Endorsement In Primary For New Castle County Executive

So why even vote?

For one, the county is what controls most of our lives, if you live outside any of the smaller city limits…

Two, you pay them enough in taxes (included in your escrows if paying-off a mortgage). or a painful separate check if the asset is fully yours.

Three. They establish and run almost all the things that impact your daily lives… When it comes down to “gee, how well do we like this place in which we live”, the country has probably 60%, the state 30%, and the Federal government 10% of that decision…

If you don’t believe me simply try living without a sewer for one year… You get tired digging holes in your back yard.  But also add the perks that sprout up, those festivals in our county parks, that farm next door that never was developed into a section 8 housing unit, the police who not only protect us, but let our kids pet their Clydesdales, and you sort of get a general idea of how important our County actually is to us….

So what happens, when county government stops working?  You get everybody fighting for themselves… sort of like New Jersey.  You get no planning. You get results where anything goes. You get increased crime because either one can buy off cops who have no one watching over them, or because they were strictured through lack of funding. You get no perks, unless you want to pay a private citizen your out-of-pocket money to get them… And all the stuff you do have now, starts falling through the cracks out of neglect….

Bottom line: it is very important to have someone running the county who can do it well…

Which thrusts us sometimes into this bizarre choice.  Is it better to have a person more concerned with morals and appearances who always seems to be deep in a moral struggle just to do their basic job?… Or is it better to be stuck with someone always having the whiff of corruption seeming to surround them, but who makes your own personal life SO MUCH BETTER and easier by his abilities and skill to get things done before you even get to worry about them…..?

This bizarre choice is what New Castle County faces this primary season when choosing its Executive. ….. …. …. Your vote will simply depend on which of the above traits YOU think is more important, either it being sanctimonious, or being successful; which YOU prefer to see embedded in your leader….

Delaware Liberal just came out in support of Matt Meyer.  Interestingly that same writer penning that article was also a fervent supporter of Hillary,  even to the point of being quite vicious towards Bernie who was performing a service like Matt, challenging the current leader on their principles, especially when it came to the appearance of impropriety over their past choices between ones constituents and ones cronies and corporate friends.. If we remember correctly, the writer’s response to such criticism boiled down to:  she’s effective, she gets things done, her enemies naturally try to discredit her and having no substance, must use whisper campaigns and false accusations.

It is ironical that this one writer was all Hillary in the national, and is now all Matt in the local because in this race, Tom is the candidate being pilloried more like Hillary, the seasoned politician, whereas Matt as the new interloper gets a “buy” on using morality to launch a challenge…

Because like Hillary, Tom Gorden has had an amazing career.  Granted some is timing. But also granted is that he is feared by this state’s developers, ever since he shocked them with a moratorium on all new development..  He implemented that necessary action which had been a political albatross, so much so that none of his predecessors had been willing to touch it before he arrived.  Whereas you may not agree with the copious amounts of development you have seen being dug lately; the control over what has actually been approved for development, was far more consistent with the opinions of those living in those local neighborhoods during the split terms of Gordon, than what occurred during the interims of those holding the office during the split… Can you say: Barley Mills Plaza?

In what matters to our longterm happiness, Tom Gordon has done a better job.  In that way, he is our Hillary, the workhorse who simply because he chooses to support the majority will of the people over the peculating wills of the elite, has special interests spend inordinate time digging for dirt and constantly slandering him , even haul him in as a criminal.  Yet when actually investigated (Hillary 13 times, Tom 1) , though there may be some impropriety brought to light (on both Hillary and Tom) it is innocent shadiness; nothing near what the accusers tried to paint… In fact, if you notice the shaming in the Delaware Liberal article, the problem they try to paint on Tom is that he was “accused”; little mention that a judge who “actually” saw the “evidence offered”, said it was political bullshit and dropped the case.  There really is no difference here between those “accusing” Hillary, indicting her in public because she was called in to account 13 times… (for no one gets called up 13 times unless they are an actual criminal, right) and those indicting Tom Gordon because of “similar” accusations.  Yet in each of those times, the evidence overwhelmingly showed not only was there no actual wrongdoing, but we glimpsed how great she was at running things.  The real evidence that comes out of each of her “hauling in’s”, is that she is an awesome human being… probably the best we’ll see in our lifetimes… And the same can be said about Tom.

