In A Year When It Is All About The Show

  The most important political race for Delawareans, may also be the most boring race.  Look, I know this is the election cycle from hell, for all of us, no matter our party affiliation. And thanks in large part to Donald Trump, our political system has taken on an even more reality show style.

This has led voters to be, how do I say this nicely? Idiots. Okay, not so nice. But it’s true, people don’t seem to care about the candidate’s stand on real issues this time around, they certainly have given up on seeking out the best person for the job, no matter what the office is.

Here in Delaware we have a bit of a comic strip character running for Governor by the name of Lacey Lafferty, who has been running for three years, self funded. Why? Well because no one has given her any money.   Can’t figure out why, maybe because of poor judgement calls like posting this photo on social media as a candidate.  I have to say, her Republican primary opponent Sen. Colin Bonini is no great shake as a candidate himself, but of the two, I will have to cast my vote on September 13th for Colin Bonini. After all, Colin Bonini never hired Anthony Delcollo (who is running for the Senate in the 7th as a Republican) to sue me, to silence me. (More about Mr. Delcollo once we are past the primaries.)

  But this isn’t the most important race in Delaware, this primary season.

We do have an interesting primary race for the 3rd District for Sussex County Council. Okay, interesting may be a bit of a stretch. It is at least crowded. Four “Republicans” are battling for the chance to face the Democrat in November. This is really about last man standing, since this has been a nasty fight between the two “perceived” leaders in this race.  Local businessman, I.G. Burton, and a bit of a career politician from up north, Mark Schaeffer.

The field is fleshed out with Frank Shade, and Kevin Burdette. Now the front-runners have given us plenty to talk about on political sign locations, political sign vandalism, and Mr. Schaeffer’s DUI traffic stop. (Still awaiting trial.) But substance on the real issues facing the 3rd District, mainly land use, have gotten slim notice.

So quietly, as the two so-called front-runners, focus on each other, I believe Kevin Burdette has been doing exactly what a candidate needs to do in Delaware to win, reaching out to the people on the issues.

While I.G. Burton. (Pause, does anyone know what I.G. stands for?) While I.G. may have been a great car salesman, and businessman, he is not very exciting, and I must say, comes across a bit stuffy in his ads. Mark Schaeffer, well he may be qualified, but when a voter’s first impression of the candidate is, “um, well I just don’t know” ,  it makes it hard to get past that, to see the qualifications.

So if I were to vote in this election, I would have to give it to Kevin Burdette, simply because he has stayed on message and above the childish sign wars.

But this isn’t the most important race in Delaware either.

Of course another crowded field is the Democrat primary for Lt. Governor, this one has six, count them, six candidates.

Again, the perceived front-runner, is Sen. Bethany Hall-Long. I’m sorry, but she is just the Democrat version of Lacey Lafferty, an empty vessel, and they both have an issue with freedom of speech.

Here is a side by side comparison.

I have previously given my endorsement to the man I feel is the only person in this race, who understands the position, and doesn’t see it as just a stepping stone to the governor’s seat.  That would be Greg Fuller.

There are even some Republicans calculating that a Bethany Hall-Long win, would be a good thing. They feel putting this person one seat away from the governor’s seat is worth it, if they could win her current seat in a special election. I just can’t bring myself to see it that way. That is why, I feel Greg Fuller is the best person for the job, if not the best political calculation.

And yes, the Lt. Governor’s race is an important race. (Okay I made myself laugh on that one.) But not the most important race in Delaware.

Back to Sussex County, and the Republican primary race for the 2nd District of the County Council. This race is between incumbent Sam Wilson, and challenger Lisa Hudson-Briggs. (Is it me, or are there a lot of hyphens in this election cycle?) 

It is no secret, Sam Wilson has gone off the reservation, in the eyes of a lot of conservatives, with his no vote on the Overbrook Town Center project. There is also the real issue with Mr. Wilson’s health. He has had a heart attack and a severe stroke. One has to question his ability to serve a full term, and if so, how capable will he be?

His challenger, who is new to politics, and so may not be smooth as silk when speaking in public, may not have the institutional knowledge of long serving elected officials. But what she is, is smart, and capable. Yes, she will have to learn as she goes if elected, but how many times have we heard from the Sam Wilson supporters, “what we need are new ideas”. Considering his health, and his new-found liberal ideas on property rights, maybe it is time Sam Wilson sat on his front porch and enjoyed his grandchildren.

No not the most important race.

The most important race, in my opinion, will be the primary, and then the general election for the office of the Insurance Commissioner.

On the Democrat side there is long, long, long serving Karen Weldin-Stewart, (Holy crap, another hyphen!)  Okay I now predict, at least one person with a hyphen in their name will win something. Ms. Stewart’s primary opponent, Trinidad Navarro is currently the New Castle County Sheriff, and has a long history of law enforcement, and while he has been an insurance agent in the past, a look at his bio page tells me his true calling was as a police officer. Then he became a sheriff in Delaware, go figure.

Ms. Stewart has over stayed her welcome, time to go. And I would tell Mr. Navarro, follow your dreams, and stick with your first true love.

Now on the Republican side, we have former Sussex Clerk of the Peace, George Parish. Great guy, long time Republican, fun to be around, always the life of the party. Has a catchy campaign phrase, “The status quo, must go”.  I like George, and I promised him early on, that because of my relationship to his opponent, and himself, I would not get involved in this race.

Well, we are less than a week till the primary, I gave George a chance to become a good candidate, to reach deeper than a catch phrase. And honestly, I think he has tried, but I feel the importance of this office, in the coming years, will require more expertise than Mr. Parish has in the field of insurance.  We need an insurance guy, for an insurance job.

Mr. Parish is facing former gubernatorial candidate, Jeff Cragg in the Republican primary on September 13th.

Jeff Cragg is also a great guy, but I have to tell you, I have known Mr. Cragg for several years now, and quite honestly, he is boring. This guy tends to get down, deep in the weeds when he is giving a stump speech. Giving facts and figures drawn from a lifetime, and family history of working at the highest levels of the insurance world.

When Jeff Cragg talks about the ins and outs of insurance, you get the feeling he actually understands it, though about half way through you may feel the need for tooth pics for your eye lids. But that’s okay. Following this years presidential election, and whatever may happen to congress, we here in Delaware are going to want, and need someone in the Insurance Commissioner’s office, who actually understands the insurance business from the inside out.

Now matter who wins on the national level, insurance is going to be at the top of the to-do list. Either we are going to see a continuation of the Affordable Health care-Act, which means more regulations and cost increases, or possibly we could see an attempt to dismantle the AHCA, and then we will need a real leader in that position to navigate Delaware through some very rough seas.

Yes, Jeff Cragg is boring when he talks about insurance. But you get the sense he knows insurance. So the question is, will Republicans vote for the catchy phrase from the real nice guy and take their chances? Or will they put aside the reality show mentality long enough to see who the best, most qualified person for the job is? In my opinion, that would be Jeff Cragg.

I’m sure I have missed a race or two that others find interesting. Feel free to add them in the comment sections, but for now, try to keep to the primaries on this thread, any Trump/Clinton debates may be edited out. There are other threads for that, please and thank you.

Please understand, these were not predictions, I am terrible at predicting what the voters will do. I am merely giving my opinion on who I think is the best person in these particular races.