January has arrived, and another legislative session is about to begin in the Delaware General Assembly. With Senate committee assignments recently released, New Castle County got all the turkey and gravy, while eastern Sussex County and Sen. Russ Huxtable, D-Lewes, ended up with cold leftovers once again.
It seems like a bad rerun since the changing of the local beach political guard — from moderate Republicans, like Steve Smyk and Ernie Lopez, to partisan and progressive Democrats, like Russ Huxtable and incoming Rep. Claire Snyder-Hall of Rehoboth Beach. Local Democrats who are thrilled to be flipping seats once held by longtime consensus builders from red to blue once again look foolish, as party leaders upstate dictate membership on prized committees.
Our problems are significant. Cape region schools are overcrowded, and recent referendums have failed. We have gaping breaches along our oceanfront dunes. How could Democrats, who have held the majority in the Senate chamber since the 1970s, not appoint Huxtable to either the Joint Finance Committee or the Capital Infrastructure Committee, where the real dollars are allocated? I guess they know something we don’t. Maybe they felt the same way about Huxtable as many voters did — seeing a man dressed up in an antique baseball uniform hand out tributes all day instead of working. What a slap in the face to Cape region taxpayers, who generate tremendous amounts of revenue for state coffers.
Sadly, this shows, once again, how Delaware Democrats use the enthusiasm and campaign cash from the newly arrived “blue wave” coastal transplants to gift the power of governing to their political base in New Castle County. How ironic is it that Huxtable gets a seat on the Health & Social Services Committee after being snubbed in his previous attempt at membership, especially after Democrats eviscerated our local hospitals and hijacked their finances through the passage of House Bill 350? His new assignment on the committee is like walking into a banquet for a meal after it has been ransacked by wolves.
Here in the Cape region, as long as half-priced meal specials dominate the menus and pickleball courts are free of crowds, the beach blue bourgeoisie will continue to elect individuals like Russ Huxtable, with no ability to get the results truly needed for our beloved coastal area, leaving us underfunded, underserved and overcrowded.
Hylton Phillips-Page
Rehoboth Beach
Reader reactions, pro or con, are welcomed at civiltalk@iniusa.org.