At some point, one has to shut down the accusers… “You have no evidence”.

Matt has a nice resume full of “progressiveness” but is seems short on the executive skills needed to run a metropolitan county.  There is no endorsement by others in his “creds” showing he has experience in leading huge numbers of people, often including among that number, those who are trying to see you fail. In his resume I didn’t see any past acclamations which told us how good he was with dealing over conflict.  How strong will he stand up to the selfish interests of County Council? Whereas his resume tells us what kind of a person he is, it doesn’t tell us what kind of an Executive he will be. So instead of starting a stock exchange, will he insist on using that money to send Payless shoes to Africa?  Point made.

And since Delaware Liberal made a big deal on ethics, one should wisely point out that Matt Meyer’s hit piece last sent out in the mail, uses the same kind of ethics both he and Delaware Liberal try to pretend he is above…

His photo has a bright picture with school kids; Tom’s is grainy yellow darkened to show all the weathered lines on his face… Is that on the up and up?  Playing with what you are given, putting out something that is Foxnewsworthy?

Highlighting “Pleading guilty to two criminal charges” without mentioning they were minor misdemeanors, the felonious charges were dropped because they were politically crafted. Is that completely honest?  Most of us plead guilty to criminal charges every time we mail in a check for a speeding ticket.

“He was elected in 1996. Since then, many of our largest corporations have downsized or left the state: GM, Chrysler, MBNA, Avon, Astra Zeneca and Dupont?” Oh, you went there? Lets refresh the record on those companies.  Both GM and Chrysler were bailed out by the Feds.  Did Gordon have anything to do with that?  MBNA was bought out by Bank or America… Did Gordon have anything to do with that?  Avon consolidated elsewhere due to a huge national sales drop, could Gordon have bought all its makeup and applied it to his grainy yellow weathered face (see above) just to keep them in business? Astra Zeneca, again bought out. Dupont split for liability reasons…  None of these are Gordon’s Fault. So what is Matt trying to accomplish by making it look so? Make himself look immature and amateurish?  In fact, it was Chris Coons and Paul Clark who were in the office when most of those took place…right?

So is Matt Meyer being fair here?  In all truth, this was written probably by his hired consultant, who tells everyone “I’m his consultant; I’m running his campaign” but in reality just creates and mails those things you get in your mailbox, and Matt Meyer’s consultant’s literature is no different from Tony Deluca’s, Tom Sharp’s, or those creeps’ who attack John Kowalko every two years.

Bottom line, Tom had nothing to do with those business switches and losses.  and starting in 1996 covers a lot of time, 20 years. Twenty years that between being up or down, things have been pretty good in New Castle County compared to anywhere else near or far.

Matt’s flyer says we gave him a second chance and got more crime and decreased job opportunities.   Has crime increased?  There is less in my neighborhood than was during Paul Clarks’s span, so naturally I had to look it up to see….

(Just in case some of Matt’s supporters can’t see too well)………..

Perhaps they mistakenly add Wilmington to the mix but really, is that fair to add Wilmington to New Castle County when the current executive has no police-fire-or ambulance jurisdiction within Wilmington’s city limits?

Within the county, crime has dropped 16.4% since we gave Gordon a second term.. I’ve seen its results with my own eyes….

There also was much ballyhoo made in Delaware Liberal’s comments about the drop in reserves… In your own personal life, if a tree falls in your back yard and you have money in savings to cover its removal, … do you keep that money in savings, and leave the tree to rot?

That is what those who bring up this ridiculous charge are advocating…  we had needs, we had reserves, we used them…

They say” OH NO!  YOU USED THE RESERVES! YOU ARE AN INCOMPETENT IDIOT “. Collectively the entire populace of New Castle County should respond in kind by giving the only person we have ever had who has actually increase our reserves, another opportunity to do it again… In that quiet way, we will all have the last laugh and say….”no, it looks like you are the idiot….”