Good Government Democrat Accuses Chris Coons of Corruption- Delaware News

Chris Coons, a County Executive from New Castle County Delaware, with new political mentor and ally, Barack Obama

Delaware News, Chris Coons, Good Government, County Executive, Barack Obama, Politics, Election 2010, Christine O’Donnell, Delaware Senate Race

Green Delaware doesn’t mince words or hold back invective, calling Chris Coons a “cockroach.”

Chris Coons, a New Castle County Executive in the the State of Delaware, is no friend of the “good government Democrats” in his very own county where, according to one group, he is SO corrupt that they have taken to calling him a cockroach. According to their website: “Green Delaware is a grassroots organization concerned with environmental and public health issues in Delaware and surrounding states. We advocate policies consistent with good health, preservation of biodiversity, and long term sustainability. We believe that achieving these ends also requires progress towards human relationships based on peace, justice, and democratic forms of government.”

Coons may have sparked the beginning of a virtual civil war within the Delaware Party Base as good government Democrats find more and more not to like about the Coons agenda in his own County, as Green Delaware has.

The New Castle County group sees Coons as someone who is in bed with developers, not a friend of open government and democracy at the local level, and who is willing to use his power to try and go after his opponents, including Green Delaware, using “official” means to do so. Coons’ track record of spending and taxing is very nearly bankrupting the county he holds court over, according to local press.

Coons Seeks 25% Property Tax Hike

The News-Journal March 18, 2009

If approved by County Council, the tax hike would be the second biggest in county history and would raise an extra $21 million to help balance the $234 million budget for the 2010 fiscal year that begins July 1. The average annual property tax bill would rise by about $100 to $501. Coons’ spending plan also calls for a 10 percent increase in sewer fees. The overall budget reflects the impact of the recession, particularly in housing. The county has depended heavily for years on a share of the statewide real estate transfer tax to balance its budget. Revenues from that tax have plummeted as home sales swooned.

“I think we’ve just gone overboard — we’ve overspent,” said civic leader Frances West, noting that residents will have to adjust to having less. “It’s like raising kids. If you give them luxuries and then take them away, they’re not going to be happy.” Coons’ spending plan would trim personnel costs by $4.8 million, an amount he said could be achieved by laying off 75 to 100 employees. If layoffs are needed, they would occur across the board and include public safety services such as police and paramedics. Coons said he is continuing to negotiate with the county’s six unions to see whether they would accept furloughs or some other form of payroll reductions. So far, the unions have balked at Coons’ proposed furloughs, suggesting that taxes instead be raised to save county jobs. Personnel costs account for more than three-fourths of the county’s spending.

HAT TIP to Delaware Libertarian for being on this long ago….

The news of Coon’s spending habits as a County Executive may be the reason Harry Ried called Coons his “pet” or, as some are saying of Coons, “Reid’s mini-me”, a reference to Doctor Evil, a character in the Austin Powers series of movies, who has a “min-me”, a man who looked just like him but who was only 3 feet tall.

Like Reid, Coons is for cap and tax and like Reid Coons has managed to leverage his public career with real estate dealings to make lots and lots more money than their comparatively low income opponents. Like Reid, Coons is wealthy.

Whatever Coons’ REAL politics, and they are more aligned with Liberation Theology than plain old fashioned “liberalism”, his first instinct, when confronting a crisis seems to be to raise taxes. Back in 2007 when plant closings in Newark took place, along with MNBA laying off 3,000 workers, Coons responded with a 17.5% tax increase.

All this heavy reliance on taxing “the rich” through property taxes did not help, as New Castle County reeled from the real estate bubble burst, leaving the county short of funds and Coons and company going out begging for MORE TAXES from financially strapped residents.

Residents, who are enduring all these heavy taxes, are now being asked to support the very man who RAISED THEM SO MUCH in the first place, all so that, according to his website, Delaware doesn’t elect a “Tea Party Senator.”