Four vying for governor’s seat

There are four candidates running for governor – Democrat John Carney, Republican Colin Bonini, Libertarian Sean Goward and Green Party candidate Andrew Groff. Gov. Jack Markell, a Democrat, has served two terms and cannot run for re-election.

The Cape Gazette’s 2016 election guide will be in the Friday, Oct. 28 edition. Read about Return Day, Sussex County’s long-standing post-election tradition of burying the political hatchet, and get a feel for the candidates in Delaware national, statewide and local races.

• John C. Carney, Jr. •

Party: Democrat

Age: 60

Education: St. Mark’s High School; Dartmouth College; masters in public administration, University of Delaware

Occupation: U.S. Representative

Residence: Wilmington

Family: wife, Tracey Quillen Carney; sons, Sam and Jim

Relevant experience: U.S. Representative, 2011 – present; Delaware lieutenant governor, 2001 – 2008; Delaware secretary of finance, 1997 – 2001; Delaware governor’s deputy chief of staff, 1994 – 1997; deputy chief administrative officer, 1989 – 1994

• Colin Bonini •

Party: Republican

Age: 51

Education: B.A., Wesley College

Occupation: state senator, business owner

Residence: Kent County

Family: wife, Melissa

Relevant experience: state senator

• Sean L. Goward •

Party: Libertarian

Age:  37

Education: B.A. pastoral studies, associate of applied science degrees in aircraft maintenance technology, aviation operations, and instruction of technology and military science

Occupation: railroad signal maintenance, construction

Residence: Dover

Family: wife, 5 children

Relevant experience: 16 years in government administration in the U.S. Air Force including personnel management, budget and supply management.

• Andrew Groff •

Party: Green Party

Age: 58

Education: B.S. economics and engineering, University of Delaware; organization development, National Training Laboratories Institute, Alexandria, Va.

Occupation: professor of computer science, Delaware Technical Community College; owner, Avero Systems LLC

Residence: Wilmington

Family: wife, daughter

Relevant experience: senior executive at Nike and Fila; COO, Airwalk; CTO, Flapdoodles

• Unclaimed property is the third largest source of revenue for Delaware, accounting for about 15 percent of the state’s annual income. Now other states want their share. How do you propose replacing it?

John Carney – Our state budget growth cannot be sustained. I think we need a spending and revenue reset that starts with looking at how we spend the taxpayers' money. If Delawareans want government to continue to provide the services it does, we need to implement an intensive, ongoing, cabinet-level focus on operational efficiency to reduce spending wherever possible. On the revenue side, like many other states, Delaware's revenue portfolio is struggling to grow fast enough to keep pace with the increased cost of government. We need to broaden our tax base so that revenues grow more with the economy.

Colin Bonini – Delaware has a spending problem not a revenue problem. We are one of the most expensive states per capita in the country when it comes to state government, and we bring in more money per person than just about any other state of the union. The answers to the escheat question and other revenue questions is to get ahold of our spending and bring it under control. I do not support raising taxes.

Sean Goward – Before addressing further revenue increases, we need to address our spending policy and streamlining and reducing our current revenue stream. Corporations pass tax expenditures on to consumers through every stage in the manufacturing and service process, and the burden for high–end corporate sweetheart deals is borne by small– and medium–sized businesses and individual taxpayers. Government services that can be privatized should be to reduce cost. Any further source of revenue, such as cannabis legalization, should not be seen as permission to continue poor fiscal policy.


Andrew Groff – That such a mercurial revenue stream and citizen theft could be such an integral element of our budget structure illustrates the lack of serious thought regarding policy and consideration for a well–structured government. Gov. Jack Markell and candidate John Carney are complicit in the current pay-to-play government patronage that infests our one-party sham of a government. Carney was budget manager under former Gov. Tom Carper and Markell has served to enrich his own desires. All revenue streams and a complete cost accounting audit needs to be done before we ask the taxpayers for another dime in funding – taxes.

• Do you support the new law allowing convicted felons who have completed their prison sentence but not repaid their financials debts to be able to vote?

