The 34th district representative race will be three candidates this year; myself, a popular RINO incumbent, and a serious democratic challenger. Both have more formal education than myself and are of higher social station locally. Unlike myself, both of my opponents have to seek other employment as they can't live on the salary paid to a State Representative.
While I could make a lot more money by returning to computer programming, the salary of 43,695 is sufficient to warrant my full time attention and devotion to the residents of the 34th District. I will have no other job than that of representing the people.
Many would question why they should vote for me? I'm a living a simple life in a modest neighborhood. Setting the world on fire was never my thing. For me life is about the relationships we forge and how we treat each other.
In the early spring of 2012, I quite frankly reached my boiling point. Polite communication with elected officials and other public servants was less than effective. My emails became rather stinging, ranting and pointed at once. Some political bloggers I copied to, on both sides of the spectrum started giving me feedback.
Of course it was understood that confronting officials in writing wasn't very effective concerning the official but such could publicize issues heretofore under the radar. I decided to run a publicity campaign trading on my father's celebrity for name recognition. An old high school friend convinced me that a write in publicity campaign to raise awareness wasn't the right thing to do.
At first I explored a primary run against the incumbent Governor of Delaware. What I found during that exploration caused me to leave the democratic party as a matter of conscience. I abandoned any thought of running for governor after meeting Jeff Cragg, the challenger. We have philosophical disagreements, but I don't doubt the man's sincerity or qualifications to lead. He's a natural with integrity.
So I have decided to run for State Representative. Unlike my opponents, this will be my only job. My goal is to introduce legislation for initiative, recall, and referendum as well as an Inspector General bill. With no other employment or interests, I will be available to the people to meet, communicate, and bring their concerns to the State House.
During the second year of my term it will be my pleasure to use the network of constituents who have communicated concerns to me and task them with finding a replacement to run in 2014. My goal is to return power to the people and start the process of restoring public integrity in the First State. If there were tremendous demand, I would run for a second term. Ideally, somebody else would serve and continue the work of returning the government of Delaware to the people of Delaware.
I have been around the block and through the mill. Enlisting in the Navy in 1979 and honorably discharged in 1982, croupier, cabbie, housing officer, bounty hunter, computer programmer, restaurant service, sales, logistics... . Now at age 51, semi-retired and enjoying life, I can't sit on the sidelines any longer.
With me comes real life experience in the trenches, unlike my opponents. Also the ability to maintain and even create usable working code for web commerce. In 1998 when IBM's Palo Alto research center was talking about web browser to database connectivity I was writing "Opti" a b2c and internal suite for Optipat, a company that maintained copies of U.S. Patents and provided them for attorneys.
Five years ago when my boss was accused of misplacing a high dollar amount of equipment I sat down and wrote a web enabled database application that used the local optical scans of inventory in and out to refute the accusations. My understanding of technology and free software can bring much to the table in Delaware regarding efficiency of government and educational opportunities for all Delawareans.
I grew up with the internet running GNU/Linux since 1995, my last supervisor in the I.T. world is now the Top Operating Architect at AOL. I'm also still adept in the trenches, working for Woodside Subway during the last holiday season with colleagues thirty years my junior.
If you want more of the same, vote for the incumbent or his challenger. They will both vote with the majority in the State house and continue business as usual. If you want somebody who can fight, lead, follow and won't sell out, vote for me.
If money and fame were important to me I would have followed my father's path. In fact I've tried to live out of the limelight. Sometimes we have to rise above our principal concerns and serve, especially in a time where so many of our leaders are all to willing to rise above principle.
Ben Franklin wrote that men seldom seek elected office for altruistic reasons, rather they presume that the public's interest coincide with their own. Guilty as charged. I live here, I love it here, and I'm no longer willing to accept the disparity of treatment that results from the back room politics and special interests controlling our government.
I want a better place for our children to grow and achieve, and a better place to grow old and marvel at the achievements of my neighbors. Please read the IPoD platform from the links on the right, and if you are into stuff like that take a peek at our draft legislation to create a state wide Inspector General.
If you are fed up with both major parties, consider joining the Independent Party of Delaware. We are mainly a think tank with ballot access for candidates with integrity. There is no litmus test, no party bosses. Our candidates are from across the political spectrum with one common goal, restoring integrity in government and returning power to the voters.
Don't vote for me because you trust me, vote for me because I trust you to tell me whether or not you're happy with my representation. I trust you to replace me when the time comes so somebody else can serve. I trust you to know what's right for your family, your community and your state. It's your State House, send me to bring it back to the people.
