Wilmington Mayoral Debates at Ezion Fair
Last night was another big Mayoral debate, this one including the newly announced (but not filed) Maria Cabrera and finally showing up Dennis Williams. This debate was sponsored by the Complexities of Color Coalition, the Metropolitan Urban League Young Professionals, Interdenominational Ministers Action Council, Delaware Young Democrats Minority Caucus and Delaware Black and held at Ezion Fair church in Southbridge. This was really well attended and the audience was definitely there to be engaged. The NJ provides a bunch of the highlights of the evening, but I want to focus on some campaign themes emerging and a different cattle call at the end.
The questions were focused on Public Safety, Education, Economic Development — questions pretty high on the list for everyone engaged in this Mayor’s race. What separated the candidates was mostly how well they engaged with the concerns of the people of the room, the quality of solutions proposed (where solutions were proposed) and experience claims. As you can imagine from an almost 2 hour debate, there was a great deal said and Williams came to belligerently defend whatever record he claims to have. In doing that, he took potshots at Theo Gregory and the City Council, which led to the only seriously heated exchanges in the event. When Williams can’t defend his record, he defers to another time, with some implication that another venue, another audience will understand. Williams does get to some of the issues that City Council has — controlling the purse is in their power and they’ve been less than effective at wielding that power. Williams wants you to know that Council block his initiatives — which isn’t exactly true — but they aren’t especially good at pushing their own priorities. See the Wilmington Public Safety Strategies Commission report — they couldn’t get the WPD to revise a budget to implement items in this plan and then there is the theater of “accountability” where the Chief gets grilled on progress, the Chief provides little information and the Council pretends to be tough. At the end of the day, nothing changes, which is pretty ineffective “accountability”.
One thing that I noticed from a number of the of the candidates (Cabrera, Gregory, Griffiths, Kelly) was an insistence in creating a new policing plan and implementing that. This is typical Wilmington behavior — where if you don’t do it, then it doesn’t happen. Only Marshall and Young mentioned the WPSSC report as a place to start — and seriously, this is a city with no money, so why wouldn’t start with something that already provides a solid roadmap to improving the organization? Everyone wants to take credit for a plan, but not for actually getting anything done on that plan.
On Public Safety, everyone made the right noises on Community Policing, with Kelly making the point that these folks need to stay in communities and raising the possibility of recreating the police substations in neighborhoods. It is clear that multiple definitions of Community Policing were in play. Most talked about police accountability for effective changes in their areas. In response to a veiled question about the Jeremy McDole shooting, Williams made the point that due process has to run its course before deciding what has to happen with the officers who shot him. Gregory noted that the city should not be afraid to call in the Feds when there are major issues like this and called on his experience as a Federal prosecutor (!) that will facilitate this. Young talked about better and more frequent training for officers as well as effective community policing as a preventative measure, as well as the deployment of cameras that might get you better data on the incident faster. Griffiths also made this point re: cameras. Kelley also chimed in on better training and making sure that officers are a long-term presence in communities. Most of the rest also talked about due process, with Cabrera talking about accountability and and not allowing mistakes.
For Economic Development, the Mayor rattled off a bunch of stats that probably aren’t true (I know the claim of the 350M in capital investment in the city is not his to claim, for certain — many of the projects he counts were in the pipeline under the Baker Admin). Most of the other candidates used this question to say that the city isn’t doing enough to help small and minority owned business in the City. Gregory claimed credit for the current status of the Minority Business Loan fund (which is largely unused) and suggested that the Strategic Fund (grants not loans) be made available to small and minority owned businesses. Young recounted a recent meeting with minority small business owners in the city, who had no idea about the programs and support offered by the city — recommending a much broader outreach and also recommending a business startup approach that streamlines the process of licencing and inspections in the City. Kelley pointed out that considering how much the City spends, it is remarkable that the City hasn’t used its spending power to get contractors and vendors to subcontract to City small businesses. Purzycki said that economic development has been his job at the Riverfront and that was when the audience let him know that the Riverfront was not a model that interested them.
All of the candidates were also asked about a plan to create a more viable and livable downtown for young people — a city that doesn’t shut down at 5PM. Both Kelley and Gregory talked about the astonishing disconnect between the City’s Cultural Affairs office and its artist community. Gregory also talked about a “regressive parking scheme” downtown and doing a better job of marketing the city. Purzycki talke about adding more amenties to the city that young people would be interested in. Young discussed how budding creative spaces in the city get little support and how hard it was for young entrepreneurs to create businesses in the city.
