Delaware Needs a Full-Time Lt. Governor

Obviously Matt Denn is too busy working for his law firm or pet projects to be a voice of Delawareans. Since he has no time for us, we must find someone who WILL represent Delawareans. We must elect Sher Valenzuela who will be our advocate and our voice in Dover. Let's give Matt Denn all the time he wants to pursue his legal pet projects, since his obligation of being the current Lt. Governor is getting in the way.

Watch this video.




Delaware deserves better. Delaware deserves a leader. Delaware needs Sher.

Also check out the rest of her videos here.

Matt Denn Dishonest About Volunteer Work

Shell Games Continue: Denn was paid thousands through Skadden Arps, one of world’s largest law firms, to do “free” work On the heels of last week’s revelation that Lieutenant Governor Matt Denn has shortchanged citizens by taking on a second job despite taking office in one of Delaware’s worst economic downturns, new information has emerged regarding claims Denn has made about “charity” legal work. Denn has bragged for years about his work as a young attorney providing “free” law work to people in a church basement legal clinic run by the Delaware Volunteer Legal Services. The story is a prominent part of Denn’s stump speech on the campaign trail. He’s often repeated it this year at candidate forums. But Denn always leaves out an important part of the story. Denn was actually on loan to the “volunteer” program from a multinational law firm. He drew a regular paycheck for doing this “free” “volunteer” work. Denn was paid through the Skadden Arps Fellowship (information available by googling “Matt Denn Skadden Arps”). People participating in the program today receive a salary well above Delaware’s average per capita income, plus benefits. Participants in 1991, when Denn was a fellowship recipient, were similarly compensated. Bragging about “charity work” is bad enough. But making your job look like charity work when you were actually paid thousands of dollars to do it is even worse. “Denn’s shell games like these must stop. Delawareans deserve a Lieutenant Governor who will give them full effort and attention, not someone who moonlights at a second job for personal benefit,” Valenzuela said. “I’m focused on serving the people, not “gaming the system” for personal gain. For instance, i’ve pledged to forgo any state pension I would accrue in office. As Lieutenant Governor, I will focus on building our economy, strengthening our schools and making our streets safer. And I won’t be distracted from it by taking on a second job,” Valenzuela said. Here’s language from denn’s website regarding his legal work (http://www.mattdenn.com/about-matt): “Matt returned to delaware and sought out delaware volunteer legal services for his first job, providing free legal advice and representation to people who couldn’t afford it otherwise. Meeting with clients in church basements, he worked on cases involving unfair apartment evictions, workplace discrimination and domestic violence. “he deals with them all thoroughly from a to z and, thank god, it’s all free,” bishop thomas weeks of greater bethel a.m.e church told the news journal when it wrote about Matt’s service to the churches.” Sher Valenzuela for Lieutenant Governor of Delaware http://sher2012.nationbuilder.com/

Kevin Wade Takes On Senator Carper Over Hypocrisy Over Gas Prices

U.S. Senate candidate Kevin Wade (R-DE) takes on long-time Delaware U.S. Senator Tom Carper over failure to lead on U.S. energy development including drilling for oil resources here in the U.S.

Watch:



Kevin wade eloquently brings up the absurdity of the Democratic progressives who fail to connect available U.S. crude as part of the sustainable energy solutions we should be exploring as a nation.  As Americans continue to feel the pain of gas prices at the pump, lack of action by Senator Carper and his liberal colleagues on Capitol Hill.

As Wade mentions, the U.S. is blessed with these natural resources for our use so we can be energy independent.  This is not only an economic issue on gas prices and its affects on consumers wallets and added costs to goods shipped, but also a national security issue as we are dependent on foreign crude oil.   The latter is the biggest tragedy of them all as American sovereignty continues to be at risk every time we purchase foreign crude, which is something we could be doing within our very own country.

American taxpayers can no longer afford to send entrenched progressive career politicians like Senator Tom Carper back to Washington who continue to ignore the founding documents of this nation and erode Americans independence.  Every Delaware taxpayer who is feeling a budget pinch due to higher fuel costs should take a look at Kevin Wade.  

 As Kevin mentions he worked on oil rig platforms and knows first hand at the massive opportunity we as Americans have will a "drill here, drill now" approach to our energy independence platform.  As an engineer by trade who led his engineering firm to develop solutions for Fortune 500 companies world-wide, Kevin Wade will be asset as he seeks practical solutions the problems created by career politicians.   Delaware can no longer adhere to the Delaware Way of governance, and sending Kevin Wade to Washington means that being the First State to ratify the U.S. Constitution meant something.  Sending Kevin Wade will preserve it, not shred it like Carper has done by collecting a government paycheck and turning the other way while the spending machine ran on overdrive.

Club for Growth Flunks Carper, Coons and Carney on Pro-Growth Votes

In case you missed it, the Club for Growth released its annual Congressional Scorecard for both U.S. House and U.S. Senate members on pro-growth votes.  The methodology Club For Growth used to score each member is found here.

Delaware's federal delegation did not fare all that well.  In fact, they flunked.

