Wilmington

Impressions of the First Wilmington Mayoral Town Hall

Last night was the first Mayoral Town Hall or Debate sponsored by WDEL. This forum played to a standing room only crowd (they did indeed stop people from coming in after awhile). All of the known candidates were there except for Bovell and Bobby Marshall. I was there with some friends and here’s what I think of the field so far.

31Jan2012 | cassandra_m | 31 comments | Continued

Reminder! — First Wilmington Mayoral Town Hall Tonight

Just received notice from WDEL that they will be hosting the first Town Hall (titled the Future of Wilmington) featuring the current crop of Wilmington Mayoral candidates next Monday, 30 January 2012 at 6PM at the Wilmington campus of Delaware Technical & Community College.

30Jan2012 | cassandra_m | 15 comments | Continued

City of Wilmington Mayoral Cattle Call — New Year 2012 Edition

The new year sees some firming up of plans for this race, and there has been some intersting movement since the last time we did this, in the Fall. For those of you following the broader narrative, you can see the first Cattle Call from 2010.

9Jan2012 | cassandra_m | 16 comments | Continued

Scott Who?

You all remember Scott Spencer, the guy who claimed he was running for Congress in 2010, but after all his bluster and hubbub about rockets and trains, didn’t even file for the Democratic primary? Apparently he’s now running for Mayor of Wilmington. While he passed himself off as a progressive, his true colors came out during numerous appearances on the Fatman’s show down here in Sussex, where he espoused his anti-abortion rights and anti-labor stands.

5Jan2012 | MJ | 30 comments | Continued

Paul Calistro Announces for Mayor of Wilmington

Paul Calistro told friends and supporters over this holiday weekend that he was definitely IN as a candidate for the Mayor of Wilmington for 2012.

28Nov2011 | cassandra_m | 34 comments | Continued

Mayor Baker is Exhibit A in why Wilmington Needs a Two Term Limit for Mayors

It just makes sense. Because if you go three terms, then you might become a cranky old asshole who cusses out anyone and everyone at every opportunity.

16Nov2011 | Delaware Dem | 10 comments | Continued

Charlie Copeland Has His Wilmington Mayoral Candidate

Perennial loser Michael A. Brown, the only R on City Council. For those of you who may not know who he is, or may have forgotten, here is his commercial on behalf of Christine O’Donnell in 2010:

15Nov2011 | El Somnambulo | 18 comments | Continued

Convince Calistro

So today, a new Facebook page was put up by a grassroots movement to convince Wilmington’s Paul F. Calistro, Jr., the current Executive Director of West End Neighborhood House, to run for the Mayor of Wilmington in 2012 as a progressive alternative to the prospective candidates currently assembled. I am told that Calistro has a lot of support among he same progressive activists that supported Governor Markell in his primary race against John Carney in 2008.

9Nov2011 | Delaware Dem | 21 comments | Continued

Kevin Kelley’s Cardinals

Many in this area, if not the overwhelming majority of Mr. Kelley’s constituents, are Phillies fans. So that was kinda a dick move on his part for him to stomp over the hearts of still mourning Phillies fans. So tonight or tomorrow, when the St. Louis Cardinals lose the World Series, I call on Mr. Kelley to stand up in the council chambers and congratulate the Texas Rangers, while wearing a Phillies hat. Of course, I probably just jinxed the Rangers, and now the Cardinals will win and then Kelley can stand up again for the Cardinals.

26Oct2011 | Delaware Dem | 5 comments | Continued

How Not To Be Mayor

Let’s start with the announcement rollout on Monday by Charles Potter and Dennis Williams – as I noted in my Sunday post, the Williams announcement was expected sometime this week. Yet Monday afternoon, Potter sends an email to his list declaring for Williams’ Representative seat, clearly catching Williams off-guard (see Esteban Parra’s article here).

26Oct2011 | cassandra_m | 26 comments | Continued

City of Wilmington Mayoral Cattle Call — Fall 2011 Edition

April 2010 was the last time we did this cattle call and there’s been alot of movement in this list since then to report on. Or, at least, there has been strong rumor of a big change to the who’sin-who’s out churn that has been going on the past year and so obsessing folks in Wilmington this weekend to revisit this list:

23Oct2011 | cassandra_m | 14 comments | Continued

Reflections On Occupy Delaware

On Saturday I attended the first ever Occupy Delaware rally at Rodney Square in Wilmington.

18Oct2011 | Unstable Isotope | 44 comments | Continued

Occupy Delaware

Occupy Delaware will hold a rally on Saturday from 10-2 in Rodney Square.

14Oct2011 | Unstable Isotope | 3 comments | Continued

All Drama, No KIDS

That’s how I characterized the recent brouhahas of the Christina School Board with their RTT fiascos in correspondence with Pandora.

