How Did I Not Catch the French Fried Earmark?
July 28th, 2009 • Related • Filed Under
By jason330
Laurel Democratic Sen. Robert L. Venables — a neighbor of one of the company’s co-owners — inserted the $50,000 into the General Assembly’s annual bond bill to help Fry Manufacturing LLC produce its demonstration model.
Comment by grunk on 28 July 2009 at 6:17 pm:
They’re all crooks. Democrat and Republican. Supersize it.
Comment by Unstable Isotope on 28 July 2009 at 6:35 pm:
How do they justify $50,000 for Venables’s company when state workers are being forced to take furloughs?
Comment by Susan Regis Collins on 28 July 2009 at 6:56 pm:
When did ‘they’ have to start justifying????
“Supersize it.” …………..good one!!!!!
I can not wait to know how much $tim the Hope(less)Commission gets!!!!
Comment by jason330 on 28 July 2009 at 7:02 pm:
I’ll bet the CRI is going to be all over this…!!
Bwha hahaha! I crack myself up.
Comment by Delaware's Coolest Blogger on 28 July 2009 at 8:29 pm:
lmao. That was funny!
Comment by Suzanne on 28 July 2009 at 8:46 pm:
Did you really just call Venables a Democrat?
Comment by Art Downs on 28 July 2009 at 10:23 pm:
What is wrong with private investment?
Back when the venerable Aston-Martin firm was in trouble, the Brits could not be bothered to help. The dumped a lot of cash into what seemed to be a better bet: the deLorean.
American venture capitalist Peter Sprague invested his own capital in Aston-Martin and made a lot of money.
People tend to be more astute with their own money.
Comment by MJ on 28 July 2009 at 10:24 pm:
Grunk – before you post anyone’s blog on the News Journal, ask permission first. Just common courtesy.
Comment by cassandra_m on 28 July 2009 at 10:30 pm:
Now if this had been included in the Recovery Bill we’d be treated to all kinds of silliness about how the government doesn’t create jobs, right?
But count me in as wondering how we can hand out 50K in venture capital and be asking folks to take furloughs.
Comment by Blahlalah on 28 July 2009 at 10:32 pm:
Give it up MJ…..everyone knows you’re Grunk. How sad does your life get?
Comment by Andy on 29 July 2009 at 6:15 am:
What is the purpose if DEDO then
Comment by Maria Evans on 29 July 2009 at 11:35 am:
I put up a post about this yesterday. I met with this company last summer when I was working with Bill Lee. They were looking to open up their manufacturing facility in Laurel and hire around 300 people. They couldn’t get a call back from DEDO or the Minner Administration. http://www.delawarepolitics.net/back-when/comment-page-1/#comment-17091
Western Sussex has already lost so many manufacturing jobs, like when the Minner Administration laid out around $14 million in goodies to Invista to keep their $90K+ a year people in Wilmington working, and let the Seaford location lay off the majority of it’s people.
And while I’m not thrilled about the way Venables porked it up, I was very happy to see that Fry was going to get an actual VISIT by DEDO, which is FINALLY a step in the right direction for Delaware’s economic future. DEDO should have been on this company a year ago.
Comment by anon on 29 July 2009 at 11:42 am:
Can this machine dispense crispy bacon?
Comment by jason330 on 29 July 2009 at 11:48 am:
How could DEDO have been so stupid? The world is crying out for a french fry vending machine.
Comment by Maria Evans on 29 July 2009 at 11:54 am:
It’s pretty cool, j, you put in your money and the fries come out hot and tasty. There’s a full size one that stands alone, and a half sized one that can sit on a counter at Wawa or at work…
Comment by anon on 29 July 2009 at 1:06 pm:
Venables is related to one of the owners:
http://delawareonline.com/article/20090729/NEWS/90729046&referrer=FRONTPAGECAROUSEL
Comment by El Somnambulo on 29 July 2009 at 1:24 pm:
Excellent catch by JL Miller.
Venables is pathetic. And so are the Laws of Delaware. The relative is too ‘distant’ to officially count as a relative, but she just happens to live next door to Venables. ‘Bulo’s sure that the conversation never came up between them. Ri-i-i-ght.
‘Bulo believes Venables when he says that he “never gave it (the appearance of conflict-of-interest) a thought.” They never do.
This contract should be voided. What a disgrace.
Pingback by Around the Horn : Delaware Liberal on 31 July 2009 at 8:46 pm:
[...] you like Fries with that? A French … er ah.. Freedom Fried Earmark. Senator Venables likes his pork fried and kept within the family. DP thinks it is a smear. Sorry, [...]