If Putin equals Hitler

Then Obama equals Chamberlain

  Down here in Sussex County there always seems to be someone complaining about something, I guess that’s just human nature, I fall prey to it myself quite often.

As of late it seems that one of the targets of this type of complaint, is Sussex Tech High School. The latest round of complaints have been sparked due to the school district’s request for a tax rate ceiling increase. Now of course in any school district when the words tax, and increase fall in the same sentence, there will always be people who naturally react negatively.

However when you add in Sussex Tech’s unique situation regarding the tax increase process, well it makes for a lot of emotions, and misinformation.

You see, unlike traditional school districts, Sussex Tech does not hold referendums to ask the tax payers for an increase in the tax rate to pay for their day-to-day needs, or even for the expansion of the facilities. Instead Sussex Tech has to go through a committee process to simply gain approval, to then ask the Legislature in Dover to pass a bill that would raise the tax rate ceiling (cap).

Now considering the level of contention over the latest request for raising the ceiling, one might believe that Sussex Tech makes this request every school year. One might believe this, if one were to only listen to local talk radio and the callers who call in to complain, not only about how the school is funded, but also about the school in general. Everything from how students become eligible for enrollment, to the courses offered, to the very fact that the students are too successful in their academic achievement. No, really! They actually complain about the level of success at Tech.

But let’s look at some facts first. This is only the second time in twenty-three years that Sussex Tech has requested the ability to raise the tax rate ceiling.  And just what would this rate increase ceiling amount to if approved?

The average Sussex County household pays approximately $41.00 a year to support Sussex Tech. The worse case scenario if the increase request were to be approved would raise the cost by  $41.44 a year, for a total of $82.44 a year. However that increase would be spread out over six years. Tax payers would see an increase of $19.04 in FY 2015, and then increases of $4.78 for each of the next five years.

Now of course those people opposed could say that actually doubles the cost of supporting Sussex Tech, and they would be right. But we have to ask ourselves one question. What do we get for that cost?

This is where I admit my bias on this issue. I am the proud parent of a Sussex Tech graduate, who made Honor Roll every marking period. Who has gone on to college to earn her degree in elementary education, and who has made the Dean’s List every semester. My daughter was able to achieve high academic goals that she set for herself, and that we as parents expected of her.

So when she went to Sussex Tech and the tax rate was $41.00, if multiplied by the four years she was there, I paid $164 for her excellent education, while also paying my Woodbridge taxes, and even if the worse case scenario of the new rate were to come true, I would have paid $329.76 for that education, a hell of a bargain at either rate. Of course I recognize that I didn’t start paying these taxes when she started to attend, and I am still paying now almost four years after she graduated, and will continue to pay as long as I live in Sussex.

That my friends is our debt to future generations, consider it paying it ahead. Should we just say that since my child has moved on, well I don’t need to pay for the next child? I say no. Look I am a small government and low taxes person. I want my tax dollars spent in a manner that reflects my conservative views. In fact I look at government spending the same way I look at my personal spending. I will gladly pay top dollar for  a meal that I feel is worth it, I will pay good hard-earned money for tools that I know will last. In other words I have no problem paying for things that are of good quality. That is why I have no problem with Sussex Tech. You may have a problem with how they go about funding the district, but I don’t know how anyone who is honest can argue against the fact that they turn out a quality product, well-educated students.

So, what is wrong with Sussex Tech? Well some will tell you they have wandered away from their original mission of being a “technical” school. But have they? I don’t think so. I do think however that many people are confusing a technical/career school which is what Sussex Tech is, with a “trade” school, a school that teaches nothing but the trades. Such as carpentry, plumbing, masonry, and electrical construction.

But is that what the forerunners of Sussex Tech, and the other tech schools were intended to be? Again I don’t think so. I went to Kent County Vo-Tech in the late 1970’s and at that time the Vo-Techs had classes for child care, they had classes for food service, half of which was training for working in the fast food service industry. They offered classes for many things outside of simply the “trades”.

Sussex Tech is offering many classes outside of the “trades” as well. Like education, graphic design, law enforcement and others. These are the careers of today. Every student who attends Sussex Tech must be enrolled in a technical/vocational program in order to attend, and cannot graduate without a CTE concentration. Which puts another myth to rest. And yes they are prepared to move on to college if they so choose.

