41st District a study in Personal Contrasts
Jul 15th, 2010 by Tennessee Walker
I will not be able to vote in the 41st district race and this just might be the race that determines control of the House of Representatives. In my view both candidates will vote positively for a Social Conservative agenda. I have met both candidates in the past. Both have public pronouncements that suggest they will support an agenda I would back.
In terms of an outward personality, Mr. Adkins and Mr. Hastings are dissimilar.
Mr. Atkins is a very good retail politician for his district. I think this is a positive. Anyone who wants a politician who will give you a hearty slap on the back and to buy you a beer at the American Legion will find that John Atkins is your guy. Again, I see this as a positive. John is outgoing and friendly. When looking at who is a solid candidate, I think John Atkins has the personality to win in many districts in this state. There are those who criticized his Cowboy boots. I think that this is lame.
Greg Hastings is the epitome of a thoughtful and serious Conservative. John Atkins had a waste disposal business that catered to the Tunnell family (Pot Nets). Greg Hastings is an architect. The Atkins strength is his sales ability and jovial nature. The Hastings strength is his thinking every issue through while adhering to his Conservative Ideals.
I must confess that there are times when the Hastings approach drives me up the wall. I have an immediate family member who is a Conservative who lives in a very liberal state. I present to my family member the case of the New Black Panthers and I am immediately met with a request for more information and all of the links (the local news media gives zero information and I am the main source. I guess I should be thankful.) My initial response is “Hello these are racists who say that White Babies need to be Killed” but then I realize different people make decisions in different ways. My family member always comes to the correct decision and then advocates the Conservative Cause in a very Liberal area better than I could.
Greg Hastings will never say something just for the sake of saying it and thinking it will gain a vote. Hastings thinks the whole thing through and compares it to his principles.
Again I do understand how this can be frustrating when Greg thinks thru an issue. Some think this is being evasive. In my view, This is not the case. Architects want all of their questions answered first before designing a building. Greg’s thoughtfulness is more a reflection of how he thinks thru problems everyday in his workplace and not that he has second thoughts about a Conservative Agenda.
Greg Hastings is a real Conservative and lives his life in accordance with Conservative Principles. John Atkins espouses Conservative Ideals. Adkins also sponsors Conservative Legislation. There are questions regarding if he lives his life in accordance with Conservative Principles.
Past History is the best indicator of future behavior.
How do you think this race is going to decide the balance of power? The Rs need to defeat 4 Ds, plus hold Oberles, Cathcarts, Thornburgs, and a very competitive Careys seat. Aint gonna happen this year, TW.
Who wants to take the chance? It’s definitely possible. Plus, each additional R means that tax hikes are less likely. Especially when you’re replacing a tax hiking Democrat.
yea, theres a chance it might snow today too.
Atkins, like the diet guy not Adkins.
Bryon Short is in play. Dennis E Williams is in play. Walls is in play. Bennett is in play. Atkins is in play. And those are all very legitimate. In a big wave, 2-3 others go in play as well. It’s not definite, but it’s not a long shot, either. It’s very possible. Plus, it’s probable that we hold Cathcarts seat and possible to hold Oberles seat in a wave.
So yes, flipping the 41st seat from D to R is crucial to anyone who values conservative government.
I think it will. We lose Oberle’s seat. That puts us needing 5. We gain at least two in Kent and hold the 29th. We need three. If we can pick up one in Sussex and hold the 36th which I believe we will, we need two in NCC. Spence is competitive. Byron Short’s seat is a real pick up possibility. Langhurst may find a surprise. I don’t see Williams seat flipping but I would love to be wrong. We only need one more and there are several in play. If a real wave comes in and we sweep 3 in Kent and 2 in Sussex, its over. I see that as possible. 31st, 32nd, and 33rd were all recent Republican districts and so was the 41st. The 14th is a tough one, but doable.
David how do you see Dave Lawson’s chance (just curious as when I was a teenager I, along with other kids in the area, played volleyball in his yard) as I don’t live in his district?
He has a decent chance to win. Right now I think Nancy Cook has the edge. She is co-chair of Joint Finance Committee. Only one person has ever lost while holding that seat.
If Dave Lawson can get people to blame her for everything wrong with the budgets she helped craft, she loses. Otherwise she wins.
There are many competitive races for R’s in 2010. Judy Travis, who has a wonderful record, can beat Bryon Short. Bob Rhodunda can win. Rick Carroll, running in the City, has already knocked on every door in his district once, and has an outside chance. Terry Spence is running in a good year for R’s. Beth Miller is a strong candidate. Jack Peterman can win. The R’s need 5 pickups (assuming they lose Oberle’s seat, which is not a definite, given the R candidate running there now). In short, the election is still months away, but depending on how those months play out, the R’s could pull it off…
As to Atkins, I would submit that his personal, irresponsible behavior should disqualify him. The fact that he got pulled over and then flashed his legislative ID card to get special treatment in and of itself should disqualify him. How many other residents in the district would be treated so well? The other allegations are even worse.
