Speaker Pete Burying Port Bill?

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Signs point to yes. On Wednesday, January 16, the Senate passed Senate Bills 1, 2, and 3: http://legis.delaware.gov/LIS/LAH147.NSF/65d260a8f0fbce13852572360055cafe/f4c55b7e0e893ce785257af600176dee?OpenDocument Senate Bill 1, which pertains to the Bank Franchise tax, was assigned…

Delaware General Assembly Pre-Session Show: Tuesday, January 8, 2012

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2013 has all the makings of the most momentous year in recent legislative memory. The House and Senate have both undergone major institutional and leadership changes. More progressives now serve in Dover than before. A pro-business governor with aspirations for higher office must decide both what's best for the state and what's best for his political future. A host of important issues await, including, of course, Delaware's economic condition. THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY FOR NEWBIES The Delaware State Senate has 21 members,  currently 13 D's and 8 R's. The President Pro-Tempore leads the Senate, although the Lieutenant Governor often, but not always, presides over the senate sessions as a non-voting member. Here is a list of the Senate members. The House of Representatives has 41 members, currently 27 D's, 14 R's. The Speaker of the House presides over the body. You can find the House membership here. The General Assembly is in session from the second Tuesday in January through June 30 each year. The Senate often returns for a special session in the fall to consider nominations. The General Assembly breaks for six weeks at the end of January for Joint Finance Committee (budget) hearings and meetings. There is another 2-week break around Easter, and an additional week's break around Memorial Day.  The Memorial Day break often enables the 'money' committees to finish work on marking up the budget.The typical General Assembly meets in session about 50 days a year. And we are just getting started.

On the Hustings With Bryan Townsend

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After spending a couple of hours at the doors (aka trying to keep up) with 11th District State Senate candidate Bryan Townsend last night, I can only say this: The residents of the 11th District would be SO much better off with Bryan Townsend as their Senator that it's not even a close call. He is the single best first-time candidate I've encountered since Dave Sokola. And, yes, when elected, he would immediately join Senators Peterson and Sokola as one of the best senators in Dover.

Tipping His Canoe into the Race

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It seems as though Jack Markell might have a primary opponent. Magnolia resident Doug Beatty, whose only claim to fame is being the son of actor Ned Beatty, has announced that he is going to challenge Markell in the Democratic primary. That is if he can raise the filing fee. In what has to be the biggest understatement of the year, Beatty said that he is "an extreme long shot" but thinks he can win if he can get on the ballot. I think he's watched The Candidate too many times. His run is more like the wet dream Bobby had in Deliverance.

Governor Markell’s Weekly Address – Service

In his weekly message, Governor Markell talks about the annual Week of Service and how the event has grown since 2009’s Weekend of Service. The Governor and First Lady kicked off the Week of Service last Sunday at an event for the Delaware National Guard’s “War on Hunger.”

The Delaware Liberal Tracking Poll

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You may have noticed in the center column of the site, we have a poll question regarding the job performance of Governor Markell. Currently, the Governor has a 69% approval rating (27% approve, 42% strongly approve), and a 22% disapproval rating (17% disapprove, 5% strongly). And 9% of you either don't care, don't know or are "meh" when it comes to the Governor. Now, an internet poll is in no way accurate (although, real polls of the Governor's job performance have similar findings, with approval in the 60's). We are not dealing with a random sample here. And the sample size is way too small (64 people at last count). Still, I thought it would be fun to have a new tracking poll feature each day that polls the politically motivated and passionate in Delaware. Each day of the week we will poll on a different office holder or candidate.