The News Journal has a story yesterday on Fisker Automotive's survivability. In it they defend the start-up against every question and call any comment that questions the ideas of the company and the government "politically motivated". I'm sorry News Journal, but what's politically motivated, is your fish wrap paper. This is the longest government propaganda piece I have ever read. When the Caesar Rodney Institute looked at the Fisker business model, it questioned whether or not the company could meet rather lofty sales goals. Since then, Fisker has twice drastically revised their sales goals as production delays, cash flow problems and problems with the vehicles battery system. I wouldn't call that "politically motivated" questioning. I'd call it looking at the facts and asking questions that make sense instead of blindly buying whatever line of bull that the government throws at you. Let's tackle some of the problems with the News Journal's defenses of Fisker (why a NEWS organization can't just report the facts and call a spade a spade, I'll never understand).
Fisker's Funding
One of the knocks against Fisker is that it has drawn more support from the government than from private capital. The News Journal claims in their piece that Fisker has raised $850 million in private capital compared with $528 million in Federal loans, $21.5 million in Delaware direct aid (grants that will not be paid back), a sweetheart no bid land deal on the old GM Boxwood Road plant (saving them tens of millions of dollars on property costs) and untold amounts in California state aid to the start-up company. USA Today however, gathered different information from the Department of Energy who reviews the funding of companies to whom they give grant and loan money. They say that Fisker has only brought in $650 million in private equity compared to at least $550 million in government promised aid. That's a 54% private funding ratio which no other industry could survive under. That means 46% of the company is subsidized by government funding.
Talking Points
As is typical from the News Journal, they sought out as many left wing sources as they could. Not hard in Delaware where the far left has bought up every office they can find. In fact, the only alternative voice they found was Delaware GOP Chairman John Sigler and they took his quotes out of context. Let's cover some of the more ridiculous statements:
Josh Freed - The Third Way (Progressive Soros funded group)
“Frankly, it would be the equivalent of the Internet sector finding themselves under political attack in the early ’90s as they emerged or automobile companies coming under attack in the early 1900s as they were becoming competitive with horse-drawn carriages and trains as a mode of transportation,” said Josh Freed, vice president for clean energy at Third Way, a centrist Washington, D.C., think tank.
Now this sounds incredibly thought provoking but it's not the first time we've heard it...Obama's Delaware bred messaging czar David Plouffe said this:
“Well, let’s step back for a minute. We have to win this race, you know, we–if we don’t win the clean energy race in terms of technology, innovation, and jobs, and cede it to other countries, we’re not going to have the century–we need this. It’d be like us ceding the automotive industry race or the Internet and computer race.”
Similar points, same problems. Here they are.
Auto companies - The automobile industry wasn't subsidized by the government in the 1900's. Henry Ford didn't get government help to develop the assembly line and even the oil and gas industry didn't receive government tax breaks until 50 years after it launched. So if we want to treat the green energy industry like the auto companies, we should remove all funding.
Internet - The internet's backbone was indeed created by the government but that was in the 50's and 60's when the government was using it as a defense network. By the 1990's, the backbone existed and there was little to no government funding for private internet companies. In fact, the 90's internet boom was such a boom because the government WASN'T pocketing profits. The money was changing hands in the private sector.
Senator Anthony DeLuca
Senator DeLuca was quoted as saying that "tax incentives and government backed loans are not new" concepts. Well Senator DeLuca is right but that doesn't mean that tax incentives and government backed loans are right and proper simply because we've been doing them for a while. Holding individuals as slaves wasn't any more right in 1860 than it was in 1776 simply because it wasn't a new idea. It was wrong all along the way because it's wrong. The government picking winners and losers is simply a losing proposition and Delaware has proven that first with Blue Water Wind and now with Fisker. Both are government supported programs and both have or are failing.
Alan Levin
Alan Levin, DEDO Chief and resident Markell Administration "Republican" whose very presence on the staff deflects most criticism of the Markell Administration's failed economic policy from Republicans, said that the "shortest way to fail is to not try". An awesome bumper sticker for sure but light on substance. In this case, you don't have people saying do nothing. You have people saying that what you're doing doesn't make sense and that you should look to solid, tried and true methods to lift us out of the depression we are in. You have people who understand that when the chips are down, every dollar counts. You don't spend your last dollar on a lottery ticket. Mr. Levin is known locally for creating "Happy Harry's" a discount drug store that was eventually bought for millions of dollars by Walgreens. Mr. Levin knows better than anyone, how businesses should work. It's curious then, that someone so steeped in business acumen would not understand the simple fact that a start-up company with no name recognition, no long term reputation and little to no advertising who plans to immediately leap frog two well funded, long established rivals and capture 20% of the market within 2 years is a little far-fetched. Either Mr. Levin isn't as smart as we think he is (unlikely) or he's schilling for the Governor to score political points.
The above points are just a few examples of truth over the fiction of the News Journal puff piece. Folks, we're dealing with a lack of responsibility here. From the top of our government to the media who props them up we have a machine that just keeps wasting more and more money, time and prosperity on their friends and campaign donors. We've got to wake up. Here's an exercise for you, read the News Journal piece and see if you can find the inconsistencies with reality then post them here.
