BREAKING: Senate Considering Override (Liveblog)

Filed in National by on June 30, 2008

The Senate has voted to suspend the rules and consider an override of Governor Minner’s veto of Senate Bill 245.  According to Commenter Sagacious Steve, who will be liveblogging the events in the comments below, the Senate Clerk was reading the  Governor’s veto message into the record.

Is there hope after all?   For Mike Matthews reported earlier today that a legislator told him that an override would not even be considered.  Perhaps that is still true, in that perhaps the legislator Mike talked to was from the House.  And perhaps it is the House that won’t consider the override.  And if that’s the case, the Republicans will be making a big mistake.

UPDATE:   There is no hope after all.   Minner’s veto has been sustained.   11 voted to override.  9 voted to sustain.   1 did not vote.  We are waiting on the names of the Numbskull Nine at this moment.

About the Author ()

Comments (63)

Trackback URL | Comments RSS Feed

  1. Sagacious Steve says:

    UPDATE: Sen. Sokola is reaming out Bill Montgomery for being disingenuous in not negotiating in good faith.

  2. delawaredem says:

    According to Steve in the other thread, a spokesman for the City of Wilmington is now speaking in opposition to the Bill, which did not happen before. I think this will be used as an excuse to vote down the override. For they can say they have new reasons to oppose the bill.

  3. delawaredem says:

    That’s a good sign (Sokola denouncing Montgomery)

  4. Sagacious Steve says:

    UPDATE: Now they’ve got George Wright of the Delaware League of Cities & Towns up there. They are trying to give Senators enough fig leafs to justify not voting to override.

  5. delawaredem says:

    Precisely my thoughts.

  6. Sagacious Steve says:

    EMINENT DOMAIN DEFEATED:

    By a vote of 11 yes, 9 no, 1 not voting, SB 245 fails to reach the 60% vote requirement to override the veto.

  7. delawaredem says:

    Do we have a breakdown of who voted no.

  8. liberalgeek says:

    I am on site in the House, which is now convening. I’ll try to liveblog a little while watching.

  9. delawaredem says:

    Excellent. Since the Senate failed to override the Minner veto, there is no need for the House to even consider it.

  10. Sagacious Steve says:

    Deldem, I’m doing this from memory. The no’s were: McDowell, Henry, Marshall, Cloutier, Blevins, DeLuca, Connor, Cook, & Amick. Adams went not voting. This is pretty close to accurate.

    And, since the Senate did not override, the bill cannot be considered in the House since it’s a Senate bill.

  11. liberalgeek says:

    setting the scene, I am in the gallery and I got a primo seat. front row, in the corner. I have a pretty good view and I can easily escape without any assistance from others.

    I have a little cheat sheet of legislators’ photos (public domain, mostly) to help me play along. I am particularly interested in the potential for Bill Oberle to retire. He is currently glad-handing around the floor.

    Called to order now…

  12. edisonkitty says:

    I posted this earlier today on the Minner Response thread. Here’s looking for the fig leaf. LG – do the naes come from down south?

    Someone posted over the weekend that the deal was done to curry favor with the city of Wilmington. Maybe true, but I suspect forces further south will benefit, as well. The “alternative” bill came from the House, courtesy of Gerald Hocker. It allowed private entity transfers under somewhat limited circumstances. Supposedly, it did not survive long in the face of the bill just vetoed. Look for it to be resurrected as a “compromise”. The golf courses and resort community developers have long gotten pretty much everything they want via the downstate good old boy network. There remain small pockets of privately-owned land in unicorporated Sussex county. Most of these are the last of the affordable housing close to the eastern resorts. Legislative fiat would make the land much easier to convert than having to actually buy out enough homeowners.

  13. liberalgeek says:

    Sag Steve, if you would like to meet, email me at liberalgeek -at- delawareliberal.net.

  14. liberalgeek says:

    sorry, I just got here and missed the senate vote. Sagacious steve can help.

  15. delawaredem says:

    All New Castle County Senators except for Cook. Six Democrats, three Republicans.

    A bipartisan effort to screw property owners. And it would seem, where there is more property owners to screw over, i.e. New Castle Co., there are more votes for screwing them over. Counter intuitive.

  16. Peculiar says:

    Margaret Rose Henry is Ed Osborne’s state senator.

    Damn, that’s gotta hurt.

    They will always fuck you in the end. It’s us idiots who play along like we have a voice. We’re the fools.

