must really have pissed off some important people.
General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show: Tues., June 17, 2014
Roads Held Hostage: Day…um, I Lost Count. Seven legislative days remain, still no word of any sort of fix to the $70 (or $90) million hole in the State’s transportation/infrastructure budget. Looks like we’re getting in ‘patch, then kick the can down the road’ territory. The very idea that D’s can’t or won’t tout a needed $70 (or $90) mill road repair/jobs program pretty much defines what’s wrong with Delaware’s brand of ‘Democrat’. BTW, since it looks like the 495 repair will cost somewhere around $20 mill, I’m hedging my bets as to whether the hole in our transportation funding is $70 mill or $90 mill.
OK, there are only a few ways that I can write the same story day after day. Whether I’ll run out of ways to write it before a fix is arrived at remains to be seen. Check back tomorrow.
Oopsies. Did I say tomorrow? Breaking news, and it ain’t good. A real bleak fiscal picture, must-reading for anyone interested in what’s gonna get funded and what will not. Here’s the takeaway quote:
“The problem is that no one wants to raise taxes for anything. You don’t want to raise the gas tax. You don’t want to raise income taxes. You don’t want a sales tax. You don’t want any of these taxes, but you still want the infrastructure,” Bhatt told lawmakers.
Speaking of infrastructure, DELDOT’s capital proposal is $128 mill, $70 mill less than last year’s. Revenue-shifting and the General Assembly’s refusal to even consider a gas tax will mean deteriorating roads, bridges and infrastructure. Hey, hopefully they’ll be out of office when stuff actually falls down. Then they can blame it on someone else. Cowardice. Proof that these election-obsessives don’t live in a reality-based world.
Delaware Political Weekly: June 7-13, 2014
2. Chip Flowers Creates Yet Another Issue For Himself
So, let’s see if I’ve got this straight. In order to ‘save the state money’, Delaware’s Most Ethical State Employee has cut deals with seven banks, all of whom manage state $$’s, to pay for his travel expenses and those of his staff. $5K per bank, times 7. $35,000 in travel expenses. Which is a lot of travel expenses. I would call this extortion were Flowers not so ethical. He, of course, is once again changing the subject. This issue isn’t/wasn’t that he traveled, it is/was that he was unable to account for how much he spent and who paid for it. If a treasurer can’t account for his own expenses, how can he account for the state’s finances?
3. I’m Not Loving Sean Barney’s Campaign
I got an e-blast from him yesterday. He’s been endorsed by a buncha lawyers. I like some of those lawyers. I don’t give two bleeps that they’ve endorsed him. He used some of the same boilerplate that I can’t stand when it comes to our Corporate Bar:
Our legal community in Delaware inspires trust and confidence the world over because of its reputation for upholding the highest standards of professional responsibility. Moreover, Delaware’s bar is exceptional in the manner in which it pairs the highest expectations of competence with the highest expectations of collegiality.
Computer-generated boilerplate.
I have people telling me on the QT that Sean Barney is really one of us. As in progressive. But he is running a risk-averse campaign where all we learn about him is about his military service, his high school schools initiative, and the fact that he’s been endorsed by a lot of the usual suspects. Haven’t even heard a dog-whistle from him to create any enthusiasm.
General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show: Thurs., June 12, 2014
So, the I-495 bridge repair is gonna cost $20 million or so. About 60,000 vehicles, a lot of them trucks, are now grinding other Delaware roads, further degrading those road surfaces. Not so much as a peep out of the General Assembly as to how they’re gonna fund the $70 mill hole in the road/infrastructure funding. Which may now be $90 mill. Rethug signs still litter New Castle County, proclaiming ‘No New Gas Taxes’. Is anybody gonna do anything?
General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show: Weds., June 11, 2014
OK, let’s talk about Delaware’s position as the nation’s corporate leader. Our lofty perch is not based on having ‘better’ lawyers, ‘better’ judges, or having the abiding respect of the corporate community. We’re in this position because we’ve passed laws that enable corporations to engage in unsavory practices that otherwise would be considered criminal activity. We make it impossible for people to know who are behind straw corporations, or why these shells exist in the first place. We enable the worst kinds of criminal activity, including arms sales, drug-running, and, yes, human trafficking, by enabling corporations to create impossible-to-follow paper trails. The entire political establishment props this up by worshipping at the feet of the Court of Chancery and by placing those who are its most effective defenders in positions of power. It’s no accident that the preponderance of judgeships go to those from the corporate law community . It’s no accident that people like Ed Friel and Jeff Bullock, both from Carper Cyborgenics, have served as Secretaries of State. They’re all in on Delaware’s dirty secret: Our vast revenues generated by Delaware’s corporate hegemony are derived from Delaware’s willingness, no, eagerness, to enact laws that benefit even the worst actors at the expense of, well, people. In Delaware, corporations are not merely people, they have rights superior to people. You can put suits on these people, and they can be heralded as Delaware’s best, but they are merely well-learned shills and shysters.
