Delaware Political Weekly: October 20-26, 2017

1. Rachel Blumenfeld To Challenge Deborah Hudson in RD 12. She’s a great candidate. An English Special Education Teacher in Delaware’s public schools.  Here is a Delaware Voices piece she wrote about the need for reading specialists. While her campaign is  geared up and ready to go (they’re doing canvasses already!), she officially kicks off her campaign at the BBC Tavern & Grille in the Greenville Crossing Shopping Center on Monday at 6 p.m.  She’s already got lots of followers and supporters. I’m really impressed at the energy and legwork of this campaign.  Hey, Hudson has been around forever, and the only people she represents are the ones who would benefit from not having to pay the Estate Tax. That’s about 1% of her district.  Nothing like an underdog grassroots campaign where the underdog has a real chance. Rachel Blumenfeld. Remember the name. And maybe throw a few bucks her way along with a couple of hours of canvassing.

2. This Auditor’s Race Could Be Really Strange. So…this Kathleen Davies worked for the State Auditor, Tom Wagner, from 2010 to May or so of 2016. At which point she was placed on Administrative Leave, where she remains some 18 months later. She has declined to say why, although the News Journal had reported that she was being investigated over travel reimbursements. On Monday, she files paperwork to run as an independent for the office, meaning that she will need to get about 6900 signatures to run.  Need I point out the irony that the State Auditor, whose job is ‘rooting out fraud, waste and abuse revolving around taxpayer dollars’, has either been unable to determine whether Davies indeed ripped off the taxpayers or is unwilling to admit that this took place under his less-than-watchful eye. BTW, is this unpaid administrative leave, or is she being paid to not show up for work? Oh, and the D’s looking at the office? Dennis E. Williams and Park City Kathy.

3. AG Race Rumors. Hey, in the absence of any real developments, the rumors take center stage. I’m sticking to ones that seem plausible, and that, for the most part, have been mentioned by some of our more reliable readers:

Sean Lynn looking at decision within the next month or so. My take? I think that either Lynn or Townsend will run, not both.  There’s likely some ‘Alfonse-Gaston’ discussions going on.

Republican Tom Neuberger considering run. I say, ‘Why not?’  Here are his practice’s areas of concentration. Challenging the Church and predator-priests? Suing cops who abuse citizens.  This already makes him a more desirable AG than that Mullaney guy. BTW, Neuberger ran against Tom Carper for Congress back in 1986, which was back when Carper was posing as a reformer.

Dwight Davis may run for AG. No, he won’t win, but the longtime Wilmington community activist has a better sense of right and wrong than many of those who have better chances of winning.

4. Filings. No new filings this week, not unexpected since the fees have only been set for Kent County. I contacted the State Democratic Party to find out when the other fees would be set. On Tuesday. Got an auto message that someone would get back to me. As of now, nobody has gotten back to me.

That’s it for this week. What’d I miss, and whaddayathink?