‘Could be considered a bribe’: Delaware incumbent was secretly recorded offering potential challenger a job if he didn’t run

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When Mike Kozikowski, the New Castle County recorder of deeds, invited potential challenger David Tackett to lunch on June 24, Tackett decided to record their meeting.

Tackett, a county councilman, told WHYY News he wanted to document what Kozikowski said because he had been tipped off that the six-term incumbent was going to offer him a job in exchange for him not running against Kozikowski in the Sept. 15 Democratic primary.

Kozikowski had plenty to say while the two sat in a booth for nearly 90 minutes at Cosmos Restaurant near Newport, according to the audiotape, which WHYY News recently obtained.

But mostly, Kozikowski kept offering Tackett a job if he agreed to stay out of the race.

If Tackett didn’t enter the primary, Kozikowski told him that the two could forge an alliance in the office that maintains deeds from real estate sales, mortgage documents, government liens and other property records for the county of about 590,000 people.

The job Kozikowski offered, which he had created and upgraded from a vacant post, paid $76,295 a year and would only require Tackett to go into the office up to three times a week, the incumbent said repeatedly during the meeting.

Kozikowski made the offer of the appointed position even though state law forbids County Council members from holding “any other county office” during their term, or any appointed county job for one year after their term ends.

Tackett told Kozikowski during the meeting that he would consider the offer, but told WHYY News that instead he left the diner and went straight to the county elections office, where he filed his candidacy.

“I thought it was intimidation. I was offended,” Tackett, who has represented the Glasgow and Bear areas near Newark since 2004, told WHYY News. “I guess technically in the eyes of the law, it certainly could be considered a bribe. But it wasn’t anything I was going to engage in.”

Kozikowski told WHYY News in an interview that he didn’t see any problem with his offer because Tackett had not yet officially filed his candidacy.

“He still had that choice,” Kozikowski said about Tackett. “He could think about taking the position, OK? Or if he decided to run against me, he could file. And that’s what he decided to do. I’m not worried about it at all because I know that he is not a candidate until he files.”

Under Delaware law, bribery occurs when someone offers a public servant a benefit in return for their “vote, opinion, judgment, action, decision or exercise of discretion.” Receiving a bribe occurs when the public servant agrees to accept such a benefit. The crime is a class E felony, punishable by zero to five years in prison.

Beyond being infuriated and deciding to take on Kozikowski, Tackett has also asked the office of Attorney General Kathy Jennings to launch a criminal investigation into Kozikowski’s offer.

In a formal complaint, first sent to Jennings’ office by email on Aug. 15, and then sent Monday on a form her office requires, Tackett accused Kozikowski of “attempted inducement of a prospective political candidate through repeated offers of public employment and compensation.”

Tackett “does not allege that Mr. Kozikowski used the words ‘bribe’ or ‘quid pro quo,’ and requests that the reviewing authority make its own determination as to whether the conduct described” violates the law, the complaint stated.

Tackett attached the recording and a transcript of the conversation in his complaint to the Delaware Department of Justice’s Division of Civil Rights and Public Trust, which investigates political corruption.

Tackett also sent copies this week to the state Department of Elections and the New Castle County Ethics Commission.

“I’ve always been on the up-and-up and I’ve never done anything illegal or participated in anything illegal, and I didn’t intend to start that now,” said Tackett, whose council salary this year is $59,000.

Until now, Tackett hasn’t made the job offer or his allegations a public issue in his campaign for the office, which pays $123,000 a year.

Tackett’s campaign manager Rich Jester, has told a few people in Delaware political circles about Kozikowski’s offer, however, and shared details about the complaint. Last week, one political insider informed WHYY News and provided the complaint, transcript and recording to a reporter, who contacted Tackett and Kozikowski.

Kozikowski said he wasn’t surprised that the matter was leaked to a media outlet because he has received two anonymous letters in the mail that mentioned the job offers. The letters said he should resign to spare his wife, who has health issues, the “turmoil” of having his actions exposed, Kozikowski said.

Kozikowski said he viewed those letters as a threat and reported them to county police. He would not provide the letters to WHYY News.

“He felt he was being bribed,” Kozikowski said. “OK, I felt I was being threatened when I received the letters.”

Neither Jennings nor officials in her office would discuss Tackett’s complaint.

“The DOJ cannot confirm or deny investigations. We have no comment at this time,” spokesperson Caroline Harrison said in a written statement.

Cathleen Harsky-Carter, spokesperson for the Department of Elections, issued a statement that said “the issues raised in the complaint do not fall within the department’s purview.”

No one from the county ethics commission responded to a request for comment.

Early voting for the primary races began Wednesday.

‘I didn’t want the conversation to be manipulated in any way’

Tackett, 60, who recently retired from Amtrak, said he began pondering a run for recorder of deeds this spring. Word of his potential candidacy circulated through county political circles, and reached the incumbent.

Kozikowski, 74, has never had a primary opponent during his six campaigns and twice didn’t have a Republican foe. There are no other candidates for the Nov. 3 general election, so the primary winner will serve the next four-year term.

Kozikowski said he likes and respects Tackett but didn’t want any primary foe, let alone a councilman who — though he had never run countywide — has won his district race six times.

Kozikowski said he had previously decided to use a vacant legal aide position to create a new post — constituent service outreach coordinator — with a higher salary. When he heard Tackett was pondering a run against him, Kozikowski said he decided his potential challenger would be perfect for the post, and invited him to meet.

