Game of Thrones, Episode One: Rules of the Game and the Governor.

Game of Thrones, Episode One: Rules of the Game and the Governor.

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The rumblings have started. The game of musical chairs begins as potential candidates start eyeing a particular chair and then nervously eye each other while the music plays. So in working through this, let's make some assumptions: 1. Governor Markell will not be a candidate for any of these upcoming races. This is because I assume, no matter who wins the Presidential election, Markell will be in the Cabinet. He is the perfect Democrat a Republican President would chose for Secretary of Education or Secretary of Commerce, and I can see President Hillary Clinton likewise tapping him for Commerce, Education or Treasury. 2. Treasurer Ken Simpler is not running for Governor, but for reelection in 2018. 3. In the same vein, and much to my personal chagrin, Attorney General Matt Denn will not be running for Governor either, but will run for reelection in 2018. For you see, Mr. Denn is the most progressive statewide official and has been since his arrival as Insurance Commissioner back in 2004. But, and this goes for Simpler too, two years on the job is not enough of a platform to run for a new one. Beau Biden recognized this back in 2010, back when he had been on the job of AG for 4 years, but spent 18 months of that in Iraq. And it is a shame too, since that was likely his last chance at higher office. But I digress. For Denn, and I am sure he is aware of this, a run for Governor so soon after a switch of office to AG from LG, coupled with his history of jumping from IC to LG after one term, an uncomfortable reputation might emerge. 4. Insurance Commissioner Stewart and Auditor Wagner will not leave their respective jobs voluntarily until they die. They will not retire. And they cannot be defeated in a primary. For Wagner, having an elected statewide Republican is still a rare enough thing that I am not sure another Republican can be found to challenge him. For Stewart, the only way she can be defeated is if you limit her primary challengers to 1. If she has more than 1 primary challenger, her 32% inexplicable base support in the party will allow her to win. But that will never happen because Tom Gordon and Dennis Williams will step again with their City-County-Stewart unholy tripartite alliance and save him with one or more primary challengers. 5. Beau Biden will not run for any office in 2016. His announcement that he was foregoing a 2014 reelection race and would instead run for Governor in 2016 was a smokescreen, a place-holding statement to preserve his political capital and position in the Party and politics should his health and/or prognosis improve. It was a wise, smart move on that front. But it is not our reality. Beau Biden is not running for Governor, or any office. And I am not going to pretend that he is. If he starts making public appearances, if he starts speaking at these public appearances, and if he releases information as to his health scare, treatment and prognosis, then I will take him seriously as a potential candidate. 6. Tom Carper has a one more election cycle in him before he turns into Bill Roth and someone Carpers him. And I say that wanting Carper to retire to the Florida beach with Castle with every fiber of my being. So, having said all that, let's look at who are the candidates for Governor first, because the candidates for this highest office will determine, in a trickle down that actually works, the candidates for the other offices.
John Carney Mad About the Fight Over the Dodd-Frank Rollback

John Carney Mad About the Fight Over the Dodd-Frank Rollback

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We already know that a provision to roll back the Dodd-Frank provision that forbid banks from booking their deriviatives in the the parts of their business that is insured by taxpayers. They would have to keep them in the portions of their business where losses were borne entirely by the bank and their shareholders. Elizabeth Warren led what Bloomberg called The Great Swaps Rebellion during the Cromnibus negotiations. And John Carney was peeved:

Why Isn’t John Carney Supporting H.R.1852, the Email Privacy Act?

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Since the Supremes pretty clearly told law enforcement that they needed to get a warrant to search your cell phone, there has been renewed attention on H.R.1852, the Email Privacy Act. Introduced by Representative Kevin Yoder [R-KS-3] in May 2013, this law would revise the 1986 Electronic Communications Privacy Act, requiring subpoenas to search emails, no matter how long they had been stored (they can now look at email stored for more then 180 days without a warrant) and allowing ISPs to communicate to the targets that their emails were requested by law enforcement. As of this writing (6.29.2014), John Carney has not joined the 220 Representatives (138 R, 82 D -- BIPARTISANSHIP!) who are looking to refine the due process around law enforcement looking at your emails.
Delaware Political Weekly: June 7-13, 2014