Senator Anthony DeLuca seems to have a problem with FOIA requests. Namely, he doesn’t feel like they apply to him. The embattled Senator has escaped prosecution under the HATCH Act for his roles as both an administrator in the Office of Labor Law Enforcement and as State Senator and been challenged for his leadership position by his own party for his ethics and transparency problems. Earlier this year, Senator DeLuca refused to give an account of the time he spent working each of these taxpayer funded jobs. Despite pressure from the News Journal and other journalists, to turn over his timecard records and show that there was no overlap between his work in the executive branch and his work in the legislative branch, DeLuca carried on holding back his timecards for more than six months. When he finally did release them, the records indicated no conflict (of course) but the fact that he allowed the Attorney General’s office to make the case that the release of his time records were a matter of national security is evidence that he simply doesn’t respect the offices he holds. As an elected official who holds a job in both the legislative branch and the executive branch, it’s his duty to disclose to the public when he discharges his duties in each arena. Today, the News Journal is reporting that Senator DeLuca’s office is once again in violation of FOIA compliance and this time he’s not being protected by the Attorney General’s office. His office has once again refused to show the taxpayers of Delaware the records of his department’s work investigating the labor practices of Delaware businesses. For some reason, Senator DeLuca believes that he lives above the law. Maybe it’s the fact that in the 12 years that he has been in office, he has never faced an opponent, maybe it’s that he’s survived leadership challenges in the State Senate or maybe it’s just a complex that he has now that he’s spent more than a decade in the legislature but whatever the case, it’s about time we went ahead and shattered this worldview that he doesn’t need to be accountable to the people who elected him or to the people who entrust him with the ability to govern them.
Delaware voters, Though you and I may not agree on everything, I think we can all agree on one thing, it’s time for Senator DeLuca to be replaced. He doesn’t feel like the rules apply to him. Whether it’s spending money for extra security doors for his office (as if that REALLY had something to do with his “safety”), failing to comply with the initial FOIA request for his timecards and ACTUALLY ALLOWING the AG to make a ridiculous claim that it would be a national security risk for us to know if there was any overlap in his work with the executive and legislative branches or this latest refusal to comply with FOIA and ethics laws, it’s clear that Senator DeLuca just doesn’t get it. We need a cleaner government with people who value the rules of the system and who genuinely WANT the people to see what goes on in Dover. I’m that person. I will do everything in the open and with complete transparency. I’ll tear the security door down myself, comply with FOIA requests BEFORE the deadlines and make sure that you all know what I’m doing before you even HAVE to ask. Also, I can promise you this, should I be fortunate enough to win, I would only seek two terms. That’s it, just two terms. No dynasty here, won’t have enough time to earn a pension, won’t need lifetime medical benefits or any of the other legislative retiree perks. Save that and give it to the folks who need it. I just want to go to Dover and shed some light and spread some truth. I’m even willing to put this pledge in writing. We have absolutely GOT to change the way business is done in Dover if we’re EVER going to achieve our shared goals of prosperity, transparency and openness.
If you've been reading over the last few days, it's not secret that Chad Livengood of the news journal is nothing more than a Democrat smear machine. His latest blog piece, posted as though fact, is more evidence that journalism is dead. Unfortunately, Livengood relies on the political stylings of the well travelled Maria Evans, who, desperate to remain relevant, is writing a book about Christine O'Donnell. It should be pointed out that Maria Evans doesn't know Christine O'Donnell and certainly doesn't know enough to write a book but if the rest of the Delaware political establishment are any means test, I imagine there will be fewer words than pictures. The Delaware political establishment culture talking or writing about something they know nothing about is really just par for the course.
Chad Livengood, a once decent reporter whose story on timecards shed light on the dirty Democrats in Dover, now has a history of leaving facts out of stories, smearing candidates and now, flat out lying. The crux of Livengood's latest piece is an audio tape provided by the same people who were found yesterday to have flat out LIED to the FEC about Christine O'Donnell. I'm sure Chad didn't know that though, he takes their word for the gospel. His argument for believing them? Maria Evans provides audio...oh well, gee, audio has never ben doctored before, and because Maria Evans (who helped develop the failed strategy of attacking O'Donnell with lies during the 2010 election) provided it, well why not take it for the gospel right? Well Chad might get a pass on this, he clearly doesn't know what the heck he's talking about. In his blog, he cites a blog as "conservative" but for those of us who know "Hube", we know he is anything BUT conservative. He's one of the Maria Evans, Mike Castle, Tom Ross RINO's. In fact, here's video of one of their buddies, Mike Stafford, who was discredited during the 2010 campaign for being a liar and one of the most corrupt people in the party, siding with the liberal progressives. For someone who calls themselves "conservative" I think this is pretty radically leftist. I guess we should be wary of allowing people to define themselves huh?
The reality is that I would trust Christine O'Donnell's version of events over the establishment Republicans version 7 days a week and twice on Sunday but I don't have to do that. Why? Well because Haley Barbour's own words in print, back up O'Donnell's claims.
The truth is that when O'Donnell says that it took Haley Barbour to introduce her, it's factual. When she says she wasn't invited, DESPITE being the U.S. Senate candidate, it's TRUE. When she says that Haley Barbour gave her accolades, well this letter proves that he's certainly done that. Meanwhile, Maria Evans and the Delaware GOP leadership claimed that O'Donnell violated campaign finance laws and THAT was a lie, as the FEC reveals in their finding of NO WRONG DOING...I'd like to point out that I have not seen this reported by Mr. Chad Livengood at the News Journal. Wonder why that is, maybe I should ask Maria Evans to send it to him.