In my experience with people who have a beef with Sussex Tech, I find them to be in large part, either petty when it comes to paying for it, or jealous of the success that student achieve there. You can almost hear them saying, “we need a school for the dumb kids who can’t go to college”. So instead of expecting more from a student, they would bring down Sussex Tech.

We hear of recruiting of students out of their home districts. Not so. Here is the selection process

• The selection process is held each year by a method approved and monitored by the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) and Department of Education o It allows for legacy admissions of siblings within two years of graduation  o It allows for current fulltime faculty’s and/or Board of Education Member’s children • A computerized lottery is an equitable system used to assist with geographically mirroring the makeup of Sussex County • Sussex Tech does have a minimum of a 70 grade for primary eligibility, which is “passing” for most districts o This excludes a less than 1% of all applicants • Sussex Tech serves a diverse population(ethnically and economically) • Sussex Tech serves special education students and their families along with regular education students • Sussex Tech does not hand-pick students o They  (THE STUDENTS/PARENTS/GUARDIANS) pick Sussex Tech and their involved parents/guardians sign the application

This myth of Sussex Tech recruiting student comes from the fact that the Sussex Tech students are on average of a higher quality, and why is that? Is it because they don’t hold referendums? Is it because they have unlimited funding? No. It is because, in my view, they choose to go there, they make the effort to be accepted there. Both the student and the parents are motivated for that student to excel.

So, what’s wrong with Sussex Tech? Well some would say that it’s not right that the Sussex Tech Board is not elected by the citizens, and on this I may agree. Which brings us to Senator Brian Pettyjohn’s proposed legislation to change the Sussex Tech Board  from being a board made up of seven appointed members, into being made up of ten members elected by the citizens of Sussex County. These members would be elected from the five Sussex council manic districts, two each, for four-year terms, the elections to be held during general elections.

Okay, so I can go with that. But what I would hate to see is a board made up of people whose only intent was to destroy what has been a glowing success. Sometimes we as conservatives have a hard time accepting when government actually gets something right. There is often a knee jerk reaction to fight all things government, even the ones that do what they are charged with. Sussex Tech is charged with giving a quality education to the students that attend there, and in my opinion that is exactly what it does.

Of course an elected board will not satisfy the Tech Haters. The next step will be referendum on all spending and funding increases. I have no problem with referendum voting in individual school districts. I have voted in a few myself, I have voted to support some, and voted to defeat some. Again, I vote based on my views of the worthiness of the issue.

But my concern for putting Sussex Tech under the burden of a countywide referendum is the same concern I have for the people who call for a statewide form of referendum on spending. Certain areas of the state would control all votes, and in Sussex the more populated areas of the eastern part of the county would decide all the votes concerning Sussex Tech. This is an area with a large number of retired people who have moved here. They have no ties to the county, they have no children or even grandchildren in the school system, and they just may have an attitude of, “why should I pay higher taxes, I don’t have kids in the school”.

While I am leery of tinkering with something that clearly works well, I am willing to take a chance with an elected board, but a county-wide referendum would close the doors of Sussex Tech, and that would be a shame and a crime.

One last thing, if so many people are upset that so many students leave their home districts to attend Sussex Tech, then maybe they should be working within their districts to make them better and more competitive with Tech. Who knows, if all the districts were offering the same level of education, maybe there would be no need for a Tech.

After a little over 21 years at the helm of the state of Delaware, the Democrats have discovered that the roads are falling apart and the water is dirty. As the sunset of Mr. Markell’s term looms closer on the horizon, the economy lacks the strength to properly grow the statist agenda.  What can’t be had through plenty, is now easily available through guilt, as being opposed to the growth of Dover’s relentless bureaucracy is now somehow seen to be advancing an agenda of dirty water, and pothole littered streets.

It may never be known why it took the great minds of Dover over two decades to awaken to these calamities, but rest assured that the party of one-party rule has a solution.  That solution is, of course, more. When the Governor and his ilk  say, “more”, what they truly mean is actually, “less” for their constituents.

Bereft of ideas, and too squeamish to actually lead, the Democrats in Dover will take more of your money, which leads you to have less. “Less” is a term not heard in Dover, ever.  Anyone in the private sector for the last five years is well acquainted with less, and the life it accommodates.  Outside of Dover, the private sector and those employed therein, have spent the last five years, (and likely the 16 proceeding those) learning how to do more with less.

Ironically, the Dover Democrats seem only up to the task of doing less with more. In addition to the recent discoveries of our roads and waterways, the last 7,665 days (or so), have been busy ones for the Dover Democrats.  They have watched the total demise of the auto industry in Delaware, and managed, in an ideologically thrown hail Mary, to subsidize the Chinese purchase of Newport industrial real estate. They have watched the decline of the financial industry that grew the state in the 80’s and early 90’s. The chemical industry has been left to die on the vine, while the battery business flourishes on the backs of the common citizen who has no choice but to purchase electricity from the state mandated monopoly.

These galling failures, and the anemic economy that attends them, leave Markell, Schwartzkopf and the liberal brain trust to a sad but predictable decision. More revenue must be created to feed the beast that has become the state’s largest single employer in a never-ending growth cycle for the last 21 years.

Delaware Republicans would rather turn on one another, rather  than challenge single party rule.  Lately, Delaware Republicans seem more interested in their own ideological purity,  than they do relevance in statewide politics. But I digress…

They that have been poor stewards of that which they have been given ought not be given more.  Markell’s argument presupposes that there is no waste in the state budget as it is currently constituted, and all current state programs are too dear to have their funding reallocated. No serious thinking person believes this.

The proposed gas tax revenue is to be given to Del Dot, an agency with a history of mismanagement longer than the span of the inlet bridge. DNREC, who disdains writing regulations with the input of the regulated, is clearly as trustworthy as the guarantors of the Fisker loans made by the state.

These new taxes are regressive and proportionally place the funding of the state’s incompetence on the backs of those that have the least to spare.  Markell and the Dems can rest easy, as their supporters consistently vote for the very people who oppress them.  Elected Democrats destroy their constituents. It is opposite for the Republicans, where the constituents destroy their elected Republicans. The latter point on Republicans is quite sad and telling, as the party to the right of the Markell administration seems to never know who the true opponent in the state is.  This ignorance has led to single party rule that is now old enough to purchase alcohol, and the race to become New Jersey seems to be only gaining speed. Actually, wait… gas is cheaper in New Jersey.

Well in fact, all the above photographs are of,  “A” John Atkins, but only the last one of the comical Leprecon is “THE” John Atkins that we here in Delaware have come to know and well, no I can’t exactly say respect, we’ll just say we know him.

But do we really know him? He is so fond of telling people that he is this ultra conservative legislator, but is he?

This is but the latest in an ongoing series of post concerning the voting record of John Atkins in order to demonstrate to the voters of his district, that would be the 41st Representative District of the state of Delaware, that he is anything but a conservative. Oh sure he votes against gun bills, and he is always out there making sure that school buses can have flags on their bumpers. But is he really a conservative?

I’ll let the readers decide. I know that there is a large number of 9/12 Patriots in Mr. Atkins district, and I know that they are ever concerned about constitutional issues, both state and national. In fact the 9/12 Patriot movement was born in that area of the state.

So one has to wonder how the Patriots feel about Mr. Atkins voting yes to amend the state constitution?  What you say? John “CONSERVATIVE” Atkins would never vote to amend the state constitution. He certainly wouldn’t vote to amend the state constitution in order to give more power to the Legislature in Dover, no, not BIG JOHN CONSERVATIVE ATKINS.

But that friends and neighbors is exactly what BIG JOHN NOT HARDLY A CONSERVATIVE ATKINS did.

On April 16, 2013 the Delaware House of Representatives voted on an amendment, HB 20 of the 147th General Assembly,  to the state constitution, the amendment would have removed  from the Delaware Constitution the requirements as to when a person may vote by absentee ballot. And would have given the power to alter the date to the Legislature. This means that which ever party may have been in power at the time could play around with the dates to their benefit.

This was a vote requiring a 2/3 vote and thanks to the Republican caucus this lame brain idea was defeated.

So does amending the state constitution in this way sound conservative to you? Not to me my good friends. It sounds like someone who voted with his party of the day. One can’t tell the party affiliation without a score card with Mr. Atkins.

So here is the link to the bill, read it and decide for yourselves whether or not you think a true conservative would have voted for this.

http://legis.delaware.gov/LIS/LIS147.nsf/vwLegislation/HB+20?Opendocument

Oh, and Happy St. Patrick’s Day Mr. Atkins!

Recently I had a conversation with a woman whom I respect greatly, she also happens to be someone I have had many political disagreements with. Some minor, others of a more serious nature.

You see back in 2010, she and I were on opposite sides of a heated GOP primary race, I am sure that you can all guess which race I am speaking of, and I hope we can keep this about the topic at hand, and not have to rehash old battles.

Because you see, that is exactly what I am writing about, getting past the old battles. There is no doubt that there were cracks in the GOP sidewalk long before that fateful 2010 primary, that race was just the water that got down into the crack and froze, and expanded until it completely busted the once solid surface into pieces.

The question is now whether or not we can repair that crack. Can we look towards the future, or are we doomed to repeat the past? Can both sides of that old battle come together to defeat the real opposition in this state? The Democrats.

I won’t sit here and attempt to paint over the cracks, in the hope that no one will see them, or trip over them. We have to first face the fact that there is plenty of blame to go around about why the Delaware GOP has been in a downward spiral as of late. It would be foolish for either side to deny their role in the demise of the Delaware GOP.

Some will tell you that it began in 2006, but I truly believe that it had begun long before that, and 2010 was simply the breaking point. There had been an ongoing battle for control of the state GOP in Delaware. The one side saw itself as the outsiders of the GOP, and felt that they were the true conservatives.

These so-called outsiders were tired of being taken for granted, they wanted to have more say in the direction that the party was taking, a direction they felt too closely mirrored that of the opposition, the Democrats. They wanted to turn the Delaware GOP more towards the right, towards a more traditional version of conservatism. One that recognized the responsibility of the individual for their own actions, and one that held more closely to our country’s founding principles.

I was among these so-called outsiders, I wrote, and worked in an effort to make changes that would allow that more traditional voice of conservatism to be heard. And while we had a small amount of success, we failed to reach the mountain top, we won the primary, and lost the general election. This primary became an ever-widening crack between the two warring faction within the Delaware GOP.

In the years following, the Delaware GOP has failed to pull itself back together, to once again mount a true challenge against the opposition, the Democrats. We have wasted our time, our efforts, and our candidates in battles among ourselves, while the opposition, the Democrats, have strolled to one party rule in this state. This has allowed them to impose their radical liberal agenda upon all citizens of the state of Delaware.

This agenda has included legalizing more and more types of gambling, it has included homosexual marriage, laws that allow men, dressed as women, to share public restrooms with our wives and daughters, and a never-ending attack on our constitutional right to keep and bear arms.

While we within the GOP have been pointing fingers at each other about whose fault it is, the Democrats have been laughing and winning election with no real opposition.

Oh sure we have had our small victories here in Sussex County, we added Sen. Lopez out of the newly created 6th senatorial district, and Rep. Smyk in the 20th.  However, we have failed to translate those victories into wins up state, or statewide. We have been too busy settling old scores. Well it’s time to stop. It’s time to see the truth. And that truth is that we are all to blame for what happened in 2010. And anyone who comes here to argue that old battle is doing nothing but electing Democrats.

In 2010 and after, you had the one side who felt they had been ambushed, they felt they had done a good job winning elections in the past, and that the new comers had cost them what they felt was a sure thing.

The new comers felt that after the primary, the “establishment” had stayed home and failed to support the primary winner. And do you know what? They both were right. They both had good reason to be angry and to hold the other responsible. But the time has come to realize, that if the two sides don’t come together, then the opposition, the real opposition, will soon make the Delaware GOP a thing of the past.

I want to return to my good friend whom I had my conversation with, and I do consider her a good friend. During those trying days, weeks and months in 2010, we often clashed and argued, you see she was of the old guard, and I was one of those new comers who wanted in. On several occasions angry words were exchanged and accusations were made.

Recently we have been able to put that behind us, oh we still disagree about what happened and whose fault it was, but we both realize that if we don’t work together to win elections, then we will have no say in the direction of the state and the nation. I do not regret anything I did in 2010, and she holds to her principles as well, and I believe that we respect each other for that.

Holding to principles while trying to find compromise is not easy, but it can be done, as my friend and I are proof of that.

To all of my fellow Republicans, on both sides of the crack, you had better wake-up, you had better open your eyes, you had better put your pride aside, and you had better reach out to those who you once fought against. For if we do not stand together, then the Delaware GOP will surely fall.