Senior U.S. Senator Tom Carper (D-DE) voted 14% of time in favor of pro-growth economic policies during 2011.  Throughout his entire tenure, he voted 10% of the time as pro-growth.  Junior Senator Chris Coons (D-DE) supported pro-growth policies 12% of the time and lone Congressman John Carney (D-DE) supported pro-growth policies only 8% of the time.

If anyone in Delaware is unemployed, they need to look no further than the Carper, Coons and Carney.  For Democrats, they sure are not looking out for their constituents.

BlueHenConservative will evaluate the scorecard in further detail for specific votes and provide further analysis in a future post.  It is important to note that Sen. Tom Carper and Rep. John Carney are up for re-election in November 2012.  Clearly, given the meager results for improving the economy, neither can be re-elected.  Remember, elections matter, and there are consequences.

Mr. Wade Goes to Washington

Declared U.S. Senate candidate Kevin Wade (R-DE) who is challenging long time U.S. Senator Tom Carper (D-DE) attended CPAC 2012, the largest gathering of conservatives in Washington late last week.


While at CPAC, Wade took advantage of the numerous networking and media opportunities by being interviewed by TeaParty.net's Kevin Jackson. A video of this interview is forthcoming, but surely this interview on the national stage is the first of many to come.

Wade's attendance at CPAC signifies his determination to be the 60th vote needed to retard the liberal assault on America.  A small business owner, Wade will bring Main Street to K Street.  An engineer, Wade is armed to provide solutions learned by decades traveling the world helping global firms become more efficient and innovative to a broken Washington in dire need of a tune up.

Why Governor Markell Should Lose in 2012

Earlier today, the Caesar Rodney Institute (CRI) released its new report on the state of the state, and the numbers are pretty damning for Democratic Governor Jack Markell.  Just like the rest of the nation, Delaware's economy is in shambles, schools fail to educate and the state government is bloated by a tax then spend mentality.  

Since Governor Markell's inauguration Delaware has lost at a minimum of 15,000 jobs bringing its unemployment rate down 3.6 percent.  Hiring in Delaware continues to be anemic at best with hiring down -2826, and that is with a smaller workforce.  It is also important to note that this trend mirrors the national economy and blame also belongs to fellow Democratic President Barack Obama who like Governor Markell suffer from perpetual incompetence on running a government.

With the state government being the largest employer, and the financial firms followed behind the headwinds for Delaware look questionable for Delaware.  Delaware's bloated balance sheet continues to drag down its competitiveness amongst better run states like South Carolina and Texas which enjoy employers announcing new start ups or new operations there. The financial sector in Delaware is up in the air with announced bank layoffs hovering over 150,000 nationwide.  What than means for Bank of America (acquired MBNA in 2006 and announced over 40,000 layoffs); Citi (announced layoffs of 4,500); and Barclays (announced layoffs of 2,800) is uncertain.  All three banks have operations centers in Delaware employing thousands.

For Governor Markell who was an executive at Nextel, and Alan Levin (former CEO of Happy Harry's and head of the state's economic development office), Delaware's economic record has been underwhelming.  For two executives to have performed this badly and not being able to sell Delaware as a place to live and do business, this has to be telling of the failed liberal economic philosophy. 

Could it be that Delaware's economy is just to big to attract new businesses?
Could it be that Delaware's business regulations are too toxic for entrepreneurs to risk capital to start their own businesses?


Could it be that Delaware's education system is not educating its students to the risk that businesses don't feel we have an workforce worthy of employing? According to the CRI report, Delaware's public schools, for the dollars spent, are failing to do just that.  High school students are failing to pass basic math, reading and science metrics.  SAT scores are down statewide.  Governor Markell has embraced Race to the Top, but the scores prove its more like race to the bottom.

For Governor Markell who attracted scores of Republicans in his 2008 victory and appointed Republican Alan Levin, why haven't they explored more conservative ideas such as right to work to bring in new employers?  Why did Governor Markell reject Hyundai Motor's request to buy the defunct Newark Chrysler plant because they wanted a right-to-work provision over hiring union labor? 

Political ideology has mired Delaware's economy to be continually anemic for over two decades and it is time it comes to an end.  The current trajectory of stagnant economic growth, high employment, higher government unfunded liabilities and higher taxes is causing Delaware to be as attractive as the fat kid with acne.  Simply put, until Delaware gets its fiscal house in order, educates its students on substance and promotes opportunity over dependence; Delaware will continue to lag behind pro-growth states.

In 2012, We Have Options
 
Any person who has performed this poorly in the private sector surely would be thrown out on their backside and Delawareans must do the same to Governor Markell.  Maybe it is time Delaware elect an actual business owner likely declared GOP candidate Jeff Cragg who has owned multiple businesses in northern Delaware.  Unlike Markell, Cragg actually believes in free-markets and his businesses continue to weather the storm despite headwinds put in by national and Delaware progressives to turn this nation and this state into a third world banana republic.

The question every Delawarean voter is are you better off today then were on January 20, 2009?  Are you better off today than you were twenty years ago, when the last Republican governor ran Delaware?