Fresh off his enlightening piece about links on Amazon.com’s website that lead to porn when Christine O’Donnell is searched, the News Journal’s intrepid reporter Chad Livengood enlightens us with his review of the first few pages of Christine O’Donnell’s book.Chad has apparently gotten the Gannett memo “Kill the girl, kill the girl, yes master, yes master, tee hee, tee hee, tee hee hee hee hee.” (Thanks to Bill Cosby for that quote by the way).One could ask (and I have) why Chad chose to focus his last blog posting on research surrounding her Amazon.com store instead of say, the partisanship of CREW who has literally a more than 3-1 bias of attacking conservatives and Republicans vs. Democrats OR the fact that CREW violated their 501(c)3 mandate to remain apolitical when they attacked Christine O’Donnell during the campaign season.Agree or disagree with their (lies) position, the fact is that they broke the law.He’s not yet provided an answer.I assume he was busy with his latest concoction.This Sunday he released his review of O’Donnell’s book (or at least the first few pages) and WOW are there factual errors.I’m going to go through his piece (you can read the full piece here) and tackle some of the more egregious errors.
“Just like in her campaign, the impact of the witch ad is a central theme of her 358-page book, which combines O'Donnell's life story with reflections on her three failed Senate campaigns in Delaware and a tea-party-inspired manifesto for changing the country's direction.”
The ad is discussed in the book on a few pages but it’s not what one would consider a “central theme”.The “Witch Ad” as it is known, is so well known, to leave out the story surrounding it would have been disingenuous.
“O'Donnell claims someone from Hollywood-based television producer Fred Davis' staff "leaked" the "I'm not a witch" ad to the press and Internet without her permission.
"Within one day, it became the most-watched video on the Internet ... all before I'd seen any footage, let alone approved the final cut," O'Donnell wrote…
…O'Donnell's version of events that transpired last fall are already being disputed by Republican consultants who dealt with the campaign and contradicted by emails her own campaign manager sent to Davis and his staff.”
If I may, I was a campaign worker after the Primary election (clarified for legal reasons) for Christine O’Donnell and I performed many duties.On the day of the commercial shoot, one of the things I was asked to do was to help track down supporters who would like to be in ads for O’Donnell.I knew that the campaign had been directed by the NRSC to utilize Fred Davis, a famous and highly touted Hollywood producer as their campaign ad man.Given Davis’ endorsements, I thought it was odd to be getting a call the day of the shoot and not sooner to allow us time to find people.Fortunately, Christine had a lot of VERY good supporters and we were able to find a number of people.Another staffer and I rode with the participants to a Philadelphia studio that was apparently once a warehouse of some sort.After some snacks and some time spent in the Green Room while Christine shot her portions of the ad we were called in.Only later did I find out why we were called so late.Oh I had heard the rumblings that they were concerned with the potential content of the ad Davis had planned to create but I had so many other duties to attend to that I didn’t delve further into that.I figured that this guy was a professional (and he is) and that it would all work out in the end.Like Christine, I was a little concerned that going with a high end Hollywood producer was a little over the top but I was just a regular guy and what did I know.I should have spoken up, I should have said something.I feel like part of this is my fault for not confirming Christine’s own thoughts.Of course, I couldn’t know what she was thinking but still, I could have said something.When we finally entered the studio, Mr. Davis had each participant sit and answer some basic questions like why they supported Christine and what they thought of her and Mr. Coons.Mr. Davis and his staff were nice but there was something weird, they were almost TOO nice. After now having been around politicians and media types, I know the feeling for what it is a divine warning that the person talking to you is a slime ball.The supporters that had come to be in the commercial were impressive and their words were powerful.I felt uplifted hearing Bob, Melissa, Councilman Brown and Mike (a lifelong Democrat) speak and I remember saying to myself that given Fred’s talent and the supporters words, this was going to be an incredible set of ads.It was raining out and so after chatting with Christine, the supporters and some of the crew from the shoot I pulled the campaign truck (talk about grassroots, the “campaign truck” was my 1997 GMC Sierra 1500 which I had decked out with yard signs taped on the back and sides…we were truly “grassroots” and yet, we’d just hobnobbed with people from Hollywood) around to the door and loaded up the gear.I noticed a person I hadn’t seen earlier and I asked who they were.I was told that the person was a New York Times reporter and that they’d wanted to do a story about Fred working with Christine but that the content of the commercials was still unknown to them.
What’s weird is on the way back, the tension in the truck was such that you could literally feel the air being sucked out.We lightened it with some discussions about faith (yea, it was THAT tight) and some small talk.Later, as I was in and out of what I called “The War Room” where the review of the ads was taking place, I found out that the NYT reporter had apparently been leaked a copy of the “Witch Ad” which to that point had not been approved or even SEEN by the candidate.
“Kyle Roberts, a media buyer from Alexandria, Va., who purchased O'Donnell's TV time, said "proper procedure was followed for all advertisements aired on behalf of the campaign."
"This includes creative approval by campaign officials," Roberts said in a statement.”
Unfortunately, Chad’s reporting here is shoddy and to be honest, he knows it.I’ve seen the emails sent by Campaign Manager Matt Moran to Chad about this exact issue and the fact is that Kyle, the media buyer did follow procedure.However, Kyle had NOTHING to do with the creative side.He had nothing to do with which ad ran.THAT is the crux of the issue.Of all the ads that were shot that night, Fred Davis and his team only prepared the ad that Christine had specifically told him that she did NOT want to run.The problem was that there was no time to wait for the other ads, the ones she’d specifically said she wanted to run with, to be delivered.Hundreds of thousands of dollars in media buys had already been spent and there was a deadline.The campaign was up against the wall and with Christine on the campaign trail; Matt was forced to pull the trigger on an ad he knew was trouble.The alternative was to literally piss away hundreds of thousands of dollars.Chad Livengood was made acutely aware of these facts but somehow they didn’t make it in.Then again, there’s a lot that Chad knows that isn’t in the piece.
“Emails obtained by The News Journal show O’Donnell’s campaign manager, Matt Moran, approved the witch ad, telling Davis “solid message Fred … well scripted and delivered despite the horrible hair (assume that was intentional to help reverse her negatives with women?).””
