The NJ Propping Up KWS — Again

Filed in National by on August 30, 2009

This week saw the NJ do quite the fluff piece on the IC’s Office newly rebranded effort to increase the Captive Insurance market here in Delaware and today it gives over space on the Editorial page for an effort that isn’t too far from the Press Releases sent out by the IC promoting this expensive rebranding.

We talked about this effort here. But here is the NJ’s description of the effort:

It’s an effort that has been talked about for years, but which is only now getting under way at the Delaware Insurance Commissioner’s Office, which has created a new division and hired a team of well-connected outside experts to help burnish Delaware’s image worldwide.

Well, no — this is an effort that has been underway at least since the Denn term as IC, where there was a consultant (William White) who was leading the effort. And as far as I can determine, he helped grow the number of captives domiciled in DE to 40. The current effort by the IC’s office replaces Mr. White with at least 6 people who have been named in their press releases. That’s why I call this a rebranding. No idea if there are more unnamed staff, but it would not surprise me. Then there’s this preciousness:

In the state’s view, it’s a prize that’s best sought with top talent — Kinion and the bureau’s new director of strategic development, Ed Ianni, are both attorneys with broad industry contacts. Under their contracts with the state, each will be paid $16,000 a month, including expenses, but receive no benefits.

As we’ve already seen, Kinion is an industry lobbyist for an insurance lobbying firm. Wonder why the NJ didn’t find this background important? Or the fact that Kinion was a major fundraiser for KWS during her campaign? Probably because this reporter started with the press releases and then just wrote down what KWS’ Chief of Staff had to say.

But today, this is what the Editorial Board has to say:

Some of these consultants are earning $16,000 a month, including expenses. It’s a hefty amount and obviously not a typical state salary. But Insurance Commissioner Chief of Staff Elliott Jacobson is quick to point out that money paid for insurance department contracts is generated from within by fees and assessments and doesn’t come from tax money. Still, we hope Commissioner Stewart gets her — and our — money’s worth.

Does this look familiar to anyone here? I am completely appalled that Elliott Jacobson is still saying this ans even more appalled that the NJ seems to think that there is nothing wrong in this. And what is wrong? The clear sense of entitlement to do what they want with money that does not belong to them. Whether that money comes from taxes, fees, or they found it at the bottom of the Delaware River, you are still talking about State funds that belong to the people of this state. Spending that money in an unaccountable way is just as bad as spending tax revenues in an unaccountable way.

Another editorial this morning has the NJ cheering on an effort to make teachers more accountable, yet they are more than willing to just cheerlead spending of revenues from the ICs office in an effort that they made no attempt to quantify either the cost or the overall revenue this effort would result in. This office has ramped up spending on this program in a major way and no one at the NJ thinks to ask what they think they’ll be generating in new revenues on a year by year basis. Accountability starts there, right? Accountability also includes wondering why it is that KWS is hiring her cronies and fundraisers.

But apparently, the NJ can only regurgitate KWS’s campaign resume, the spin of her Chief of Staff and urge the rest of us to cheer on a program that we still don’t know much about, much less whether it has any chance of making enough money to cover the massive amount of money being spent on it.

I suppose we shouldn’t be too surprised — thinking the NJ is going to ever deviate from being a major enabler of The Delaware Way is probably insane.

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Comments (62)

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  1. I was just reading this mess when your post popped up. The NJ hearts KWS.

    I don’t even get it – the NJ is saying that sure $16K/mo. is a lot of money but it’s TOTALLY worth it.

  2. cassandra_m says:

    It is $16K per month for two of the hires. We don’t quite know what the rest get we can likely figure that out shortly. The two we know are making $384K per year. Include the other 4 and you probably aren’t too far from $500K per year.

    And who knows for what.

