All but one Senate Republican voted today to declare that women are second class citizens and are to be treated unequal under our state Constitution. HB399, the Equal Rights Constitutional Amendment got a vote today on the floor of the Senate after having passed the House by the required 2/3rds margin needed for Constitutional Amendments. The bill needed 14 yes votes to meet that threshold. It got 11.
The only woman Republican Senator was absent. I will resist calling her a traitor to her gender for now, assuming some unspeakable family tragedy or sudden terminal illness caused her treacherous absence. Senator Ernie Lopez voted yes, the only Republican to do so. All Democrats voted yes, because they are humans.
Senator Margaret Rose Henry, one of the bill’s sponsors in the Senate, voted no for procedural reasons so that she can bring it back for another vote if she can somehow convince two or more Republicans to find their humanity. Good luck with that, Margaret Rose.
HN399—Equal Rights.
STATUS – Unclear, it may be brought back since Henry voted no.
HISTORY – Passed House 34-5-0-2. Defeated in the Senate 11-9-1
SPONSORS – Longhurst, Hansen, Henry, Townsend, Bushweller, Cloutier, Ennis, Lopez, Marshall, McDowell, Poore, Sokola, Walsh, Baumbach, Bennett, Bentz, Bolden, Brady, Heffernan, Hudson, Jaques, J.Johnson, Q.Johnson, Keeley, Kowalko, Lynn, Mulrooney, Osienski, Paradee, Ramone, Schwartzkopf, M.Smith, Viola, K.Williams
YES – B.Short, Baumbach, Bentz, Bolden, Brady, Bushweller, Briggs King, Carson, D.Short, Ennis, Gray, Hansen, Heffernan, Hensley, J.Johnson, Jaques, K.Williams, Keeley, Kenton, Kowalko, Longhurst, Lopez, Lynn, M.Smith, Marshall, Matthews, McBride, McDowell, Miro, Mitchell, Mulrooney, Osienski, Outten, Paradee, Poore, Potter, Q.Johnson, Ramone, Schwartzkopf, Smyk, Sokola, Spiegelman, Townsend, Viola, Walsh
NO – Bonini, Collins, Delcollo, Dukes, Henry*, Hocker, Lavelle, Lawson, Pettyjohn, Postles, Richardson, Simpson, Yearick, Wilson
ABSENT- Bennett, Hudson, Cloutier
NOT VOTING –
* Procedural vote.
So where the fuck was Andrea Bennett?
She’s not a senator?
And even if she were a senator, probably would have voted no.
Her vote was not needed in the House, and neither was co-sponsor Deborah Hudson. If the vote had failed in the House, they both would receive the same criticism.
She’s not a Senator. Do your homework.
Are you surprised? Conservatism , at it’s heart, is based on greed, racism and misogyny. Deny it until your dead or not. Curiously it seems to infect conservative women as well. Sad, and sad that it continues in the modern era.
Another inhinged, hysterical libtard. Do you people ever go beyond name-calling? Of course not, you can’t engage in logic because you have none
“Do you people ever go beyond name-calling?”
Signed by a guy who started his comment with Another inhinged, hysterical libtard
Can’t make this stuff up.
Also, it’s unhinged, not inhinged.
Don’t you wonder how he hit on a five-month-old post?
Paula Manolakos, a white woman, in 1999 won a racial discrimination suit against the city of Wilmington and got $800,000. That’s how these laws actually work. They don’t “equalize” anything. They just give sore losers who didn’t get the promotion a weapon.
“Second-class citizenship” is the kind of horseshit people type because they’re knee-jerk “liberals” who lack critical thinking skills. Until you show me how they actually suffer from the lack of this amendment, you’re pissing on my leg and telling me it’s raining.
ALBY tell yourself whatever makes you feel better. ANd calling women who are demanding equal rights names shows your true colors.
An Equal Rights Amendment works specifically so that the deep-seated resentments of people like Alby don’t get to govern the rest of us. There’s no critical thinking in a knee-jerk white male supremacist asserting his rights by denigrating others’.
No deep-seated resentment. Just pointing out the obvious, which you have failed to respond to, because of course there is no response that would prove you right. Because you’re wrong.
An Equal Rights Amendment works to give people grounds for lawsuits. That’s it, in its entirety, because that’s the only part you can make subject to a law.
You might want to check your mirror for that resentment you’re sensing.
I guess this makes you Blue Delaware’s version of “Puck” from back during my time reading Delaware Liberal…
Wow. In order to reach Alby’s conclusion you’d need to ignore pretty much all of history.