Having been in the room when some of these discussions took place, I can attest that NOONE was happy about the ad and that of all the people involved, *I* was the most positive about it.I thought if nothing else, it addressed the issue and that if there were other, stronger ads backing it up, like those cut by her supporters that fateful night, that it really wouldn’t be that big of a deal.Of course then I realized it had gone viral on the internet.I can attest to the sarcasm in Matt’s voice and emails.He was FAR from even content with the situation but he had no choice.Even the AP’s Randall Chase reported Matt’s sarcasm while Chad decided to leave that part out.
"No media company is going to leak the ad on behalf of a campaign," said one Republican consultant, who declined to be named because of what he said was O'Donnell's history of retaliating against critics. "If that actually happened, Fred's firm would no longer be working with O'Donnell…
... Moran and O'Donnell would not explain why Davis' firm continued to work for the campaign if they felt sabotaged by the airing of the witch ad as O'Donnell claims in the book."
Anyone else a little tired of reading about anonymous sources that more times than not, don’t have the foggiest idea what they’re talking about?Chad seems to take issue with the fact that Christine paid Davis despite this problem and that she continued to work with him.Moran explained in his email to Chad that the situation around “The Witch Ad” was not good and they there were backed into a corner.Remember also that Christine O’Donnell had been all but TOLD to use Fred Davis by the NRSC and she was between a rock and a hard place.To put it simply, she was the Republican nominee and she needed the support of the party.She was rebuilding her name within the party and doing all she could to repair bridges that had been burned during the contentious primary with RINO Mike Castle.So Christine took some advice that he gut told her was flat out wrong.She took a few thing on “hope” and given the money on the line, she really didn’t have a ton of choices.Moran went on to explain to Chad that after that initial disagreement on strategy, Davis’ firm worked quite well with the campaign and created some really great ads like “Principles”, “Tax Man”, “Shame on You Chris” and “What I’m Made Of”.Emails obtained by this blogger show that Chad Livengood was made ACUTELY aware of these facts and these ads before he published his piece.Why didn’t they make it into the story Chad?
“Throughout the book, O'Donnell continues to show her distrust of the media and what she calls "unscrupulous reporters," though she doesn't take any to task by name.”
Christine didn’t take them to task by name but I will.One is Randall Chase at the AP who has a history of leaving facts out of stories, another is Ginger Gibson whose reporting during the campaign was shoddy at best and flat out hit pieces and Democrat propaganda at worst and another is Mr. Livengood himself.Between his report on porn while ignoring CREW’s political bias and their violation of the law and his seriously flawed “book review”, Chad is more than making the case for his inclusion as an “unscrupulous reporter”.That’s really a shame too because his tenacity on the timecards of Tony DeLuca and other double dippers was much appreciated.I’m disappointed in such tabloid journalism.
“With some of her campaign apparatus still intact, O'Donnell also has continued to deal with allegations from her past two campaigns that she used donations for personal expenses. At the same time, O'Donnell's campaign has gone after her accusers, filing complaints with the Internal Revenue Service, U.S. Attorney's Office and District of Columbia Bar Association against attorneys and a political watchdog who have called into question her campaign ethics.”
Actually Chad, as you are WELL aware, the U.S. Attorney in Delaware has cleared O’Donnell of any wrong doing and the FEC has found no anomalies with her campaign finances.O’Donnell has launched investigations into the outright lies by her accusers and asked the IRS to look at CREW’s blatant violation of their 501(C)3 charter.She’s also filed complaints to have CREW Executive Director and bar member Melanie Sloan investigated for her role in filing knowingly false affidavits on behalf of admitted liar David Keegan.The so called “watchdog group” has a more than 8-1 record of accusing Republicans over Democrats while historically, more Democrats have been investigated for ethics violations than have Republicans.
“O'Donnell uses the book to settle a few scores with her political adversaries in the Delaware political establishment, claiming "the state party didn't lift a finger to help our campaign" in 2008 and sabotaged her bid for the seat long held by Joe Biden in 2010…
"…It shows how ill-informed Christine O'Donnell is about the history of our party, its leadership and the pro-life candidates in Delaware," said Rakestraw, who added that she doesn't plan to buy O'Donnell's book.”
The reality is that O’Donnell is right.In 2008, O’Donnell was “endorsed” by the state party but the party did not feel confident that anyone could beat Joe Biden.That has been the MO of the Delaware GOP for 10 years now since the Democrats took control of Dover.The Delaware GOP has been running defeatist campaigns ever since and to be quite honest, I have questioned the dedication of the Delaware GOP leadership.The fact is that the following video more than sums up what the Delaware elites think.In the video, National Committeewoman Priscilla Rakestraw is very candid about Christine O’Donnell and Glen Urquhart:
Christine raised a reported $7 million during her campaign however, she beat Mike Castle by raising far less than $2 million.Perhaps this video shows you a little bit more about who Priscilla Rakestraw is:
The bottom line here is that the leadership in the Delaware GOP is not committed to winning.It’s my SINCERE desire to see John Sigler change things but let’s call a spade what it is.The Delaware GOP leadership simply has not been committed to winning.The folly of the 2010 election really needs no recount but to remind you, former Delaware GOP Chairman Tom Ross, who was in fact the active chair at the time, said that Christine O’Donnell could not be elected dogcatcher and as you can see above, Priscilla sure had some strong words about Christine O’Donnell as well.In fact, it’s well known inside party circles that Priscilla Rakestraw orchestrated the smear campaign against O’Donnell.Rakestraw has also been implicated in a smear campaign against State Party chair candidate and Delta Airlines Pilot Mike Protack that resulted in trouble with Protack’s private market employer.Protack is considering taking legal action against those who used their influence to attack him with unfounded allegations.
