Flowers Endorses… ?

Filed in Delaware by on October 2, 2014

This is outgoing Treasurer Chip Flower’s hyped endorsement statement:

I am forever grateful that the People of Delaware have given me the opportunity to serve them over the past four years. Together, we made historic changes and accomplishments by challenging the establishment and made millions for the state. I enjoyed every minute of these important policy debates that have reshaped our treasury to meet the needs of the 21st century. Again, thank you.

With respect to the upcoming election, I remain supportive of my fellow Democrats throughout our state and I am encouraged by a number of new candidates putting forth new ideas to improve Delaware by challenging the status quo! It makes me very proud that the door has been opened for others to follow.

With respect to the state treasurer’s race, I have spent my career standing for the fundamental principle that ideas matter over endorsements. Based upon this principle and the questionable actions over the last 60 days, I cannot in good conscience endorse a candidate for this office. Rather, I encourage voters to support the candidate who has not only campaigned with the highest integrity, but has the financial education and experience to manage our $2 billion portfolio, will continue the “Honest Way” reforms to the Cash Board which have made over $50 million in returns for Delaware and supports mandatory background checks for those state employees having access to our state financial accounts.

I am confident that the People of Delaware will make the right choice and send a strong message on Election Day. Thank you and I hope you have a wonderful day.

First, questionable actions? The only questionable actions were Mr. Flowers’ in his personal life. And yet he somehow holds Sean Barney responsible for it, otherwise he would endorse him.

Barney is not responsible. Markell and Carper are not responsible. The minions behind all three of them are not responsible. The story after embarrassing story that we endured over the last three years with Chip Flowers and Alaska trips and Patriots tickets and his relationship with Ericka Benner, none of that was created by Jack Markell, Tom Carper or Sean Barney.

Oh sure, they all took full advantage of it, just like a football player jumps on a ball when it is fumbled.

If Chip Flowers is bitter and wants to blame someone, he needs to purchase a mirror. I was so looking forward to his tenure because I did want someone to challenge the Governor and shake things up. And the future politico in me saw this extraordinarily good retail politician going far, perhaps challenging Denn in 2016 for the gubernatorial nod, or settling for the Lt. Governor’s spot.

To beat the King, you have to be clean, and you better not miss.

As to his very snarky non-endorsement endorsement of Ken Simpler simply because he ran a hedge fund, well I guess I thought Chip Flowers was supposed to be the anti-corporate Democratic hero. I guess he forgot that in his bitterness. That has to be the deciding factor since both candidates, Barney and Simpler, have pretty stellar educational backgrounds. The difference between them is that Sean chose public service and the military, and Ken went into the private sector.

So enjoy that endorsement Ken, I say smiling.

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  1. anon says:

    DD – one question – how large of a following does The Chipster still have?

  2. Delaware Dem says:

    Well, he still has Sam Lathem in his corner, which says a lot.

    Sam Lathem, president of the Delaware AFL-CIO and a supporter of Flowers, said he would not be surprised to see the treasurer break with the state’s top Democrats. Flowers has frequently clashed with top party leaders. “I’m sure he feels he has been mistreated and judged unfairly,” said Lathem, who said he has not talked to Flowers in recent weeks. “I’m sure there’s some bitterness there and some anger there. If he wants to strike back, that’s only natural. I don’t know what he’s going to do. But it wouldn’t surprise me if he endorsed the Republican candidate.”

    Whatever cache that brings, I am not sure. Sam is getting more and more isolated lately too.

  3. AQC says:

    Does anyone care what Sam Lathem thinks? And, does anyone besides Puck care what Chip Flowers thinks?

  4. Delaware Dem says:

    Nancy Willing loves him. But point taken AQC. I am so desperate at this point to never write about Flowers again. I was content to have him serve out his term, but he needed to endorse and have attention on himself again.