Something which every imaginarily aggrieved man has shown exceptional aptitude at doing, across the entire history of this planet…
Got that right. Note the symmetry between Alby’s comment and the reasons the GOP want you to believe about their stance on this.
The difference is that I don’t attach any significance to it at all. Pass it if you like, it won’t accomplish anything. I’m not against the ERA. I’m against Democrats pretending passing it would be an accomplishment.
But you’re too biased to understand that. If I were the sexist you claim I am, I’d chalk it up to your gender.
“In order to reach Alby’s conclusion you’d need to ignore pretty much all of history.”
By all means, show me the point in history where a “law” proclaiming “equal rights of women” has done anything. I’ll wait.
The problem is that Republicans are against equality, it is that Democrats are not in favor of it enough. A real Democratic Party could beat up on, and run every “no” vote out of town – but not the Delaware Democratic Party. Why is that?
Because not nearly enough voters care?
Perhaps. I suppose voters share the culpability. But that brings up the old chicken and egg argument that Cassandra and I would always get into. in which I say the party leadership sucks, and she says that they suck because they don’t have anything to work with. Forever and ever, Amen. Good times.
The answer, as far as I can tell, is that the Delaware Democratic Party leadership is okay with the current breakdown. I mean, how is this different from the Dems failing to get a bumpstock ban passed? It really isn’t any different. They want the appearance of doing something without anything actually happening.
Bullshit. If that were the case, they won’t even go through the motions. And why are you blaming the Democrats for votes by the Republicans. This kind of thinking by you is one of the reasons some of us left DL. You always blame Democrats for the things Republicans do.
Every Senate Democrat supports the ERA constitutional amendment, Jason. So it is not a matter of getting rid of the “no votes” in the Dem caucus, but about getting rid of the “no votes” in the other party’s caucus and replacing them with “Yes” voting Dems-on the ERA, on bump stocks, assault weapons, living wage, tax brackets. In the Senate you need 14 votes for a constitutional amendment. You need 13 to raise fees and change tax brackets. There are 11 Dems now. 3 Republican “no” voters need to be replaced by 3 Democrats “yeses” on all your issues.
And yet the Democratic Party appears to be doing exactly fuck-all to change that, Mitch. There are five Republican-held Senate seats up this year. Only three are being contested – the minimum required to make the chamber GOP-proof – so we have to sweep the board to get to 14.
We seem to have a strong candidate against Lavelle, but Dave Baker and Bob Wheatley aren’t exactly energy-inspiring types against Lopez (who is well-liked down here) and Richardson (who owns the local newspapers in western Sussex). We have no Democrats running against either Bonini or against Wilson as he makes his bid for the Senate.
It’s two months until the filing deadline. What exactly are the Kent and Sussex Dems doing to boost our chances? Is Greg Fuller going to be our savior and send Wilson home?
(That last line is a joke.)
Exactly. Democrats are pretty content with the status quo. Dem leadership anyway.
So what offices are you and Sussex Watcher running for?
Cassandra, that’s a good and reasonable question. I don’t live in a district with an open Republican Senate seat this year, and my personal circumstances don’t allow me to run for anything at the moment. I’m helping out with campaigns as I can.
But neither Jason nor I are the people who stood up and ran for chair and promised to lead and grow the party. Jane Hovington and John Starke, the Sussex and Kent chairs, have a responsibility to recruit candidates for all levels and all offices if we are going to take anything back.
And it’s damned frustrating when they can’t even get RD chairs – the people who are the front line of candidate recruitment – to take one for the team and be a name on the ballot so that the GOP is forced to spend money and time and resources defending every seat.
People in the party have been working since the Fall to ID candidates for every seat. There are ALOT of people in your position — personal circumstances that don’t allow them to run. RD Chairs throwing their names in also have to produce some LOE for campaigning. That’s hard when you have a full time job, a double time family and likely no shot at a cushy job as PAL Director. But if you know of good people that the party should reach out to who will meet your requirements, then you should pass that on.
The D mentality. A cushy PAL job. What does that do to create real jobs, real progress and real wealth?
The usual R gibberish. Just scroll on folks.
Ouch.
That ouch was a reply to Cassandra.
You deserve it. You like to bitch and bitch about the party but you have never done anything to get involved with the party. You could get involved with the party like Cassandra and David Woodside did. But you have not. So shut the fuck up until you find the courage to step up and take action.
there are ways to “take action” other than joining the ranks of a party who constantly punches its own base and tries to look like the OTHER party to get votes. Did I miss the interview with Kerri Harris? what are YOU doing to unseat Carper?
