LETTERS TO GRAPEVINE

NEIL: FAILING THE STATESWOMANSHIP TEST

Posted: July 16, 2008

Your column on the lady achievers in high office was, as usual, great reading. However, Sen. Liane Sorenson's mention of Rep. Debbie Hudson and Rep. Donna Stone borders on pipe dreams depending upon what you are smoking. They may be tough birds but they fail the stateswomanship test. They fit in the "old girl network" of political hacks.
 
They are "what do I have to do to get elected," rather than how can I serve the public best. Both hold tight to the Republican line. Hudson feeds with both hands from the public trough. Stone murdered Matt Denn's insurance reforms because she and her fellow Republicans don't like him.
 
For obvious reasons, Stone disappointed the Manufactured Housing advocates when she didn't run for governor. Maybe she will get her lobbying job in D.C. where hot air mixed with baloney is standard fare.
 
Rep. Valerie Longhurst, on the other hand,  is a rising star if she wants higher office.

Fred Neil
Delaware Manufactured Home Owners Association

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ROSS: A MEMORY FROM LAIRD STABLER'S SERVICE

Posted: Feb. 28, 2008

What a great service for Laird Stabler at Vicmead Hunt Club. He would have loved it and been so proud of his children.

From where I was standing, I could see a rather large gray horse. When there was a big gust, you could see the horse “race the wind” back and forth. It seemed like it was part of the service. It was amazing.

Afterwards, I was asked if I had noticed the horse. It was beautiful. I hope others were able to witness it from where they were standing.

Hard to believe Laird is gone, but those of us who had the pleasure of knowing him will never forget.

Tom Ross
Wilmington Republican chair

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SULLIVAN: IT AIN'T SO, GRAPEVINE

Posted: Dec. 21, 2007

Your article entitled "It Ain't So, Joe" is the lowest political shot I can remember.
 
I'm not a newcomer to politics. I am a lifelong Republican who was particularly active in 1972. Senator Cale Boggs was a close friend of mine, whom I supported in his race against Joe Biden.
 
You did not mention the political climate in Delaware after our beloved Senator Boggs was put out of office by the hard work of Joe Biden and that of his wife Neilia. 

Rumors were rampant. Among the rumors were stories of a drunken driver, a speeding driver, a visually impaired driver, a truck with faulty brakes and a cover-up by police controlled by Republicans. I know none of these rumors to be true, but I do know that such statements were being made all over Delaware.
 
In December 1972, Republicans controlled the governor's office and thus the state police and the New Castle County government and thus the county police and the office of the mayor of the city of Wilmington and thus the Wilmington police force. That is to say, Republicans controlled every major police force in Delaware. More importantly, Republicans controlled the Office of Attorney General.
 
Having said all of that, I believe Jerry Herlihy's version of what happened. However, you should have noted that Jerry Herlihy was known to be a partisan Republican activist who eventually became the chairman of the Republican Party of Delaware. There were others who disagreed with my belief in the Herlihy version of events. 
 
With all that said, I don't share your view that the driver of the truck that broadsided the Biden vehicle and killed Neilia Biden and her infant daughter Amy should have feared retribution from anyone, least of all, the Democratic Biden supporters. The fact is that there was absolutely no chance that anything like retribution would happen.
 
However, I can say that there were many people who questioned whether the Republican-controlled police and the Republican-controlled Office of the Attorney General would make the proper calls. In my opinion, I believe that the attorney general and the state police made the right calls in every instance. But my view was not shared by many partisan Democrats. 
 
In that political climate, when thousands and thousands of people were offering condolences to Joe Biden, were they reading from an accident report? No, they were saying how sorry they were because Neilia and Amy died at the hands of a drunken driver, a speeding driver, an impaired driver, etc.
 
Joe Biden heard those statements thousands of times in his weakest moments
 
And I'm not new to the investigation of auto accidents and what it takes to fairly charge a person with a crime in an accident case. I know how difficult it is to charge in a case where there are no apparent eyewitnesses other than the person who drove the striking vehicle.
 
You left out something that did not happen but could have happened. Joe Biden did not set out with vengeance in his heart to take a shot at the driver who drove the truck that hit and killed his wife and daughter and seriously injured his two sons.
 
He didn't send someone to scout the area around the scene of the deaths of his wife and daughter. He didn't hire a crime scene investigator in an effort to get a pound of flesh from the driver of the truck and/or the owner of the trucking company for whom he worked. 
 
Joe Biden engaged no one to initiate a law suit which would have permitted his lawyers to cross examine the so-called "witnesses" mentioned in your article: the driver of the striking vehicle, the owner of the trucking company and the police officers. Nor did he take the opportunity to bring in his own accident reconstruction experts. 

Here's something else you didn't consider and left out. In 1972 Limestone Road was a two lane road, not the expansive highway it is today. Its speed limit then was 40 miles per hour or less. Twenty feet of skid marks may prove a vehicle to be speeding, depending on the weight of the vehicle and the conditions of the roadway at the time of the accident. So would the fact that the Biden vehicle was propelled 150 feet from the point of impact. Finally, in 1972, unlike today, blood tests of drivers in fatal accidents were not mandatory. Then, according to your article, after a two-day review by the attorney general, the truck driver was cleared.
 
You should have left this Times news article alone. It was not necessary for you to try to crush Joe Biden's heart by telling him what's in the recesses of his mind and memory.
 
Nor was it necessary to seek to validate a portion of a paragraph in a book you wrote. However, it may be that by writing this thoughtless article you could generate enough interest among Biden foes to pay for the production of your book.
 
In the weeks following the accident, Joe Biden heard a thousand versions of the cause of the deaths of his dear wife, Neilia and daughter, Amy. With respect to Joe Biden's statements today as to what happened, of course, he was not there. He is saying what was told to him by others when he was at the lowest point in his life. 
 
Joe Biden always says what he believes to be true.
 
Lawrence M. Sullivan
Delaware Public Defender

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