Readers of this blog will remember back in January when we did a story on a report from the Wilmington News Journal confirming an allegation made during the 2010 U.S. Senate campaign that New Castle County was broke. Dace Blaskowitz, a political independent, found that the "NCCo government is simply unsustainable" and that the answer to their rampant overspending has consistently been higher and higher property taxes and sewer fees. You may also remember that Mr. Blaskowitz found that 75% of New Castle County government costs are tied up in personnel and that is after a 2.5%paycut in 2009 and anotherin 2010.
Blaskowitz suggested a reduction in staff levels and contraction of benefit obligations yet New Castle County has gone on a hiring spree lately. He also suggested some minimal concessions from the unions with regard to pay/benefits might be necessary to close the gap between revenue and expenditures. The Clark Administration has said that it will work with the unions but that it is getting serious about the County finances. Today however, sources within the County unions confirm that a deal has been reached and will be signed tomorrow. The deal is reported to be a two year deal with county employees contributing $1200 per year to a healthcare savings fund. In exchange for this surcharge payment, county employees will get a 5% increase (covering their two 2.5% reductions in the past 2 years) plus 3 new paid fulough days each year. County employees will not have any holidays or current off time taken away. Sources say that County Council Executive Paul Clark will sign the deal tomorrow afternoon.
Does this mean that our County finances are back in order? Just a month ago when County Council passed the FY 2012 budget, Clark was talking about another 2.5% cut and other concessions from the unions. In fact, his budget passed, despite strong opposition from Council President Kovach with the specific plan to make those cuts. Kovach cited concerns that the budget did not properly address the current debt and also questions as to how unions would rollback 5% of their pay and then agree to ANOTHER cut of 2.5%. Also, is it possible that the 3 extra paid furlough days are equal to that 2.5% cut?
Showing posts with label County Council. Show all posts
Showing posts with label County Council. Show all posts
Monday, June 27, 2011
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
New Castle County Democrats on the Lamb Wisconsin Style
I received an email last night from a good friend in the Delaware conservative movement who was warning about an impending power play by the New Castle County Council. This is the message:
Tue March 1st at the New Castle County Bldg at 800 N. French Street at 4:30pm New Castle Council meets. The New Castle Council will meet to try to strip Tom Kovach of some of his powers and undo rules of order that address the corruption in bidding and development.We need you there.
I immediately thought that I should go to this. It was last minute, and with 4 kids, last minute sometimes just doesn't work out. My wife and I scrambled to make sure we had kid coverage and I was able to leave (albeit a little late) for Wilmington. I walked in about 25 mins late and was greeted by an almost empty room. Well, almost empty of legislators. By the time I arrived only Council President Kovach and Councilman Weiner were still in the room. I later found out that of the 13 members of council, the following showed up:
- Councilwoman Diller (D)
- Councilman Powers (D)
- Councilman Tackett (D)
- Councilman Weiner (R)
- Council President Kovach (R)
Councilwoman Kilpatrick called in sick and Councilman Cartier was out of town, both announced their intent not to show. The rest of County Council were no shows. They'd pulled a Wisconsin. Why? Well they'd gotten word that THE PEOPLE had been notified that there was to be a vote to strip the Council President of some of his powers. Word got out that we would show. And so the Democrats (minus the few good government supporters above) decided since we WERE going to show, that they would not.
But their motion is not going away. Instead they are going to wait until the next Finance Committee meeting to bring it up. That meeting takes place next Tuesday at 1:30PM. They're doing it then because they figure that many of us who came, wanted to come or tried to come tonight will not be able to come then. They don't want the public to know what is going on in County Council. People like Tim Sheldon and George Smiley are neck deep in some serious corruption when it comes to land use and they've been using suspect methods to pass their bills. Kovach has called them out on their misdeeds and now Council is reacting viciously. Adam Taylor over at the News Journal (one of the few good guys) has an EXCELLENT piece on the moves Council has made to restrict Kovach's ability to check the Democrats.