Education proved to be squishier — mainly because the Mayor doesn’t have much say in the process. Young and others called for the City to have a seat at the table and discussed developing an Education Resource Center to help parents sort through choices and issues. Williams noted that he already has someone in his office working on Education (but no one sees her — and she doesn’t have a seat at the table because no one from the 9th floor joins the active parent groups to get there). Gregory continues to trot out Moyer as an accomplishment — even though on his watch this school was on a death spiral almost from the day it opened. Marshall clearly did not know what WEIC does (even though constituents of his worked hard to convince him to get involved with the education discussion in the city.) Purzycki noted that the city needs a high school, which got him the best applause of the night.
This debate felt like the real start of the campaign as well as it’s first moment for candidates to review their confidence in strategies. This Cattle Call is going to be based on who should think about leaving the race:
Who’s Competitive:
Eugene Young — he has been connecting well with voters in multiple venues — doorsteps, house parties, business events, debates — and the connection shows. It also shows that how well his policy team is helping him focus on changing the status quo as well as on better ideas. He is very strong on the kind of partnerships needed to move forward — and unlike the usual Wilmingtonians, is not going to need to develop his own silo to govern in. He will be reaching out to everyone who could help.
Kevin Kelley — Kevin is also working very hard meeting voters everywhere. Last night, though, he did not connect with this audience as he typically can. He was in way better command of ideas and information but somehow seemed off of his game. Still — while I think Kevin was at the top of voter lists this fall, he is not now.
Who Needs to Rethink Their Strategy:
Mike Purzycki — he walked away as damaged goods from this debate. While he clearly is going to spend alot of money, he is going to need some people outside of the 8th to vote for him. Last night, he was occasionally dismissive of plans and ideas and had a difficult time connecting with the audience. For better or worse, Purzyki was the poster child of the long-simmering resentment in the city of prioritizing the Riverfront and Downtown development over the rest of the City. It is hard to underestimate how deep this resentment is. Rumor has it that Purzycki has the support of Charles Potter — which won’t make his 8th District base especially happy and I doubt that Potter can paper over this Riverfront problem. Especially since Potter (as a City Councilman) is complicit in this problem.
Theo Gregory — basically, I get that he is running because it is “his turn”. And his own approach to this debate showed that. He wanted to lay claim to some city accomplishments as City Council ones (while accomplishing very little on Council). Claiming Moyer as a success is simply incredible. Claims for plans, accountability and being on message don’t substitute for a discussion of HOW when asked, even though he took others to task in the debate for not answering questions.
Who Needs to Drop Out:
Dennis Williams — seriously. No lessons learned at all from the first campaign or 4 years of governing. Belligerence ≠ policy knowledge. While he apologized for overpromising on the crime issue 4 years ago, he proceeded to try to convince people that things in the city are better than we think.
Bob Marshall — seriously, again. His solutions are to talk about how he was able to get money to get stuff done in the city. Which has nothing to do with being Mayor (ask Dennis Williams). His solutions are largely about throwing money at various issues — which can be fine for those things that need money, but there is much abut the administration of the city that won’t get more money and will need someone to make tough choices.
Norm Griffiths — Griffiths is a gentleman and a smart guy, but it is pretty clear that he has been out of the city’s loop for awhile and also clear that he hasn’t done much work to think of solid governing policy. I don’t know why he wants to be Mayor. He spent more time agreeing with people on the stage and little time differentiating himself.
Maria Cabrera — yes, she just got in. But she’s a barrelful of extensive lectures on the problems of the city (yes we know those already) and light on genuine solutions. One of the things that she needs to be accountable for is taking over the L&I committee and still not moving on some of the big issues that need to be dealt with. Maria is a perfectly nice woman, but lecturing people is not a good fig leaf for thin substance.
So I probably missed some discussions — I’ve been working on this post on and off all day. So what did I miss? And What do you think?
Tags: Council President Theo Gregory, Debates, Eugene Young, Kevin Kelley, Maria Cabrera, Mayor Dennis Williams, Mike Purzycki, Norman Griffiths, Sen. Bob Marshall, Wilmington Mayor, Wilmington Mayoral Election 2016
Good analysis!
-I think Maria Cabrera is just mugging for publicity. I think she drops back to run for her Council seat before the final deadline comes.
-Theo touting his time at Moyer School? He ran it into the ground. Next…
-Eugene Young is a fresh face. Need some young ones in there, not same old retreads. Glad he is resonating.
– Purzycki- if Charles Potter is tied up with him, then that’s a huge mistake. Mike P. needs to figure out that he will be judged by his political friends.
Kevin Kelley- I think he’s the sleeper. He was #2 vote getter last time. And he works it hard!
I think she drops back to run for her Council seat before the final deadline comes.
Yes. I think that the trajectory of her bid is going to be spending alot of time getting attention, not being able to raise funds and then deciding to keep her City Council seat. She won’t file.
Excellent blogging! Thanks so much for the recap. I couldn’t make last night’s debate, but I’ll be at Thursday’s.
