Newark Post | by Josh Shannon
Two political newcomers are facing off in the Democratic primary to replace State Rep. John Kowalko, who is retiring after 16 years representing District 25.
The winner of the Sept. 13 primary between Ed Klima and Cyndie Romer will go on to face Republican Lynn Mey, a chemical engineer who lives in the Cannonshire neighborhood. District 25 encompasses the southern half of Newark, from Main Street down to Glasgow and from the state line east to the Norfolk Southern rail line.
Kowalko has endorsed Romer to succeed him.
Romer, 49, lives in Forest Ridge on Otts Chapel Road and works at tech consulting company Diamond Technologies. A lifelong Delawarean, she graduated from St. Elizabeth’s High School and the University of Delaware.
Romer has been active in the ACLU, NAACP and Moms Demand Action, a gun control advocacy group. She started getting more involved in state politics during the pandemic, when government meetings were moved online and she was able to tune in to livestreams and make public comments while working from home.
She said she is well-prepared to serve in government due to her advocacy work combined with her professional experience building teams that collaborate to solve problems.
“I have integrity, I’m honest, I’m straightforward,” Romer said. “No one’s going to outwork me.”
If elected, one of her priorities would be working on gun safety legislation. While several bills were passed this year, others were left on the table, such as SB 3, which would require residents to obtain a permit and take a training course before being able to purchase a handgun.
“No one’s trying to take away people’s Second Amendment rights,” Romer said. “But we do need to have policies in place that have been proven to reduce gun violence.”
She also advocates reforming the Law Enforcement Officers’ Bill of Rights to allow public access to police misconduct records.
“I like to say two things can be true at the same time – we can appreciate what law enforcement does for us but also hold them accountable for police misconduct,” Romer said.
Her other area of focus would be education, including advocating for statewide pre-kindergarten.
“That’s not a bill that’s going to get passed right away, but I really want to start laying the groundwork and getting involved in that,” she said, adding that she also wants to explore ways to increase funding for the Christina School District.
Romer’s two daughters attend Newark Charter School.
“My kids are doing very well at Newark Charter, but I think that you can also be happy with your school and still see that there are challenges that Christina School District is facing that our school is not necessarily facing,” she said. “I think it’s important to recognize that if we’re going to solve the problem. I don’t think that Christina School District can just copy cut and paste what we did at Newark Charter and have it succeed, because the population that it serves has a lot of higher specific needs.
Kowalko has long been a leading critic of Newark Charter and has tried unsuccessfully to pass a law prohibiting the school from giving admissions preference to students who live within a five-mile radius. Earlier this year, he joined with other legislators to propose a moratorium on new charter schools.
Romer said she is open to a moratorium but does not believe eliminating the five-mile radius would be effective.
Klima, 49, lives in Academy Hill. He grew up in Dover and moved to Newark to attend the University of Delaware.
He works as managing director for the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation’s First Responder Center, which seeks to prevent firefighters from dying from occupational illnesses. Prior to that, he was public safety director at Dover International Speedway and has worked in emergency planning for 18 Super Bowls.
He has served in numerous leadership positions with Aetna Hose, Hook and Ladder Company, the Academy Hill homeowners association and Newark American Little League. He is currently chairman of the board at Newark Charter School.
Klima said he has gone to Legislative Hall to advocate for public safety issues, and the political science major said he is ready to take the next step and serve as a legislator.
“I have nearly 30 years of experience in the Newark community holding many different leadership positions, whether it’s leadership positions in the fire department, the Little League, the school,” he said. “My experience being down at Leg Hall advocating for these issues and my relationships, I think, would allow me to better represent the citizens of the district.”
Like Romer, Klima said education is one of his main priorities. It is past time for Delaware to fix its antiquated model for funding schools, he said.
“When you pull up in front of Mrs. Jones’s house and it’s on fire, you can’t just sit there and not do something. You have to do something. Sometimes we do the right things, and sometimes things don’t go that well, but you have to make a decision,” Klima said. “I think we’re sitting here prolonging decisions because we’re afraid we won’t make the perfect one. If we don’t make one and move forward, we’re never going to get anywhere.”
He wants school districts to be audited and wants to find ways to attract more teachers to Delaware.
Klima said he would oppose legislation to change Newark Charter’s admissions policy or impose a moratorium on charter schools.
“I’ll use a sports analogy,” he said. “I’m not a big fan of the New England Patriots, but you have to admire their success. If you’re the 2-16 Browns, do you try to improve yourself? Or do you just keep trying to tear down the team that’s doing things the right way?”
He said leaders need to “stop playing politics with students” and work together to improve all schools. The focus should be on why so many students transfer out of the Christina School District and why their teachers don’t get the support they need.
“You have to understand the mentality of a firefighter,” Klima said. “When you come from that world, you don’t have a choice not to act. I think there’s frustration from somebody like me like, well, why aren’t we acting and working together?”
Beyond education issues, he also wants to address the fentanyl crisis, find new funding sources for volunteer fire departments and push for an after-action review of the decisions state leaders made during the pandemic.
“What went well, what didn’t go well?” he said. “Obviously what didn’t go well is we have learning loss never seen before.”