Rep. Darryl Scott Gives the Democratic Perspective
Jan 2nd, 2010 by David Anderson
Guest Opinion, the year in review from the Democrat side of the Aisle
2009 Recap
Despite extremely challenging times — by most accounts the greatest our state has faced in several decades — we were able to pass legislation in 2009 touching nearly every Delawarean in an ongoing effort to improve their quality of life. Ranging from public safety measures, education bills, anti-discrimination legislation, new protections for our seniors and bills honoring our military, when all summed up I believe the 2009 General Assembly session was a success.
An early success of the session was the re-authorization of sports betting. House Substitute 1 for House Bill 100 provided our Racino partners with a competitive advantage and has resulted in adding much-needed funds to the state’s revenue.
The summaries below highlight some of the legislation passed and signed into law this past year.
Public Safety
· Established enhanced penalties for registered sex offenders who commit a sex offense against a child under 12 years of age.
· Added paramedics, EMTs, fire marshals and fire police officers to a list of first responders whose death can result in a first-degree murder charge.
· Increased the penalties for the crime of “sex offender unlawful sexual conduct against a child” when the victim is under 18 and has a cognitive disability.
Education
· Replaced the costly and ineffective DSTP with the new Delaware Comprehensive Assessment System (DCAS) which will provide teachers a better tool and greater flexibility as to when to assess a student’s progress.
· Granted local districts substantially more discretion with respect to expenditure of state education funds and also established a number of safeguards to ensure that those funds are spent in a responsible manner.
· Expanded an existing program allowing Delaware National Guardsmen to receive financial assistance for a master’s degree without allocating any additional funding above the amount already appropriated in the fiscal 2009 budget.
Quality of Life and Seniors
· Prohibited discrimination against a person based on their sexual orientation, whether the orientation is real or perceived in areas of housing, employment, public works contracting, public accommodations or insurance.
· Allowed competent adults to receive visits in a hospital, nursing home or nursing facility from any person they choose. The law does not overrule a facility’s visitation policies that are based on the patient’s medical condition, visitation hours or a court order.
· Gave the public online access to the Adult Abuse Registry so Delawareans seeking to hire someone to help care for their elderly loved one could easily go online and check the job applicant’s name against the registry.
· Increased penalties for repeat drunk drivers.
Government Reform
· Placed the General Assembly under the state’s Freedom of Information Act as a public body, subjecting the legislature to the state’s open meeting laws.
· Prohibited state agencies from granting an unpaid leave of absence to workers while they are incarcerated.
· Restructured the Violent Crimes Compensation Board, a result of the work of the Sunset committee. Reforms include reducing the compensation of board members to a $100 per meeting from an annual salary of $10,000 including pension benefits.
· Amended the Freedom of Information Act to take advantage of current technology by permitting members of certain public bodies to participate in a meeting using video-conferencing under certain conditions.
My recap of the session would not be complete without a couple of comments regarding the budget approved the morning of July 1. Faced with an $800 million deficit meant making some extremely difficult decisions. The budget we approved reflected our commitment to the guiding principles used to direct our effort.
· Fiscal Responsibility – Reductions should real and sustainable. The budget approved included over $300 million in spending cuts, including the elimination of 1,000 positions out of 15,000.
· Keep our core commitments – Ensure the health and safety of our families, foster the growth of our economy and protect the quality of our air and water, give every child an opportunity to succeed, assist our senior citizens when needed and protect the rights of all of our citizens at all times. I believe the budget approved met this principles’ objective.
· Shared sacrifice – No group will bear a disproportionate burden. The budget required sacrifice from all constituencies including our state employees, Delawareans making more than $60,000 per year and corporations doing business in Delaware.
Our focus on maintaining our core commitments and fiscal responsibility will provide Delawareans with sensible solutions while protecting our children’s future, our seniors and those citizens with the greatest needs.
I will remember this session as very challenging yet rewarding – rewarding because I had the opportunity to meet and serve many constituents this past year. I look forward to serving them again in 2010.
Darryl M. Scott
State Representative – 31st District
302.430.7171 office
darryl.scott@state.de.us
Note: I have given his opponents almost open access. I thought it would be only fair to allow Rep. Scott his chance to make a case.
I like Rep. Scott. He is a decent man who cares about his constituents. I do have a difference. My problem is not what he said, but what was unsaid. The voting down of the marriage amendments, the failure of the gaming intiative, tax hikes, the lack of any fundamental resturcturing of state government, and energy rationing.
Nonetheless, I thank him for taking time to address our readership. It is a wise and courageous action and a well written post.
