Delaware Lawmakers With NRA and Gun Lobby Blood on Their Hands [Updated]

Filed in National by on February 22, 2018

Bethany Hall-LongPete

I can’t swear this list is comprehensive, but I checked out the Department of Elections web site for campaign contributions. Going back to 2015, these are the Delaware politicians who took money from the NRA Political Victory Fund.

The Democrats are right there at the top:

D Pete Schwartzkopf: $250, 4/23/15
D Bethany Hall-Long: $350, 4/21/15
R Rich Collins: $100, 3/10/15
R Ruth Briggs King: $100, 3/10/15
R Gerald Hocker: $200, 3/31/15
R Steve Smyk: $200, 4/17/15
R Anthony Delcollo: $600, 9/20/16

[Update]: An anonymous tipster in the comments directed my attention to the state-level equivalent of the NRA Victory Fund, the Delaware Foundation for Legislative Action. This is the PAC run by something called the Delaware State Sportsmen’s Association, which crowed about the court ruling opening state parks to concealed-carry weapons, bringing into question what “sports” they are promoting. Oh, never fear: They protect the rights of “gun owners,” not “sportsmen,” so they’re the typical full-of-shit gun-humpers’ group. Here are the lucky Delaware lawmakers who took the local firearm-fondlers’ cash, with the amount of the check(s):

In 2017 the PAC donated to 22 state lawmakers, more than one-third of the General Assembly:

D Nicole Poore: $100
D Brian Bushweller: $100
D Larry Mitchell: $100
D Trey Paradee: $100
R William Outten: $200
R Brian Pettyjohn: $100
R Greg Lavelle: $150
R John Walsh: $100
R Ernie Lopez: $225 (two checks)
R Ruth Briggs King: $100
R Jeff Spiegelman: $100
R Charles Postles: $100
R Kevin Hensley: $100
R Dave Wilson: $100
R Rich Collins: $100
R Joe Miro: $100
R Mike Ramone: $100
R Steve Smyk: $100
R Anthony Delcollo: $100
R Deborah Hudson: $100
R Bryant Richardson: $100
R Ron Gray: $100

That was down from 24 in 2016:

D Bruce Ennis: $500 (two checks)
D Andria Bennett: $500
D Trey Paradee: $300 (two checks)
D Patty Blevins: $125
D Larry Mitchell: $100
R Anthony Delcollo: $600
R Charles Postles: $600
R Steve Smyk: $500 (two checks)
R William Outten: $500 (three checks)
R Joe Miro: $500 (three checks)
R Jeff Spiegelman: $500 (two checks)
R Dave Wilson: $400
R Ruth Briggs King: $400 (two checks)
R Kevin Hensley $400
R Cathy Cloutier: $370 (three checks)
R Deborah Hudson: $200 (two checks)
R Greg Lavelle: $100
R Dave Wilson: $100
R Dave Lawson: $100
R Ron Gray: $100
R Rich Collins: $100
R Gerald Hocker: $100
R Tim Dukes: $100
R Brian Pettyjohn: $100

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  1. Don Peterson says:

    2 years ago, I pointed out that Pete had taken money from the NRA and someone wrote an editorial calling me a liar. But it’s in his own damned report!

  2. Alby says:

    I hope it was just a letter to the editor rather than something written by an editor. Given the long-winded, fact-free idiocy of most downstate letter-writers, that wouldn’t surprise me a bit.

  3. Alby says:

    Pistol Pete indeed.

  4. Anon says:

    From NRA also
    Senator David McBride
    Senator Brian Bushweller
    Senator Bruce Ennis
    Representative Valerie Longhurst
    Representative Michael Mulrooney
    Representative Trey Paradee

    From Delaware State Sportsmen Association PAC called Delaware Foundation for Legislative Action
    Senator Nicole Poore
    Senator Bethany Hall Long
    Senator John Walsh
    Senator Brian Bushweller
    Senator Bruce Ennis
    Senator Patricia Blevins
    Senator Robert Venables
    Representative John Viola
    Representative Trey Paradee
    Representative Andria Bennett
    Representative Larry Mitchell

  5. Alby says:

    Thanks for the tip on the state “sportsmen” PAC. Your list appears incomplete; Mike Ramone, for example, also took $100. I’ll update the post once I complete it.

    Your list of additional NRA donations are those going back earlier than 2015. I was restricting my search to recent donations, because people who took money 10 years ago are going to say it’s just ancient history.

  6. BeverlyC says:

    Mind if I share this with, oh, everyone?