I say we show up enmasse on Tuesday at 1:30PM at the City County Building on the 8th Floor. It's time we stood up for the people attempting to stand up for us. In addition, if any of the following are your councilmembers, please send them an email about being absent from their duties today:
8th District - John Cartier - he was excused from the meeting but is in favor of changing the rules because Kovach is calling the Dems bluff
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Kovach wins NCC President!
The New Castle County GOP united today and supported a good man and a good candidate for the New Castle County Council President race. Republican Tom Kovach defeated former AFL-CIO VP Tim Sheldon in a blowout 57%-41%. All corners of the GOP came together behind Mr. Kovach. In stark contrast to the divided November elections when the TEA Party element was at odds with the establishment, Kovach enjoyed broad support from both conservatives and moderates in the New Castle County GOP. The advocacy group Common Sense Communities Society even endorsed Kovach and turned out their voters to ensure his victory tonight. Even Christine O'Donnell, who was the subject of moderate Republican ire in November and who lost largely due to that ire, chipped in the maximum amount allowed to Mr. Kovach. This was truly a united effort and let me say that I am proud of Mr. Kovach and look forward to holding him accountable in County Council. Afterall, Tom is a TEA Partier:
Friday, December 3, 2010
Why Tom...Why Now...Why Not
As a T.E.A. Party leader and Republican I am uniquely positioned to understand the concerns of both sides as they struggle to achieve a balance in a new political climate. The establishment has been running things for a very long time and now some new upstarts are threatening to cut in on their action. The "upstarts" happen to be the electorate as a whole which is actually the way our government was designed. The problem is that it hasn't been run that way in more than 100 years so the establishment has become complacent in their dominance.
Delaware, like New York, Chicago and most other small geographical locations has been controlled by a powerful few for many years. These powerful few come from all political affiliations and they control the most important decisions in the state. While the people retain the power to vote of course and appear to be in control of the process, it is the elite few that control who runs, how they are covered in the media and what support they get from the political parties. It's been said that the only place that plays Chicago politics as good as Chicago, is Delaware.
So it's not surprising that after a divisive Primary election where establishment favorite Mike Castle was beaten by TEA Party favorite Christine O'Donnell, that the two factions would be suspicious of one another. The Democrats are riding a high after their General election victories and they are feeling confident about the Special Election for New Castle County President. They've nominated Tim Sheldon, the current 9th District County Council Representative and former Vice President of Delaware's AFL-CIO. He's still employed by the unions, now serving as the Chief Administrative Officer of the regional bricklayers union and like fellow Democrat Velda Jones-Potter, he's dipping into government resources through another level as well. While not a paid position, Sheldon serves on the board of the Delaware Solid Waste Authority. DSWA is a public/private partnership whose board is appointed by the Governor (and confirmed by the State Senate) and who controls landfill and trash removal in the state.
Councilman Sheldon is paid $27,500 per year by the New Castle County taxpayers part time to serve on County Council and also likely pulls down 6 figures from his full time union job (Not to mention the benefits!). He doesn't really need the money so it's OK that the DSWA appointment comes without pay, what it gives him is an inside track to ensure that his union gets in on the government contract action. It may not be illegal but morally, we have to wonder, is it right?
