Tag: Featured
The Markell Unclaimed “Scandal”
I read the News Journal article yesterday, and I shrugged. Then this morning we received this comment on another post:
ANnnnnyyyy coverage on the Jack Markell unclaimed property semi scandal?
Is it a scandal, though? Even a semi-one?
Celebrating 60 Years More Of School Segregation?
Much is being written and broadcast this week about the U.S.A. celebrating 60 years of school desegregation by way of Brown v. Board of Education in 1954. This was the year I graduated from my mostly segregated high school.
Delaware Political Weekly: May 10-16, 2014
Robert Keesler has filed to take on incumbent Gerald Brady (D-4th RD) this fall. While the district is more hospitable to an R than the other city-based districts (the bizarrely-gerrymandered district goes from Wilmington to Hockessin) it’s still a D-leaning district. Registration figures show 8200 D’s; 5097 R’s; and 4537 I’s. Keesler is a new name to me. He has written a couple of entries on the blogs, including our own. IMHO, Gerald Brady is a hack, but he’s in a district that has elected him a few times now, and my first impression of Keesler doesn’t make me think that he’ll have any better luck than Tyler Nixon did vs. Brady.
Colin Bonini Files…
…for reelection to his State Senate seat in the district drawn just for him by Tony DeLuca. His official listed name on the ballot is Colin RMJ Bonini. Which, of course, raises the question, what does RMJ stand for? It’s contest time!
General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show: Weds., May 14, 2014
Here we are in mid-May, and it’s been weeks since we’ve heard anything about a gas tax for transportation funding and/or a revenue stream to clean our water. Is this a game of political chicken, or has everybody chickened out? Assuming no new revenues for transportation projects, there will be roughly $70 million less to spend next Fiscal Year on fixing our roads and bridges than has been allocated in the current Fiscal Year. This after one of the most brutal winters in recent memory. This also means $70 million less to invest in our workers and our state’s economy. Is this really (not) going to happen? What a pathetic demonstration of what passes for political leadership in Dover. There’s still time, but is there political will?
The Vote Tracker is Back and Updated.
To break this down succinctly, the 147th General Assembly has two months of life left to it. (Quick, sci-fi fans, what movie is that paraphrased line from?). At the beginning of this session, all the way back on January 3, 2013, Delaware Liberal and the Progressive Dems began keeping track of our how legislators voted on legislation of interests to Progressives.
Come inside to see our Vote Tracking Charts.
Not included in the charts below are four bills that were just released yesterday concerning strengthening Delaware’s FOIA statute. And I got a little excited when I saw the emailed press release come across my inbox, until I opened up the press release and saw the subtite: “Four bills sponsored by Reps. Atkins… ” I actually felt a physical drop, sitting there at my computer. Because how good can an Open Government bill be if it is sponsored by John Atkins?
I read further and discovered that this was a package of bills sponsored by four very different legislators, some of which are good, some of which are meh, and some of which will roll your eyes.
General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show: Tues., May 6, 2014
Ban the Box passes! HB 167( J. J. Johnson), which would ‘prohibit a public employer from inquiring into or considering the criminal record, criminal history or credit history or score of an applicant before it makes a conditional offer to the applicant‘, passed the Senate 15-5 on Thursday. As we’ve previously mentioned, the bill does:
specif(y) that once a background check is conducted an employer shall only consider felonies for 10 years from the completion of sentence, and misdemeanors for 5 years from the completion of sentence. Further, employers are required to consider several enumerated factors when deciding whether to revoke a conditional offer based on the results of a background check.
HB 167 does not apply to those positions where a criminal background check is statutorily mandated (law enforcement, the courts), but it does apply to contractors with state agencies. Sens. Greg Lavelle and Ernie Lopez were the only Rs to vote yes. Credit where credit’s due. The bill now heads to the Governor’s desk. BTW, Rep. J. J. Johnson is one of our most effective legislators. He is low-key, doesn’t call attention to himself, but he quietly gets things done. Apropos of nothing, he’s also a serious jazz buff. He deserves to be better-known.
Incarceration Nation
Much is being written recently about the appalling status of incarceration rates in the U.S.A. Not much is being done. All sorts of causal factors are cited: the War on Drugs, poverty, moral breakdown, the economy, mental illness, demise of the social contract…..the list is endless.
Charlie Copeland’s (Long Term) Plan to Return the DEGOP to Civility and Sanity
It has taken some time for Copeland’s plan to emerge, but with each passing day the contours of his plan to rebuild the DEGOP as an actual political party capable of mounting statewide races comes into focus.
Tim Carpenter, PDA Co-Founder, Has Died
Tim Carpenter, Co-Founder of Progressive Democrats of America (PDA), has died at 55. He suffered terminal cancer but I read he worked up to the very end this week leading PDA. He leaves a huge legacy and both a wife and two daughters to carry on his work.
Vladimir, Stop It. Just Friggin’ Stop It !
Ok, Vladimir. Enough of the belligerence. Crimea was an outrage and eastern Ukraine doubly so. So was Georgia. Speaking for myself and possibly millions of my fellow Americans, we don’t want a renewal of one of our worst mutual eras, the Cold War.
2014: The Delaware House
In our second post in our informative series on Delaware politics, we shall tackle the Delaware House of Representatives. Yesterday, we discussed the Delaware Senate, and over the coming weeks and months, we will profile each Representative and Senator and their respective districts.
Come inside to check our interactive maps, where you can zoom in to see the fine details of each RD. And we will review the potentially competitive districts. The question is can the GOP pick up the 7 seats they need to win back the majority? The short answer is no, the GOP cannot pick up the 7 seats they need, and that is because there are only 5 potentially competitive Democratic seats, while there are 7 potentially competitive Republican seats that they will have to defend as well. That said, there is opportunity for both parties to pick off incumbents.
2014: The Delaware Senate
We have gotten several comments recently from newcomers to Delaware asking us to explain who the cast of characters that is Delaware politics. So here is a first post in a series of posts giving every one of our readers an overview of the upcoming elections in the Delaware Senate. And then we will review the elections in the House. And then we will profile each and every Senator and Representative in our General Assembly. Each profile will include demographic information about each Senator or Representative, and information about their respective districts.
To aid us in this series will be the graphics and tools of Stephen Wolf and his team at Daily Kos Elections. They have put together a Google Spreadsheet that shows us a map of all the Senate districts in Delaware, and colors them according to how they voted in the 2012 election and which party represents these districts today.
This is is a great tool for a political junkie. What jumped out at me is that there are basically only 6 competitive Senate districts, and only one of them is ripe for a Republican takeover. Come inside to play with the interactive maps and charts!
Matt Denn is Running for AG!
Is this the good news of the day or what? From Denn’s website:
[…]But as I have thought about it and talked it over with my family, I’ve realized that the Attorney General’s office would allow me to take a leadership role on some issues that are critical to our state, while still staying involved in the issues involving Delaware’s children that have been the core of my work over the last six years. The Attorney General, as the state’s chief law enforcement officer, must be someone with the judgment, impartiality and will to prosecute and punish those who have violated the laws of our state. He or she should also possess compassion for our most vulnerable residents, a respect for all citizens of our state regardless of their background, and a vision to prevent crime from occurring by combining smart crime prevention with a commitment to providing Delawareans with real opportunity and hope. I believe that I possess these traits. That’s why I have filed to be the Democratic candidate for Attorney General of Delaware in 2014.[…]
Recent Comments