“By what measure do we evaluate and trade the health of the environment, the health of the ecology and the health of our citizens for business opportunities that profit and enrich the shareholders of these corporations. This has certainly become the mantra of the current regime in Washington. Profits are the only important factor.” This was my closing statement to the Natural Resources Committee members immediately before they voted to release HB 190, which will remove core protections against heavy industry and bulk product transfer on Delaware coastlines from the […]

After reviewing the press advisory, available below, from Delaware’s House and Senate leadership regarding the unanticipated postponement of the Joint Finance Committee meetings, I felt compelled to analyze what message was intended by this action. I consider most of the DEFAC revenue subcommittee report as a regurgitation of failed economic ideas and a further redistribution of wealth to corporations at the expense of the needy and literally taken from the ALEC playbook for corporate welfare. This report, referenced by leadership as a panacea for economic stability in Delaware, is based […]

In a decision that I can only interpret as a betrayal of the core principles and ideals of Democrats, ten members of Delaware’s Democratic Party House caucus joined the entire Republican House caucus and voted to pass HB 16. The piece of legislation, introduced by Representative Mike Ramone and co-sponsored exclusively by Republicans, would repeal Delaware’s estate tax with a significant and permanent loss of revenue. In 2016, the estate tax brought in $9.3 million of needed revenue despite projections that it would garner only $3.5 million. Future conservative projections […]

Recently, representatives and lobbyists for Exelon and Delmarva Power & Light have been circulating proposed legislation that would impose a surcharge of up to $17 million in between electric rate cases and up to $7 million in between gas rate cases for a total of $24 million on Delaware consumers for a “Distribution System Improvement Charge.” This would be to allegedly pay for enhanced reliability. However, Exelon is not telling you that this huge windfall will have significantly less oversight and examination than a base rate case, which has “a […]

In February, I flew to London at the invitation of the British Embassy to spend a week of meetings and site visits reviewing the remarkable story of economic and environmental progress made by Great Britain with its offshore wind generation program. The success story in the United Kingdom can and should be replicated here in America. Offshore wind generation, on the eastern seaboard of North America, offers a remarkably effective opportunity for energy independence, electric cost stabilization, job-growth, manufacturing revitalization, national security, and remedying a deteriorating global environment. The results […]

There are many common misperceptions of what constitutes “progressive taxation,” and I feel I should take a moment to detail and define the concept and value of this policy. The progressive taxation approach is to create higher tax brackets for those with higher incomes—for example, a minimally higher 0.5% on earnings over $125,000 and 0.75% on earnings only over $250,000 per year. Putting it more simply, this would be a higher bracket for those individuals earning more than a quarter million dollars in taxable income in one year (after exemptions […]