Power struggle: Delaware Senate leaders face off against fellow Democrat Gov. Matt Meyer over control of port

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This story was supported by a statehouse coverage grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Exactly how much influence Delaware’s new governor will have over the state’s port in Wilmington could become clearer in the next few months.

Democratic Gov. Matt Meyer, a self-styled political outsider, said he wants to change how the state operates. That has some even in his own party worried about upsetting the status quo.

“In Delaware, civility is alive and well. It’s who we are,” Meyer said in his inauguration speech on Jan. 21. “At the same time, we cannot afford to shy away from speaking the truth. From taking a stand. From taking a bold step in a new direction.”

There’s a new controversy just beginning to brew over who will control the Port of Wilmington, which is a state-owned facility and one of the last refuges for well-paying, working-class jobs in the state.

Earlier this month, two Democrats took steps that could ultimately limit what control Meyer has over the state’s multi-million dollar economic driver before he even took office.

The Diamond State Port Corporation, a quasi-public entity that oversees the Port of Wilmington, has been seeking to build a $635 million container terminal at the Edgemoor property on the Delaware River. The project has been stymied after a court decision last year invalidated key permits from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

On Jan. 20, the day before Meyer became governor, then-Gov. Bethany Hall-Long nominated prominent labor leaders James Ascione, William Ashe and Curtis Linton, along with former Board of Pilot Commissioners Chair Robert Medd. She also re-nominated former Delaware Secretary of State Jeffrey Bullock and the board’s former chairman.

Hall-Long, who served as lieutenant governor for eight years under former Gov. John Carney, became governor for a two-week stint when Carney resigned early to start his new job as mayor of Wilmington. Both were term-limited.

While the nominations appeared to be a surprise to Meyer, a spokesperson for Hall-Long said the nominations were made in consultation with Senate leadership. Meyer sent senators a letter Tuesday asking for those nominations to be withdrawn after being asked about them by reporters. He said he would be submitting his own in the days ahead, which may or may not include some of the names Hall-Long suggested.

For Meyer and some of his supporters, allowing Hall-Long to make the recommendations would be a repudiation of the voters who chose Meyer over Hall-Long in last year’s Democratic primary by 10 percentage points. Meyer also beat former environmental protection chief Collin O’Mara in that primary, who garnered about 16% of the vote.

“Those who lose elections don’t get to make appointments,” said Nick Merlino, Meyer’s deputy chief of staff.

“I think that it’s unprecedented for someone who lost an election to be able to make nominations as a consolation prize on their way out,” he said. “It just seems wholly unfair to the voters of Delaware.”

However, in a letter to Meyer, Senate President Dave Sokola, D-Newark, told Meyer that based on legal research, the nominations are “viable.” But he also invited Meyer to submit his own nominees. He did not respond to a request for comment.

Merlino said the Senate leadership told them the chamber was relying on rulings from court cases in Pennsylvania and Wyoming.

Senate Majority Leader Bryan Townsend said Hall-Long duly made the nominations during her time as governor and he doesn’t think which governor’s name is on the nominations has a direct connection to the voters.

Townsend did not clearly answer whose nominations the Senate would take up, but left the door open for the Senate to disregard Meyer’s picks in favor of Hall-Long’s.

“Right now we have Gov. Hall Long’s nominees that are submitted to the Senate. Gov. Meyer sent a letter that we believe presented an inaccurate, to put it mildly, framing of the Delaware Constitution and what its powers are,” he said. “Sen. Sokola responded and we’ll move through the process of considering nominees that are before us, whoever the nominees are and whichever governor submits them, we very much want to see people who are committed to what we believe the future of the port can be.”

Townsend also argued that even if Hall-Long was not elected governor last year, senators were. Sokola was not on the ballot last year, while Townsend and Senate Majority Whip Elizabeth “Tizzy” Lockman ran unopposed.

Meyer will have four cabinet secretaries on the port board — pending expected confirmations by the Senate this month — who are legislatively appointed.

Those include his nominations for Secretary of State Charuni Patibanda, Transportation Secretary Shanté Hastings, Finance Secretary Michael Smith and Department of Safety and Homeland Security Secretary Joshua Bushweller.

In another potential blow to Meyer’s control over the direction of the port, Townsend is sponsoring legislation introduced days before Meyer was inaugurated that would allow the port’s board to elect its own chair without the consent of the Senate. That means the governor would no longer be able to pick the chair, possibly paving the way for former Secretary of State and longtime board chair Jeffrey Bullock to return to the position. He has served on the board since 2009 and has been chairman longer than anyone since the 18th century.

Townsend said the legislation was not due to a new governor coming in and it’s not trying to do an end run around the governor’s power to pick the board president because it’s also removing the advice and consent power of the Senate. He said senators can already vote down a governor’s nominee, but was unable to give an example from when Democrats last voted down a nominee from its own party.

He added that the genesis of the bill came from the legal fight over the past six to nine months over the Army Corps’ permits and the remaining hope that the port can be modernized and expanded.

The state has poured hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer funds into the port over the years, from all levels of government. Which could be why some people may have raised their eyebrows at a speech Meyer gave at a State Chamber of Commerce event on Jan. 13, two days before Townsend filed his legislation.

With hundreds of business leaders in attendance, Meyer talked about the port and how he hopes to change the state’s approach to business creation.

“For years, Delaware and the majority of states have conducted economic development through the use of taxpayer funds to entice companies to set up shop here,” she said. “This is a myopic view. Companies that only consider money are not concerned about the most important thing, quality of life. In my administration, you’re going to see the use of this cash assistance de-emphasized.”

Townsend said the state is currently going in a good direction right now.

“I certainly do think we’ve made a lot of progress, and we should continue in that direction. It’s absolutely fantastic if Gov. Meyer is committed to continuing that progress, or in some ways enhancing or bolstering that progress,” Townsend said.

Merlino said Meyer expects the Senate to honor his wishes to withdraw the nominees Hall-Long put forward. Asked if he expects to become board chair again if Townsend’s legislation passes, Bullock said his only interest is creating thousands of good paying jobs as part of the port expansion at Edgemoor.

U.S. District Judge Mark Kearney of the Western District of Pennsylvania ruled last year the Army Corps “arbitrarily and capriciously departed from its own procedures” in issuing the permits and ordered a closer, more in-depth review of the project.