Hey, it’s no surprise that Delaware was the state to legalize usury. We were the most experienced when it came to legalizing criminal activity via corporate shell games.
So it was no surprise that HB 327 and HB 328 flew through the House yesterday, it’s what we do. Every year. In June. A package of bills emerges from the Corporate Section of the Delaware Bar every year. Proponents cite them as necessary to continue Delaware’s pre-eminent position in corporate law. But now you know just what kind of stuff is in these bills. Thanks to the ADA, League of Women Voters, and the Delaware Alliance for Community Advancement, for shining a light on Delaware’s dirty secret. Maybe, just maybe, this will start a debate that should have been taking place all along.
General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show: Tues., June 10, 2014
I’m hearing alarm bells over a package of corporate bills on today’s agenda. Bills like these generally sail through the General Assembly in June, and reflect lawyerly obeisance to their corporate masters. Nobody usually knows what’s in these bills, except for the legal sharks and the corporate forces writing the bills for/with them. Which brings me to HB’s 327 and 328. Both sponsored by Rep. Walker, who is running them, as well as HB’s 326 and 329 on behalf of the Corporate Law section of the Delaware Bar. The League of Women Voters, Americans for Democratic Action, and the Delaware Alliance for Community Advancement have all expressed concerns regarding HB 327 and HB 328. From the ADA:
Delaware is a leader in incorporation. As such, we have responsibilities to ensure we are supporting legitimately-purposed corporations as well as not allowing our state to be used as an easy way for people to set up corporations anonymously and then use them to facilitate drug smuggling, arms trafficking, money laundering, anonymous campaign contributions, or other nefarious activities. Our state’s reputation suffers when we allow bad actors to take advantage of our laws that enable the easy establishment of untraceable shell companies.
…However, these bills are ineffective as written. They do not require information be collected about the real people, often called beneficial owners, who ultimately own or control Delaware companies, and they do not make it any easier for law enforcement to access this information—in fact, for law enforcement to access the information that is collected, someone at the company needs to be tipped off that they are under investigation.
‘Bulo’s Fave Tunes: May 2014
I hope you check this stuff out as there’s so much great music that gets lost in the shuffle, but shouldn’t. Music lovers, here we go!….
Delaware Political Weekly: May 31-June 6, 2014
Any general election ballot with both Matt Denn and Brenda Mayrack on it is a ballot worth filling out. For years, we, and many of you, have lamented the dearth of progressives at the highest levels of elected state Democratic officeholders. I am convinced that both Denn and Mayrack are true progressives, and that the offices for which they’re running this year are unlikely to be the last offices for which they run. In addition to being progressives, both are real competent. With all due respect to Beau Biden (and that’s about as much respect as he’s due), Denn is a huge upgrade in the competence department. As for Tom Wagner, is there anybody in the state, other than perhaps Dick Cathcart, even willing to make an argument about his competence? Unless one views not doing anything as evidence of competence? Now contrast him with Brenda Mayrack. As Spiro Agnew might say, “Nolo contendere”. Speaking of Wagner and Cathcart, for those of you new to this scandal, this is must reading. Pretty much everything you need to know in one place. Perhaps that Delaware City sycophant who kisses Cathcart’s ass (no, not Val Longhurst, the other Delaware City sycophant who kisses Cathcart’s ass) will respond to this. Wagner? I dunno. But the term ‘suspendered disbelief’ was never more appropriate. BTW, in a delicious piece of irony, the pathetic report/whitewash from Wagner that I linked to in the article…is no longer available from the Auditor’s office.
General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show: Thurs., June 5, 2014
Speaker Pete Schwartzkopf’s gonna earn his money today. Look for a l-o-o-o-o-ng party caucus for the House Majority.
