2015: The Good. The Bad. The Ridiculous.

Because this list is generally a critical review of the year’s events, I’ve decided not to place Beau Biden’s death or Joe’s flirtation with running for President on the lists.  Who is to say how one should react under such circumstances? And how does one rank a death? Answer to both questions: I don’t know. So, I won’t do it.

We start as always, with the list with the fewest nominees: The Good.  Because, let’s face it, on balance, this was not a good year for Delaware.  Much closer to an annus horribilis, or whatever Queen Elizabeth calls it.

Wherever possible, I’ve linked to an article that provides context.

THE GOOD:

10. Sen. Ernie Lopez’ Rylie’s Law is signed into law on June 16. The bill permits the use of marijuana oils to treat ‘intractable epilepsy’.

9. AG Matt Denn creates an Office of Civil Rights and Public Trust.

8.  David Bentz (who we THINK is a progressive) wins Special Election to replace Michael Barbieri as State Representative in the 18th RD.

7.  JFC cuts 10 highly-paid bureaucratic positions from the State Department of Education budget. Perhaps the only good thing the JFC did all year. 

6. Wilmington City Council votes to bar any new charter schools in Wilmington.

5. Sometimes you add by subtracting. UD President Patrick Harker, who has presided over one of the least diverse campuses in America, jumps ship to go to the Fed.

4. Sometimes you really add by subtracting.  Cult leader/Secretary of Education Mark Murphy resigns.

3. Legislation eliminating the death penalty in Delaware passes Senate, 11-9.  Gov. Markell (finally) announces support for death penalty repeal.

2. Decriminalization for possession of small amounts of marijuana becomes law despite the best/worst efforts of quote law enforcement unquote.

1. Opposition to ‘No Child Left Behind’, the voracious charter school movement, and endless testing reaches critical mass.  Some select articles:  The Education Wars,  DDOE & Charter Schools, Delaware Liberal on Charter Schools Almost from the Beginning,  Opt-out and HB 50, Smarter Balanced Assessments.   I could go on and on.  Delaware Liberal, especially our educational guru Pandora, and people like Mike Matthews and Kevin Ohlandt, have been far ahead of the popular curve on this.  But 2015 was the year that pretty much everybody but members of the cult recognized that what we’ve been doing on public education for at least a decade has been disastrously wrong.  From such recognition should/will come positive change. I, uh, hope.

THE BAD:

I had so many legit nominees in this category that I’ve taken to combining wherever possible.  For example, I’ve put many of the inexcusable votes by our congressional delegation into one, or perhaps slightly more than one, catch-all entry.

10. Del-Tech tries to bypass traditional funding channels to enable it to collect funds from all homeowners to pay for its capital improvements throughout the state. No referendum necessary, just the say-so of the Board of Trustees. Mark Brainard and Harris McDowell are the ‘brains’ behind this last-minute piece of skulduggery.  Would’ve ranked higher except the bill didn’t pass. Yet.

9.  John Carney, Delaware Rethuglican ‘leaders’, and the Delaware State Police  join together to oppose allowing Syrian refugees into the country and/or into Delaware.  This would also fit well on the Ridiculous List. Carney’s vote, were it to stand, would enable the House of Representatives to override a presidential veto.  We haven’t seen the last of Carney on this list.

8. Sneaky Pete and Vindictive Val reward some, but not all,  House political staffers for their campaign work by raising their state pay an average 16%. In a year when they did nothing to help state employees and retirees. I think it is safe to say that you’d have to go back a real long time to find a more ethically-challenged House leadership team.

7. Secret slush fund sends $$’s to police with no public input. Proof that Delaware is a police state.

6. Dog Bites Man. Delaware’s government ranks as one of the least ethical in the country. An F grade is generous.

5. Former State Rep. Rebecca Walker, who led the fight to kill consideration of an end to capital punishment in the House, is rewarded with a job with the same agency that houses the Delaware State Police. Specifically, a $92.5 K job working for the agency that is supposed to ensure the safety of evidence.  Putting a police groupie like Walker in this position is even worse than the proverbial fox guarding the hen house.  The job, of course, was never posted, it was just given to her.

4. OK, deep breath, everybody.  Here are but a few of the inexcusable positions our so-called Delaware Democratic congress critters took this year.  Pretty much in chronological order, except when they aren’t:

John Carney votes to gut Dodd-Frank

Carper and Coons join together to gut social security benefits

John Carney votes against the ‘People’s Budget

Carper and Coons vote for cloture on fast track

Carney votes against Syrian refugees.

Feel free to add further outrages to the list.

3. The disastrous FY 2016 budget, and the dirty tactics of Speaker Pete Schwartzkopf in enacting it. His selling out of his own caucus to cut a deal with Senate R’s would ordinarily get him kicked out as Speaker in a less-cowardly caucus. Not this caucus, though. Check it out here and here.