^Agree^ As a suburbanite, it is too easy for me to ignore Wilmington politics. The state needs a strong Wilmington though, so the stakes are high for all of us.
It’s unfortunate that this isn’t like “Survivor,” where the worst of the bunch gets voted off the island. We would have been down two already (and Williams would have been one of them).
Regardless of what we think of Williams, one of the real problems he faced four years ago was that he couldn’t score a majority in the three-way race, so he lacked a core of solid support when he took office.
Whether you’re Kelley, Purzycki or Eugene Young (I’m not counting Gregory because his accomplishments for the city are almost as imaginary as the incumbent’s), whoever wins this primary is likely to face the same problem as Williams did — an inadequate core of political support when it comes time to implement new policies.
Theo is running because he thinks it’s his turn; Griffiths is running not because he wants to be mayor but because he thinks he would be better at it than most of the other candidates.
I have no idea why Marshall and Cabrera are running … but if Sherry Dorsey can run for Lt.Gov., they might as well run for mayor.
The sooner this pack can get thinned to three (it really ought to be two … but this is Wilmington so I have no hope), the better off the winner will be when it’s time to govern.
That is great blogging. I learned a LOT that I didn’t know. Which, in turn, raised some questions:
1. 4 years ago, did Dennis need Potter more, or did Potter need Dennis more?
2. To what extent will people follow Potter’s lead in backing whomever he’s backing?
3. Will Dennis find someone to primary Potter? After all, I think that was the area of the city that essentially elected him.
4. That whole riverfront vs. city thing rings true to me. I can understand the resentment at all those $$’s being thrown down there to attract people who don’t live in the city.
5. How many people, and which ones, need to drop out to ensure that Williams doesn’t get reelected?
6. Let’s say it ends up more or less as a Final 4 between Kelley, Williams, Young and Purzycki, which I can realistically see. Who do you think wins?
Here they come……….there they go!
Did anyone see this?:
http://www.delawareonline.com/story/news/politics/2016/04/14/williams-ally-pushes-jones-potter-enter-city-treasurer-race/83027482/
I figured this might be an attempt to repair the Potter/Williams split and put the machine back together for their mutual benefit. Osborne may have hatched this idea entirely on his own.
That raises another question–how the bleep did someone like Ed Osborne become something of a kingmaker? I remember him as the eminent domain guy. He ran a junkyard, right? Now he’s Williams’ political guru? Williams should learn something that Osborne knows. Some rusting hulks just can’t be saved.
Excellent analysis! My two favorite sentences “For Economic Development, the Mayor rattled off a bunch of stats that probably aren’t true…” because it made me laugh, and “Purzycki said that economic development has been his job at the Riverfront and that was when the audience let him know that the Riverfront was not a model that interested them.” because that is putting the response he got for saying so mildly. Agree with the roll call assessment too. Hopefully these candidates will take heed!
Thank you!
Kevin Kelley was the first and only candidate to knock on my door so far. He’s clearly working hard. But, I was really turned off after the first debate at the Grand Opera House. I just heard a lot of angry rhetoric and shots at the current mayor.
One of my informants tells me that the Mayor told WDEL this AM that he probably won’t participate in all of the debates upcoming. Which I guess can’t be surprising when you have to defend a thin record, right?
That raises another question–how the bleep did someone like Ed Osborne become something of a kingmaker.
Ed Osborne has a pretty well respected auto repair shop at the Riverfront. He is committed to Dennis because Dennis was forward in fighting the City’s stupid eminent domain play. This campaign, Ed is the Williams campaign Treasurer.
Osborne is working at one of two things:
1. He is trying to get the Potters back on the Williams team, or
2. He is trying to make the rumored Potter deal with Purzycki inoperative.
If it is 1, then we know how weak Williams is. If it is 2, congratulations on one epic troll.
How much political clout do the Potters have?
How much political clout do the Potters have?
Charles Potter is still pretty strong in the city’s first councilmanic, with an effective GOTV ability there. The 1st and 2nd are still the richest pool of reliable D voters in the city. Velda Potter seems to still be well-liked in the city, but unsure of political clout. Williams did not help himself in the way he fired her from her city position and she did not help herself in how she handled issues around assigning city resources for her son’s concert.
Heard another rumor yesterday — that Ed Osborne is looking to make sure that Wilmington is governed by Dennis Williams, Charles Potter and Velda Potter. A reason to keep the For Sale sign handy if true.
1. 4 years ago, did Dennis need Potter more, or did Potter need Dennis more?
Potter needed Dennis to run for Mayor so Potter could step up to the GA. Both of them were proven vote getters in the 1st and 2nd. As mediawatch notes above, Williams won without a solid political base of support.