Most of the people in this space are working for a better Democratic Party. I get that may not be your priority. But people whose major effort is just screaming from their keyboards should take some cues from people who are doing the tough work.
The hah ha good one was a reply to Jason. I’m not very good at getting my comments to appear where they are meant to go – so I’ll take his advice and shut the fuck up.
So no on that interview with a real progressive then? Too afraid to anger the party by coming out swinging against Carper?
ha ha.. Good one. You really got me. 🙂
Jason, they give the game away.
They want a better party… others want a better country. The party can go pound sand for all I care. *some* give their allegiance to a brand. Some to a cause.
Can you convey your annoyance at people bringing up concerns in a non-sexist way, DD?
How about “whining” or “crying”? “Bitching” is misogynist and if you actually cared about walking the walk on allyship, you’d stop using it.
Dave Baker and Bob Wheatley are actually very good candidates. Dave is the former County Administrator, was a school board member, He is a life-long Sussex Countian who has three children, all of whom are Cape HS graduates. Bob Wheatley is a successful business man and a member of the county planning commission ( the former chair). I really don’t know who would be better qualified. What happens in November is anyone’s guess. A higher than normal Dem turnout can swing the race in the 6th to Baker. Richardson is just finishing his first term in what was a Dem seat ( even if it was Bob Venables). Though Lopez is a smart politician, Richardson is just MR NO. He even voted against the Dept of Insurance opening a Sussex office-the only Sussex Countian to vote against. Dave Wilson supported Greg Fuller when Fuller ran for Register of Wills. Wilson’s (Simpson’s) district has no Dem base.
Bonini? That is Kent County.
In any event, I have given my thoughts to every D candidate who has asked. I am not the Sussex Dem Chair.
Mitch, don’t put words in my mouth. I never said the weren’t good candidates. I said they weren’t energy-inspiring candidates. They are nice guys, but they are also both experienced government insiders who are not exactly charisma-laden. Lopez has personal charisma in spades and Richardson is tapped into the evangelical churches in Sussex. Those are hard advantages to overcome with a message of experience and competence.
Yeah. I’m saying that getting rid of the no voting Rs isn’t a priority in the leadership level.
Ultimately, the decision to run for office is made by an individual taking into account their personal situation and the values they hope to propound. The Democratic party is trying to find the candidates that are willing and share the values of the Democratic party and do the work of getting elected. Elections are won IN THE DISTRICT WHERE THEY ARE HELD. It’s the party on the ground in those districts that most influence the recruitment and the outcome.
As Cassandra mentioned, the Party has been trying to find the people who have made the calculation that they can win. In a primary if necessary, but also in the general election. Some of those potential candidates may yet be persuaded. It is a decision THEY must make. But DO NOT lightly discount the personal cost of a campaign to the candidate and their family. More so, if the campaign is unsuccessful.
Getting rid of no voting Rs is priority, Re-directing limited party resources on inadequately prepared candidates is, most definitely, not.
If people know of a credible candidate in a place where the party has no one on the ballot for the general election, sing out. Don’t hide your light under a bushel. Seize the moment. Conditions may not be this favorable for first time candidates for another generation. Do what you can now. I bet you can still sign up for the campaign workshop training the party is holding in Dover on tomorrow.
So Greg Lavelle was actually at the ERA rally a while back supporting this exact version of the bill, but now is miraculously against it. Maybe if he had actually knocked a single door in his district he would’ve found out that equal right are actually pretty popular around here. His opponent actually has been knocking doors and talking to voters, and is generally not a hot pile of steaming garbage. You’ve probably heard of Laura Sturgeon, but now would be a good time to also donate to her: https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/sturgeon4statesenate. Time to get Greg out.
“You could get involved with the party like Cassandra and David Woodside did. But you have not. So shut the fuck up until you find the courage to step up and take action.’
To expand on what Ben said, I don’t have to get in a sty to tell someone that pigs in a sty smell bad. In a democracy we are all invested in self-government whether we wrestle with the pigs or not. “Courage” has nothing to do with it. I spent 35 years of my life around these people, because I was being paid to. Otherwise I wouldn’t piss on them if they were on fire.
Even Republican women don’t agree with them:
https://www.delawareonline.com/story/opinion/contributors/2018/05/10/im-republican-and-support-equal-rights-amendment/599350002/