Now we have the next act of the Christina School District All Drama, no KIDS extravaganza as Councilman Jea Street weighs in to call for the State to take over the District.

12May2011 | cassandra_m | 5 comments | Continued

Reducing the Size of Wilmington City Council

The NJ reported on this proposal by Councilman Bud Freel to reduce the size of City Council from 13 members to 9 on Monday. This evening, there will be a City Council meeting where there will be a debate and vote on a Resolution (pdf) from Charles Potter that opposes any reduction. His resolution has 7 co-sponsors, meaning that any plan to reduce the size of the City Council is probably dead. That doesn’t mean that there won’t be fireworks tonite.

7Apr2011 | cassandra_m | 6 comments | Continued

The Wilmington State of the City Tantrum

Last night, Mayor Jim Baker of Wilmington was scheduled to deliver his annual State of the City Address to the City Council and the public. As always, he had prepared remarks and started with an overview of the state of the city’s budget and his plan to deal with the budget shortfall. He pretty quickly abandoned those remarks to deliver an explosive tantrum at the Wilmington City Council, castigating them (and blaming them) for the increased tensions and difficulties in getting administration initiatives passed.

25Mar2011 | cassandra_m | 2 comments | Continued

Wilmington Cutbacks of Police and Firefighters

Since September or so, there has been an ongoing drama in the City of Wilmington over a $5M budget shortfall and extensive budget cuts that have included the layoff of police officers and firefighters. There is a great deal about this story that is pretty dysfunctional (including how revenues suddenly went very soft shortly after the City’s budget was approved), but these first responders own some part of this dysfunction.

4Jan2011 | cassandra_m | 6 comments | Continued

El Somnambulo Predicts ‘Em All For You*

*Well, almost all. I have no clue about most down-ballot county-wide races in Kent or Sussex, so I’ll stay away.
Still, there should be more than enough controversy to allow you to chew on my not-insubstantial hide and spit it out.
U. S. Senate: Coons 62-38. Maybe big enough for a coattail effect. Don’t worry, Christine O’Donnell [...]

21Oct2010 | El Somnambulo | 32 comments | Continued

Guest Post From Mark Brunswick: What Chris Bullock Doesn’t Say

Reverend Christopher Bullock has an interesting opinion article on African-Americans and the November elections in the News Journal today. Here’s the link, http://www.delawareonline.com/comments/article/20101011/OPINION07/10110313/African-Americans-increasingly-disillusioned-with-political-process. I agree with most of what he says but I think there’s more.

12Oct2010 | liberalgeek | 14 comments | Continued

UPDATE Phony Endorsements and Last Minute Shenanigans

It seems that Velda Jones-Potter couldn’t leave well enough alone. After spending a week being pilloried over her “consulting” contract with the City of Wilmington, a contract that was indirectly voted on by her husband, her campaign has now sent out a mailer listing her endorsements and including pictures of Governor Jack Markell.
Problem is, [...]

8Sep2010 | MJ | 66 comments | Continued

PDD Announces Primary Endorsements

The Progressive Democrats for Delaware have announced their slate of endorsed candidates for the September 14th primary. There are some surprises:
Richard Korn – Auditor
Rep. Helene Keeley – State Rep. – 3rd District
James Maravelias – State Rep. – 27th District
For the State Treasurer race they have deemed both candidates (Velda Jones-Potter and Chip Flowers) are worthy of [...]

26Aug2010 | liberalgeek | 41 comments | Continued

Shadow Campaign for Treasurer

There has been a rotten thread running through the Treasurer’s race this year. The thread is that one campaign is trying to destroy their opponent on the way to the Democratic nomination. This is unbecoming of the two fine candidates that are competing to battle Colin Bonini in the fall. Sadly, the force behind this shadow campaign of destruction is so close to one of the candidates that the solution isn’t as simple as firing a staffer.

15Jul2010 | liberalgeek | 128 comments | Continued

The ‘Lower 41′: Smith & the City

Three districts. All three tied up in the redistricting politics of 2002, particularly as applied to the City of Wilmington. At least two of the three to inevitably be very much involved in the redistricting of 2012. One of these districts may not even survive. At least not in Wilmington. Its # could show up [...]

12Jul2010 | El Somnambulo | 1 comment | Continued

The ‘Lower 41′: Surveying House Elections for 2010

FIRST IN A CONTINUING SERIES
2010 represents the Last Best Chance for Republicans to retake control of the Delaware State House of Representatives, control that they lost in 2008 after 24 consecutive years in the majority. Do they have a chance? What seats are in play? What are the storylines in all 41 districts? How do [...]

5Jul2010 | El Somnambulo | 17 comments | Continued