  17. delawaredem says:

    She is mine as well. In 2012, she may have a primary challenge….from ME.

  18. selander says:

    Wait – Sokola’s a New Castle County Dem. He voted the right way, didn’t he?

  19. liberalgeek says:

    House considering HB457( I think) modernizing voting rights change to the constitution. Would clean up voting age and allow felons to regain the right to vote. Melanie George Marshall objected because it would actually have the consequence of keeping poor felons from voting because they may not be able to pay fines/restitution payments.

    Marshall seemed to indicate that she wasn’t comfortable.

    several voting “not voting.” 32 yes, passed.

  20. delawaredem says:

    Yes, he is, and he voted the right way. My point is, of the 9 who voted with Minner, all but Cook were from New Castle County. McDowell, Henry and Marshall all represent Wilmington. Cloutier represents Naamans Road, Arden and Claymont. Blevins, Amick, DeLuca and Connor all represent mid and Southern New Castle County.

  21. liberalgeek says:

    Apparently everyone brings their spouses to the last night and has to introduce them to everyone.

    Little game of one-upsmanship. Greg Lavelle instead of introducing everyone said that his wife and kids are at home and he would like to be there with them.

    This is like the all-night-mommathon from Primary Colors.

  22. liberalgeek says:

    It’s a freakin’ laugh riot…

  23. delawaredem says:

    LOL. I loved that part of the movie.

  24. liberalgeek says:

    My favorite too.

  25. Kilroy says:

    “UPDATE: There is no hope after all. Minner’s veto has been sustained. 11 voted to override. 9 voted to sustain. 1 did not vote. We are waiting on the names of the Numbskull Nine at this moment.”

    Alright no Kilroy bullshit here! I can not believe the asswipes who vote NO! Also a noting voting is a No vote! Un F’ing believable !

    Well I am sure the D’s and R’s who voted no! So we all lose and are suckers to our parties.

    Rat Race is over folks, the rats won!

  26. well done guys I owe you a round of beers for your efforts

  27. Kilroy says:

    “Also a noting voting is a No vote! Un F’ing believable !”

    Sorry a Not Voting is a No vote! My grammar gets really bad when I am pissed off

  28. Kilroy says:

    Delaware’s Hottest Blogger // Jun 30, 2008 at 8:39 pm

    “well done guys I owe you a round of beers for your efforts”

    And 10 blindfolds for the No voters !

    Great work Jason ! But $25.oo for a slice of Markell Pizza 🙂

  29. liberalgeek says:

    I am going to sneak out of the house in a sec. Wander the halls and look for Mike Matthews.

  30. liberalgeek says:

    Oh, the extreme fighting bill is coming up. I may stay for a few more.

  31. edisonkitty says:

    My thanks, too, for the great coverage. Also a shout out to delawaredem for debunking my downstate connection theory by simply stating the facts. I love that the reality-based community is courteous, too.

  32. delawaredem says:

    No problem Edison. Indeed, I too would have thought that the downstate senators would be the ones to vote no. That is why I said it was counter intuitive for the no votes to come from primarily New Castle County. And it is fundamentally stupid, for more people in New Castle County are going to be affected by Minner’s veto, and thus they are going to be pissed at their Senators for not protecting their property.

  33. R Smitty says:

    Do any of the bloggers from a couple of years ago recall First Slate’s coverage? Little did we know it was First Slate’s swan song, but damn that was entertaining coverage, right down to that red-light siren.

  34. Art Downs says:

    There should be a bipartisan effort to oust the override obstructionists in the next election in which they face the voters.

    Issues do count and there are more voters than there are insiders.

  35. Ryan says:

    Obstructionism as a election issue can work. Look what happened to Tom Daschle.

  36. delawaredem says:

    Smitty….

    You are not wishing for the demise of DL are you?

    We have avoided the Drudge-like red light sirens for precisely that reason

  37. delawaredem says:

    …and what is about to happen to Mitch McConnell.

  38. R Smitty says:

    Me? Never!

    Actually, where would I (and a certain other blogger known as DVDHB) spend all my working hours commenting? It would be cold-turkey detox!

    That was right about when I started in our blogosphere, so that is my infantile-memory at work. That and the great Dana-Garrett v. Conservative Bloggers Alliance stick-figure war over Noam Chomsky are my forever-endearing memories of the mysterious First Slate one.

  39. liberalgeek says:

    ok, I went over to the Senate for a while. There are some real winners there.

