Brady, Dailey to square off for recorder of deeds

Both candidates say they plan to improve service to the residents of Sussex County.

John Brady would accomplish this by continuing to modernize the office and using the internet to display recently filed deeds. Scott Dailey would accomplish improved service by implementing regular office hours.

Brady has been Sussex County’s recorder of deeds since 2003; Dailey has never held elected office.

Democrat: John Brady

Brady, 51, of Lewes defeated Alma Roach in the Democratic primary election. He has been the managing attorney of Brady, Richardson, Beauregard & Chasanov LLC since 2005. Before that, Brady acted as a sole practitioner and as a legislative attorney for the Delaware House of Representatives and as a deputy attorney general.

Brady received his undergraduate degree from University of Richmond and a law degree from Widener University School of Law, where he is a Delaware bar, equity and Chancery Court instructor.

As recorder of deeds, Brady has reduced return times of recorded documents, improved online services, created a budget surplus and reduced the annual operating budget by almost 23 percent. He has not increased fees to residents for recording services.

Republican: Scott Dailey

Dailey, 38, of Lewes, was unopposed in the primaries. He owns Capstone Homes, a local homebuilding business. The challenger said his management and business experience provide him with the qualifications needed to act as recorder of deeds.

Dailey was born in Washington, D.C., and raised in Rockville, Md. He moved to Sussex County in 1999; before that, he lived in Newark and worked as a high school English teacher.  Dailey is a graduate of University of Delaware and has worked in residential real estate development since 2002.  Dailey was the area director in Sussex County for Young Life, a nondenominational Christian youth organization at Cape Henlopen High School. He left the staff in 2004 and continued to volunteer until August 2010. Dailey and his wife, Deniene, live in Lewes with their three children.

If elected, Dailey said he would make service a priority in a more efficient Recorder of Deeds Office.  He would establish regular office hours to make himself available and the office more accessible to residents. Dailey does not consider himself to be a politician and has no plans to seek any other political office in the future.