  3. Suzanne says:

    I suppose thats why KWS was smooching around with everybody at the Jamboree yesterday before starting one of her speeches that makes everybody feel treated like elementary school kids (she always starts by making everybody loudly and “enthusiastically” saying “hello” to her). One of the people there running around getting signatures for a cause actually made the statement of “let me get some more signatures instead of having to hear that idiot speak”. Priceless.

    What bothers me is that other fee generating and self sufficient offices in the counties and state turn over some of their extra money to fill the gap in the State budget – I am sure the money for the hired people would go a long way in helping give monies to some of the services that didn’t get grants this year because of the budget.

  4. 12monkeys says:

    Karin Weldin Stewart is the finest example of the best that the Delaware Democrat Party can offer our citizens.

  5. Suzanne says:

    ..Hey Monkey person – obviously the Republicans like KWS since no Democrat really seems to refer to her a making good choices, but Briggs King did at the last debate. She liked the ICs idea to increase the Captive Insurance market – one more reason not elect her.

  6. Cass, your ‘anonymous’ posting on the WNJ site were full of mis-representations. You really ought to pick up the phone or go ahead and FOIA the information you speculate over. This is getting ridiculous.

  7. cassandra_m says:

    Speculate over? As in Kinion being a lobbyist or a fundraiser? That stuff is public record.

    And if you haven’t noticed, this piece here takes the NJ to task for plain stenography and sheer laziness.

    But while we are on the topic of laziness, I note that you didn’t even take the time to just read what was here.

  8. liberalgeek says:

    Of all people to try to out someone on another site, we have Nancy…

    I don’t have any idea if those comments were made by Cassandra, but please explain to me how your comment is different than the one on DWA 8 months ago that you have mentioned in virtually every comment about DL in the blogosphere ever since. The irony warms my soul.

  9. Well geek because for one thing, you were claiming words written by someone else was me.

    Go link to the WNJ. I just refuted the OMASS lies with one simple google. First lie: Bill White was not fired. His contract was not even resubmitted. Go read the interview I posted at the WNJ. White ‘moved on’. How on earth did Cass get so gravely mis-informed?

    Sorry, but she is the only person who has thrown themselves so fully into this bullcrap. But she is going too far, no? Blatant lies aren’t very nice. (and no, I didn’t call her out over there, just her mis-reps.)

    Another simple google shows that Matt Denn staffed Bill White’s Captive Ins. Dvsn. Second lie is that this a whole new expense for the IC.

    So, your FOIA should ask for a comparative accounting going back to 2006. Then the Dellies will actually KNOW how many *GASP* thousands that cost the Delaware tax payers.

    “While the effort to staff the captive insurance division is underway and Bill is working on the logistical aspects of his position, it is clear that his vision for Delaware is already well formed. A year from now, Bill would like Delaware to be on everyone’s short list for consideration as a domicile”

    http://cc.bingj.com/cache.aspx?q=bill+white+insurance+delaware&d=76575454206340&mkt=en-US&setlang=en-US&w=2326ea8,c25a1b85

  10. Another google shows that White and his division staffers added 12 new captive ins. cos in 2008 for our state. I guess we’ll have to see if KWS can best that!! You guys are so hating on the lady. UNREAL. Just stop lying.

    http://cc.bingj.com/cache.aspx?q=bill+white+insurance+delaware&d=76632546360441&mkt=en-US&setlang=en-US&w=36a2e46,9496fc54

  11. cassandra_m says:

    Just because you aren’t interested, doesn’t mean that lots of other folks aren’t. You should see my email and what doesn’t get published. Plus, if you’d read my previous post on this, you’d know that I am already aware that White wasn’t fired.

    And I’m not the person who touted how many consultants got hired — KWS did in her press releases on this rebranded (I’m not even point to pretend it’s new) effort. If you are going through the effort to throw money at a problem, you — and the “journalists'” covering you — ought to have a very good idea of what the problem is and what the ROI should be. And, while I’m at it — why Mr. White (a real actuary) was no longer adequate but an industry lobbyist and fundraiser for your campaign is.