  7. Anon says:

    I only listed Democrats because no surprise if Republicans are on list.

  8. Alby says:

    Gotcha. I want a complete list so we can put together a bipartisan Blood-Soaked Caucus.

  9. Justadude says:

    Ahhh so you are the guys why the Democratic Party in Kent and Sussex have been dying a slow death

  10. Alby says:

    Kent and Sussex counties sided with the South in the Civil War. That’s why the Democratic Party doesn’t compete well there — they’re still full of dumb peckerwoods who used to be Dixiecrats and are now Dixieblicans.

    The last thing we want is a bunch of slack-jawed stump-jumpers and plow-jockeys dragging the party back to the 19th century.

  11. Jack Polidori says:

    Does anyone who reads this blog REALLY think that these paltry sums of money control votes???? This is about political pressure that NRA and the DPA brings through their grassroots activism … bombarding offices with emails and calls. That’s what scares the hell out of legislators. The only organization to date that has brought countervailing pressure — real voter pressure — is the Delaware Coalition Against Gun Violence. It was DeCAGV that published in 2016 the first-ever legislative roll call voting record on gun violence prevention issues. Check out their web site. Come on, people, organize!!!

  12. Alby says:

    There’s already a post about that. It’s directly below this one. But, y’know, I’m sure you’re too busy hitting the question-mark button to have seen it.

    Is it your position that there’s no purpose in compiling a list of people who took their money?

  13. Alby says:

    The word is “than,” not “then.” Peckerwood.

  14. Mitch Crane says:

    I am a supporter of the Bill of Rights, including the 2nd Amendment. Unfortunately, I grew up believing that that amendment refers to the need for a regulated militia and therefore a right of citizens to bear arms for that purpose. That gave government the right to enact reasonable prohibitions: no bazookas or nuclear weapons; no automatic weapons or armor piercing bullets.; restrictions on mentally ill or dangerous people ( and hence background check). There was a time when the NRA took those positions too. Sadly, the Supreme Court chose a new (activist) interpretation.

    With that in mind, I care where candidates for office stand on the issue. Though who writes checks to them is a factor, the first time I ran for office I stated that if the John Birch Society wanted to waste their money by contributing to me, let them. I would never support their positions. They didn’t.

    In 2016, Pete Schwartzkopf’s Primary opponent raised the issue that Pete had received contributions from the NRA. I spoke to Pete about that then and he told me that at one of the many fundraisers held at Fraziers on the Waterfront ( formerly The Lobby House) after Session in 2015, a friend of his, a retired police officer attended and wrote a check. It turned out that person was on a limited contract with the NRA.
    That $250 check was the only contribution he received from any NRA connection that he was aware of. Unlike others, Pete has not accepted any contributions from the NRA PAC, other than that one check he thought was from a friend’s personal account. The NRA has never endorsed him and has always given Pete its lowest ratings.

    More importantly, Pete has been a sponsor or supporter of most (if not) all gun control legislation, including background checks, reporting lost or stolen firearms, closing the “Charleston loophole”, as well as protecting victims of domestic violence.

    In the current session Pete is co-sponsoring bills that ban bump stocks and prevent people with mental health issues from having access to guns.

    Pete has never been a supporter of the NRA and they never of him. While we should be concerned about who contributes to a candidate, we should, in the case of elected officials, be more concerned about where they stand on the issues and how they vote. On this issue, I have no doubt about where Pete stands.

  15. Alby says:

    Those are weak positions, and we all know what a man of integrity Pete Schwartzkopf is. Did he give the money back? Didn’t think so.

    Just like you, Mitchiepoo. Go fuck yourself. Find another state to pretend to be a liberal in.

    • Jack Polidori says:

      I would just like to know if the stewards of Delaware Liberal allows an idiot like Alby to spout theae kinds of personal insults and profanity without losing posting privilege.
      And Alby is a weak-kneed anonymous person as well. Perfect.

  16. Jason330 says:

    Times change Mitch. That NRA money is a stain on Bethany and Pete.

    Bethany will have to deal with it because she has higher political aspirations. Pete can just be his usual dickhead self and brazen it out.

  17. Alby says:

    OK, that was the immediate, furious reaction. Jesus, but I’m sick of this would-be apparatchik.

    OK, so he wants to ban bump stocks and strengthen background checks. You realize, I would hope, that those are exactly the same half-assed concessions Trump has offered. It’s as far to the right as any Democrat would dare go, and anyone who thinks this is “progressive” or “liberal” is laughable, or laughing at us.

