The battle against conflicts of interest

During my time in the General Assembly, I have consistently been mindful of the potential for legislators to abuse the public’s trust, and misuse their influence and authority to benefit themselves, their supporters or entities in which they have a vested interest.

In 2022, I proposed an amendment to a bill seeking to reform the organization charged with overseeing the redevelopment of state-owned land in northern New Castle County (Fort DuPont complex). My proposal was simple: remove the co-chairs of the Joint Capital Improvement Committee (also known as the Bond Bill Committee) from the corporation's board of directors to avoid any conflict of interest these lawmakers might face when appropriating taxpayer funds. 

That amendment was struck down after heated opposition, including direct pressure from then-Speaker of the House Valerie Longhurst. She demanded I withdraw the proposal. I refused because I believed that we should do everything possible to ensure governmental integrity and protect taxpayers’ dollars. In 2024, I revisited the issue by introducing legislation (House Bill 341). It would have prohibited state appropriations made through the annual Grants-in-Aid Bill to any private, nonprofit agency employing a member of the Joint Finance Committee – the group that crafts the measure. The bill proposed the same prohibition involving members of the Joint Capital Improvement Committee for any appropriations made via the Bond Bill.

Sadly, this bill was held in the House Administration Committee, of which then-Speaker Longhurst was the chair, and was not allowed to move forward.

Recent reporting by a Delaware media organization highlights why this reform was, and still is, necessary.

Former Speaker Longhurst has stepped down as executive director of the Police Athletic League of Delaware, a position she has held since 2018. According to the published report: “In 2017, the year before Longhurst became executive director, the PAL of Delaware recorded revenue of just over $1 million. The organization’s most recent publicly available tax documents shows revenue in 2022 at $4.6 million. With about $5 million from taxpayer grants in 2024, revenue that year will be even higher, but exactly how much is not clear because tax documents for the period are not yet publicly available.”

Additionally, the article states that two Police Athletic League of Delaware board members said that the nonprofit’s cash reserves have dwindled remarkably fast, even after the considerable amount of public funding the group received over the last two years. 

The issuance of another $500,000 in state grants awarded to the PAL in June was reportedly paused due to inconsistent information provided by Longhurst to various Delaware officials regarding the organization’s funding requests.

While it is still unclear if anything illicit occurred, the optics alone should give any objective citizen pause.

One-party rule in our state government does not serve anyone well. It prioritizes partisan interests over those of the public, and it shields its members from transparency and accountability. It results in an operational conceit that defies consensus-building and ignores the perspectives of anyone who does not have the correct party registration or fails to pass an ideological litmus test.

When common-sense reforms are ignored, trust in government suffers. Delawareans deserve better. It’s time for citizens of all affiliations to demand that all legislative proposals be considered on their merits and to enact reforms, such as the ones I have proposed, to help restore public faith in our process.