On the other hand, the Republicans have nominated former State Representative Tom Kovach who was caught on the wrong side of the wave election this year. Kovach is the hand picked candidate of Mike Castle which likely harmed him among conservative voters in his district and may have cost him the election there. This past election was unfortunate as good Republicans lost in places they never should have for various reasons. Some lost because people didn't like O'Donnell and others because of their allegiance to Castle. Whatever the case, unfortunately the good was taken out with the bad. Tom Kovach, for all his bedfellows, is one of the good ones. As a State Representative he served ably in Dover and he stood up for conservative fiscal values. He's a lawyer who specializes in corporate environmental law and intellectual property. He has experience with the land use issues that County Council will be working on and he understands the importance of fiscal responsibility at all levels of government. Tom is perceived as a moderate, "Mike Castle Republican" because he has not been overt about his views on social issues. What we do know about Tom is that he understands that we need cut spending, decrease the tax burden and get government out of the way of the free market to create jobs. These are the things that matter and these are the things that Tom will work to fix in County Council. So what if Mike Castle endorsed Tom Kovach? There has been a lot of talk about working together and uniting to ensure that our economy improves and I believe that Tom Kovach is a candidate that we can all agree will fight to make that happen. With that in mind, consider this my official endorsement of Tom Kovach for New Castle County President. I hope that the members of the Patriot Movement will join me in supporting Tom and standing up against the harmful policies of Paul Clark and Tim Sheldon. Please consider voting for Tom Kovach on Jan. 13th, 2011 in the Special Election for New Castle County Council President.
Delaware, like New York, Chicago and most other small geographical locations has been controlled by a powerful few for many years. These powerful few come from all political affiliations and they control the most important decisions in the state. While the people retain the power to vote of course and appear to be in control of the process, it is the elite few that control who runs, how they are covered in the media and what support they get from the political parties. It's been said that the only place that plays Chicago politics as good as Chicago, is Delaware.
So it's not surprising that after a divisive Primary election where establishment favorite Mike Castle was beaten by TEA Party favorite Christine O'Donnell, that the two factions would be suspicious of one another. The Democrats are riding a high after their General election victories and they are feeling confident about the Special Election for New Castle County President. They've nominated Tim Sheldon, the current 9th District County Council Representative and former Vice President of Delaware's AFL-CIO. He's still employed by the unions, now serving as the Chief Administrative Officer of the regional bricklayers union and like fellow Democrat Velda Jones-Potter, he's dipping into government resources through another level as well. While not a paid position, Sheldon serves on the board of the Delaware Solid Waste Authority. DSWA is a public/private partnership whose board is appointed by the Governor (and confirmed by the State Senate) and who controls landfill and trash removal in the state.
Councilman Sheldon is paid $27,500 per year by the New Castle County taxpayers part time to serve on County Council and also likely pulls down 6 figures from his full time union job (Not to mention the benefits!). He doesn't really need the money so it's OK that the DSWA appointment comes without pay, what it gives him is an inside track to ensure that his union gets in on the government contract action. It may not be illegal but morally, we have to wonder, is it right?
On the other hand, the Republicans have nominated former State Representative Tom Kovach who was caught on the wrong side of the wave election this year. Kovach is the hand picked candidate of Mike Castle which likely harmed him among conservative voters in his district and may have cost him the election there. This past election was unfortunate as good Republicans lost in places they never should have for various reasons. Some lost because people didn't like O'Donnell and others because of their allegiance to Castle. Whatever the case, unfortunately the good was taken out with the bad. Tom Kovach, for all his bedfellows, is one of the good ones. As a State Representative he served ably in Dover and he stood up for conservative fiscal values. He's a lawyer who specializes in corporate environmental law and intellectual property. He has experience with the land use issues that County Council will be working on and he understands the importance of fiscal responsibility at all levels of government. Tom is perceived as a moderate, "Mike Castle Republican" because he has not been overt about his views on social issues. What we do know about Tom is that he understands that we need cut spending, decrease the tax burden and get government out of the way of the free market to create jobs. These are the things that matter and these are the things that Tom will work to fix in County Council. So what if Mike Castle endorsed Tom Kovach? There has been a lot of talk about working together and uniting to ensure that our economy improves and I believe that Tom Kovach is a candidate that we can all agree will fight to make that happen. With that in mind, consider this my official endorsement of Tom Kovach for New Castle County President. I hope that the members of the Patriot Movement will join me in supporting Tom and standing up against the harmful policies of Paul Clark and Tim Sheldon. Please consider voting for Tom Kovach on Jan. 13th, 2011 in the Special Election for New Castle County Council President.
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