    Oh, he’s voted for everything that’s been proposed. In a state in which nearly half the legislators are on the donations list, that’s again very weak stuff, because true gun control never gets proposed. He’s the House speaker in a blue state. We have a right to expect better.

    Now let’s look at the claim that he “took a check from a friend” and didn’t realize it was from the NRA. This is complete bullshit. Check the records at the Department of Elections. It’s listed as a check from the NRA Political Victory Fund. The contributor address is the PAC’s office in Fairfax, Va. The contributor type is Political Action Committee. No individual’s name. It’s possible the report was amended — I don’t care enough to track down the actual check — but nothing as listed supports this version of events.

    Indeed, it reminds me of the bullshit story the Carper people have put out about his assault on his first wife — he supposedly snapped because she was “crazy” and was trying to set fire to his military uniform. That’s such a beautiful lie — he cared so much about his fucking uniform that he had to “slap” his wife. Polishes his brass military buttons while consigning a crime to an outbreak of impassioned patriotism.

    Please stop insulting our intelligence, Mitch. I’m sure there’s a wide and appreciative audience out there for your press agentry. This isn’t it.

  18. Alby says:

    Everybody knows who I am, Jack. Go practice your craft somewhere else. Political operatives will be called out as such. If you can’t take the language, don’t let the door hit your ass on the way out.

    For those who don’t know him, Jack is with the NEA, or was at last report. Another “liberal” sucking at the neoliberal teat.

    Idiot? I’ll debate you anytime, anywhere, fuckstick.

  19. Alby says:

    Fuck you, sporto. It’s easy enough to find out, and totally beside the point. Deal with the subject or STFU.

    You come in here, whip out your dick and say we’re doing it wrong? Go fuck yourself.

    And then you appeal to mommy and daddy to make me play nice. Jesus, you’re paid for this? Do your clients realize?

    • Jack Polidori says:

      The best part is watching a person like you make a fool out of yourself. A ‘liberal Trump’. Perfect.

  20. Alby says:

    Fool? Which one of us is taking money to spout horseshit? Ain’t me, buddy boy.

    Which client put you up to coming here in the first place?

    And of course, not a word about the subject. Just sputtering outrage about not being respected. Jesus, what an asshole.

    These are your “liberals,” Delaware. Drink up.

  21. jason330 says:

    Defending NRA donations? Crane really is turning into quite the lickspittle, isn’t he?

  22. jason330 says:

    Trey Paradee, give that fucking money back.

  23. Alby says:

    They’re on the run. The very fact that they sent those two mooks in here shows they’re scared. They should all give the money back. If they don’t, we’ll remind voters of their membership in the Blood Soaked Caucus.

  24. jason330 says:

    The smart ones will realize that the sand has shifted under their feet and get out ahead of this. The dumb ones will fret over losing a few conservatives votes, or fret over attracting a challenger, or fret over looking too liberal.

    They are done.

  25. john kowalko says:

    The “Delaware State Sportsmen’s Association” is the group who single-handily defeated the Barbieri HB banning gun ownership from diagnosed persons with (intentions/interests in harming themselves) diagnosed mental problems. The bill passed the House with only one no vote but failed in the Senate. That vote record exists so you can ask all of those Senators D and R who voted against or abstained to explain their actions (nothing to do with donations recorded I assume). Fortunately David Bentz has revived and reintroduced the bill and I am proud to have the opportunity to co-sponsor with him. Maybe personally asking those No/Abstain Senators will force them to reconsider this time despite the “Sportsmen’s” ass****ciation protestations.
    Representative John Kowalko

  26. Alby says:

    Sportsmen. Heh.

  27. jason330 says:

    “For over 20 years, the DSSA has stood ever vigilant in defense of the right to keep and bear arms. Through our efforts, with the support of the National Rifle Association, the rights of the people of, Delaware have not been compromised. The law abiding gun owner is under attack like never before. The news media, in concert with intellectually corrupt politicians, are trying to convince the public that your guns are the crime problem in Delaware. We cannot let them get away with this deception. In 1776 our Founding Fathers fought a war to establish these rights. However, the fight is never over. We must again join the battle to defeat those who would render us defenseless.”

    Sporting!