2. To what extent will people follow Potter’s lead in backing whomever he’s backing?
Tom Gordon campaigned as a team with Potter, Williams, Bullock and Karen Weldin Stewart. An undistinguished team, yes? Still — the idea was certainly to capitalize on the voters Willams and Potter could pull out with Bullock working to energize the African American religious community. With Williams so damaged (and apparently not speaking to either Potter or Gordon), I think that will be hard to replicate. Still, I think that it will depend on who Potter is backing. If it is Purzycki as rumored, he may have a challenge.
3. Will Dennis find someone to primary Potter? After all, I think that was the area of the city that essentially elected him.
Haven’t heard about this, and frankly, Dennis needs to focus on his own primary. He is way too damaged, I think, to be able to fool around with other races.
4. That whole riverfront vs. city thing rings true to me. I can understand the resentment at all those $$’s being thrown down there to attract people who don’t live in the city.
This has been festering for a very long time. There is something of a trickle down theory in effect here. To some extent, it does work, but it doesn’t produce enough to help bolster struggling neighborhoods though.
5. How many people, and which ones, need to drop out to ensure that Williams doesn’t get reelected?
This is a great question and I have been debating this with friends — ideally, one competitive opponent who could be sharply focused on the thin Williams record and on a great vision of the city would be perfect. If it was the right one, of course. But if this field could get down to three or four, that would help.
6. Let’s say it ends up more or less as a Final 4 between Kelley, Williams, Young and Purzycki, which I can realistically see. Who do you think wins?
If that election was *today*, I’d see it as a tossup between Young and Kelley.
To refresh your recollection, Velda Potter, as an appointed incumbent, was defeated for state treasurer by Chip Flowers. Ouch! Cassandra is right. She was actually fired by Mayor Williams for questionable activities/ involvement as a city official in her son’s foray into concerts called Foxtail Fest. Second ouch! She should probably stick to the private sector after two major embarrassments.
Man, these comments are right on the mark. The candidates should be closely paying attention.
Back to a couple of Cassandra’s points. I generally agree with her here.
On Osborne-Williams-Potter, it’s not Osborne’s job to patch the family feud. Velda’s unethical behavior undermined the mayor and, in that instance, he did the right thing and dismissed her. It’s up to Williams and the Potters to make their personal and political peace. However, it’s not in Williams’ character (odd that I’m using Williams and character in the same sentence) to grovel in front of anyone. In an ethical sense, he shouldn’t come begging to the Potters. OTOH, he needs them in the primary. Charles Potter can coast to re-election. He can win his district with a low turnout, but if his constituents generally sit out the primary, that will cost Williams some needed votes.
On number of candidates, I think we can dismiss Marshall, Griffiths, Cabrera, even if all three stay in the race. Marshall and Cabrera will peel away some votes from Kelley and Purzycki. Griffiths will have similar impact on Williams and Gregory.
And then there’s Eugene Young. He’s building his own army … and he’s not taking votes away from anybody.
Ultimately, Purzycki-Kelly fight for votes west of 95 and on the Riverfront (with a little interference from Marshall and Cabrera), while Gregory and Williams duke it out on the East Side and in the Ninth Ward (with Griffiths pulling a little from both).
So, you’ve got two battles among retreads being waged in different parts of the city while Young builds a coalition of young voters working his way up Market Street from the Riverfront and out Pennsylvania Avenue to Cool Spring, Little Italy, Trolley Square and back over to The Triangle.
The way this is shaping up 25-30 percent of the primary turnout could win it, and I think Young is the candidate most likely to reach into enough different neighborhoods to pull in those numbers.
Good for him if he can make it work, but, as I’ve noted before, winning with the support of 25-30 percent of the voters — or even 40 percent — doesn’t mean you’ve got a hell of a lot of support the first day you sit behind your desk on the Ninth Floor.
Mostly agree with your analysis, mediawatch.
I think, though, that Purzycki’s pool is much smaller — the 8th mostly and maybe the Riverfront. I could be wrong, but I just don’t think that there are going to be enough people who think enough of the Riverfront (and people who have been here awhile know that it had a few failures before getting to where it is) to see its leadership as one to lead the city.
When we do our calculus we cannot forget that Purzycki’s pool includes however many Republicans decided to register as Democrats before the deadline.
Yeah, but a lot of them already switched to D back when Markell ran.
The switch strategy was tried by Bill Montgomery it failed 4 years ago with less Westside candidates . He spent the most and came in 3 with half as many votes as Williams in a 5 person race.
This race will come down to Kelley, Young and who takes the least number of votes from the winner. Word is Young might have an issue with his residency, one must be a resident of Wilmington for 2 years to be mayor. Just wondering, where on the East Side did Young grow up? I haven’t met anyone from my old block who knew him or his folks.