Dodge Bob

So, Bob Mitchell was out of touch recently, more so than usual, and when he returned, he had what I am sure he thought, was a new and better way to attack Representative Dave Wilson. Bob Mitchell had tried to disguise his real reason for challenging Dave Wilson in a Republican primary for the seat of the 35th Representative district. He attempted to make people believe that Dave Wilson was a fiscal liberal.

Now that the people who know Dave Wilson have stopped laughing, let me fill everyone in on the real reason. As I have pointed out here previously, Bob Mitchell is a pawn for the Greenwood MOB, a group of people in the Greenwood area who feel Dave Wilson committed the cardinal sin of politics, for supporting the person he felt was most qualified for an office. This was in the race for Sussex County Register of Wills, in which Dave supported someone other than the incumbent Republican Cindy Green.

Ms. Green is the “Queen Bee” of the Greenwood MOB, and her supporters have taken it upon themselves to carry out this “vendetta” like campaign against Dave Wilson. Now of course Dodge Bob Mitchell has, and will deny this is the reason for him running, even though in personal conversations with myself and others, he can’t help but return to this as a topic when talking of his campaign.

And now for his new cover story. In a recent Facebook post on his so-called campaign page, he brought up the topic of recent legislation of which Rep. Wilson is a co-sponsor on. The legislation would consolidate the three county Register of Wills offices under one appointed officer in Dover.

Now the benefits, or negatives, of such a move can be debated, however, Dodge Bob’s reason for posting it, is absolutely clear from his own words.

Vote For Bob Mitchell

May 11 at 12:40pm

So let me understand… just 18 months ago, the Register of Wills position was so important that my opponent publicly endorsed a Democrat against the Republican incumbent… He lost… and now he actually Co-Sponsors legislation to eliminate the position entirely?!
And the fact that the Estate Closure Tax and other Fees will increase for Sussex County residents does not matter to him because “they would not impact the average taxpayer on a daily basis.”?? Well, I suppose that is true since the “average taxpayer” doesn’t die on a “daily basis”!! But it certainly affects many families every day in our County…
Is this just a continuation of his personal campaign against the current elected Register of Wills??

The important sentence in this post is the last one, where he just could not control himself, and had to take up the torch for Cindy Green. “Is this just a continuation of his personal campaign against the current elected Register of Wills??”

You see, Dodge Bob is clearly consumed with righting, what the Greenwood MOB sees as a wrong. Bob Mitchell can talk about fiscal issues, and now about legislation, but he can’t help but betray his true reason for running, and that is, the defense of Cindy Green.

When challenged by a commenter on his page about the usefulness of the office, this was Dodge Bob’s so-called answer, “When you take away local control and responsibility and switch it to a centralized State run department, you will lose accountability and service.
Since Mr. Wilson is the only Republican lawmaker to sign on to the bill, I can’t help but see his endorsement as a continuation of his ongoing personal issue with the current Register of Wills… ”

Notice once again he can’t help himself from taking on the defense of Cindy Green in the end of that statement.

And once again when challenged about the continuous increase in the budget of the Cindy Green administration of the office, Dodge Bob came right back to it, “So the Register of Wills office is actually a source of revenue for Sussex County. But I’m sure the State would be much more efficient at it… Yeah, right… that always works… Not.
This is nothing more than a Democrat grab for more control over a revenue stream that got the backing of a Republican due to his personal attack against the current Register of Wills… “

There is also one other thing in this comment which is very telling, Mr. Mitchell seems to either have not read the legislation, or is purposefully misleading anyone reading his words. The bill clearly states, the money each county raises from the Wills office, will remain in said county.

And now I come to the part where Mitchell gets his new name, Dodge Bob. I asked Dodge Bob these direct questions.

“The Register of Wills is an elected bureaucrat, they simply enforce the laws and regulations of the state. Please tell me what local “control” will be lost? What can the Register do upon their own authority? Can they pass laws? Can they pass regulations? Can they lower taxes? Can they raise taxes? Tell us Bob, what do they control other than the light switch as they are leaving the building.”

His next response to me was, “YOU have said from the beginning that I was in this because of Dave’s issue with Cindy – and that couldnt be further from the truth.” Really Dodge Bob? Then how come it has been a central theme in you post and comments on this topic of the Office of Register of Wills? HUM?

But wait, old Dodge Bob actually tries to give an answer, this is good, you might want to go get some popcorn for this part.

