Have We Witnessed the De Facto Repeal of the Death Penalty in Delaware? Yes. Maybe.

Have We Witnessed the De Facto Repeal of the Death Penalty in Delaware? Yes. Maybe.

6 Comments
Hear me out. This is exciting. As you may be aware, a hold has been placed on all death penalty cases in Delaware by the Delaware Supreme Court. The reason? The U. S. Supreme Court deemed unconstitutional part of a Florida statute that grants exclusively to judges the right to determine a sentence of death in capital cases. Guess what? Delaware has the exact same provision in its statute.  The irony is that it didn't used to be that way.  No, AG Jane Brady, Sen. Tom Sharp, Sen. Jim Vaughn and others demagogued the sheep in Dover into taking the power away from juries and giving it to judges.  Why? 'Coddling criminals', blah blah blah. How great would it be if they ended up sowing the seeds for death penalty repeal? I'm not a lawyer, but I don't see how Delaware's statute can be constitutional if Florida's is not. Here's where it gets interesting.  Only the Delaware General Assembly can change the statute.  Come inside to see why that's important....
Delaware Political (More Or Less) Weekly: January (More Or Less) 22-28, 2016

Delaware Political (More Or Less) Weekly: January (More Or Less) 22-28, 2016

13 Comments
Kathleen McGuiness is for real.  Except for that whole residency thingy.  BTW, turns out she moved out to Park Slope b/c a couple of her kids are competitive snowboarders.  Yes, she raised a lot of money. What really surprised me is that almost all of the money comes from Delaware.  Pretty much every D in Sussex County with money has ponied up. Guess there are more D's with money in Sussex County than I thought. Bethany Hall-Long has raised a lot of $$'s as well.  Ciro Poppiti has enough money to be competitive. Sherry Dorsey Walker, Greg Fuller, and Brad Eaby don't. Trinidad Navarro better get his ass in gear.  Those who deal with the insurance commissioner's office have apparently resigned themselves to, or more likely, fallen in love with the idea of, Incompetent Karen Weldin Stewart serving as Insurance Commissioner.  He's only raised $11K?  Vs. $83K?
Delaware Political Weekly: Jan. 8-14, 2016

Delaware Political Weekly: Jan. 8-14, 2016

10 Comments
Denise D. Bowers has filed to run against State Senator Cathy Cloutier for the 5th SD seat in Brandywine Hundred.  Based on registration, this projects as a competitive race. Current figures:  13,703 D; 11,169 R; and 8790 I. Her candidacy does not come without questions.  She is a 21-year veteran of the Wilmington Police Department, although it's not entirely clear that she was on duty for all that time.  She filed at least two legal actions concerning her job during her time on the force.  The first deals with compensation for a scar on her knee, aka a ' serious and permanent disfigurement'.  The second was a prolonged litigation concerning her 'involuntary retirement' from the force. In fact, even though she allegedly was a police officer until 2008, it is not clear whether she was on the job after 2005, when she suffered the knee injury mentioned in the second suit. A swift Google search also reveals several actions brought against Bowers and her husband for unpaid taxes on rental properties in Wilmington.  OTOH, Bowers is president of the Northwood Civic Association and is currently the State Director of the Treatment Access Center, the liaison between the Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health and the courts system.  I'm sure that some of you must have met her.  I need feedback, pipples!
General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show: Thurs., Jan. 14, 2016

General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show: Thurs., Jan. 14, 2016

11 Comments
ALERT!! MARKELL, CHAMBER AND LONGHURST GIVE MIDDLE FINGER TO DELAWAREANS: HB 235, the so-called Delaware Competes Bill, is the first bill the House will consider this year.  What's amazing, well, not amazing, but typical of the primordial ooze behind this, is that the bill will be considered under Motion to Suspend Rules.  Here's why. Even though the bill cleared the House Revenue & Taxation Committee, the bill was reassigned to the House Appropriations Committee (the committee is comprised of the House members of the Joint Finance Committee). That's because the bill has a significant cost. Such bills are typically not considered until/unless JFC does the fiscal legerdemain.  In this case, even though the bill will have a significant annual cost, the House will try to bypass the budgetary process.  Since the bill wouldn't even take effect until January of 2017, rushing this through serves no purpose other than to satisfy the Chamber and its millionaire minions.  This is a transfer of wealth from ordinary citizens to the politically-connected corporate overlords, pure and simple. We'll pay somehow, just wait. Last days of June when they hope that no one is watching.  Hey,  whaddayawant from Markell, Longhurst and their (wait for it) ilk? Call your state reps! What's not on the House Agenda under Motion to Suspend Rules is HB 50--the Opt-Out Bill.  As opposed to HB 235, doing this under MTSR is legit.  The bill has been through the committee process, was passed (twice) by the House, and it's a veto override, not consideration of new legislation.  Now, maybe the House will entertain a motion from the floor, maybe Speaker Pete won't, but it sure as hell should be considered.  Has the cynicism of Pistol Pete and Vindictive Val become so great that they can ignore the will of the members of the chamber?  We'll see.
General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show: Weds., Jan. 13, 2016

General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show: Weds., Jan. 13, 2016