“O'Donnell also alleges that Biden and Castle personally warned a supporter of the "consequences" of raising money for her in the 2008 Senate race against Biden. Like many of O'Donnell's allegations of campaign dirty tricks detailed in the book, the individual involved is not named.
Castle said O'Donnell's claim is "wholly inaccurate" and "the figment of somebody's imagination."
"I don't remember doing anything of that nature," Castle said Saturday.”
First of all, the “I don’t remember” line is not exactly smacking of surety of his statements.The fact is that evidence suggests that Mike Castle did actively work to sabotage her campaign, that Karl Rove (a key advisor to Castle) actively worked to sabotage her campaign and that there is a long held understanding that Castle, Biden and Carper are thick as thieves.
“She accuses Ross of abusing party funds by paying for robo phone calls against her in the primary.
Ross said there was nothing illegal about spending state party funds to help elect Castle, who won the party's backing at the state convention last May before losing the primary to O'Donnell.”
Sure is odd that the RNC’s position has been to stay out of primary races while Tom Ross and the rest of his leadership decided to inject themselves into this one in an UNPRECEDENTED manner.It may not be illegal to spend the money on those robo-calls but it sure is an abuse of party funds especially now that we know if they’d saved that money, they would have had more to spend on electing Republicans.
“After GOP delegates endorsed Castle, the party decided to launch a negative campaign against O'Donnell because it seemed the best option for helping Castle breeze to victory for the U.S. Senate seat and make gains in the state Legislature, Ross said.
"While my dogcatcher statement may have been a little harsh, the truth of the matter remains, Christine O'Donnell is not a viable statewide candidate in the state of Delaware," Ross said in an interview. "We had the biggest Republican year in a hundred years, and she lost by a very, very wide margin, while bringing down the rest of the ticket."”
Well Mr. Ross is continuing to double down on his stupidity from the 2010 campaign.This is a guy who named ME as Christine O’Donnell’s Press Secretary when I wasn’t even part of the campaign until AFTER the primary campaign was over.Also, this is apparently a guy who ignores the facts.You see, Ross claims that O’Donnell brought down the rest of the party but the facts actually bear out the OPPOSITE as the case.You see exit polling from the Delaware Senate race shows that O’Donnell actually HELPED down ticket Republicans.You see O’Donnell drew more Republicans and Independents to the polls and fewer Democrats by percentage than the registration gap bore out.It's interesting that 18% of Delaware Republicans cost Christine the election and likewise, 18% of Delaware Republicans consider themselves more liberal than moderate.I wonder if THAT is the reason those Republicans down ticket lost…because of Tom Ross’ failure to put together a Republican Party that represents Republican values.
Families in Radnor Green/Ashbourne Hills, a blue collar community in Claymont, Delaware are surveying the damage caused by DelDOT employees who, in Grinch like fashion ripped their recreation literally from the ground. Like the little town of Whoville that was terrorized by a Grinch whose heart was an empty hole, residents in Claymont were terrorized by a nanny state run amuck.
Sure, the month was March and DelDOT uses trucks not sleds, but the song below accurately describes the actions of the State of Delaware's Department of Transportation and their feelings on the situation:
While it might seem funny when you read comments like those above, the real facts and the lives affected by the actions of an oppressive government don't leave much room for laughter. While there have indeed been dissenting opinions on this, most rational people agree, government was in the wrong. Some have blamed the owners for not complying with the government order to move their property (some of these poles had been in place for 40+ years) despite the fact that the families had followed the correct process to challenge the law, while others have insisted the blame rests with the government but that it should be limited to those who passed the law and passed along the work order to the ground workers. Normally I would agree with that second group but I have had a week to see what the DelDOT ground workers actually think.
The link above will take you to a Facebook page I created for discussion about the incident. I expected the DelDOT workers to defend their actions but I was not prepared for the utter contempt they held for the property owners or for the legal process that made their enforcement questionable. Further discussions would show the true colors of Delaware's public workforce: It doesn't matter what they do, what they say or how they affect your life because THEY are union and THEY enforce the law, no matter how wrong or unconstitutional it is.
You need to keep that mindset in mind when you read the rest of this story. To government workers, WE THE PEOPLE are not their bosses, we are the sheep that they must corral. They don't care that we, the larger populace, provide their salaries because they see it as "earned" and they don't see the need to answer to US because they have Union leaders and government management and bureaucrats telling them that they don't. They feel untouchable because laws are written to protect them.
That's why they felt no remorse in turning Radnor Green upside down last week. You see, until last week, when DelDOT stormed the neighborhood with dump trucks, pickups, flatbeds and front end loaders on a mission to rip out basketball poles that were too close to the road according to a questionable law passed in 2005, the neighborhood kids had enjoyed playing on their hoops almost every day.