Tackett said Kozikowski approached him in June when they were at a county event and asked to get together to talk about his potential candidacy.

“He said, ‘Let’s go to lunch, talk about this,’” Tackett recalled. “And I said, ‘OK, that’s fine.’”

Tackett said an aide set up the meeting at Cosmos for June 24. A few days beforehand, however, Tackett said “somebody that is close” to Kozikowski told him the incumbent was going to offer him a job in return for not running for recorder of deeds.

The tipster said “I better watch it and be very careful and protect myself on what I do,” Takett recalled. “So I thought I better handle this very strategically and that’s why I ended up recording it.”

Tackett said he thought a job offer, if Kozikowski made it, would be unethical, if not worse.

“I just wanted to make sure that the conversation was recorded and everything was documented on my end so that there couldn’t anybody come back later and say, ‘No, I didn’t say that,’” Tackett said. “I didn’t want the conversation to be manipulated in any way.”’

‘Maybe we can find a win-win?’

Seconds after he slipped into a booth across from Kozikowski at Cosmos, Tackett used his phone to secretly record the conversation.

Over the next 1 hour and 27 minutes, Kozikowski repeatedly offered to appoint Tackett to a job in the office.

Five minutes in, Kozikowski described how he had devised the new post, and then asked Tackett if he wanted it.
“I’m thinking, you being a council member, you’ve already got the interpersonal skills. You’re out there talking to the public all the time, I’m looking for someone that has those skills,” Kozikowski told his guest.

“What’s interesting is the fact of what it pays. It’s $76,295,” Kozikowski added. “I don’t know if that’s something you would be interested in.”

Tackett was noncommittal.

“I don’t know. I have to think about it, I guess,” Tackett responded.

Kozikowski said Tackett would only report to him and a top aide, and only have to go to the office in Wilmington three days a week, similar to other employees.

Kozikowski also said he’d spoken with County Executive Marcus Henry about the idea and both agreed county lawyers would have to review whether Tackett could hold an elected post — his current council term runs through 2028 — and an appointed county job.

No mention was made of the state law prohibiting such dual county employment for members of County Council.

Henry did not respond to requests from WHYY News for comment about any conversations he had with Kozikowski about the job that was offered to Tackett.

Kozikowski then spoke at length about what he described as his collegial management style, and said, “So, you know, think about my offer, if it’s something you might be interested in.”

“Right,” Tackett said, and asked “Have you considered retiring?” and not run for a seventh term.

“No,” Kozikowski replied.

Kozikowski later pointed out that if Tackett took the job, “you’d be making like $130-some thousand a year with the County Council position … so maybe we can find a win-win?”

Kozikowski, who did most of the talking, covered a variety of topics, including his dogs, legislation, union issues, county and statewide politics, but kept returning to the job.

“I hope you take my offer,” he said about 37 minutes into the meeting. “I think I would really enjoy working with you.”

At another point, Kozikowski reiterated that the partnership would benefit both men.

“What do I have that I can help you and you can help me, right?” he said. “And that’s what I’m doing today.”

“I appreciate that,” Tackett said.

Kozikowski asked Tackett for a prompt decision because he wanted to notify Henry, and also because the July 14 deadline to file for the primary election was looming. He also noted that another “consideration” for Tackett was that it cost “almost $5,000” to file for the office.

“I know you have a few days before the deadline so at least this way we can get it done if you’re willing,” Kozikowski said. “You haven’t filed, so you’re not really a candidate.”

As the meeting began wrapping up, Kozikowski spoke more about the structure of the office and why Tackett would be a good fit, then reiterated the salary, “$76,295” a year.

“Something to think about,” Tackett said.

Kozikowski also brought up Henry again, claiming that the county executive said, “I think it’s a good olive branch.”

‘The kind of crap you see in true crime dramas’

After they parted ways, Tackett said he went to the county elections office, submitted the paperwork for his candidacy and paid the filing fee.

Tackett later discussed what had happened with his campaign manager, who suggested that Jennings’ office could investigate the legality of Kozikowski’s offer.

Jester, who does software work for JP Morgan Chase & Co., said he was astonished after hearing the clip.

“This isn’t even subtle at all,” Jester said. “This is the kind of crap you see in true crime dramas and on ‘The Sopranos.’ This is not something that belongs in county government. And I don’t want to see someone’s life ruined, but people need to know who they’re voting for.”

Jester, who is not a lawyer, submitted the complaint for Hackett on Aug. 15.

The complaint requested that prosecutors “determine whether Mr. Kozikowski’s conduct violated any provision of Delaware criminal law, election law, or county ethics rules.”

Tackett, Jester and Kozikowski all said this week that they had not been contacted by Jennings’ office.

When WHYY News reviewed how a complaint should be filed, a reporter learned that they must be submitted online with an official Attorney General’s Office form and told Jester, who filed the required form Monday.

Kozikowski said he has since filled the position he offered Tackett, and is not worried about prosecutorial or other scrutiny of his actions.

“I said, ‘Well, he hasn’t filed yet, so let me offer him this job.’ And I reached out to see if it was OK, and that’s the way the process fell and he had that opportunity to get back with me,” Kozikowski said.

“And of course, the next thing I know, I heard that he filed. So he made his choice. His choice was he’s going to run against me.”