37 Comments
We have two bills that somebody wants fast-tracked in January: HB 240 (Longhurst)  'establishes the Statewide Afterschool Initiative Learning Program. The Program will provide grants to public schools, that qualify as Title I schools, to develop afterschool engagement of students that will provide extended learning, homework assistance, enrichment, and nutrition.'  Sounds good.  There is, however, no funding mechanism mentioned in the bill.  Nor does the bill, for reasons I cannot understand, require a fiscal note.  So, how are they gonna pay for the program?  Will it be paid for from the Mortgage Settlement Funds? If not, what are you defunding in order to fund this? We may or may not find out sooner rather than later.  Bill's scheduled to be considered during today's House Education Committee.  BTW, here's my uninformed guess as to what's happening here:  Sponsors can claim that this is merely 'enabling' legislation and that the funding mechanism will be determined by JFC.  Which, of course, is totally disingenuous.  You don't need enabling legislation if the JFC funds such a program and establishes the criteria in the epilog language.  But that would bypass touchy-feely brochure fluff. Someone, please prove me wrong. HB 235 (Longhurst), the 'Delaware Competes Act', allegedly 'reforms Delaware’s business tax code to incentivize job creation and investment in Delaware, to make Delaware’s tax structure more competitive with other states, and to support small businesses by making tax compliance less burdensome. The principal change in the Act is to remove disincentives for companies to create Delaware jobs and invest in Delaware property that currently exists in how income is apportioned to Delaware for purposes of the corporate income tax'.  In other words, tweaking the formula to remove inequities that create disincentives to job creation.  Fine.  Here's what they didn't tell you.  This is not some revenue-neutral tweaking.  Nope. There is a fiscal note attached to this bill, and here are the projected costs to the state's coffers: Fiscal Year 2017             $ 8,200,000 Fiscal Year 2018             $17,600,000 Fiscal Year 2019             $22,900,000 So, let's be honest here.  It's yet another sop to business with not even a projection as to how many jobs will be created due to the removal of alleged disincentives.  And this is annual revenue loss. 
Delaware General Assembly Pre-Game Show: Tues., Jan. 12, 2016.

Delaware General Assembly Pre-Game Show: Tues., Jan. 12, 2016.

10 Comments
My outlook for January: Real interesting real fast. Just like today's Al Show will be. The second session of the 148th General Assembly kicks off today.  Since it's not a new General Assembly, everything that was in place on July 1 remains in place today.  It's gonna be a wild and wooly month.  You can look forward to: 1. Votes on overriding the veto of HB 50-the 'opt-out' bill. The bill passed both houses with veto-proof majorities.  The House vote was overwhelming, 36-3, so it should get through the House in comfortable fashion. The final Senate vote was 15-6, so that is the chamber where Markell might be able to flip a couple of senators.  I will be especially interested to see whether her run for Lieutenant Governor might play into Sen. Bethany Hall-Long switching sides.  I'd like to point out that HB 50 has already had a key impact.  The decision by the Department of Education to cancel the 'Smarter Balanced' test for juniors in favor of the SAT would almost certainly not have been made without the catalyst of HB 50.  In fact, you may recall that Sen. Bryan Townsend introduced and passed an amendment extending the opt-out provision to high school juniors.  That amendment is no longer necessary, for the best of reasons. More inside...
Delaware Political Weekly: Jan. 1-7, 2016

Delaware Political Weekly: Jan. 1-7, 2016

6 Comments
Hey, it's an ELECTION YEAR! Try to contain your enthusiasm. At least we've got some new news to share. But first, let's see where we stand regarding already-filed candidates. Karen Hartley-Nagle Primaries Chris Bullock for NCC President. While Bullock hasn't filed, we know he's running. How do we know? Because we (or, to be accurate, I) have received content-free e-mails from Bullock in his capacity as NCC Prez throughout 2015. Touchy-feely crap. I think his campaign is paying for them, but I'm not sure.  Perennial candidate Hartley-Nagle could pose a challenge, especially if she is part of an unofficial anti-Gordon ticket.
2015: The Good. The Bad. The Ridiculous.

2015: The Good. The Bad. The Ridiculous.

13 Comments
Because this list is generally a critical review of the year's events, I've decided not to place Beau Biden's death or Joe's flirtation with running for President on the lists.  Who is to say how one should react under such circumstances? And how does one rank a death? Answer to both questions: I don't know. So, I won't do it. We start as always, with the list with the fewest nominees: The Good.  Because, let's face it, on balance, this was not a good year for Delaware.  Much closer to an annus horribilis, or whatever Queen Elizabeth calls it. Wherever possible, I've linked to an article that provides context.

Colin Bonini: Tax Cheat

10 Comments
Let's see. He takes taxpayers' money for Sunset Committee meetings he doesn't attend.  He has never voted for a state budget. He lied about having a Master's Degree he never came close to completing. It turns out he didn't pay his taxes either.  Had three separate  federal tax liens filed against him. Over $28K owed (Other documents available upon request).  At what point does this reach a critical mass of fraudulence? You know, with a record like that, there's only one elective body where he'd feel right at home: Wilmington City Council.