Last week, all that changed when DelDOT employees stormed the neighborhood and yanked the poles. Despite the plea's from the owners to leave the pole on their property, and a promise from a State Police Officer to the contrary, DelDOT workers removed the poles to their service center and demanded that residents (some of whom were not home when their property was taken) pick up their property from the DelDOT yard. DelDOT is facing a $1 Billion shortfall within the next 5 years without spending cuts or revenue enhancements (toll/tax/fee increases) but for some reason, this was seen as a good use of tax payer dollars:
While this issue is FAR from over, this is likely the last time you will see much in the mainstream media about it. Yesterday afternoon, the McCafferty family, who has led the charge to get their pole and hoop returned to them, discovered the grim reality. Not only did the DelDOT workers lie, cheat and steal to get the poles, they also decided to destroy them. Every single backboard was in one piece when it was PLUCKED from the neighborhood yet, every single one of them now is destroyed. Here are some images of the poles as we found them yesterday:
Every single backboard has a hole in it, poles were damaged and the DelDOT employees couldn't care less. As you'll see in the video below, they stood on the other side of the yard, smugly video taping as Rep. Bryon Short and I used our personal pickup trucks to transport what it took them 2 dumps, a front end loader, a flat bed, 3 pickups and 5 police officers to transport. But then again, I do always say that the private market is more efficient than government almost 100% of the time. I'll leave you with this final video from the crew over at the News Journal:
Update: Pastor Dowell is standing up to show that this is a national movement! We've had ENOUGH of government employees taking liberty and property from people...and then pretending like it's just their job.
Last night Founders Values had our annual membership meeting. This meeting revolved around the 2nd Amendment and that is always a good draw. Even with the expectation of poor weather and some late notices, we had a good turn out. One of our members, Bob Wilson, approached me before the meeting and asked where I found some information that I had written about concerning Delaware's pension and retiree health care benefits. I told him that I had taken my information from a Pew Center Study that was done in 2008 about our state of underfunding. As you may note, the Pew Center is no right wing think tank, this isn't information from the Heritage Foundation, Americans for Prosperity or some other such conservative organization. The Pew Center leans left and is far more optimistic about governments deficit spending than even most Americans are. That's why when they say that our State Employee Pensions are underfunded to the tune of $600 million and our retiree health care plan is unfunded to the tune of $5.4 billion, I take notice. When they post a study that says we should be concerned about the retiree plan that is LESS THAN 2% funded, I think it's worth citing.
I soon found out why he was so interested in my source. Bob had written a letter to the editor of the News Journal. He's written letters before and almost always received a verification call from the same person. This time the call came from a different person, John Sweeney. Sweeney is the editor of the News Journal editorial pages so it's understandable that he might jump in and make a verification call on an editorial submission. The problem comes when you read the letter Bob submitted, and the one that was printed. I'll start with the version the News Journal printed:
In the March 11 News Journal, the spokeswoman for the Delaware State Education Association stated that it has a history of collaboration with the state government. My question would be, “Who are they collaborating against?” In this situation, it could only mean the taxpayers of Delaware. Is this a good thing?
The executive director of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees said that any kind of effort to change the status quo would cause the unions in Delaware to unite.
The only reasonable conclusion would be that they would unite against the taxpayers and citizens of Delaware.
You know, the ones who have to pay for all of this.
Does anyone think that all of the unfunded liabilities may have come from this type of cooperating and collaborating?
Bob Wilson, Newark
And here is what Bob ACTUALLY wrote:
According to the Common Sense Communities Society, Delaware's public employee pension fund is underfunded by $600 Million dollars and the public employee retirement health care fund has an unfunded liability of $5.4 Billion dollars. Now what can possibly go wrong here?
In the March 11th News Journal the spokeswoman for the Delaware State Education Association stated that they have a history of collaboration with the state govt. My question would be who are they collaborating against? In this situation it could only mean the taxpayers of Delaware. Is this a good thing?
In the same piece the Executive Director of the AFL-CIO, who happily is also a member of the state House of Representatives, stated that the Unions have been so successful in the political process that they don't even have to negotiate with the state. What!! All they have to do is tell the state what they want and they get it? That's a sweet deal!
The executive director of AFSCME said that any kind of effort to change the status quo would cause the Unions in Delaware to unite. The only reasonable conclusion would be that they would unite against the taxpayers and citizens of Delaware. You know the who have to pay for all of this.
Does anyone think that all of the unfunded liabilities may have come from this type of cooperating and collaborating?
Nah, nothing to see here, just keep on moving.
Bob Wilson
Newark
Now, I understand that the editorial pages retain the right to edit submissions, but to TOTALLY change it in such a drastic way by omission is rather pathetic. I'm urging you to call the News Journal and demand an answer as to why this letter was edited to such an enhanced degree. The removal of all of the facts make the op-ed almost entirely incoherent. You can call the News Journal at the number below:
302-324-2500
Be sure to mention that John Sweeney should apologize for his actions publicly.
Delaware's lone statewide newspaper employs some rather strange people. One such individual, the often drunk (rumor has it he spends about 75% of his time in his favorite bar in a state close to a coma) Ron Williams falls into fits of rage and his drunken state keeps his stupid filter from working properly (read: at all).
I only bring this up now because Ron has gone and done it again. Perhaps the oddest part about this, is that the News Journal editors (yes I'm aware Ron is an assistant editor of the opinion pages...but someone should review his work), presumably sober and rational, actually print his drivel. Maybe more surprising, is that anyone still reads his column.
Well someone does, and that's why the record must now be set straight. The people of Delaware are being sold a bill of goods by an evil and corrupting old fart with a drinking problem and a lack of class. In his column called "Are Republicans just going to hand over the keys to the newbies" back on Feb. 26th our own "Uncle Ronnie" once again waded into the waters of insanity and took his readers with him. Maybe it plays to the target audience of the News Journal, mindless liberal progressive zombies but those of us with a few brain cells left are wondering about JUST a few things...
First, Ron opens his column with a couple of rather insulting remarks, one aimed at the thousands and thousands of Delawareans who have turned out for TEA Party rallies and the tens of thousands of Delaware Republicans who bucked the trend and supported O'Donnell in the 2010 Primary against RINO Mike Castle.