  28. john kowalko says:

    Nothing more sporting than those pigeon shoots in Pennsylvania, if memory serves me. Lift the shoe-box, take aim and fire away sport-sportsmen. Damn pigeon looked like he was going for your eyes. Self-defense I say. Exactly what our Founding Fathers would say also.
    Rep. Kowalko

  29. Alby says:

    Here’s the most recent post (from December) at the DSSA web site. I swear on any book you like that I did not make this up to mock firearm-fondlers:

    BAH!! HUMBUG!! DRPC Annual Scrooge Fun Shoot
    DECEMBER 29, 2017

    Tired of Christmas? Get all of the “Bah, Humbugs” out of your system by coming out and systematically annihilating an entire tree full of Christmas ornaments using any rimfire handgun or rifle. At least 45 “targets of opportunity” per tree and 15 minutes to wipe them out! We’ll “hang ‘em high,” so you can shoot ‘em down!

    “Sportsmen.” Heh.

  30. john kowalko says:

    ” in concert with intellectually corrupt politicians”. One incontrovertible truth–“YOU HAVE TO HAVE SOME SEMBLANCE OF AN INTELLECT FOR IT TO GET CORRUPTED”
    SPORT!
    Rep Kowalko

  31. jason330 says:

    How can these guys seriously be pissing hitter pants 24/7/365? They are terrorized by the idea that their precious guns are being taken away at all times. That the government wants to confiscate hunting rifles is ludicrous on its face, and yet that are fucking quaking in their boots.

  32. Alby says:

    For anyone who doesn’t understand the rude welcome, here’s Jack Polidori’s basic CV:

    https://contactout.com/Jack-Polidori-951222

    He’s a political operative. So is Mitch Crane. People like that are not coming here to offer candid opinions, they are here on a mission, perhaps a paying one but a mission regardless.

    They are playing a game with certain rules. I spent more than 35 years in print and radio, and because I took their money and used their platform I had to play by those rules, too.

    Now I’m retired and there’s no money involved, and I can say anything I like. For 35 years, when someone was full of shit I had to say they were full of crap (couldn’t even say that much in print). No more. Now I can say they’re full of shit, and I fully intend to.

    And whenever they start to tut, tut about civility, just remember, that’s one of their bullshit rules, too, the kind they use to keep the unruly proles in line.

    Those days are gone forever, boys. Kiss your kiss-ass jobs goodbye.

  33. BeverlyC says:

    I’ve actually been to a pigeon shoot. It’s the most disgusting event I’ve ever witnessed. There’s nothing “sporting” about it unless you count the drinking contests. If the founding fathers had these folks in mind, they should have been shot.

  34. Alby says:

    Well, to be accurate about it, one of them was shot. He’s on the $10 bill.

  35. meatball says:

    A gun purchase waiting period should be easy to enact in Delaware.

  36. Jason330 says:

    Assault weapons ban?

  37. RE Vanella says:

    Forgive me for my ignorance. I haven’t followed the inside baseball very long.

    Has Mitch always shilled like this for Pistol Pete? I thought he was a better type of dude.

    Oh well, anyone pimping for a ex-cop neoliberal meathead bully can go walk into the ocean as far as I’m concerned.

    Mitch, just give us time, we’re going run every last one of you out on a fucking rail.

    Watch.

    Audere est facere.

  38. Jason330 says:

    This is a whole new Mitch from my perspective. I don’t get it. Very disappointing.

  39. mouse says:

    Looks like the NRA is losing some of its corporate death sponsors.

  40. mouse says:

    The government taking your guns is their programmed response to deflect any conversation away from gun safety. It’s a transparent lie. You have to want to believe and promote lies to push this crap very similar to the mentality that still supports the 45 traitor

  41. Jason330 says:

    America’s approach to guns is like a guy walking around with a big ass piece of steel rebar through his head saying shit like “Well, I guess I have to walk through doors sideways now.”

    No, dude. You’ve got a big ticking price of rebar in your head!!!

  42. Mitch Crane says:

    “Alby”, I am not going back to Pennsylvania, anymore than you are going back to print or radio. “RE Vanella”, I doubt anyone is going to “run me out…on a….rail”. That will be hard to do as I hold no political positions, no elected offices and no government employment. I have owned a home in Delaware since 1985 and have lived and voted full time here since 2002. I am a transplanted Delawarean, just like tens of thousands, many of whom live in the 14th and, contrary to what was stated far above, are the ones who turned the 14th Blue. When the 14th was moved to Sussex for the 2002 election, it was a Republican plurality district and was drawn to elect one from that party. Pete Schwartzkopf won that election and has taken positions that have balanced the beliefs of the district-a district that Hillary carried by only 484 votes and is the only RD below the canal she won-she even lost the overwhelmingly Democratic 33rd in Dover!

