If you live in Dewey Beach, you know the score! First, there’s wrongdoing. Then, there’s obfuscation. Then, there’s folks with a personal stake in the situation finding a way to make change impossible. I give you the Dewey Beach Commissioners election, 2019 version. 

Paul Bauer has usurped a seat on the council by filling out a Candidate’s Filing Form with absolutely nothing accurate on it except his name, his birthdate and the date he submitted it. 

“Oh, who cares?” I hear you. Sure, let’s have candidates violate the town charter to appeal to more voters with a fraudulent filing; why not? Maybe we should just throw out the laws and go back to who can draw the fastest. Is that what we really want? 

Bauer, an incumbent, non-resident commissioner, is guilty of violating Article III. Offenses sec. 85-877 of the Dewey Beach Code of Offenses. Of that I have irrefutable evidence. Will the mayor, his running mate, investigate? No, of course not. Did the solicitor cry foul?  Not so much. He claimed I was late to make the claim, but not that the claim has no merit, he referred me to state court. Did the Board of Elections weigh in? Only to the extent the state required.

But while we’re on the subject; they didn’t catch that they issued ballots with two different residency designations for Bauer; the absentee and in-person ballots reflected his residency differently. 

Bauer misled voters on his filing form by inclusion and omission. He apparently doesn’t even know the actual address he claims as his residency. As a holder and candidate for one of the highest offices in Dewey, he thought he could tell you anything and you’d just believe it; and maybe you did. If you voted for Bauer thinking he was a real resident of Dewey, you were fooled.

If you voted for Bauer because you thought he was perhaps more like you, an out-of-town property owner, you were misled.

Although it takes time to get to the bottom of these things, I ran seeking an end to this type of corruption, and will continue to fight it now, and in the future.

Is this a conspiracy? We will see. A bright light will be shown on the forces that continue to hold Dewey Beach in a spell of campaign abuses and stacked outcomes. I had no idea this is where we’d be, but here we are. Bauer’s attorney is a broken record on the recount, claiming I have made multiple attempts to overturn the result, but the state required a recount. His only goal is to avoid talking about Bauer’s real residency, because that is assuredly a losing argument.

Philip B. Rowe
candidate, Dewey Beach commission 2019