Polly Wanna Stand-in?
Jul 20th, 2009 by MariaEvans
I’ve heard from multiple sources that Polly Adams Mervine, a faux painter (that’s someone who paints stuff with sponges or stencils) who’s vying for her deceased father’s state senate seat on a platform of blatant nepotism, wanted to have Senator Bob Venables stand in for her at a debate in her hometown of Bridgeville.
Yeah, you read that right, Senator Bob Venables.
What better way to prove you’re ready to step in as a state senator during precarious times then having another state senator answer questions for you in a debate. But alas, my sources tell me that the venue, Crossroads Community Church, rejected the stand-in idea so Mervine will be bailing on the debate part of tomorrow night’s debate.
Don’t get me wrong, apparently Mervine is going to be there, she’s just not going to answer any questions. Instead, she’s showing up to give an opening statement, giving her best beauty pageant wave, and running like a bunny (to a fundraiser, maybe?) before any questions can be asked.
With only 2 weeks until the special election, an extraordinarily thin “Issues” page on her campaign website, and rumors swirling that she may be avoiding a live appearance on a local radio station, I have to wonder if the people of the 19th Senatorial District will get a sufficient opportunity to hear her answer questions about the issues that matter to them.
Will Nepotism Barbie be able to take the 19th?
Speaking of running for a state office because of who you’re related to, check out this post from liberalgeek over at DelawareLiberal, who smells that familiar “Delaware Way” stench coming from the “pull-out” of Eddy Parker as the candidate for the seat and the subsequent anointing of Mervine in his place. For the record, geek isn’t the only one smelling exactly that same stench, I’ve had several people tell me the same story like it’s common knowledge.
Maybe Parker just wanted to be in a parade... (thanks to that's elbert for the pic)
And is Mervine, the daughter of Thurman “Desk Drawer Veto” Adams, really using “Another Generation of Leadership,” as a campaign slogan? All I can say is “YIKES!”
UPDATE: You’ve gotta love the Sussex County Rumor Mill…The whole “trying to get Venables to fill in for her/showing up for the opening statement then bailing on her potential constituents for a “fundraiser”" thingie was just verified live on the Sussex County airwaves by the event’s moderator.
I trust the people of the 19th District to look beyond last names and see qualifications. If she answers questions then they will be able to judge her ability based on that. If she doesn’t then they will only be able to judge what she lacks, an answer.
a wise man said:
it is better to remain silent have have people your you’re a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.
Maria, you are on to something here, and it does stink!
There are other qualified candidates running for this seat, which is a problem, as they will be dividing up the anti-Polly vote.
a wise man said (don’t type before coffee):
it is better to remain silent and have people think you’re a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.
Seems to me that she may be trying to hide some political views that she knows people in the 19th will reject. Will she appear at any debates? Will she answer any live questions?
Or will the voters have to rely on lame newspaper candidate questionnaires with answers carefully crafted by her staff and people like Senator Venables?
I am tempted to say that I would support the Republican rather than Polly. Then I thought I’d better go check out the Republican.
As usual in Delaware, both of them are making it difficult to draw up an issue-by-issue comparison. Good luck finding the info. Maybe the News Journal will do one of their comparison questionnaires.
Newspaper comparison questionnaires are crapola. You don’t even know if the candidate wrote the answers.
You don’t even know if the candidate wrote the answers.
No, but if the answers were wrong the candidate would make sure you heard about it.
I also found it odd that in response to a written request for a position on mandatory helmet laws, we received a response from her husband, not herself. The I and L candidates responded personally (no response yet as far as I know from the R candidate).
You don’t skip a big media covered candidate’s night for a fundraiser when the knock on you is that you don’t have issues or that you aren’t a up to the task. You do both. You have the stand in at the fundraiser and personally call each of the people before or after to thank them for coming. They get the contact they desire and you go to the event. What fundraiser would you go to that the people would rather have you skip one of the few big events of the campaign to be with them.
At best it is a rookie mistake. At worst she really is hiding. Either way advantage Booth.
“Newspaper comparison questionnaires are crapola. You don’t even know if the candidate wrote the answers.”
Rest Assured Maria, that very nice Senate Staff guy, former News Journal Reporter, Patrick Jackson is working hard on Polly’s Newspaper questionaires as we speak.
Ducking a debate? I remember republicans supporting one republican not attending debates.
Last year, Markell, Carney and I debated several times with one absent.
I agree she should be there but let’s be truthful.
Mike Protack
Yes Mike, that was during a PRIMARY race. But that candidate DID debate Markell many times after he totally crushed his opponent in the primary.
This race will really show the intelligence of voters way down there.
If you remember, many of us said the Lee strategy was a mistake and were proven correct. In the long run, it hurt him. Even if she manages to win the split field, she will have to change or else it will hurt her the next election. She may not make it that far.
She is getting the rap of nepotism Barbie. I don’t want that to come off as hating because she is beautiful. What I am saying is that her campaign is purely aspirational like a pageant. I want us to have the best schools and plenty of jobs, but I don’t need to offer a single solution to get them because my daddy was a legend. Like Barbie, it looks good from but it is all plastic. There is no life in the message.
Great post! I’ll subscribe right now wth my feedreader software!
“Another Generation of Leadership”
I know – what was she thinking???
She should really do a lot more campaigning and showing up and debating — after all, she wasn’t the first choice of the Sussex County Executive Committee and even after the other candidate withdrew and it was between her and Lynn Rogers, it still took 5 votes and she only got the nomination because ONE person switched sides (probably to finally go home and get some dinner)
Well Suzie, it’s like dis. Those folk weren’t voting for Lynn Rogers, they were voting against Polly Mervine (never did know her as Adams Mervine til this election). And it wasn’t the Sussex County Executive Committee doing the voting, it was those paper-dropping, phone calling, door canvassing, down in the trenches poor committee folks who finally got to be respected for a change. They did the voting, NOT the Exec. Committee. And then, and you just won’t believe this, but you can be pretty assured, it was the Senate Democrat heirarchy that put pressure on the Dem. State Party Chair, John Daniello to get that Parker boy outta there some way, any way! Why, I hear he was running around like a chicken with his head cut off, and arranging “secret” meetings between the Adams family and Parker, trying to figure out how he was gonna fix this “honest” mess and get a re-vote. And can you believe it, after he set up that secret meeting, only Mr. Mervine showed up!? Poor Polly was too exhausted from losing the first vote! That’s the REAL reason Polly can’t show up at these forums! And you surely read that poor Sen. Venables just couldn’t understand what happened, or how it happened on that first vote that poor Princess Polly didn’t get the nomination. And then you must have heard that it was ole Aunt Ruthie Adams-Joseph who called all around to those senators telling them that she would never contribute to their campaigns again! And she is loaded! With what? Well you can guess at that! Why, I’ve been told she even called the party chair person and told her off because she didn’t vote for Princess Polly, either. Oh, there is so much stuff going on in that district that I cannot believe the newspapers are keeping it so quiet. Or, maybe they are protecting her too. I mean that Bridgeville district is broken wide open. They aren’t working for her at all. And I even heard the party chair lady isn’t working for her either. And I guess this is all because the system worked for a change, but it didn’t work the way some wanted it to, so the good ole boy power structure sure got that changed. And we thought it would be gone now. Don’t you think that for a minute! Power to the little people, right??!! Maybe somebody out there knows more? This stuff comes from close to the source people – truthbetold!