  12. anon says:

    I thought the NJ criticized the blogging community (and especially Delaware Liberal) for engaging in rumors and how they, the mighty NJ, were superior because they report news. Then they take a press release and print it. Too funny. Hey, maybe they could add a few more AP stories. LOL.

  13. cassandra_m says:

    They took the press releases and printed them twice. The Delaware Way at its finest.

  14. Maria Evans says:

    “…obviously the Republicans like KWS since no Democrat really seems to refer to her a making good choices…”

    Don’t even TRY to blame her on the State’s GOP, she’s all yours.

  15. anoni says:

    “Another google shows that White and his division staffers added 12 new captive ins. cos in 2008 for our state”

    how much do those 12 Captive Insurers pay in fees and taxes VS how much was Mr White & staff paid?

    does this effort make money or loose money?

  16. Suzanne says:

    Maria — I know..unfortunatly you are correct. It was a bad attempt at not electing someone that appeared to have taken money from insurance companies and then it somehow backfired…

  17. Delaware Republican says:

    This post is a clear example of why all the Dem complaining about health care is misplaced.

    Insurance Commissioners play a vital role, if they want to do so. Most do not yet the Dems will blame the GOP for the sorry state of health care when the Dems have the Ins Commissioner, the Governor and the legislature.

    Stand by for more info on the Town Hall on health care in New Castle County.

    Mike Protack

  18. pandora says:

    Maria is correct. That said, Protack is all yours.

  19. Gabriel says:

    You people deserve every single embarassment that comes down the pike courtesy of YOUR self-serving lying moron KWS and her ridiculous entourage, which includes her shill Nancy Willing. You shouldn’t complain now because all along you knew damn well what a mockery she and her cronies would make of the IC’s office, but chose not to do a thing about keeping this fraud from being elected. You have only yourselves to blame.

  20. cassandra m says:

    Not sure who “you people” is supposed to be, but I’m not embarrassed in the least. Just mad that The Delaware Way has decided that KWS is now one of theirs and misusing the system was faulty RFPs, awarding contracts to her fundraisers and lobbyists without actually having to put forth a business plan for any of this is pretty remarkable.

  21. Gabriel says:

    I warned all of you early on that KWS’s background was invented. I pointed out that she spent the 20 years since Donna Williams fired her from the IC’s office for incompetence, where she’d been hired with no experience because of her connection to Levinson, infiltrating insurance associations claiming to be the owner of a non-existent insurance business in order to collect a data base of over 5000 insurance contacts who would fund and have in fact funded her three runs for office. Now you’re surprised about the payback to her supporters. Self-enrichment and political payback for having achieved it was and will continue to be the ONLY thing motivating KWS. If that’s what the Delaware Way is all about, this state is in big trouble.

  22. anonone says:

    I see a lot of smoke here, but not much fire.

    What specifically has the KWS’s IC’s office done that has demonstrably not been in the public interest?

    Is there actual evidence of incompetence or illegal or unethical activities? If so, what and who should be investigating them?

    Personally, I think her campaign finance reports deserve investigation, big time. How do you spend 10’s of thousands of dollars with no single expenditure of over $100? And why?

    In regards to her getting elected to the IC office, regardless of the ethics, you gotta admit she’s shrewd, if nothing else.

  23. Gabriel says:

    Well yeah…Getting elected to the IC’s office has been her sole occupation for the past 20 years, since she was always unemployed other than working there in the late 80’s. If I lacked education and business experience and were therefore unemployable in the private sector, and there were one opportunity to hit the big time that I know I can achieve with enough lies, I’d have had it down perfect, too.

  24. liberalgeek says:

    Gabriel has been screaming, but I’m sorry, but saying she is full of crap is no substitute for proving it. Despite Gabriel’s consistent complaints, there has never been a shred of evidence produced to support the accusations.

