This morning, I saw a comment from State Representative Earl Jaques on his primary challenger Eric Morrison’s Facebook page. Actually, it was on one of Morrison’s Facebook ads, shown below (and I have taken a screenshot in case he deletes the comment):
I found the comment curious. First, if I were an incumbent confident of my reelection or not worried about being challenged in a primary, I would not be commenting on my opponent’s Facebook page. That Jaques did means either that he is worried, or that he is one of those incumbents that is arrogantly annoyed that he is being challenged by an opponent for reelection, not unlike how Republican Mike Ramone behaved in 2018 when Stephanie Barry had the audacity to challenge him.
Second, all of Labor? On his website, Jaques claims an endorsement from the AFL-CIO. See below:
However, the AFL-CIO has not endorsed Jaques this year. It doesn’t mean they won’t, and they may have endorsed him before in prior elections when he faced no Democratic opposition, but so far in this election, he has not been endorsed by the union. Given that Jaques is using a picture on the site that is at least 10 years old, perhaps that endorsement is that old as well.
Further, Jaques’ new signs do not have the “union bug” on them that tells you they were printed by a union printer. For example, here is an example of the union bug on Morrison’s signs:
And here is a picture of Jaques’ new large signs without it (click on it to enlarge):
Though not a “union”, Delaware Stonewall PAC has endorsed Eric Morrison. Though we appreciate Representative Jaques’ vote in favor of the non-discrimination act in 2009 and his support for the Gender Identity Bill in 2013. Stonewall notes Rep. Jaques voted against Civil Unions (2011) and then against Marriage Equality (2013), as well as his more recent decision to “Not Vote” on the bill that Prohibits the use of “Conversion Therapy” on minors by licensed professionals. We believe that Mr. Morrison will be a representative fully supportive of the rights of all residents of Delaware.
This is factually incorrect, Earl Jaques actually voted in favor of the civil unions bill, and did vote against the marriage equality bill.
This is a bit awkward for me since I was vociferous in my disapproval of Earl’s marriage equality vote, but fair is fair and for some of us the truth still matters.
It seems once you re-imagine your political club as a PAC there’s no longer any need to be truthful, you can just declare whatever you want, like saying Mike Ramone was worthy of re-election and his support of Trump was good for the LGBT community. Every Republican in the state should be put on record as either being a Trump supporter or unequivocally denouncing and condemning the damage that Trump and the GOP are doing to the country and (particularly for a self-styled “progressive” group) the LGBT community, in particular our Transgender family members. This is as true today as it was in 2018, and you failed the community you claim to represent.
For a political action committee that likes to style itself as “Delaware’s Voice for the LGBT Community” I have to say the composition of your board speaks strongly against that voice being a diverse one. Just to make sure it’s clear, you also doesn’t speak for me.