    Jason, you have a right to criticize me and I understand why. Unlike you, however, though I agree with you on most all issues, I am a pragmatist who believes you support and try to elect the most progressive candidate WHO CAN WIN in a district that is winnable. I support Pete Schwartzkopf because he is electable in a district that Ernie Lopez carried twice by large margins against good and well-funded opponents. Pete supports and votes for most progressive legislation and he has been attacked by his opponents each time for those votes. I support him because as the Speaker of the House, and the only elected Democrat in Sussex, he is able to deliver services to his district and to Sussex County that would not otherwise be delivered if the power were totally in officials from New Castle County. I also support Pete because he is my friend, politically and personally. He has always stood with me when I needed him and I value friends who stand by you when you need them and will do the same for them.

    Jason-if I were an elected official, I doubt very much if you would be unhappy with where I stood or how I voted. Where we differ is that you are one of many I admire who are “one-hundred percenters”- people who demand and expect those in office to take ALL the positions you take. I understand that. That just is not and has not been how I operate. I believe in fighting for 100% and accepting the most you can get….and then coming back later for more.

    Finally, it is very sad and disappointing that some who blog here have copied the vitriol and personal demonization of the right, like I heard from the NRA yesterday. I believe you can win arguments by using facts and persuasion. Personal attacks and dehumanization are good at raising the temperature, but do not ever win converts. I had a friend who was a blogger for DL 7 years ago and he constantly resorted to personal attacks and profanity, so much so that the powers that be at DL removed him as a blogger. That was sad because he had the right positions, but sunk to the lowest levels-the result was discourse was improved, but his voice was silenced.

    I know that “Alby” and others who comment on DL often have strongly-held beliefs but their personal attacks on me and others gain them nothing.

    So- I am not leaving my home or my state; I am not going away; I will not shut up; I am not cowed. I was arrested and beat over the head at 16 at a civil rights protest. Later that year I organized the 4 buses from West Chester, PA that went to the 1963 March on Washington. When I returned to school I lost all my white “friends” and was attacked and called a “N—– Lover”. When I ran for office in 1977 voters were told I was the son of ‘New York, Jewish, Communists”. When I ran for Insurance Commissioner in 2012, voters in parts of Wilmington and in some trade unions were told I had “abandoned (my) wife and children for the man (I) am living with now” Even though I didn’t know my ex-wife had carried for the 18 years between our separation and when I met the man I am married to now.

    I can go on, but at this point in my life I have nothing to fear from small minded people who write anonymously, as they can do me no harm.

  43. jason330 says:

    “Unlike you, however, though I agree with you on most all issues, I am a pragmatist who believes you support and try to elect the most progressive candidate WHO CAN WIN in a district that is winnable.”

    What has that gotten us? Your approach is as corrupt, broken and destine to fail as the Hillary Clinton campaign. Your Democratic incrementalism has done nothing but install conservative Republicans everywhere and conservative policies at every level of government.

    Times have changed Mitch, if we have to lose a few to win many in the long run – I’m am now all for it. The heartbreaking part is that there are still people with your liberal bona fides who don’t get it.

  44. RE Vanella says:

    For the record my name doesn’t require quotation marks. That’s my fucking name motherfucker.

    When I said running you and yours out I mean the politicians you’re pimping for. I couldn’t care less that Pete’s your friend. Pete is the absolute perfect example of everything that is wrong with Delaware government.

    Ex cop
    Neoliberal
    Bully
    From a tiny little fiefdom in the sticks

    You really think This is a small minded idea? I actually don’t care if you do. Just don’t accuse me of commenting anonymously, because I don’t.

    I don’t particularly care about your life story or your signalling how liberal you used to be. Presently your politics stink and I’m going to organize everyone I can to defeat every last one of you/them.

    And if you think we already haven’t won many of “convert” that’s good. Keep thinking that. Keep thinking it’s all talk. Keep thinking mediocre middle management will save you. Please keep doing what you’re doing. It’s perfect.

  45. Alby says:

    ” I believe you can win arguments by using facts and persuasion. ”

    That is why you fail.

    If if were true, conservatism would have disappeared with that phony intellectual Buckley.

    If you don’t like the way we treat guests, you can always try the next house down the block. It’s not personal, it’s just that the smell of bullshit coming off you is overwhelming.

    PS: Jason and I are hardly anonymous. The only reason I don’t use my full name here is I got tired of being doxxed by Christine O’Donnell-fan mouthbreathers.

  46. RE Vanella says:

    Also, I really don’t think this tactic of defining a murky term like “electability” based on Hillary Clinton’s performance in a particular place. Makes no sense….