    Every time Gabriel posts some invective here, I find myself drifting toward the KWS side of things, then Nancy replies and I am right back where I started.

  25. Gabriel says:

    I suspect Elliott’s reference in the WNJ article about “international exposure” and the opening comment that Denn “parlayed” the IC’s office into becoming Lt. Governor imply that KWS may have designs on higher office, too, or some fancy job in a corporation. If so, we can rest assured she’s wasting her time, because the federal government and private companies, unlike Delaware’s government and the state’s uninformed voters, will thoroughly check her background and she will be exposed for the total lying fraud she is.

  26. Gabriel says:

    LG: My “accusations” are facts and can easily be substantiated by checking KWS’s background, which no one has bothered to do so far. It speaks for itself.

  27. cassandra_m says:

    And Gabriel — this is the problem. Who do you think is going to conduct this background check? We already know the NJ won’t take a hard look at this.

    If you want us to help take a look at some problem, we need something to work with — none of us does this full time and none of us will be paying for background checks. It seems to be that if you already know about the defective bits of her resume that you would point people to where they can find real evidence of that. Personally, I don’t disbelieve you — I hear similar stories from others and some of these tales have been around since I first saw her campaign. But there has to be more than everyone knows here.

  28. anonone says:

    I think the AG should audit her campaign finance reports, to start.

  29. liberalgeek says:

    By all means, provide any links that you might have that prove your accusations.

    Let’s see, she has been accused of being illiterate. Perhaps we should requisition her grades from third grade.

    She has been accused of being unemployable in the private sector. Any ideas how one could substantiate such a thing?

    What other accusations do you have that we should be following up on?

  30. Gabriel says:

    Typical. Shoot the messenger. To be employed in the private sector, you need an education and business experience, neither of which she has. As I said, even in light of clear abuse of office you still refuse to believe. So stop complaining about her then. It’s getting old.

  31. liberalgeek says:

    Jesus, Gabriel, you are a putz. Please give me a friggin’ clue about how to back up your claims. You say she has no experience, and she says she does. And both of you cross your arms and stamp your feet. This isn’t shoot the messenger, it is asking for a goddamned signature on the message you are delivering. It is a message from an anonymous source that says unverifiable things.

    If you have such an issue with her, I would assume that you would have more than your opinion to back it up.

    A1, I have seen the finance reports. That’s where we saw Kinion’s name as a maxed-out donor and as an in-kind donor for a fund-raiser that he threw for her. The rest appears to be ho-hum.

  32. anonone says:

    LG,

    How do you run a campaign, spend $78,000, and have no single expenditure over $100? And why would you do that?

  33. Maria Evans says:

    “Maria is correct. That said, Protack is all yours.”

    The huge difference is that Protack hasn’t made it past a primary.

  34. cassandra_m says:

    And if the rest is not ho-hum it would take someone who knows the insurance names (or who would spend the time looking) to see all of the industry money that people keep claiming she got.

    Contrary to popular opinion, we don’t just print every rumor or claim that comes our way. Especially if it comes from an unknown source. Do you have more data? Do you need to be off the record? Then send that data to the tip line or to one of us directly.

    Just yelling at us for not doing the work you want us to do (but aren’t willing to materially help with ) isn’t ever going to be productive.

  35. liberalgeek says:

    OK, fine there are issues with that. But I suspect that you will see similar things throughout the State. Sadly, there is no way to get a standardized view of campaign finance in DE to confirm.

  36. cassandra_m says:

    How do you run a campaign, spend $78,000, and have no single expenditure over $100? And why would you do that?

    No idea, but perhaps you can help find out why that happens.

  37. Gabriel says:

    Maybe the Democrat party would like to fund a thorough check of KWS’s non-existent so-called credentials since they’re the ones who helped get her into office. I understand many of the functionaries are already well aware of her lies. Maybe that will stop all of Elliott Jacobson’s unprecedented and continuing hype about her. No other DE politicians get the constant exposure this moron does, and for having done nothing noteworthy except paying off political debts that Elliott manages to spin into some kind of achievement.

