Tag: Featured
Wilmington City Council Steps Up to Try to Control the City’s Costs
The last city budget process highlighted once again the difficulty of using that fast-track process to start implementing some budget discipline within the city’s operations. Indeed, that budget not only raised the property taxes of city residents, but also left the city with a surplus – a surplus that no one understands its purpose. There were multiple problems brought up during the hearings – the number of vacant but budgeted positions, the fact that the city isn’t paying its portion of the water and sewer bill, and the fact that the budget largely ignored the WEFAC finding that the city’s financial difficulty can’t be resolved by taxing its way out of it. On top of that, city residents really pushed back on city council people over the passage of that tax increase. To respond to this, City Council is finally exercising its prerogatives as the body that approves spending, to start pulling spending back. This week they started with the staffing at the Fire Department, and they promise to look at all City Departments with an eye to reduce funding for vacant positions and look for better efficiencies.
Breaking: UD Pulls the Plug on the Data Center/Power Plant
I just got an email on this and there isn’t much available yet. From WDEL:
UD announced it has terminated its lease with The Data Centers (TDC), putting a halt to TDC’s plans to develop a data center on the site of the former Chrysler plant.
A report issued Thursday, UD faculty and administrative leaders concluded that the proposed facility, which included a 279-megawatt power plant is not consistent with their first class science and technology campus.
Could a low turnout primary shock Schwartzkopf ?
I rather doubt Schwartzkopf will be caught with his pants down. But primaries are tricky, (just ask Mike Castle). Sure he won his last elections with 89.9% of the vote, but who has he faced? The GOP doesn’t even both to run against him, so the 89% was against a fringe party. Have the gaudy vote totals made him soft? I know Mitch Crane talks up Pete as a solid door knocker, but that door knocking seems to have been on behalf of other candidates. Has he lost touch with the district? That he is facing a primary opponent suggest he may have.
Rehoboth Beach — For the first time in Rep. Pete Schwartzkopf’s political career, he will have to face off against an opponent in a Democratic primary for the District 14 Representative seat.
Rehoboth Beach resident Nelson Warren filed his nomination paperwork with the Sussex County Department of Elections in Georgetown July 8, the day of the filing deadline. …
My Anger With Stalling Immigration Reform
We’ll start with the simple popularity of immigration reform. This issue is the epitome of how entirely feeble America’s Congress is right now. By broad margins, Americans support the idea of immigration reform, easier pathways to citizenship, stronger border enforcement, and more. Unfortunately, because it’s an issue that people usually believe doesn’t affect them, why vote for candidates who have anything to do with it? Jobs, healthcare, the budget deficit, education, and security all rank higher than the only issue congress ACTUALLY has a semi-bipartisan proposal for. Congrats America.
Sy/Raq: Creepy Mission Or Mission Creep?
300 more to Iraq, for a total of 800. But we’re told, no boots on the ground. Just security forces for the 500 already there, mostly in the Taj Majal U.S. Embassy, just a few in foward positions as “advisors”. Sound familiar? It does for those of us who survived the 60’s and 70’s.
The Hobby Lobby Ruling Is A Slippery Slope That Will Affect More Than Contraceptives
If you haven’t read Justice Ginsburg’s dissent in the Hobby Lobby case you really should. She makes excellent points – points that demonstrate how this ruling will extend beyond contraceptives.
In a decision of startling breadth, the Court holds that commercial enterprises, including corporations, along with partnerships and sole proprietorships, can opt out of any law (saving only tax laws) they judge incompatible with their sincerely held religious beliefs.
She’s correct, of course. No matter how the majority opinion tried to limit this ruling to controlling women (and Alito didn’t even bother to explain why this ruling was limited) it opens the door to every company’s “sincerely held religious beliefs”. How could it not?
How The GA Passed Energy Efficiency w/o Passing HB 179
This is awesome, just the kind of stuff I love. You will no doubt recall, through the writings of Cassandra and others, that Delaware utilities currently cannot offer their customers consumer conservation programs that would save the consumer money and reduce energy usage.
You also know that a bill designed to permit utilities to offer these programs was buried in the Senate Energy Committee, where it had languished for over a year under the watchful eye of SEU founder and Senator Harris McDowell. Which brings us to last night, and, for that matter, this morning. At 3:21:05 am, to be precise.
No, Sen. McDowell did not relent, nor did he release HB 179 from committee. So, how did this get done?
BREAKING: Hobby Lobby Ruling Today In
I’m not sure what to expect, but I’m leaning towards the Supreme Court, yet again, not doing their job. My guess, and I could very well be wrong, is that they rule in favor of Hobby Lobby, but pull a Bush v Gore cop out – meaning that the enforcers of the law of the […]
Why Isn’t John Carney Supporting H.R.1852, the Email Privacy Act?