But, of course, the worst strike against Atkins is that he is a vote for Bob Gilligan as speaker. We need balance in the General Assembly, not D’s in control of both houses.
I love it. In the first 3 posts anon is arguing with Anon.
“David how do you see Dave Lawson’s chance (just curious as when I was a teenager I, along with other kids in the area, played volleyball in his yard) as I don’t live in his district?”
Mark H, this is a race worth watching. When introduced at the SMYRNA 4th of July parade, Lawson got a louder reception than Senator Nancy Cook. I don’t want to read too much into this but I know Senator Cook is worried about this opponent.
This is not the year for being a 36 year incumbent where every member of your immeidiate family has a state job. Keep watching this site for Lawson updates.
I agree, he has the best chance to win since Pam Thornburg ran against her, maybe better. Nancy Cook could claim cutting taxes back then. Now she is the tax collector for the failing welfare state. He can win, I think he may well. We need to fight for this seat. A strong outcome win or lose also helps the house candidates in overlapping districts and may be the Levy Court races with Howell and Edmanson. I just have to give the edge to history and incumbancy, but this year after what I saw in Houston may be one where the normal rules are suspended.
If the morons in the Delaware Republican heirarchy hadn’t over-reacted, nobody would have heard of Hastings- most people still haven’t.
Good luck trying to regain a seat you threw away.
“If the morons in the Delaware Republican heirarchy hadn’t over-reacted, nobody would have heard of Hastings- most people still haven’t.”
Rick, there is a whole bunch of blame that can be spread around on this one and certainly the republican Leadership owns some of it. That being said Atkins never came clean with anyone especially those supporting him. All of his supporters had to deal with his constantly changing stories as new facts came out.
After all was said and done and a deal got carved out, Yet another Atkins omission came out. That time it was discovered Atkins bullied a 15 year old baby sitter to keep her mouth shut after she witnessed his abusiveness.
At that point most who had been on the side of Atkins gave up and stopped defending him as he had already embarassed his public supporters enough.
The founder of this website was in that boat and after publicly defending the guy he came to the conclusion that Atkins could not be taken at his word and demanded his resignation. Anyone who has a memory that goes back 3 years knows this.
TW, youre full of lies. You know dam well the AG looked into the babysitter allegation, and found nothing.
Her father always wanted to run against Atkins, and probably would have until his own addiction and rehab brought him crashing down.
This is exactly why in my opinion you guys will ruin this race. Surprise ITS ALL PUBLIC KNOWLEDGE, THE VOTERS RE-ELECTED THE GUY, THERE IS NOTHING YOU CAN SAY OR DO BY BRINGING UP THE PAST.
THE VOTERS ARE SICK OF THE LIES AND HALF TRUTHS YOU SPEAK ABOUT!
carry on now…..
“You know dam well the AG looked into the babysitter allegation, and found nothing.”
Actually, the AG didn’t find “nothing.” The AG found that it didn’t rise to the level of a prosecutable crime with a probability of conviction. That’s not “nothing.”
That said, anon. is right. That is the past. This race will turn on factors that have nothing to do with that. Factors like $200 million in tax increases and $200 million in spending increases. Greg Hastings would be a fool to bring up the past, and anyone else who does is hurting Greg Hastings’ campaign and helping to re-elect Atkins.
“Good luck trying to regain a seat you threw away.”
Not that you have eight brain cells to rub together, but the GOP held the seat in the ’07 special election after Atkins resigned, under difficult circumstances. It was lost by just 600 votes in a major wave election which swept all kinds of Democrats into office. Not thrown away.
I for one think it was the right thing to do, and it was nice for once to see ethics trump politics. Obviously, Rick has no soul or conscience, so that kind of thing doesn’t matter to him.
In fact, if there was anything wrong with it, it’s that it doesn’t happen often enough.
anontoo and TW are right about Atkins. But who cares? Any decent conservative will vote against a representative like Atkins who claims to be conservative, but then spends the end of the 2009 legislative session burdening the taxpayers of the state and his district with $200 million dollars worth of tax hikes.
Check out http://www.delawaregrapevine.com according to republican leaders this race isnt even on the radar screen?
“Check out http://www.delawaregrapevine.com according to republican leaders this race isnt even on the radar screen?”
Well, then, we should all take the next few months off.