  38. liberalgeek says:

    Maybe the Democrat party

    Ah, now we are getting somewhere. Is anyone surprised that Gabriel is calling the Democratic party the “Democrat” party?

    Gabriel, as far as i can tell, you are bringing nothing to the table except anger that KWS is in office. Perhaps she was mean to you, or owed you money. I don’t know, but your lack of substance, obvious partisanship and accusatory schlock are getting tiresome.

    KWS has gotten worse treatment than almost any elected official in the state here at DL. To show up and bitch and moan that we aren’t following up on your characterizations is ludicrous.

  39. why not says:

    Why not let the Lt. Governor do the IC job, too? He’s the one who rolled out all of the new insurance legislation for children, without one mention of KWS that I can recall. Think of the money the state would save by eliminating her and all of her cronies.

  40. Gabriel says:

    LG: Your attitude is a great example of why this woman and her cronies are in office. As I said before, stop complaining, since she and her ilk are obviously the kind of politicians you prefer. You’re clearly more interested in maintaining the status quo than you are in rooting out corruption. There is certainly enough of it here in Delaware, and in both parties.

  41. cassandra_m says:

    You’re clearly more interested in maintaining the status quo than you are in rooting out corruption.

    Apparently so are you, since documenting any of your accusations is well beyond the work you’ll do to help root out this corruption.

  42. anonone says:

    No idea, but perhaps you can help find out why that happens.

    I need subpoena power. 🙂

  43. liberalgeek says:

    Gabriel – Which attitude? The one that asks that accusation be based on more than personal opinion? The one that demands that there be proof to support your analysis? Or the one that suggests that party affiliation doesn’t matter to me when it comes to corruption?

    I’ll keep my attitude traits if I have to choose between them and your attitude of “you must believe me because I yell so loud”.

  44. nemski says:

    What I get from this thread are two things. The first is the News Journal shows their suckitude with their lovefest for KWS. The second is that KWS can pull the opposite of Sally Field and say, “You hate me, you really hate me.”

  45. Gabriel says:

    For the last time: Nothing I said is conjecture or opinion or analysis or related to party affiliation. You either go with the facts I provided, or you don’t. I don’t care whether anyone does or who pays for it, and I don’t need to have my credibility attacked when it’s KWS’s you should be questioning after what’s happened so far. If you’re still not convinced, don’t be surprised when the truth comes out eventually all by itself because she can’t keep up this charade forever. The longer she stays in office, the more complacent and brazen she and her cronies will become. We’ve already had a good sample of that, and it’s only been eight months.

  46. cassandra_m says:

    It is conjecture if you can’t provide detail to prove it or to demonstrate your “facts”. We really would take a longer look at allegations as long as there is something real to start with (and doesn’t interfere with our regular lives). But that hasn’t been forthcoming — just alot of trust us we know BS.

    And for someone with so many claims to facts it seems really odd that you can’t produce any smoking guns that people can check on. So I get that you are looking for people to just write anything you say and I am thinking that the reason you are so mad is that we won’t.

    No one is going to be surprised if she blows up. No one. And the story when that happens is that it it too bad that people who claimed to have material knowledge here could not step up.

  47. Gabriel says:

    Oh so I’ll be to blame for her eventual downfall, not KWS herself. Very funny. The “material knowledge” is out there and most of it is in the public record. All you have to do is double check it as you should have before she was elected. I’m tired of going round and round with this.

  48. cassandra_m says:

    So now we’re down to the X Files. It’s all out there — even though plenty of people have been looking to document some of it — but you, with all of your special knowledge, can’t point to just one public record.

  49. Geezer says:

    Gabriel: So just provide the links. I’m not even sure what it is you’re alleging. If being illiterate were a barrier to election, Hazel Plant would not be in the General Assembly.