"I've been trying to pin down a Delaware Republican or two on the question of how the party is going to deal with the tea party faction, especially in Sussex County, and the likes of dear little Miss Christine O'Donnell."
Mr. Williams, the Delaware Republican Party isn't going to "deal" with the TEA Party faction...oh it's TRYING to...but the reality is that the TEA Party is a non-partisan effort to fight the kind of corruption that leads someone like Ron Williams to suggest that the Delaware GOP is going to "deal" with anything. You see Ron, for those TEA Party folks who are registered Republicans, they ARE "Delaware Republicans" meaning that THEY will determine who runs the party, not a few elites. You see, the TEA Party has awakened the GOP electorate to the fact that the party has been controlled by a small and elite few who have incestuously kept the power of the party consolidated within their ranks. These same people have watched their fundraising base dwindle and have continuously thrust forward RINO Mike Castle despite the fact that he voted with the Democrats more often than with Republicans and despite some very odd votes (he voted to impeach President Bush and for Cap and Trade).
Further, your "dear little Miss..." statement is both condescending and ignorant. Christine O'Donnell ran back to back TOUGH races against two opponents who used the large Democrat registration advantage and every nasty, dirty and disgusting trick they could against her. They attacked her for being a woman, called her stupid and worse yet not a peep out of the so-called "women's rights" defenders. Some sources on the far left even dug up complete and total lies about Christine's "sex life". These are things you would NEVER hear about male candidates. Despite the nationwide smear campaign and millions of dollars spent trashing her, despite the fact that her own party leadership undermined her campaign at every turn and despite the fact that your paper, the News Journal, assigned their very own personal smear artist to the race, she STILL beat Mike Castle in the Primary and scared the CRAP out of Coons in the general. For that alone she deserves more respect than what you've given her. Of course, it could just be the whiskey talking...
Just a few paragraphs later, after attacking O'Donnell for the idea that she might be as rhythmically challenged as she suggests, Williams again insert his foot into his drinking hole:
"I don't completely understand how Christine O'Donnell, who lost a U.S. Senate race in Delaware by one of the widest margins in modern times, is considered a "star" by television producers. But that's why I'm not a television producer and they are."
As usual, Mr. Williams is playing fast and loose with the truth...well ok, he's pretty much completely wrong. O'Donnell lost the 2010 General election by 14 points. Now that is larger than the campaign would like but not insurmountable, it's really only a 7 point swing. With that said, the loss remains at 14% so, is Mr. Williams right? Is this one of the widest margins in modern times? 2008: Markell defeats Lee by 15% 2006: Tom Carper (D) defeats Jan Ting (R) 70.2% - 28.7% (42% GOP loss) 2004: Carney defeats Ursomarso by 26% 2002: Biden defeats Clatworthy 58.2% - 40.2% (18% GOP loss) - keep in mind that if you speak to GOP insiders like Priscilla Rakestraw...she claims that this was a tight race... 2000: Minner defeats Burris by 20%
Not to mention there are a HOST of local and state rep races with similar defeats. In fact, O'Donnell's 7 point swing in the face of overwhelming odds is rather impressive. Perhaps Ron forgot these, whiskey has a tendency to make me that way too.
In addition to mischaracterizing O'Donnell's performance in the General Election, Williams goes right for an "objective source" when he reaches out to Tom Ross, the Delaware State GOP Chair who publicly said that O'Donnell could not be elected dogcatcher, made up a story about a fake death threat in a desperate 11th hour ploy (he's done this before in tight primaries to sway public opinion) and filed a frivolous lawsuit against the campaign which remained an active stain on the campaign throughout the entire general election season. Tom Ross and the "Republican Party leadership" consistently undermined Christine and fabricated stories. Pardon me if I question whether or not Mr. Ross even RECIEVED phone calls from other GOP chairs. Much less that they used the term "that wacko from Delaware" (in the event that it did happen, how sad is it that these other state GOP parties are so weak that they rely on the smallest state in the union to get their candidates elected?)
"Because of the national publicity, state Republican Party Chairman Tom Ross was getting telephone calls from several fellow state chairs, including those in Connecticut and New Mexico, who were seeing a drop in the polls for Republican candidates in their state. They attributed it to that "wacko from Delaware" who's making all Republicans look like goofballs.
Ross also told me recently that the chances of newcomers to Delaware joining the state Republican Party had been undermined by her. People with political convictions, and money to contribute, don't want to join a party with people like her."
O'Donnell raised $7 million from all over the country in the face severe odds. Most of it was raised in just 6 weeks. From February through September, Delaware supporters were discouraged and viciously threatened for showing public support for or donating to Miss. O'Donnell. For the sake of argument, let's pretend that Tom Ross isn't a lying, conniving snake in the grass capable of selling his own mother to his father and give him the benefit of the doubt that these calls actually came in. Are these claims accurate? Let's start with the raw figures:
There were more registered Democrats in 2010 than there were in 2008 in fact, since 2002, the Democrat registration has jumped 31% and just since 2006 it has increased 19%. Some of that is due to Republicans who became Democrats to vote in the primary that elected Jack Markell (how's that working out for us?) as Governor. Most of it is due to an influx of NJ, PA and NY liberals who left the states they helped destroy for the relative safety of Delaware and have begun to destroy THIS state. In addition, only 81% of Republicans supported their own nominee in 2010. This is of course because the nominee was NOT Mike Castle because had O'Donnell not won, the party faithful would be EXPECTED to fall in line.
