Is Wagner even running?

Filed in Delaware by on February 20, 2014

Tom Wagner. A living example of an extinct species: a duly elected Republican in statewide office. He has been in office for years, so long that I was still in freaking middle school when he was first appointed to the office (I’m knocking on 40 now). And he has been living on borrowed time. In 2010, he barely got re-elected by 0.8% of the vote…. against the now indicted Richard Korn. This time around, he has a very credible upstart challenger in Brenda Mayrack.

Celia Cohen reported that Wagner has raised only $26,540. For the entire year of 2013. Wagner says he is:

“I’m confident I’ll have money to run a decent campaign, but it’s tough raising money right now. We’re hoping to raise $200,000 by the time it’s over and done,” Wagner said.

It seems to me that Mr. Wagner would have spent last year building a war chest to frighten off any challengers, like Dennis E. Williams has done (although that really didn’t work since Williams has a primary challenge). Wagner didn’t. Even if he says he is running, is he? Is his heart in it? And a Republican not raising money? That tells me that donors are staying away. The scent of death on Wagner must be strong.

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  1. cassandra_m says:

    This is the problem of Wagner being essentially the top of the GOP ticket, right? That can’t look good to any donors. Plus, I’d wonder if the lack of visibility from an office that ought to be in a position to have quite abit of visibility can’t add to any effectiveness narrative.

  2. liberalgeek says:

    You may want to correct the spelling of Mayrack. Also, does anyone know the status of Richard Korn’s indictment? Is he permanently indicted, or would that nomenclature change if he were exonerated?

  3. Delaware Dem says:

    Good question. A quick three page Google search turns up nothing since September 17, 2013, a Celia Cohen article about Korn’s attempt to take money and a house from his own mother. At that point, his criminal charges were still pending. I am checking the court dockets now

  4. Jason330 says:

    The DEGOP is just pitiful. A half-heated incumbent and a bunch of loons like Izzo.

    Provided Copeland puts up the filing money, I’ll bet Tom Kovach will take one for the team this year. Is “helping the party save face” something you can put on a resume?

  5. SussexWatcher says:

    You forgot his petulant whining recently about how the Democrats won’t raise his employees’ salaries to attract more people to the auditor’s staff. There are currently 10 auditor openings. People fleeing the sinking ship?

  6. SussexAnon says:

    Wagner used to tout how awesome he was because he downsized his office to cut costs. Now he is complaining his employees don’t get paid enough.

    There are plenty of entrenched power brokers in Dover who are completely happy with the job Wagner is (not) doing. If you are a bureaucrat, who really wants an activist auditor that actually wants to do the job of auditing?

    The Democratic Party is to blame for this guy still being in office.