    …unless you plan on doing the same old “pragmatic” bullshit you’ve always done which has been, by every conceivable measure, an abject failure. Our “Democratic” leadership in this state is about as liberal as Gerald Ford. But we all know why this is.

    Mitch, I know you’re offended, sad and confused (but not cowed, definitely not cowed). I’m sure if you really thought about it you’d get it. We not doing things the same way anymore. Read Jason’s comments very carefully.

  47. Alby says:

    If Mitch Crane knew anything about electability, he’d be in office. Same as Hillary. We all know what doing the same thing and expecting a different result is.

  48. RE Vanella says:

    Ha! Yeah. I have this argument at least twice a week. Someone tells me why they are struggling to support a leftist, progressive, DSA candidate instead of the “pragmatist”. They always quote some number like, well Hillary only lost by such and so, or Hillary outperformed some person or other from some other time.

    We don’t need to do this anymore. We really don’t. A better way is possible. We don’t have to have a democratic government prop up the oligarchy or the cops or organized money. We don’t have to allow entrenched interests to dictate terms.

    Be very clear, this is what Mitch and his ilk are doing. Dictating terms. They say our way will never work. Only Pragmatism! Being rude will never work on the internet! (Really?)

    Only centrism can succeed… as long as you are ok with abortion and LGBT +. It’s not true.

    We can do various things at once, and we will.

  49. jason330 says:

    I wonder what the idealistic 16 year old Mitch would make of the walking compromise he has become?

    [BTW – I hate to make this all about Mitch, who is probably a nice guy. And at least has the guts to comment here. But I can’t think of a better example for why Democrats keep losing.]

    Democrats, divest NOW! Say “NO” to the NRA’s blood money.

  50. RE Vanella says:

    Fair point. I’m taking this out on Mitch. He’s just an avatar.

    I’m just very tired of this idea considering it’s handed state houses, governorships and the entire federal government to pseudo fascist capitalist swine.

    Personally, I’m going to try something new.

  51. Trey Paradee says:

    Earlier this morning, I personally donated $500 to the Stoneman Douglas Victims Fund. The Committee To Elect Paradee gave an additional $500 to the Stoneman Douglas Victims Fund. I thought it was more beneficial to donate this money to the victims of this horrible mass murder than to send it to the NRA.

  52. Jason330 says:

    Good stuff Trey. Thanks.

  53. Alby says:

    I agree with what you’re saying about Mitch, whom I think I met once very briefly. I’m sure he’s an agreeable guy to talk to. Hell, I get along fine (most of the time) with Greg Lavelle. That’s not the issue.

    This isn’t about who’s nice and so forth. Delaware is full of nice people who are perpetuating the not-at-all-liberal status quo. I don’t need friends. I need people who are going to rid us of the Pete Schwartzkopfs.

  54. RE Vanella says:

    Kudos to you, Rep Paradee (pride of the 29th).

    Word of warning though, as you were a Chamber of Commerce board member, you will still be treated with some suspicion. Don’t take it personally (like Mitch).

    I feel like you’ll come around though. I believe in you.

    Focus on the problems of people and accept that capital and enterprise and free markets don’t solve them. Never have and never will.

  55. Alby says:

    Trey Paradee! For the win!

  56. puck says:

    “I am a transplanted Delawarean, just like tens of thousands”

    Like most native Delawareans, I was born in New Jersey.

  57. Trey Paradee says:

    RE Vanella, To clarify, I was a member of the board of the Central Delaware Chamber of Commerce twenty years ago when I was in my late-20s. I served for two years. I am not currently a member of the State Chamber of Commerce or the Central Delaware Chamber of Commerce and have not been for over a decade.

  58. RE Vanella says:

    Fair enough and duly noted. Again, all credit to you for the monies to the cause.

    Feel free to let your colleagues know (if it isn’t abundantly clear already) we are organizing and funding and training for a decade long fight for political power. We aren’t looking to negotiate practical solutions or equivocate before we get power back in the hands of the people. No more mediocre middle managers cutting deals to keep the rentiers and oligarchs afloat.

    I know the entrenched interests don’t like it. “It’s not the way it’s done.”

    We’re changing the way it’s done. Mitch’s attitude is understandable. He’s uncomfortable because we’re not abiding Delaware Way bullshit anymore.

  59. 19807 First-Stater says:

    Thank you for publishing this list, Technically Delaware. Now I have a better idea which 2nd Amendment elected officials I want to support with $s and time.