J.C. – Yes. As the most fundamental of all the rights afforded to us, the right to vote ought to remain intact except in the most extreme cases. A person’s financial status certainly should not impact his or her ability to vote.

C.B. – No. The law that passed allows felons who still owe restitution to victims to vote. I do not believe felons should have their voting rights back until their victims are made whole. Unfortunately, many of my colleagues in the General Assembly seem more concerned about perpetrators than victims. I believe we need to refocus our criminal justice system back to the rights of victims.

S.G. – As the state’s executive, that is a question to be addressed by the General Assembly. Our legislators and state employees would do well to remember we are working with individuals with unique needs and circumstances. Each case needs to be addressed based on its own merit.

A.G. –Yes. As free citizens with debt they should have a right to cast their votes in their future interests once they've concluded their incarceration.

• Delaware is among the top states in education spending, but middle of the pack in terms of results. How do you plan to address this?

J.C. – Delaware has one of the best-funded educational systems in the country. The issue is how well we use those funds. In my view, the most important thing is to provide resources and flexibility at the school building level for teachers and classrooms. We also need a Department of Education that is more focused on helping teachers utilize best practices. Most important of all, we need to stop jumping from one reform to the next. We know what works. We need to pick a strategy and stick to it.

C.B. – Not the middle of the pack, near the bottom in many categories actually. My bottom line is that the resources and accountability need to be brought to the local level as much as possible. I think parents, teachers and principals are the ones most capable of reforming our schools, and we should give them the power to do so. I truly believe if we can bring the resources and accountability down to the school-building level we will see much better results.

S.G. – Our federal government has figured out that it can attach a multitude of strings by granting states money taken from taxpayers. With increases in spending through federal grants and matching state funds, our educators, parents and students have been bound in red tape. The metrics used to determine success in education come from apples–to–oranges comparisons between international education systems.  If we want to continue to lead, we need to unreform education and determine the standards of our own success, cut ties with federal mandates, and return control of our schools to local districts.

A.G. – This is a key element in my campaign platform. Once again our system is rife with waste, inefficiency and patronage. Leadership by corrupt Democratic party members has proven that there is little interest in improving our schools. The only current obligation seems to be to keep the money flowing into government coffers. Delaware has more than sufficient funds to operate the best schools in the country. Our application of resources is currently over allocated to wasteful administration expenditures. Once we clean up the current mess we will have ample budgets to run the best schools in the country.  

• Should a cap be placed on payday loans? Explain.

J.C. – People without credit rely on short-term loans if their car breaks down or they face another financial emergency. That said, I share the concern that people who use payday loans face terms that make the loans nearly impossible to repay. As a member of the House Financial Services Committee, I’ve spent a lot of time studying this issue, and we’ve learned that addressing the problems with lenders is extremely difficult. We need to strike a balance between protecting borrowers without jeopardizing loan availability. If a cap were to be put in place, it should be done at the federal level.

C.B. – I think we should continue to look to reform the payday loan process. But it's important not to over regulate them to the point where these loans are no longer available to people who need them. I'm confident we can eliminate the abuses while still allowing for this product to be available to Delawareans who need them.

S.G. – Caps on payday loans do little to address underlying issues leading people to borrow. Lenders will create new ways to prey on people seeking financial relief as evidenced by similar legislation in other states. While there is moral outrage at the perception of high interest rates, actual lending and accounting practices show otherwise. Banks make 5.2 percent on traditional loans, mitigating risk by denying loans to those with bad credit. Storefront lenders generally make 2.4 percent on payday/title loans by assuming greater risk of default, and small loan amounts with short terms make annual percentage rates appear much larger than they really are.

A.G. – A formal framework for micro-finance must be established to enable low–income citizens to access short–term financial aid without usury. There are many examples of this structure throughout the world, which help fund small business start–ups and families in times of need. There have been proposals, at the federal level, for the U.S. Postal Service to provide this type of service. We must be sure that our most vulnerable neighbors are not victimized by a predatory financial structure. A reimagining of our state economy toward small business and local community involvement is the only way to develop an economy that works for all citizens.