Back on January the 14th I was contacted by Bob Mitchell asking if we could get together for a conversation. I had planned on being at Jimmy’s Grill for breakfast the next morning, so suggested he join me. His response was, “Yeeesh…. the only problem with early breakfasts is that its…. well…. Early!!“.
He did show up, and joined me and my friend Steve Grossman. I had heard from his brother, that Bob intended to primary the 35th Representative Dave Wilson, and so the conversation quickly turned to that topic.
Of course the first question anyone would ask Mr. Mitchell, is why would you take on such a fight? So I did. His initial answer had something to do with being a financial guy, which is his job as a mortgage originator. Then he actually said that he felt that we needed more conservatives in Dover. Before I get to his third point, let me address these two.
On the point of him being a financial guy, unless he can point to a vote, or a position which Dave Wilson has cast or taken, which was not a conservative position, then I am not sure what he will bring to the job. After all, isn’t it a conservative principle that our elected officials are sent to Dover to represent our views, not their own. I would bet that you would be hard pressed to find a majority of people in the 35th who feel that Dave Wilson has not done just that. So reason one for Bob to run seems thin to me.
As for needing more conservatives in Dover? This one is laughable. Dave Wilson is most likely the most consistently conservative voting Legislator in the state capital. If it is Bob Mitchell’s intent to run to the right of Dave Wilson, then he had better be very careful not to fall off the edge of the world. So, reason number two is beyond thin, it is non-existent.
So that brings me to the real reason, in my opinion, of why Bob Mitchell is running a primary against Representative Wilson. This is not just my opinion, but was stated over and over again by Mr. Mitchell. Mr. Mitchell has very close ties with former 35th Representative District Chairman, Jack Clark, who is also his neighbor outside of Greenwood.
Mr. Clark is a longtime supporter of Sussex County Register of Wills, Cindy Green. Another supporter of Ms. Green, is current 35th RD Chair Jordan Warfel. I believe that Mr. Mitchell is being used by these people and others to seek revenge for the 2014 primary and general election that Ms. Green was up for re-election in. In that cycle Ms. Green was opposed in the primary by Brian Butler, who Rep. Wilson supported. Mr. Mitchell said he had no problem with this. But what bothers Mr. Mitchell is the fact that Rep. Wilson publicly endorsed and supported Ms. Green’s Democrat opponent in the general election, Greg Fuller.
If you don’t believe me, just look at the push card he gave me that morning.
Notice the fifth bullet point at the top. “Vocal supporter of Republicans”.
In our conversation, no matter what we were talking about concerning issues, Mr. Mitchell would slip back into being angry about Rep. Wilson’s support of a Democrat.
Well I would suggest that Mr. Mitchell ask his longtime friend, Jack Clark about the PAC Mr. Clark owns, the 35th Representative District Conservative Committee. This PAC donated money to Democrat Lynn Rogers. Good for the goose, good for the gander. This PAC was also heavily supported by Cindy Green and Eric Bodenweiser, and the PAC supported Bodenweiser in his primary of Sen. Joe Booth. In fact many of the same actors, Green, Clark and Warfel were all supporters of the accused rapist and convicted sex offender Eric Bodenweiser.
I asked if Mr. Mitchell had voted for Bodenweiser, but he couldn’t remember if he had or not. Now that might sound strange to some people, but considering Mr. Mitchell’s spotty voting record, maybe not so much.
Here is his response to being asked about that fact.
My daughter Emily is 22 years old and did not vote in her first opportunity (although interestingly, she actually worked as a poll volunteer in my opponent’s campaign). She was (and still is) in college and did not take the time to go vote. My son Andrew just turned 18 in August (he registered when he got his drivers license when he was 16) so this will be his first opportunity to exercise his right to vote.
Like many people, our concerns with, and attention towards, the political, economic, and social issues affecting our state and nation have sharpened considerably over the last 10 years. And yes, we are “good and loyal Republicans” who support and vote for Republicans (which is one of my concerns I have with my opponent). And when I met with Mr. Wilson – before I announced to anyone that I was running – I spoke with him about that and committed to him that if I were not to win in September, I would vote for him in November. It is certainly not my intent to harm my party. Primaries are designed to bring forward the best candidates with the best ideas and present them to the voters. Then they will decide who they feel will best represent them. If you want to know what I stand for and the concerns that I have for my state and my district, please do not hesitate to contact me. I welcome all opportunities to get to know people.
There used to be a bar in downtown Greenwood that served 22 oz draft beers.