2. It’s bad enough when someone runs for office promising to resolve a huge problem, then fails to deliver.  But when someone fails to resolve a huge problem, in this case violent crime in Wilmiongton, then refuses to listen to those who want to help, and refuses to even provide what should be public information in exchange for a significant infusion of dollars, and the problem gets worse, then you have an unmitigated disaster.  Which describes what Wilmington Mayor Dennis Williams did or did not do in 2015.  The best analysis anywhere on this was right here on Delaware Liberal and was written by Cassandra Marshall.  Here are but a few of those pieces, provided in chronological order.  Ditch the Siege Mentality. Reports, Who Needs Reports? Operation Disrupt. Williams Gets Played.  Cassandra wrote many other great pieces on this, blogging at its best. Near as I can tell, Mayor Williams is now holding his own city hostage to the detriment of the people who live and work there.  In any other year, this would be #1 on the Bad List.  However…

1.  The Dupont Company disintegrates (or is disintegrated) before our very eyes. Placing the jobs of our friends and neighbors in jeopardy. All in the name of shareholder value.  First, we had the failed proxy fight, then the spin-off of Chemours designed to rid Dupont of having to pay for those pesky toxic waste cleanups.  And then, the Dow-Dupont merger, which will cause all kinds of distress to our friends who work there, to the state, and to small businesses throughout the state. Here’s a safe prediction: What happened on Black Monday will be high on this list at year’s end.

THE RIDICULOUS

10. Sen. Greg Lavelle suffers an attack of the vapors when Supreme Court Chief Justice Strine compares Delaware’s incarceration rates to North Korea’s.

9. Dog bites man. Christine O’Donnell hasn’t paid her most recent lawyer. Alleges conspiracy theory.

8. The Archives of the Honorable Chipman L. Flowers.  I can’t resist providing an excerpt from Flowers’ own delusional mind:

Due to the generosity of private supporters and donors, this archive is dedicated to the significant achievements and contributions of one of Delaware’s most accomplished leaders. Over the next year, the “Flowers Papers Project” will provide an unparalleled level of information to the public highlighting the historic policy debates, decisions, and achievements made by Flowers and his administration during his term in public office.

7. State Senator and gun range owner David Lawson introduces legislation to outlaw Sharia Law in Delaware. Because, you know, Sharia Law has caused great harm to the First State.  Wonder if Lawson would sponsor a bill to outlaw ‘God’s Law’ in Delaware.  After all, a lot of his constituents believe that ‘God’s Law’ supersedes Delaware (and federal) law. Didn’t think so.

6. Rep. Danny Short knows what’s best for people on public assistance.  so, he decided to introduce a bill requiring food stamp recipients to purchase only ‘government-approved food’.  Hmmm, government-approved.   (What’s left of) DuPont and Monsanto should love the sound of that.  GMO’s for everybody.

5. Former Tower Hill headmaster Christopher Wheeler is sentenced to 50 years in prison for having 25 kiddie porn pictures on his hard drive. Two years for every picture.  WEHT ‘Let the punishment fit the crime’?

4. Gov. Jack Markell writes perhaps the worst piece to ever appear in The Atlantic. A piece in which he positions populism and job creation as lethal opponents of each other.  Intellectually dishonest, designed to be something that might endear him to someone like Hillary Clinton.  Don’t take my word for it, just read it.

3. Mayor Dennis E. Williams takes time out from presiding over the destruction of the city he’s supposed to be running to state that he hopes that a good-looking dude plays him in the proposed ABC TV series “Murdertown, USA”. Said ‘Murdertown’ is to be Wilmington, Delaware. His response?:

“”That’s unfortunate,” he said. “A bunch of has-beens playing in different roles to try to rebuild their acting careers. That’s OK. If they want to come into Wilmington and spend some of that money, go to the west end, the Hotel du Pont, bring in 500 people to spend at our restaurants. I’ll take their money. I just hope they get somebody good-looking to play me.”

2. Lie of the Year: Valerie Longhurst, after getting caught bullying a constituent who dared to ask about the exorbitant raises given to House staff, said “I’ve never bullied anybody.” Every one who has ever crossed her path laughed in unison. She’s so nice, we wrote about her twice.  Here. And here.

1. “Fuck you, David. You’re fired”.  Don’t you just hate it when a bromance goes awry? They had so much in common. No ethics, a love for bullying, the Hockessin PAL, and, uh, did I mention no ethics?  Somehow, despite having so much in common, NCC Executive Tom Gordon and his protege/Chief Administrator David Grimaldi saw their friendship and professional relationship tragically torn asunder.  Leaving only ‘lipstick on a pig’ and perhaps a lawsuit or two in its wake.  Oh, and the kind of ridicule we live for here at DL.  Here’s hoping for more in 2016.