David, by your analysis then I guess you wont be supporting Nancy Wagner for mayor? She supported HB 99, SB5, and voted for it every time it came before her. She was a HUGE supporter of Dover Downs and always voted for the gaming industry. She was also responsible for growing state govt while on JFC and a quick search reveals she expanded govt. She wrote the most bills while she was in office. My question is if you dont agree with Rep, Scotts post, how can you vote for Nancy for mayor? Let me guess, because she is a republican……I should have known.
Let me offer a reality check. The Assembly and the Governor did very little of substance. As is the nature of people without firm beliefs they danced around the tough issues.
The budget was not fixed in any way. We took money from the Feds which will lock us into high levels of spending on any area where so called stimulus money was given. We have locked ourselves in to tax increases for the near future.
The structural changes needed were ignored. Not filling a state job which has no one in it is not reform. There needs to be an independent review of the entirety of state government for efficiency to the recipients of state services and value to taxpayers.
If this response is the best the Democrats have to offer I am very saddened.
Ask Mr Scott about the defrauded Transportation Trust Fund or perhaps the sad but true total government spending not just the General Fund.
The education system got a new test but did nothing to reduce the top heavy bureaucratic system we have and put more spending in the classrooms. Our para professionals are being driven into poverty so we can have too many administrators do too little which makes a difference.
The FOIA reform was window dressing to real open government like an inspector general or any nepotism reform not to mention referendum or recall.
The unpaid leave actions hide the disaster the Corrections Department is and was for the last 20 years.
Maybe Vince Meconi can hang around a bit longer and straighten out the state government.
Mike Protack
First, RSC show me what other website would let the opposition party have a guest post in the first place. Does Dana, DL, even Nancy’s site? Does even our conservative side do that? I would think that you would be praising me for giving Rep. Scott unedited coverage. Think about that first. Then complain again that I mildly disagreed.
Oh, ok, gee David your such a swell guy for posting that opionion piece of Rep. Scott. I don’t know what this world was coming to without your kindness, blah, blah, blah. Feel Better? David, its your blog you can do what you want with it? I dont really care, Im just saying by your analysis I look forward to you working against Nancy. Quit avoiding the facts. Her voting record was just as left as Rep. Scotts. Nancy supported gay rights, taxes, abortion, and grew govt while on JFC. Yes or no question, will you support her left idea and voting record for mayor of our capital city?
Will you be supporting Ron then?
I thought that Rep. Scott made a decent case, but I guess I was wrong because you can not defend even the mildest critque which went along the lines that he is a good man, but left something out.
You happen to wrong on half of your issues. What tax hike did Nancy Wagner support? Would she have voted for the energy rationing? Would she have voted against the amendments safeguarding marriage? Did she not vote for almost every pro-life bill that came to the floor?
There is no doubt that I had a problem with some of her positions and was open to a challenge from the right, but not the left. Do you think that the issues facing the mayor of Dover are intiative and referendum, holding the line on taxes, taking the intiative on fiscal management, finding ways to work with the county, and a long term strategy on power generation? Or do you think the mayor of Dover is going to deal with banning abortion, gay rights, and overriding state racino laws? Wagner’s skills seem to fit Mayor. I also like Mayor Carlton Carey.
The question is who will best be able to chart a new vision to meet the challenges facing the city. I will make my endorsement in sometime in Feb. after the filing is closed. I have a feeling the field is not complete.
Dont even know who Ron is….. I dont live in Dover.
Funny, you seem to have a lot of opinions on who should run the city. That’s ok. I have opinions about Sussex County and New Castle County or for that matter NY and FL.
Ron Smith and Ron Poliquin are likely going to compete for the honor of unseating him. They are both great choices.
Hmmmm….lets see, a crazy lawyer who moonlights as pro wrestler or another lawyer who was ousted in the last election for Levy Court? Yea, they are both great choices.
Crazy? You are full of talking points — I am thinking something else, but talking points will do. Are you trying to tell me that being real and having normal hobbies is crazy? I hope that you guys will play that card, it will be worth at least 5 points to Ron P. among normal people.
Normal hobbies? I challenge you to name ONE other person that you personally know that pro wrestles. Most “normal” people enjoy fishing, hunting, going to Nascar or other sporting events. This is not a normal hobby. Name just one.
About 1/3 of the men, I know at least occassionally watch it. I don’t know 1/3 of people who personally fish every year. How many NASCAR drivers do you know personally? It is a wild argument especially when you consider the man was not a pro wrestler. If he were, he would be a slam dunk ala Jesse or Linda.
How do you know that someone is gay? Do you make your determination by using the standard of how many of the stereotypical traits of homosexuality the subject seems to emulate? If a man has a lisp, or likes to wear purple, or has a limp handshake, is he gay? Are people who eat dinner at the ‘Blue Moon’ gay? How about male hairdressers? Men who don’t like sports?
Help me out, Rep. Scott.