    I got a chance to talk to John Carney at the recess. Actually, Mike Matthews and I tested the vinegar/sugar theory. Sugar won.

    You can see all of the 8 seconds that Carney gave Mike on youtube tomorrow, but me, sans camera got a 15 minute interview with him about eminent domain. I’ll have more up on that tomorrow, but once I introduced myself and asked a question, he couldn’t stop talking.

  40. jason330 says:

    Que the violins.

  41. delawaredem says:

    LOL. I can’t wait to see the tap dancing.

  42. cassandra m says:

    This has been some really fine liveblogging, all — you should be very proud of yourselves. Perhaps this is the start of a new tradition — bloggers converge on Leg Hall at COB…

  43. jason330 says:

    Not bad Mike.

  44. Lizabeth says:

    Did anyone announce retirement tonight? Oberle or Stone ?

  45. Sagacious Steve says:

    No, not yet. Everyone’s in a holding pattern as the liquor tax got squashed in the Senate. They’re trying to find cuts in the Bond Bill to close the budget gap. The House has only been in briefly over the past 2 hours, as it was waiting for Senate action. Gonna be a long night…

  46. Lizabeth says:

    Thank you Sagacious Steve. Please keep me posted because it will be a long night for me too…I wanna see a few retirements.

  47. Sagacious Steve says:

    My guess is that no one is going to announce retirement plans tonight. Even if they plan to retire, they will not want to take up the time once the House finally goes back into session…whenever that is.

  48. Lizabeth says:

    Oh ok, you could be right. But traditionally a long term incumbant usually says something on the last night (if they are going to retire). But since they have not even headed back into session yet hmmmmmmmmmmm…When will the house be coming back in do you know?

  49. Sagacious Steve says:

    It is now 2 am and they’ve just gone back in.

  50. Sagacious Steve says:

    It is pretty clear that there will be no retirements tonight. It looks like the General Assembly may have to come back to actually work the Bond Bill, so that would be a more appropriate time. And, really, it is not altogether clear that there will be any more retirements.

    I’m as surprised as others no doubt are. I’ll let you know if any announcements break before the House adjourns.

  51. Sagacious Steve says:

    They made a liar out of me again. They passed the Bond Bill. Unless there’s a retirement announcement, this is my last post until I’ve had lotsa sleep…

  52. RickJ19958 says:

    You can see all of the 8 seconds that Carney gave Mike on youtube tomorrow, but me, sans camera got a 15 minute interview with him about eminent domain. I’ll have more up on that tomorrow, but once I introduced myself and asked a question, he couldn’t stop talking.
    I’m guessing that he came out strongly in favor of eminent domain reform, right after the bill had been scuttled.

  53. Art Downs says:

    Melanie George Marshall objected because it would actually have the consequence of keeping poor felons from voting because they may not be able to pay fines/restitution payments

    Why expect more of a typical thug-hugger? When there was an effort made to reform the concealed carry permit process and take political hacks out of the loop, Marshall helped to kill the effort with her amendments.

    She catered to her thug constituency as well as elitists such as former AG Oberle as well as the mouthpieces for thugs and a certain thief and killer playing preacher-man.

  54. jason330 says:

    Ed Osborn excoriates John Coarney this morning on WDEL. That clip will be repeated until Al’s show comes on and Al will probably have unkind words for Carney.

    I think we all just got a good sense of what a Carney adminstration would look like.

  55. RSmitty says:

    I would also love to hear Margret Rose Henry’s take on her vote against the override as well, given that, for all intents, the issue arose from inside her district.

  56. The bond bill revival came out of nowhere with a $15 million surprise and spending cuts for higher education and a juvenile detention center.
    That Wayne Smith sure earns his salary.

  57. No Name for Privacy says:

    S.B. 245 🙁

  58. Smitty,

    Rose Henry is a moron. Her take? She didn’t want to vote “against her governor.” She said this to me as I attempted to get an answer for her outside the Senate.

  59. jason330 says:

    *sigh*

  60. RSmitty says:

    I hopped over and read your take after making that comment. Unbelievable.

    I can’t remember who it was, but someone added a comment on your blog that they observed her vetting other Senators and Reps (or something to that effect) on other issues so she could determine which way to vote. It may be total rumor, but the sad part is, it isn’t hard to believe.

  61. jason330 says:

    it is very easy to believe.

  62. David says:

    I applaud your coverage of this issue.