    I’m a lifelong Democrat, a 2nd Amendment (and 1st, and entire Bill of Rights) supporter, a Boy Scout as a kid, who carries concealed every day. Although I stayed in the Democrat Party when it left me years ago in its move to the Left, I don’t agree at all with those Leftist Ds who would gut our ability to defend ourselves.

    I trained on firearms as a Boy Scout when I was a kid, and, when I volunteered to serve in the military when our country went to war against the threat of Gobal Communism (remember “we will bury you!” threat by Premier Kruschev?) in Southeast Asia, the Govt trained me and asked me to be willing to give my life in defense of our country.

    Remember Fast & Furious, when the gun-grabbing POTUS Obama had his AG Eric Holder and its ATF sell guns to Mexican drug lords so that they could be used to kill American citizens, border guards and a US Military Veteran — just to make Obama’s point that Gun Law’s should be toughened and that guns used for self defense should be taken away from us?

    It’s my view that when each of us gets up each morning, we’re making a decision. Will we be a survivor who is willing to protect herself, her family and her community? Or will we be a victim, a sheep, who will be passive in front of the wolves who intend violence on us?

    The answer — for those of us with the state-of-mind and skill set — ought to be to protect ourselves, our families and our communities.

    Gun-Grabbers would have us think the problem is responsible Gun Owners when it’s not, and we should feel no guilt about our preparedness.

    Thanks again to this publication, for your intent to help us identify and support those who support the 2nd Amendment!

  60. Alby says:

    There are no responsible gun owners. You demonstrate that amply.

    You’re a murder supporter, buddy, and I know who you are. If you signed your name your business would evaporate. So should you.

    Shitgibbon. And a frightened, pants-shitting one at that. I never knew you for the piece of shit you are until you posted something anonymously, because to my face you always pretended to be Mr. Reasonable.

  61. Ruth says:

    I am someone who really looks at common sense in any issue and accepts that complex issues require multi layered solutions that may cross over the boundaries of the far right and the far left. I joined this thread to learn and hear opinions from both sides and I am so disappointed in responses, name calling and language. For example, I was really enjoying what one poster had to say until I continued reading his posts and ugly responses and name calling and others who describe groups of people in such an ugly way – defining their intelligence by geography and view point. This country is declining in so many ways and reading some of these thoughtless mean spirited posts from both sides shows me why. I thought it started at the top, but reading posts like this indicate otherwise. Its so difficult to find a compelling, informative and educational place where adults can discuss things that matter.

  62. Alby says:

    Don’t really give a fuck what you think, Ruth. Not interested in discussion. Get the fuck out of the way or get run over.

  63. RE Vanella says:

    Rube mentality. Fighting Commies! Prepare to defend ourselves!

    Fantasy world conspiracy garbage.

  64. Alby says:

    No, she’s a nice person, I used to work with her. I just don’t have time to be nice to assholes. I don’t have time to pretend to respect slackjawed peckerwoods. Don’t have time to listen to rich, comfortable white people tell me how I should be doing it.

  65. RE Vanella says:

    Common sense solutions! Is Ruth’s last name Coons by any chance?

    Ruth, I hear what you’re saying. I’m not going to insult you, but I’ll tell you this. The idea that there are good ideas on both sides and adults just need to sit down any hash it out is pure fantasy. It’s never happened and it never will.

    Roosevelt and the New Deal/Social Security
    Johnson and Great Society/Civil Rights

    These were pitched battles not reasonable negotiations. If we had to wait for diplomacy and negotiations we still have slave owners in the south.

    My issue is that people use this pragmatic approach and sensible changes that never ever in the history of the country changed anything for regular people.

    Obamacare was a pragmatic solution. Didn’t solve much. It did do a few OK things, granted. Now the mandate is gone and it’ll die because it wasn’t done right the first time.

    Get in the fight or move aside.

  66. Alby says:

    Here’s what they don’t get: I KNOW WHO YOU ARE, Delaware Way grovelers. I’m not interested in your compromises, and I certainly have no respect for people who grovel their way to earning a living.

    “Liberals” and other Democrats in the government-industrial complex are just as guilty as the Republicans.

  67. jason330 says:

    If you aren’t mad by now you’ve got your head up your ass.

    If you still think the way forward on guns is polite conversation, I wonder how you have the wits enough to get through the day.

  68. RE Vanella says:

    Yeah, Ruth seems nice. I was calling First Stater rube mentality.

  69. puck says:

    “Although I stayed in the Democrat Party when it left me years ago in its move to the Left..”

    The DEMOCRATIC Party has been moving to the right since 1973.

  70. Alby says:

    @puck: I was shocked when I realized who this worm was. He disguises himself as a moderate most of the time.