    It’s hard to tell if someone is running an office badly if you — and by “you” I mean most of us — have no idea of how it should be run in the first place.

  50. anonone says:

    Kinda funny:

    There is a link-farm squatter on a website called “www.karenweldinstewart.com.” Their claim?

    “The fastest and easiest way to get what you want!”

  51. Maria Evans says:

    Gabriel, I realize that we’re just a bunch of bloggers, but sometimes, some of us, before we write scathing stuff about elected officials, we make sure that we’re at least in the ballpark of correctness. So my advice to you, if you want a blog to pick this stuff up, do more research and write a big expose, is that you cough up significantly more than you are right now. DL has a freakin tip page, why not use it?

  52. nemski says:

    Oh Maria, if we posted half the tips we got on KWS . . .

  53. cassandra_m says:

    No kidding. And the stuff I get via email — forget it.

  54. liberalgeek says:

    Yeah, you have basically seen the depth of Gabriel’s “evidence” here. In addition, you see that Gabriel uses the same tactics as the KWS team, keep saying that something exists, even if there is no evidence.

  55. Gabriel says:

    How appropriate. That was KWS’s campaign website until she abandoned it following the election. She had it from 1999, just before she ran for IC the first time against Donna Williams, until early 2009.

    As far as public records, start with the state’s corporation files and check the filings for “The Weldin Group,” her supposedly successful insurance consultancy that had no employees despite her claims to the contrary, since it existed only on paper. Its address, 801 West 20th Street in Wilmington, is where KWS has lived for many years. It’s pretty delapidated since she had no income to speak of for most of the time she lived there.

  56. Gabriel says:

    LG: I’m sure KWS really appreciates your cheerleading. Maybe she has a job for you, too.

  57. liberalgeek says:

    Funny thing is that it is likely that you work for her now…

    And I was one of the first people around here to go anti-KWS. So cheerleading ain’t what I’m doing.

    A pox on both of your houses.

  58. nemski says:

    Umm, Gabriel, KWS is not the biggest fan of DL, she’s probably not a fan at all.

  59. anoni says:

    1) the campaign finance report is fiction, whether it is that way because of the incompetence of her campaign treasurer or an intentional effort to hide where the money went is unknown.
    IT DOESN’T MATTER – there is no enforcemnt, the campaing will not be fined and KWS is still the IC

    2) KWS lied about her qualifications (ofcourse she lied, she’s a politician)
    SO WHAT! even if she admits to all her lies, she will still be the IC

    3) KWS hired her campaign staff and supporters… no shit, that’s what politicians do.

    Everyone but Nancy agrees that Democrat Karen Weldin Stewart is incompetent. Rather than bitch and moan, do two things:
    A) gather and publish examples/proof of her incompetence so that honest challengers will be encouraged to enter the race in 2012
    B) gather and publish evidence of criminality so that she will be indicted and removed from office prior to 2012.

  60. Lower Forty says:

    Anoni, thanks for a great comment. Here’s a little more information.

    1. The campaign finance report is an intentional effort, although not to hide where the money went, but where it came from. Accepting contributions from insurers violates Delaware law, and that she did accept them will be a problem as soon as all the sources are identified.

    2. While many politicians lie about their qualifications, KWS’s aren’t just embellished but totally invented. She even lied about her age. September 11 is her 62nd birthday, not her 60th.

    3. Just about everyone in the party leadership is well aware of her incompetence and corruption. However, she thinks one term is all she needs to retire very comfortably after entering office nearly bankrupt, so 2012 is not an issue for her, especially since she knows she will be defeated.

    4. In light of #3, evidence of criminality is being gathered. KWS won’t be the first IC to go to jail, or the last. It’s common knowledge in the insurance industry that nearly all ICs are stupid and corrupt. She’s no different but is just more overt and shameless about it.