Vote For Bob Mitchell, “The Register of Wills has the authority to probate estates in the county. The vast majority of these cases are handled completely “in house” without any involvement of the Court (I thought for sure I posted these exact comments earlier somewhere..) That is their job and, while it is not something that affects all of us very often, it typically affects most of us at sometime or other. I know that I went there with my mother when my father passed away. The clients that they deal with are in a very sensitive emotional state and deserve to be treated with kindness and respect and given very sound advice on what they need to do. That is my very limited understanding of what this office does. For some reason, our founding fathers decided that it was important that the person who was over this office be held accountable by the people in their county. While it may be antiquated, that arguement still has merit. Can they hire and fire people in the office? To my understanding, No they can’t – the County is in charge of personnel except for their deputy and the deputy that is appointed by Chancery Court. So in many ways their hands are rather tied when it comes to making hiring/firing decisions – yet they are still responsible for the service the office provides – I suppose this is a sort of “balance of power” within the office.
Other than that, I am pretty much tapped out on my knowledge of what “power they wield”… Not sure if thats the answer you are looking for, or not…”

WOW! “The Register of Wills has the authority to probate estates in the county. ” And one has to ask whether or not Bob Mitchell know from where that authority comes? “That is their job”, that’s right Bob, it’s their job, not their authority or control of anything, they have to follow the laws put forth by the Legislature.

“I know that I went there with my mother when my father passed away. The clients that they deal with are in a very sensitive emotional state and deserve to be treated with kindness and respect and given very sound advice on what they need to do.” “That is my very limited understanding of what this office does.”

Holy Cow Batman!!!!!! Bob Mitchell, who is running against Dave Wilson to be the Representative in the 35th District, who would have us send him to Dover, where he would be charged with making decisions about the office of Register of Wills, along with many other things, just said, that his “limited knowledge” of this office, the office he felt compelled to post on his page about, consist of, he went there with his mother, and the people working there are supposed to be nice. Okay, that one deserved popcorn and milk duds.

“Other than that, I am pretty much tapped out on my knowledge of what “power they wield” Yeah Bob, I would say you should just tap out of this race now, before you embarrass yourself anymore.

This was my response on Dodge Bob’s page,

”

Frank Knotts, Well Bob you limited knowledge is obvious, and your understanding of the office you came here to defend is on full display. What you described is the job that all three Wills offices are charged with, and all they are doing is following state laws, they cannot effect or “control” those laws.
You argument that they are accountable to the people who elect them for the job they do is also a shallow understanding of life in general.
I live in Sussex, I vote for the Sussex Register, however, when both of my parents passed away, I had to process their estates through Kent Register of Wills. Which by the way was extremely helpful and considerate.
But what if I had been unhappy with how they handled the process Bob?
I didn’t vote for them, nor could I vote against them in the next election to hold them accountable.
The simple fact that a person is following the laws passed by the state does not constitute local control. So I ask again, can you Bob, who posted here to defend the office of Wills, tell of any real control the position has.
If not it means you are here defending an office you know nothing about, as you admitted in your last comment.“

And in response, Dodge Bob said,

“Vote For Bob Mitchell, You keep spinning it, Frank… who knows, you may even convince yourself that Dave’s Co-sponsored Bill was something other than an attempt to use his political position to continue his personal attack.” And once again, the defense of Cindy Green raises its ugly head.

Dodge Bob was once again challenged about the increases in cost for the Wills office he was defending, and his response was, ”

“Vote For Bob Mitchell I haven’t looked at the Register of Wills budget to see what those increases are”.

So, old Dodge Bob sat down to defend the office, without doing any research? This is what the people of the 35th could expect from Bob Mitchell if he could ever be elected.

Now to close this out, let me inform voters within the 35th District, there is a meeting of the 35th Representative District scheduled for Monday night, May 23, 2016 at the Greenwood Library, but of course, at 6pm. This meeting will be run by Jordan Warfel, the Chair of the 35th RD Committee, and a long time supporter of Cindy Green as well. In the email that was sent out, it was stated that Dave Wilson’s support of this legislation would be a topic of discussion, and that Rep. Wilson had been invited. I believe Rep. Wilson has accepted, even though the bill has been tabled at this time.

This meeting will be nothing more than a witch hunt, carried out by another member of the Greenwood MOB, in retribution for Dave Wilson supporting the best person for the office, putting the people of Sussex ahead of party affiliation, another of Bob Mitchell’s lame attempts to attack Rep. Wilson.

I encourage as many of Dave Wilson’s supporters who can show up, to do so. Don’t let this small group of hostiles put forth the perception they speak for the people of the 35th.

delacrat says:

May 22, 2016 at 11:10 pm

What if Wilson and Mitchell had a debate about the Register of Wills….and nobody came ?

Matador says:

May 23, 2016 at 11:59 pm

Another case of the pot calling the kettle black. as in a dirty rotten scum-sucking, small-time punk member of the Georgetown Mafia (Frankie “the RINO” Knotts) blabbing and blogging about the “Greenwood MOB”.

Frank Knotts says:

May 24, 2016 at 6:27 am

Thank you Matador, I’m sorry you didn’t have the courage to introduce yourself at the monthly meeting. Maybe next month though.

Rick says:

May 24, 2016 at 8:02 am

The people of Sussex will decide. And one of the components of the decision making process is the wisdom of Wilson’s endorsing of a Democrat for an elective office. His voting record in the legislature is not an issue; his judgement in an anti-incumbent election year is.

Don’t take the bait, Matador- Frank might talk you to death.