At a time when key legislation needs to be worked, and worked with some sense of urgency, The House D’s will most likely feel forced to confront the (former GOP) elephant in the room. John Atkins. I can’t imagine that there will not be a serious mass of legislators outraged at his alleged actions. And, of course, this is far from the first time that the Caucus has had to address issues regarding Atkins. When you add to that the fact that Schwartzkopf personally vouched for Atkins and sold him to a skeptical caucus back in 2008 (‘People can change’), and you’ve got a real messy situation on your hands. The guy was always kinda on probation to several caucus members, and I wonder if caucus members are willing to let that continue. Yes, I know, he has not been charged with anything and he deserves his day in court. I’m just looking at the dynamics of the caucus. After all, not even the Rethugs wanted him. Betcha a majority of D’s don’t, either.
General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show: Weds., June 4, 2014
We need more legislative days like yesterday.
Good bills passing all over the place. The Senate passed HB 251(M. Smith) (3 Rethug nos), SB 181(Blevins), SB 185(Townsend)(5 nos, 4 Rethugs and Venables), SB 212(Hall-Long), and SB 219(Hall-Long)(unanimous!).
Every one of these bills is something that progressives can embrace. Both Senators Lopez and Cloutier voted yes on all of these. Check ’em out for yourself, and I think you can see an emerging progressive consensus in the General Assembly. I want to highlight SB 219…..
General Assembly Pre-Game Show: Tuesday, June 3, 2014
Admit it. Like me, you didn’t see this coming. $3 mill in funding earmarked for the University of Delaware in limbo while the Delaware General Assembly awaits word on what the U of D will decide in terms of the plan to build a data center and energy plant on university land. I have no problem in general with the General Assembly withholding funds from the University when UD is recalcitrant. I just wish they had done it to force UD to open its records to the public. Maybe they’ll do that next year.
This is clearly a power play by labor and some business interests to get this project moving. We’re talking Jobs vs. NIMBY. I ain’t got a dawg in this fight, but it’ll make for a fascinating June. WWUDD?
I also can’t believe that the General Assembly will allow a $70 million swath to be cut through DELDOT’s construction budget, I just can’t. If we’re talking about jobs, how does reducing road projects from around $190 million to about $120 million protect them? It doesn’t. Now that Valerie Longhurst’s power is on the wane, perhaps wiser heads will prevail in the General Assembly. Especially if a certain bridge on I-495 is in danger of falling down. Again, some great drama for the final month. Uh, not the falling down part, I hope, but the question of whether legislators will lay down on the job and bid a lot of jobs and important work adieu.
Delaware Political Weekly: May 21-27, 2014
Here are some names of people who haven’t yet filed, and whose candidacies may be in doubt:
State Auditor Tom Wagner: Has any statewide official ever done less work while being paid by the taxpayers over a longer period of time than Wagner? Faced with an inspiring and hard-working challenger in Brenda Mayrack, does Wagner really want to go out on his shield? We already know he doesn’t want to have to work too hard to get reelected. And he’s gonna have to work hard to have any chance of fending off Mayrack.
State Rep. Rebecca Walker (D-RD 9): This one’s real interesting. As I’ve written, Walker has not been a powerhouse as a campaigner. She is facing a credible challenger in realtor Kevin Hensley.
State Rep. Andria Bennett (D-RD 32): Andria Bennett has shown tremendous growth as a representative, and is now one of a handful of the most consistently progressive legislators in Dover. All I’d heard was some scuttlebutt that it wasn’t a sure thing that she’d run again, although the sense was that she would. I hope she does.
Dave Tackett (for State Senate District 11): It was with great fanfare and not-so-great grammar that New Castle County Councilman Dave Tackett announced that he would primary State Senator Bryan Townsend this year. That was well over a month ago. Since then, no filing nor, as far as I can find, any type of campaign website. Could it be that Tackett’s realizing that going up against Townsend would be a fool’s errand? I dunno, but his campaign seems to be in limbo.
And there are others…
The 62 Project: #’s 20 and 42
John Kowalko’s pluses: A true progressive, unafraid to take unpopular stands, willing to be a public gadfly when needed, almost always a dependable vote for progressive principles, and a willing sponsor for progressive legislation.
Bob Venables’ pluses: A good Bond Bill chair who understands that capital investment in roads and schools is a good thing, first to really blow the whistle on the cost of prison expansion and minimum mandatory sentences, a genuinely nice person.
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