Delaware’s “Bombastic” Treasurer Calls Delaware “Fair” While Economy Shrinks

Delaware’s Treasurer, Chip Flowers, squeaked into office in 2010 and promised to give Delaware a “heads up” before the next economic crisis hit so that we’d all be prepared. Since taking office, he’s left his rating of Delaware’s economy as “Fair”.

From his own July 1, 2012 review,

• How is Delaware’s Consumer Sector holding up?    — “Delaware ranked 42nd in yearly job creation.”
• How is Delaware’s Business Sector doing?   — “Regional Manufacturing activity slows.”
• How is Delaware’s Financial Sector working?  — “Delaware stock index declines by 2.42%.”

Golly. I wonder what it would take to earn a “Weak” Rating?

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Treasurer Flowers and Delaware’s Secretary of State – Talk Much?

The Secretary of State is a member of the Cash Management Policy Board. This is the same Board that Treasurer Chip Flowers is attempting to by-pass so that he can play with and more aggressively invest Delaware’s short term cash. At the bottom of this post is the landing page of the Secretary of State’s website. Clicking on the link to the Cash Management Policy Board comes up with the following from the Treasury’s (aka The Treasurer’s) website:

Not Found

Apologies, but the page you requested could not be found. Perhaps searching will help.

Taking the advice given, a web search of the Treasurer’s site for “Cash Management Policy Board” comes up with… “Nothing Found.” However, a search for “Cash Management Policy” comes up with the Treasurer’s own thoughts as to how to invest Delaware’s short term cash holdings.

I guess when the Treasurer spent a bunch of money updating his office’s website into a puff-piece, he neglected to check for other State website inbound links or inform members of the Cash Management Policy Board that he was purging all details of their existence from “his” site.

Oversight? Incompetence? Purposeful? You make the call…

OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY OF STATE

The Secretary of State oversees an extremely diverse department with responsibilities in virtually every aspect of state government: economic development, finance, transportation, housing, education, culture and quality-of-life issues. In addition to providing direction such as budgetary and policy guidance to the various operating divisions of the Department, he also serves on the Board of Pardons as Secretary, is a member of the Delaware Economic and Financial Advisory Council (DEFAC) and the Cash Management Policy Board and chairs the Delaware Stadium Corporation. The Secretary of State is traditionally one of the Governor’s primary advisors.

The staff in the Office of the Secretary provides financial, personnel, training and legislative services to the Department’s divisions. In addition, the office is responsible for approving notary public applications and for providing the administrative functions of the Board of Pardons.

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Race to the bottom

OK, so many people reading the headline might think that this post is going to be a snarky post about Delaware’s Race-to-the-top money & program. Nope. It’s a post about the Markell/Flowers mutual non-admiration society. What could be funnier than a couple of liberal democrats accusing each other of being risky with taxpayer money? Each fighting over who is the worst spending Democrat…

From the News Journal:

[Markell] Administration officials are now publicly questioning Flowers’ choices as the state’s top cash manager. Markell’s office cautioned Flowers against chasing “big returns” on taxpayer investments after hiring a financial consultant to monitor the portfolio. And one Markell insider recently accused Flowers of “holding a gun to the head” of state officials after he threatened to hold up a bond sale to fund a controversial Newark Charter School expansion plan. Flowers hasn’t backed down, accusing Markell’s team of “Nixon-style smear tactics” and lobbing criticisms of his own, including questioning Markell’s shaky $20 million investment in electric carmaker Fisker Automotive.

Now, we know that the MainStreamMedia doesn’t like “gun” rhetoric when it comes from Conservatives, but evidently, Liberals can use the term… liberally. And, of course, there’s nothing better than one Democrat accusing another of being like Richard Nixon. I couldn’t make this stuff up.

The Treasurer and the former Treasurer clearly have a problem getting along. The current Treasurer wanted a bigger office and so the Democrats kicked out the Delaware Commission on Women from their office space to give it to the current Treasurer (and note that while he’s kicking out the Commission on Women, the Democrats are trying to kick out their only statewide female officeholder, Insurance Commissioner Karen Weldin Stewart by endorsing a male candidate – and who has the problem with women???).

So, while the Governor has spent tens of millions of taxpayer dollars on failed investments in Fisker Automotive and economy-strangling above market power rates, the Treasurer has opted for “constantly tracks[ing] movements in the state’s investment portfolio on a Bloomberg financial portal. He had them installed last year, and access costs almost $40,000 annually”, and “announc[ing] a three-year deal to pay financial firm Credit Suisse $350,000 annually to serve as his consultant on the portfolio, including evaluating performance, and searching for ways to boost yield in an “under-performing” portfolio”.

It is a tough call. Who is the worst big government spender in Delaware? The Governor or the Treasurer. I can see why they are fighting. It’s a title that they both covet.

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