Delaware Political Weekly: June 7-13, 2014

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2. Chip Flowers Creates Yet Another Issue For Himself So, let’s see if I’ve got this straight. In order to ‘save the state money’, Delaware’s Most Ethical State Employee has cut deals with seven banks, all of whom manage state $$’s, to pay for his travel expenses and those of his staff. $5K per bank, times 7. $35,000 in travel expenses. Which is a lot of travel expenses. I would call this extortion were Flowers not so ethical. He, of course, is once again changing the subject. This issue isn’t/wasn’t that he traveled, it is/was that he was unable to account for how much he spent and who paid for it. If a treasurer can’t account for his own expenses, how can he account for the state’s finances? 3. I’m Not Loving Sean Barney’s Campaign I got an e-blast from him yesterday. He’s been endorsed by a buncha lawyers. I like some of those lawyers. I don’t give two bleeps that they’ve endorsed him. He used some of the same boilerplate that I can’t stand when it comes to our Corporate Bar: Our legal community in Delaware inspires trust and confidence the world over because of its reputation for upholding the highest standards of professional responsibility. Moreover, Delaware’s bar is exceptional in the manner in which it pairs the highest expectations of competence with the highest expectations of collegiality. Computer-generated boilerplate. I have people telling me on the QT that Sean Barney is really one of us. As in progressive. But he is running a risk-averse campaign where all we learn about him is about his military service, his high school schools initiative, and the fact that he’s been endorsed by a lot of the usual suspects. Haven’t even heard a dog-whistle from him to create any enthusiasm.

John Carney Adding the Koch Brothers to the Banking Interests He Represents

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The House is currently working on a bill that would re-authorize the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, usually not a controversial event, but this year, those who are looking to unravel Dodd-Frank have wrapped into this bill a number of items that specifically work to give banks more freedom to bankrupt us again. John Carney is right in the middle of this effort to continue to destabilize Dodd-Frank, and in the process, give the Koch Brothers an assist. Here's the earlier Huffington Post front page announcing how Democrats -- even our Democrat -- are working to help the Koch Brothers:
Congressman John Carney’s Fraudulent Fiscal Conservatism

Congressman John Carney’s Fraudulent Fiscal Conservatism

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On Friday, Congressman Carney took to Facebook to burnish his cred in the Fiscal Austerity Games, to tell us all that he was named as one of the "Fiscal Heros" of the front group Fix the Debt (Senators Carper and Coons are in this group, too):
I’m humbled to have been named one of Fix the Debt’s Fiscal Heroes, but there is much more work to be done. For far too long, both Democrats and Republicans have spent trillions of dollars the nation didn't have. I will continue to work with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to make the tough decisions necessary to put the country on better fiscal footing.
Unfortunately, Congressman Carney just voted YES to authorize the FY 2015 National Defense Authorization bill -- a bill that specifically INCREASES the budget for the DoD. Increases DOD programs over the objections of the DoD:
A Tale of Two Democrats

A Tale of Two Democrats

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Or at least two types of Democrats. Yesterday, Senator Bernie Sanders and 15 other Democratic Senators sent a letter to President Obama urging him to not cut Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid in his FY15 budget. It won't be much of a surprise to most of the readers here to find that neither Senator Carper or Coons signed on to this letter. Interestingly, Senator Coons voted to restore the cuts to military pensions and Carper voted against them. So take a look at what a group of Democrats genuinely interested in the well-being of middle class and working class people urged the President:
Today, retirement insecurity is as high as it has ever been. Only one in five workers in the private sector has a defined benefit pension plan; half of Americans have less than $10,000 in savings; and two-thirds of seniors rely on Social Security for a majority of their income. Given this reality, we respectfully urge you not to propose cutting Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid benefits in your Fiscal Year 2015 budget. In good times and bad, Social Security has succeeded in keeping millions of senior citizens, widows, orphans, and persons with disabilities out of extreme poverty. Before Social Security was developed, about half of our seniors lived in poverty; today senior poverty is down to 9.1 percent. Without Social Security, one-third of senior citizens would have virtually no earnings at all. Social Security has not contributed one penny to the deficit. Social Security has a surplus of more than $2.7 trillion and can pay every single benefit owed to every eligible American for the next 19 years.

Carney The Craven

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Our congressman, you know, the one who refused to push for Congress to stay in session until benefits to the long-term unemployed were restored, nevertheless found the time to send…
More ‘Horrible’ From John Carney

More ‘Horrible’ From John Carney

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He has truly descended to the depths. Maybe somebody in the Democratic Party will pay attention to his latest outrage. Three days after Christmas, unemployment benefits are scheduled to end for 1.3 million Americans. 166 Democrats have signed a letter to Speaker Boehner demanding that the Honorables not leave for the holidays until long-time UI has been restored. I, uh, think you can guess where this is going.