  5. In The Know says:

    My best estimate on the size of the Chipster’s following is that it is in double digits. He never built an organization beyond the core group that worked with him, and he eventually discarded most of those people when they expressed opinions or offered advice contrary to his own thinking.
    As for the “endorsement,” read the statement carefully. He says that “in good conscience,” he cannot endorse for treasurer … so this is either not an endorsement as he seemed to promise in Wednesday’s statement or it is an endorsement that is not being made “in good conscience.”
    Looking at it that way, well, maybe it is an endorsement.
    In any case, Simpler would do well to ignore it. Indeed, why tell the voters that “my principles are more closely aligned with Chip Flowers than my opponent’s are.”

  6. Point of Order says:

    Man, I miss the Gong Show. It was clear when no one was interested in seeing the rest of the act.

    The most important thing about leaving is to be gone.

  7. SussexAnon says:

    “….I encourage voters to support the candidate who has not only campaigned with the highest integrity, but has the financial education and experience to manage our $2 billion portfolio, will continue the “Honest Way” reforms to the Cash Board…”

    Thats the endorsement line right there.

    Education and experience aside, Carper and Markell, Barney’s proteges, are hardly reformers and transparency hawks. They (C&M) are also both known for dickish behavior. Keep that in mind on your way to the voting booth.

  8. Dick says:

    You have it backwards: Barney may be Markell’s and Carper’s protoge (depending on your viewpoint), but they could only be Barney’s “mentors”.

  9. Delaware Dem says:

    Well, I will not be voting for a hedge fund manager. Further, and generally, being a Republican makes me question his understanding of economics and finance, since all Republicans believe that cutting revenue somehow leads to a surplus when it never has under their governance.

    So I will vote for Barney and then lobby the General Assembly non-stop next year to make this office and the Insurance Commissioners office appointed positions rather than elected.

  10. Nuttingham says:

    I never understood why Flowers and his commenters thought it was a good idea to use “Barney is close to Markell and Carper!!!!” as an attack.

    They’re two of the three most popular elected officials in the state and attacking them basically says to more than half the electorate – “I think you make terrible choices…”

  11. In The Know says:

    @Nuttingham — the Chipster’s animus was always directed at Markell. Carper was hardly an issue with him, but Barney identified himself as an aide to both. Thus, within Fortress Flowers, Carper also became part of the ever-growing enemy team.
    Your point about the message sent by Flowers’ messaging carries absolutely no weight within the Fortress, where the basic assumption is that Markell’s popularity is constantly plummeting and every dart tossed by the Honorable Treasurer is causing the governor to sink all the more rapidly.
    Once you understand that mindset, everything else should become clear,

  12. puck says:

    But Chip does leave a legacy: This made it onto the AP wire today…

    Delaware’s Cash Management Policy Board, the panel that oversees Delaware’s $1.8 billion cash portfolio, is proposing to formally adopt rules regarding objectives and guidelines for investing state funds […]
    The panel is accepting public comment until Oct. 31 on the proposed regulations.

    Figuring out how to submit a comment is an exercise left for the reader. I couldn’t find it after five minutes of casual search. I guess they aren’t that enthusiastic about getting public comments.

  13. cassandra_m says:

    to support the candidate who has not only campaigned with the highest integrity, but has the financial education and experience to manage our $2 billion portfolio, will continue the “Honest Way” reforms to the Cash Board…”

    Under this criteria, Chip couldn’t even endorse himself — irony!

    As for Chip’s supporters — I remember a certain breathless anticipation that the fact that the DOE might not get Chips name off of the ballot in time for the primary would show people how fed up voters were with how Chip was treated. Didn’t happen, of course, because voters were pretty content with the “don’t let the door knob hit ya” approach to this guy.

  14. Nuttingham says:

    Good insight. I wonder if Fortress Young and Kowalko have the same perspective.

    I think the Chip people (and Simpler puppets later) saw that a few of the commenters here really don’t like Carper and thought that message might resonate if they kept hitting on it.

  15. Jason330 says:

    This endorsement is as WTF? as his tenure as Treasurer.