  71. RE Vanella says:

    Both Clintons and Obama are to the right of Nixon, Ford, Reagan and GHW Bush. Puck is 100% correct.

    This is the real problem. The “sober” “pragmatic” “adults” (let’s called them SPAs) don’t really know what they’re talking about.

  72. Alby says:

    Oh yes they do. Those SPAs are all making good money out of the status quo. Pretending they are fighting to change it is how they make that money.

  73. RE Vanella says:

    Cynical… and probably true.

  74. Alby says:

    Does a dentist really want to see tooth decay eliminated?

  75. RE Vanella says:

    Quite true. The good news is when this little internet space calls people out by name we attract all these SPA responses. It’s excellent. They’re scared. (But not cowed… definitely not cowed.)

  76. Alby says:

    I’ve gotten more action in response to one day of nastiness than I got in 35 years of reasoned arguments and impassioned pleas to reason.

    “You get more with a kind word and a gun than you do with a kind word alone.”

    –“Professor” Irwin Corey

  77. Dave says:

    @19807 First-Stater, who carries concealed every day.

    Why? I mean really, I’m interested to know. As a non-gun owner, much less concealed, I’ve never felt the need or desire. I’ve been around this earth (and firearms) for fair span of years and I have never witnessed a situation where a firearm would have done me or anyone else any good. Is it where I live, work, and play perhaps? Am I just lucky? So yeah, please could you briefly explain why you feel the need or desire to carry?

  78. Alby says:

    He already did. It eases his clearly lunatic fears.

    As I said somewhere earlier, thinking you will be the victim of random violence is a form of narcissism.

    There is no reason to carry a gun except that you’re scared without one. They’ll call it prudence, they’ll call it self-defense, they’ll call it anything but what it is — raw, naked fear, the kind that makes big, strong men show what frightened little boys they really are.

  79. jason330 says:

    That guy was a member of the “Democrat Party” like my dog was member of Pink Floyd. I’m going back to enjoying the ignoring of these shit bags.

  80. Alby says:

    He used to call my show pretending to be a centrist.

  81. Liberal Elite says:

    @19807 “I trained on firearms as a Boy Scout when I was a kid,…”

    Yea… So did I. As a teenager, that sure was fun. But that’s really all it was supposed to be. We were supposed to grow up and get better toys…. real toys.

    “…ought to be to protect ourselves,…”

    What are you? Some sort of pant pissing coward?
    And… That’s idiotic. When a gun kills, who are the likely victims?

    There is not a lot of gun research, but we do know that about 90% of all gun deaths in America are family and friends. The fact that you lug a gun around and that I do not, truly means that you are about 5-10 times more likely to be shot than I am, and you are about 5-10 times more likely to die from gunfire.

    If you truly want to protect yourself and your family, you’re making a really bad choice.

  82. jason330 says:

    What I love about these mass murder supporters is hearing about their rich fantasy lives wherein they are in just the right spot to take down some Browns (Arabs or maybe Crips) trying to carjack the President’s daughter.

    There are all…. “Boy, if I was in that school it would have gone down differently.” Which is true but only because they probably would have killed two more kids with random gunfire while they urine pooled by their feet.

  83. Dave says:

    I guess fear is the part I’m interested in. If I lived in a place where I had that kind of fear, I would move. I mean why would I want to live in a place like? I just want to know as a purely non-political, intellectual exercise, with no judgment. Really, I’m trying to wrap my head around the fear – if it is fear. If it’s not what is it?

    I hope he answers.

  84. jason330 says:

    My son and I play a game. If you see a truck with an NRA license plate parked in a Wawa parking lot, try to pick out the NRA member in the store.

    It is too easy. Always some jumpy looking dirtbag looking around to make sure there aren’t any black guys getting in line behind him.

  85. Alby says:

    “If I lived in a place where I had that kind of fear, I would move.”

    If there’s anything we know about you, Dave, it’s that you’re a rational actor. Which puts you in a small minority of Americans.

  86. Liberal Elite says:

    “If I lived in a place where I had that kind of fear, I would move.”

    The fear is a big part of the NRA propaganda. That’s how you get suckers to pony up big bucks for things they will never ever need…

    Moving doesn’t get rid of that kind of fear.

    And when there’s no bad guy to shoot, they end up shooting wife (#1 homicide) or self (#1 in death count).

  87. Jason330 says:

    Touched a nerve, eh Kline?

  88. Alby says:

    Sorry, J. Took out the trash. Not playing games with scum anymore.