Further numbers bare an even more incredible reality for the Delaware GOP. Since Christine O'Donnell has been a U.S. Senate nominee, the percentages have increased:
28.7% - 2006 - Jan Ting vs Tom Carper
35.3% - 2008 - O'Donnell vs Biden (other notables this year: Judge Bill Lee (Governor) 32%, John McCain 37%, Copeland 38%)
40% - 2010 - O'Donnell vs Coons
Remember, Jan Ting was SO liberal that he actually switched to the Democrat Party after he lost handily to Carper. And lest ye think that despite the numbers above, O'Donnell caused a drop in Republican voters:
In the 2006 midterm elections, 90,176 Republicans voted. In the 2010 midterm elections, 102,225 Republicans voted. In addition, a third party firm, Viae Consulting found the following:
Christine O’Donnell’s candidacy did not drive Democrats to the polls
Christine O’Donnell drove more Republicans to the polls to vote
New Castle County Republicans jumped the party line to vote for the Democratic opponent
New Castle County Republican registration was lower in 2010, than in 2008.
O'Donnell was not the only person to recieve criticism. After Ron felt that he had sufficiently attacked the Republican Senate nominee he turned his ire on the Republican Congressional nominee and those who chose him over Michele Rollins.
"The congressional candidacy of Glen Urquhart, whose campaign was run by a renegade, off-the-reservation Vance Phillips, current member and former president of Sussex County Council, was also not conducive to raising legitimate money. Why in the world would Republicans not vote for an attractive, independently wealthy, and brainy lawyer like Michele Rollins, they would ask.
Well, good question. You'll have to ask the tea partiers and right-wing extremists like Vance Phillips and his ilk."
So it seems that Mr. Williams just hates conservatives. Vance Phillips is a respected member of the Sussex County Republican Party, former Sussex County Council President and current Sussex County Council member. He has a long history of community involvement and in 2007 he was the state Vice Chairman of the Republican Party. Like his friend Al Mascitti, Williams seems to think that anyone who believes in God, believes in being fiscally responsible or supports a small government is "an extremist". Ron, Michele lost for a number of reasons, not the least of which is because the people of the Delaware Republican Party are TIRED of being told who to vote for and of supporting candidates like Mike Castle who do not represent them. Rollins stood with Castle, she aligned herself with him and THAT is why she lost.
Williams then goes on to attack Mike Protack who is a constant source of ire from the Delaware political establishment.
"And now you've got Mike Protack, another perennial loser who has never garnered a legitimate party following, running for state party chairman."
It should be pointed out that, as someone who is plugged into Republican politics, Mike Protack has not said he wants to be Party Chairman, he hasn't announced an intention to run for that office. The only names I have heard officially in the ring for state chair are Tom Ross (the current mistake) and Don Ayotte who is a Sussex County favorite with limited support in Kent and New Castle County. This is laughably wrong and it serves to show that both the News Journal AND the Delaware GOP leadership are TOTALLY lost when it comes to what is going on within the GOP. Later in the story Williams mentions John Siglar, the former NRA President who supported Christine O'Donnell as a potential candidate for Republican Party chair. The problem is that he names Siglar as a party leadership favorite when in reality Siglar is being courted by the conservative wing of the GOP.
"Finally, Ron Williams ends his rather aweful column but before he does he says this:
I finally received an answer that at first I thought was simply flip and sarcastic. But the more I thought about it, it might not be a bad idea, at least in the short run. 'We're just going to give them the keys and let them run the show. See ya later.'"
This might be the best idea I've heard yet. Under the leadership of Ross, Rakestraw and Castle the Delaware GOP has become irrelevant. They've resorted to cutting deals with the Democrat Party in order to retain a semblance of power in the state. Turning over the keys to the "newbies" who were able to rally together and defeat one of the 3 most powerful politicians in Delaware might actually help the cause. In fact, I can almost guarantee that we would do a better job than the current crop of cronies who gave continuously depleted funds, been ineffective at raising money, have no real message and absolutely no leadership.
Tom Ross is a an abject failure as Chariman. I had misplaced hope after the election that he would be able to rally the troops under the banner of freedom and liberty but he's squandered every bit of political capital he had with the majority of Republicans who voted against Mike Castle and the establishment status quo.
Priscilla Rakestraw is a little like legacy computer games. It's old, doesn't really work right but man it was cool back in the day. She's the longest serving National Committeewoman in the entire GOP...cool...ok I'm over it. She's also quite vidictive and as you can see in this video, a little out of touch:
Laird Stabler is a good guy and fortunately he has stayed above the fray. Unfortunately he has not been able to fight against the other party leaders.
Mike Castle is finally gone as the party figurehead but there is noone who stepped right in to take his place. That has caused a bit of a problem as the party transitions and the GOP chair flops like a freshly caught fish on the floor of the boat. Castle has 10 years of service in the Congress to give people an opinion on where the Delaware GOP stands, which is just left of the majority of the country. Apparently that doesn't play as well in Delaware as they thought. As the party ideology moved left, their numbers of representation plummeted. Since the early 80's when Pres Reagan and then Gov. Pete DuPont led America out of the dismal 70's, the Delaware GOP has drifted to the left and moved so far that it has alienated it's base and blurred the lines between the GOP and Democrat Party to the point that people no longer even see a difference. A fresh conservative approach would actually FIX the Delaware GOP but that isn't Williams' goal. His only plan here is to demonize conservatives, attack Republicans and assinate the character of everyone in the process. It's my sincere desire to see Ron Williams unemployed but I hold out no hope of the News Journal doing the right thing and firing this lunatic drunkard. It's more likely that the Delaware GOP actually hand over the keys to the newbies than the News Journal do the right thing here.
Written by Evan Queitsch - I Evan Queitsch hereby certify that I am stone cold sober and have not touched a drop of alcohol in 24 hours.
Maybe Williams could end his columns with the above line...naaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah
