Sussex Soup Sandwich

  So the other day I was discussing the happenings in Sussex County with some friends, (yes I have friends), and I used the term “hot mess”, and one of my friends said no, it’s more like a “soup sandwich”.   You can imagine how sloppy and messy a soup sandwich would be. Well that describes the everyday happenings in Sussex County. In particular the political side of Sussex Society.

There really must be something strange in the political water of Sussex County. As of late it seems as if the moon is full all the time.

 You have RD Chairs investigating the very representative that they should be supporting, like Jordan Warfel of the 35th, who instead of working to re-elect Dave Wilson, thinks it is more important to launch some silly, made-up investigation into the known fact, that Dave Wilson supported a Democrat against the Republican Cindy Green in last year’s Register of Wills race. Really? What is there to investigate? Dave Wilson would be the first to tell you, yes he did, and that he would do it again, all being even. But Jordan prefers to waste time trying to build a case against Dave Wilson in some twisted attempt to run Cindy Green in a primary against Dave Wilson, good luck losing that one Jordan.

  But the outlandish antics are not limited strictly to party members. We also have had the story of blogger Pat Fish, who was accused by her daughter,  of biting the daughter. The alleged bite was a result of an altercation that seems to have centered around a large medicine cabinet that may have contained medicine, that once belonged to Pat’s deceased husband.

Why just today news broke on two different stories, one concerning the newest member of the on air team, at WGMD, local talk radio station,    Todd M. Schoenberger. It was reported on WGMD’s own website and at Investment News, that Mr. Schoenberger misled investors about his qualifications, and also never actually used their money to launch the private fund he had persuaded them to invest in, instead it seems he used the money for his own personal expenses.   http://www.investmentnews.com/article/20150603/FREE/150609963/sec-files-fraud-charges-against-two-advisers-for-allegedly   And this is who the management at WGMD chose to replace the up and coming John Budler with. WOW!

In another breaking story, Sussex County’s own version of the “Never Ending Story”, it was reported that Eric Bodenwieser was once again arrested for allegedly violating the terms of his probation, terms that he agreed to, in return for his plea bargain of “no contest” in the court case in which he was tried on charges of sexually molesting a minor. Mr. Bodenwieser plead no contest to charges of inappropriate touching of a minor and was sentenced to one year suspended, and one year of probation. Mr. Bodenwieser seems to once again think the rules do not apply to him, and found himself in jail, until he was bailed out on a cash only bail of $9,000.00. A private office hearing was held today to set a date for a formal hearing to determine whether or not he actually did violate probation or not.

As some of my readers may recall, I was all set to relate my experiences at the Delaware state GOP convention that was held in Wilmington this past Saturday, but due to the passing of Beau Biden I chose to wait.

So since I am writing about the Sussex Soup Sandwich, how can I ignore my good friends in the Sussex County GOP Executive Committee? After all, what is sloppier, messier, than that group of people who do little more than put on a show for the rest of the Delaware Republican party and our friends across the aisle?

So this year I was not asked to be a delegate, no surprise there. I have twice been a delegate, but since then I have chosen to tread my own path, and have offended some with my honest opinion of their behavior.

So this year I paid my $25.00 and attended as a guest, and as always, it was worth the price of admission.

It didn’t take long for the usual petty antics of those in control of the Committee, in this case it is acting chair (WHERE’S THE MONEY)  Fred Silva.   This is Fred Silva playing bartender at the fund- raiser, the one where they seem to have illegally raised funds under the name of a PAC which the organizers had no claim to, money of which, $1,000.00 in cash is still unaccounted for, and no one, including recently resigned chair Vince Calabro, nor Fred Silva, or any of the others involved, have clarified the participation of the Sussex GOP.

You see, as soon as I had paid and entered the convention, I discovered that several people who had paid their money to attend as Delegates, who had accepted the invitation to do so well in advance, whohad their status changed to simply guest, not even alternates, and were given no notice prior to showing up and being told at the sign in table.

Two are noteworthy. One being State Senator Brian Pettyjohn, one wonders why the County Committee would insult an elected official, especially one with such a conservative voting record. But then one remembers that this Committee is not playing with a full deck most of the time.

The second of note is Wayne Carmean, Mr. Carmean is the husband of the Sussex GOP Executive Committee’s Treasurer, Vicki Carmean. You Remember Mrs. Carmean don’t you? She was the person who Vince Calabro, Fred Silva and Bruce Fitzgerald allegedly put in a room and brow-beat about her speaking up about certain fund-raising tactics, and whom filed a police complaint. HUM! seems like a pattern here, no?

Now the interesting part is that though they were willing to throw these people overboard, they did not fill their seats. I believe that Sussex has 93 delegate seats at convention, they only filled 76. So it was more important to Fred and his crew to send messages to those they oppose, rather than fill the seats.

But of course that was not the end of the Sussex Soup Sandwich.

The convention was brought to order and proceeded through the guest speaker Carly Fiorino   who gave an inspiring speech and hit all the hot topics and bullet points.

All went fairly well, well except that they forgot to post the colors at the beginning of the convention prior to the speaker.

It was however when the five Regions broke into their caucuses that trouble soon began and the soup began to soak through the bread.

It was as it always seems to be with the Sussex GOP, at least in my limited experiences at convention, the trouble comes from either the resolution committee, or in this case from the rules committee. Let me just say that the Sussex Committee chose the perfect person to represent them on the state rules committee. They chose their very own Parliamentarian, Miguel Pirez-Fabar. Now this is the very same man who was about to decide a committee tie vote with a coin toss, even though the rules of the committee were clear on how ties were to be settled, oh, by the way, Mr. Pirez-Fabar? Had helped write said rules.

Let me just say, that if you are going to send someone to a committee, to then bring back and explain rule changes to the caucus, then a person with Mr. Fabar’s communications skills, is the perfect choice. (Sarcasm intended.)

So there were two rules to be discussed and voted on. The first was actually to clarify the party’s position on primary winners. Hold on to your hats folks this is going to be good.

The rule stated that prior to a primary the party, and its individual committees were free to support any and all primary candidates, and entertain any and all candidates at GOP events and meetings. However, once the “PEOPLE” had spoken, and a winner had been declared in the primary, then as a party, and a committee, and as committee members, they would be honor bound to support that winner.

Hold up, wait a minute! Let me put some truth in it.

Let me tell you that many of the delegates at this convention were the very same people who after the primary for Sussex County Sheriff, decided to support the write-in campaign for the primary loser Just Jeff Christopher. Including Fred (WHERE’S THE MONEY) Silva. And do you know what good old Fred said when he was asked what would happen if a member of the committee supported anyone but the primary winner? Do you know he said it with a straight face? That he said it and his tongue did not fall out and run screaming from the room as it should have?

Fred said, “you will be removed from the committee”. Oh, really? Because when the very same issue was brought up concerning the sheriff race, old Freddy boy spoke out about how individuals could do what they want, and support who they want. I almost choked on his words.

The second rule concerned the party registration of GOP candidates. This was a rule conceived by former Sussex County Committee Chair, John Rieley. It stated that if a person wanted to change their party registration from any other party or affiliation to Republican in order to run as a Republican, they had to be a Republican for at least two election cycles, unless specifically recruited by the party.

Now, of course these rules cannot stop anyone from registering and running as a Republican, but if this person were to win the primary, the party could refuse to endorse the candidate, which would mean that the GOP would not have an endorsed candidate in that race. And it could mean that person might not be allowed on the ballot.

I can tell you that the whole reason for this rule, though they would not admit it, is because John Rieley cannot stand the idea that John Atkins might change back to the Republican side to run against Rich Collins, and this rule is intended to keep that from happening. Now I would personally not support Mr. Atkins for watermelon inspector, but to craft rules, or laws to target one person or one small group is counter productive. And really, both of these rules should be unnecessary.

So by now some of you might be asking yourselves, “if Frank was not a delegate, and these discussion were taking place during the caucuses, how could he possibly know what was said?”

Well you see, when the convention broke into its separate caucuses the Sussex caucus stayed in the main hall, since I was there I simply stayed, and no I didn’t hide, I was setting five feet away in plain view. And since there were other “GUEST” and even press still in the room, I saw no reason to leave.

However, as the discussion got heated, Fred Silva and Miguel Pirez-Fabar both becoming agitated and raising their voices, I was noticed by Fred Silva who went to John Fluharty and pointed out that I was not a delegate. I was asked to leave, which I did. Funny thing was, none of the other “GUEST” were asked to leave. Even Celia Cohen of Delaware Grapevine was not asked to leave, along with about five or six other “GUEST”. So I returned.

I was then approached by State Vice- Chair Nelly Jordan who again stated that I would have to leave since I was only a “GUEST”. I politely pointed out the others in the room who were just “GUEST” also. She seemed confused by facts and fairness. At this point I had seen and heard enough, really they were simply arguing about nothing at this point, much like every monthly meeting of the Sussex Committee. But it was clear, they were only concerned with removing me from the room, again, anyone seeing a pattern here?

So I went to wait in the outer hall with the rest of the people waiting to return and conclude the convention.

I can tell you that there were many comments about, “oh of course it’s Sussex again”, and people were complaining that they had ballgames and graduations to go to. So while Sussex sat in their caucus eating their Sussex Soup Sandwich, they left the rest of the convention cooling their heels in the hallway. Way to make friends Fred.

So I hope you have all enjoyed your Sussex Soup Sandwich, though I must warn you, it will leave a nasty stain down the front of your shirt, and it will give you heartburn and gas.