Since the Supremes pretty clearly told law enforcement that they needed to get a warrant to search your cell phone, there has been renewed attention on H.R.1852, the Email Privacy Act. Introduced by Representative Kevin Yoder [R-KS-3] in May 2013, this law would revise the 1986 Electronic Communications Privacy Act, requiring subpoenas to search emails, no matter how long they had been stored (they can now look at email stored for more then 180 days without a warrant) and allowing ISPs to communicate to the targets that their emails were requested by law enforcement. As of this writing (6.29.2014), John Carney has not joined the 220 Representatives (138 R, 82 D — BIPARTISANSHIP!) who are looking to refine the due process around law enforcement looking at your emails.
Supreme Court Strikes Down Massachusetts Buffer Zone From Inside Their Own Buffer Zone
Can we start making Supreme Court Justices go on field trips? Because it’s obvious they have never witnessed what goes on outside of an abortion clinic. Perhaps we can simply demand that they look in a mirror, since the buffer zone around the Supreme Court (one of the most publicly owned areas in the country) is massive. Why does that buffer zone exist? Why do they afford themselves and the people who work in that building protection from sidewalk counselors? Why shouldn’t they be counseled when they arrive at work? For that matter, why can’t we have sidewalk counselors at polling sites? At military funerals? Why are these petitioners/sidewalk counselors considered harassers and a threat when “pro-lifers” – who have a history of harassment and violence are not? Consistency, please.
Delaware Political Weekly: June 21-27, 2014
Yes, Chris Coons has a Republican challenger. His name is <strong>Carl Smink</strong>. Here's what I know. He's filed, but hasn't announced. He's from Milton. His website is under construction. He has written a few op-eds, or maybe letters to the editor, for the Cape Gazette, none of which are readily available unless you're a subscriber. He <strong>IS, </strong>however, a "Drill, Baby, Drill" kinda guy who hates socialism. Ok.
Two Kent County state reps may not even make it to November, and I must say I'm surprised. Both <strong>Harold Peterman (33rd RD) </strong>and <strong>Don Blakey (34th RD) </strong>are being challenged. Peterman's opponent is <strong>Charles Postles</strong>, who appears to be the chair of…the <strong>33rd Republican RD Committee. </strong>
Blakey's challenger is <strong>Lyndon Yearick</strong>, who doesn't fit a Tea Party profile, at least not on the surface. Active in the United Way, mentoring programs, and also the Chair of the 34th RD, Yearick looks like the kind of candidate R's looking to restore credibility to their Party would seek out. He's currently the Maryland/Delaware Campus Director for Kaplan Test Prep. He has an MBA from Penn State (OK, now <strong>that's </strong>a cult). <a href="http://www.yatedo.com/p/Lyndon+Yearick/normal/a5ff349a0ada08c4fdcb0cf7b1c61be8">By far, one of the more interesting candidate profiles I've come across. </a>
My question is this: Why would two RD chairs primary sitting state legslators? Usually, the legislators themselves have a huge say in who the RD chair is. <strong>Is it possible that Peterman and/or Blakey are retiring even though they've filed?</strong> One would think so. C'mon Kent County, help me out here.
It’s Baaaack: The Domino Theory And Iraq/Syria
I’ve lived long enough to see now three iterations of the old Domino Theory; it goes something like…if we allow a country to fall, it will spiral into a cascade of other nearby countries to follow suit and be taken over by nefarious forces.
General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show: Tues., June 24, 2014
I really didn’t think this would happen, and, I must admit, I’m almost stunned that the General Assembly would choose political expediency over our deteriorating infrastructure. The Governor is not exempt from criticism. Far from it. Jack Markell (a) waited until an election year to play a game of chicken on infrastructure spending; (b) likened the need to continue our ongoing periodic road maintenance program to swallowing bitter medicine rather than pointing out the benefits to our state’s economy from having those great construction jobs; and (c) decided to (pardon the expression) muddy the waters by making this a two-fer with a proposed clean water initiative. Horrible messaging, horrible staff work.
Still, I never expected the Delaware General Assembly, by dint of deliberate inaction, to blow (at least) a $70 million hole in the annual transportation capital budget. $70 million less spent on keeping our roads and bridges drivable in FY 15 than was spent in FY 14. (Well, maybe $60 mill, should the Honorables hike weekend tolls on Rt. 1.) This is blatant dereliction of duty. From the ridiculous (Valerie Longhurst proclaiming that she simply won’t allow a gas tax increase) to the equally-ridiculous (Greengrocer Hocker claiming that, since the D’s can’t pass this by themselves, he’s not going to ‘help’ them). Never mind everybody who drives in this state who will suffer the consequences. I’ve been around a long time. This Profile in Cowardice ranks near the top of the most cynical gestures ever to emerge from Dover. When the roads become pockmarked, you know who to blame. Call them on it. And if you live in one of these idiots’ districts, and you have the chance, vote against them.
While ignoring public safety, the Honorables appear poised to provide another $10 million to help bail out the bad business decisions made by greedy racino millionaires who were literally given licenses to steal by the State. Who could possibly argue that our legislative luminaries have their priorities in order? Looks like we’re headed towards a horrible conclusion to what has generally been a good legislative session.
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