Tag: Pete Schwartzkopf Delaware
General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show: Thursday, January 24, 2013
Big doin’s, today. BIG doin’s.
Senate Bill 3 is on today’s House Agenda. I’d first like to thank everybody who made this vote possible. From sponsor Sen. Marshall; to Sen. Blevins, who assigned the bill to a favorable committee; to the 11 yes voters in the Senate, to the Speaker, to committee chair Bryon Short, and to everyone who has made consideration of this bill a priority. I’m not sure that this gets done without the blogs, the media, and some damn good public servants.
This bill also demonstrates that elections matter. Think about it. The Senate vote was 11 yes, 9 no, 1 not voting. Had Tony DeLuca been reelected instead of Bryan Townsend (a yes vote), it would have been due in large part to the extraordinary intervention of Governor Markell in that election. Meaning that SB 3 could well have been buried in DeLuca’s Executive Committee, never to see the light of day. If it had somehow made its way to the floor, DeLuca quite possibly would have sided with the Governor, leaving the bill one vote short of passage. Perhaps two, had Nicole Poore not defeated Dori Connor, since not a single R voted for the bill.
Now onto today’s doins…
General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show: Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Lotsa fascinating (and otherwise) bills introduced last week. Let’s take a look, shall we? You can follow along here, here, and here. For those with limited time, the first here here has the most there there. There there now, it’ll be alright.
First, and least, we have parts of the Rethuglican legislative agenda, courtesy of Rep. Ruth Briggs King. It’s what you’d expect. Opposition to strong automobile emission standards, and two more shots at prevailing wage, HB 6 and HB 7. Thanks for playing. King also tackles the rampant problem of ticket-scalping at the Delaware State Fair. Ticket scalping elsewhere would presumably still be OK. As far as I’m concerned, anybody willing to pay excessive prices for whatever big empty hat country performer the Fair brings in has a right to pay excessive prices. Although it might not leave enough $$’s to pay for a few rounds of ammo, which would be a shame.
Blevins Does Superb Job on Senate Committee Assignments.
Really. This is not snark. President Pro-Tempore Patti Blevins has served up an almost ideal set of committee chairs/committees. Thank you, Senator.
I have only two caveats before I heap praise on her:
The Bond Bill Committee is too downstate-centric, IMHO.
With the perceived conflict-of-interest on the SEU, Harris McDowell should not chair the Energy/Transit Committee.
That’s it.
Here’s what I like/love (in committee alphabetical order):
So. Who Will Be the Next Speaker of the House?
Today’s bare-bones News-Journal story reports that both Pete Schwartzkopf and Helene Keeley are seeking the position. The News-Journal does not report that each candidate has a slate. If my sources are correct, and it’s not certain that they are, each slate has at least one major head-scratcher on it. Here they are:
Speaker: Pete Schwartzkopf
Majority Leader: Valerie Longhurst (??!!)
Majority Whip: Quin Johnson
vs.
Speaker: Helene Keeley
Majority Leader: Bryon Short
Majority Whip: John Viola (??!!)
I don’t know who will win, but I believe that this contest represents the first clear emergence of different factions within the Caucus.
Delaware Political Weekly: July 28-August 3, 2012
Signs (literally and figuratively) point to ‘yes’. This week, the black clergy (20 in all) endorsed Williams. This followed previous endorsements by the Fraternal Order of Police and Wilmington firefighters. A recent drive around the Broom Street/Baynard Boulevard area revealed not only a lot of Williams signs, but many lawns sporting both Williams signs and/or Gordon and Potter signs. Meaning that Williams has, at the least, developed synergies and perhaps working alliances with these candidates. The Montgomery campaign appears to have become dependent on former Republicans (Hal Haskell? Really?), and I’m not sure what’s happened to the Kelley campaign, which had lots of energy a couple of months back. All I see is that, in the case of Williams, the trend is his friend, and that’s not the case for the only other electable candidates.
I’m inclined to think that Tom Gordon has taken control of the NCCo. Executive race. This is one case where the AFL-CIO endorsement helps. I think that, in part, it reflects dissatisfaction amongst county employees who swallowed a 2.5% pay cut while Paul Clark was adding on an army of ‘executive assistants’, at least one of whom also acts as his chief fundraiser while deciding which projects move forward and which ones don’t.
General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show, Thurs., May 10, 2012
The Sheriff of Nuttingham and His Posse Comatosis could be nearing the end of their lawless reign. HB 325(Schwartzkopf), which would make clear that would-be Wyatt Earps can’t mete out their own brand of frontier justice in the untamed badlands of Sussex County, cleared the House Administration Committee, and is on today’s House agenda. It will pass overwhelmingly. The only question is whether any of the bill’s original downstate House R sponsors will vote for the bill they had previously sponsored. My prediction? Most of them won’t, and will go Not Voting, the ultimate cojone-less copout.
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