!! ! ! COMMITTEES JOHN A. KOWALKO STATE REPRESENTATIVE Twenty - Fifth District ! ! HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES STATE OF DELAWARE Energy, Chair Education Health & Human Development Manufactured Housing Natural Resources LEGISLATIVE HALL DOVER, DELAWARE 19901 ! Dear Speaker Schwartzkopf, ! On Saturday, January 3, you called me to inform me that you were removing me from the House Education Committee despite my written submission that it was my number one choice of assignment. I realize that remaining silent on this important development would only contribute to what is best described as an atmosphere of intimidation and coercion that threatens to envelop our caucus and the entire House of Representatives. ! Every elected representative has a moral obligation to encourage their peers to think and act in the best interests of the public and the State without restraint imposed unfairly by use of coercive and divisive tactics wielded by those in power. ! Therefore, it is my duty to challenge and publicly refute those who presume to hold an ultimate right to coerce or demand an allegiance to them or their agenda without regard to the public’s needs and interests. ! If I remain publicly silent in this matter, then the type of political persuasion that you seem to embrace will be legitimized. Your action against me is an attempt to stifle dissent and dissenting opinions. ! It is your expressed attitude that the public and media should not be informed of important policy matters and business as usual should prevail. Contentious issues should be left cloaked in secrecy while conducting back-room arrangements accessible only to the like-minded and powerful. ! I will not support this “Delaware Way.” Therefore, Mr. Speaker, I am sending you and copying leadership and the media this open letter, hopeful that you will accept the delineation of your role as my peer selected to represent my caucus as a leader of equals and respect the relationship you are entitled to have with each of us. ! The Speaker of the Delaware House of Representatives is supposed to be a leader of the House. As a leader, the Speaker should exemplify the qualities desired in the House membership. !! ! ! JOHN A. KOWALKO STATE REPRESENTATIVE Twenty - Fifth District COMMITTEES ! ! HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES STATE OF DELAWARE Energy, Chair Education Health & Human Development Manufactured Housing Natural Resources LEGISLATIVE HALL DOVER, DELAWARE 19901 ! Most importantly, the Speaker should command respect by showing respect. In your phone call, you informed me of your decision to remove me from the House Education Committee because you said I have “become an activist,” and “you can’t be a legislator and an activist.” ! Your phone call to me included other similar criticisms of my conduct, specifically my willingness to engage the community and the media, but you refused to provide a single piece of concrete evidence to substantiate your claims that my public statements denigrated my fellow caucus members or impeded the effectiveness of the committee process. Is an activist someone who listens to his community and represents his constituents? ! Is an activist someone who strives to works towards the best interests of the people of his State? ! Is an activist someone who is willing to stand on the street corner with the working people who are fighting for their rights? ! Is an activist someone who speaks out against injustice and unfairness? ! Is an activist someone who is willing to use his elected position to engage in public dialogue about issues that are important to the public, instead of dealing with those issues in secret behind closed doors? ! If so, then every legislator should be an activist, and anyone who isn’t, does not deserve to hold that position as a Representative of the people. ! Let’s be honest. This is about you maintaining the “Delaware Way.” The reprisals you have taken, during your time as Speaker of the House, against those who dared to challenge your leadership or political aspirations are well documented. ! This “Delaware Way,” where deals and compromises are inked out in private without any public input and accessible only to a connected group of “good ol’ boys,” appears to have taken !! ! ! JOHN A. KOWALKO STATE REPRESENTATIVE Twenty - Fifth District COMMITTEES ! ! HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES STATE OF DELAWARE Energy, Chair Education Health & Human Development Manufactured Housing Natural Resources LEGISLATIVE HALL DOVER, DELAWARE 19901 ! on a reinvigorated tone of monolithic control by a small group who intend to subjugate their peers into supporting specific agendas or else suffer the consequences. ! It is a system of rewards and punishment meted out with the intent to coerce and intimidate any individuals and mute any dialogue that might challenge those agendas. This compromises the sanctity of the Separation of Powers and obscures the transparency that the public is guaranteed by our laws and our moral obligations to them. ! The greatest threat posed by this type of dictatorial atmosphere is to the public’s right to know and the public’s right to fair representation by their elected representative. ! Based on your stated reasons to me, I can only conclude that you believe your appointment as Speaker has given you the right to impose and demand restrictions on the individual members of our caucus as regards their engagement with the media and the public in general. ! During the phone conversation you initiated where you informed me of your decision to remove me from the House Education Committee, you stated a number of times that I discussed politics and issues on the blogs, on the radio, and in the media. You said, “You carry your message to the blogs, to the papers, and on the radio, and you can't be a legislator and be an activist.” ! You repeatedly chided me for being an “activist” and insisted that an activist could not be a legislator, nor should a legislator be an activist. When I responded that a good legislator has to be an activist on behalf of the public’s interest, your response was “I’m not going to reward that type of behavior by appointing you to the Education Committee.” ! Instead of “rewarding” me for speaking out on behalf of my constituents, you are going to punish me for daring to oppose you and the specific agenda you support. ! I have been an engaged member of the Education Committee for eight years, and I have attended close to 100% of the committee meetings without ever having been disruptive to the process or disrespectful to my colleagues. When you asserted that, because I am an “activist,” I could not be depended on to compromise on legislation and would be disruptive to the committee process, you made that claim in spite of the facts. !! ! ! JOHN A. KOWALKO STATE REPRESENTATIVE Twenty - Fifth District COMMITTEES ! ! HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES STATE OF DELAWARE Energy, Chair Education Health & Human Development Manufactured Housing Natural Resources LEGISLATIVE HALL DOVER, DELAWARE 19901 ! You also ignored the actual function of the committee process, where the point is to provide the appropriate place for public dialogue regarding both dissent and approval of issues. ! The process does not and never has demanded a consensus or compromise on policies and proposed bills. The obvious truth is that once a majority vote of committee members is attained, then the legislation would be permitted to proceed to the floor. It could then be placed on the agenda for a floor discussion and vote unless you, as the Speaker, refuse to place it on the agenda or refuse to allow that agenda item to be worked. ! No single vote of an individual committee member can, by itself, keep a bill in committee or release it to the floor, although you, as Speaker, can impede that bill from being considered or voted on. It is patently obvious to any informed observer that my eight-year history of service, and the fact that the committee rules do not allow what you suggest, show that you have a personal agenda to determine whether to “reward” or “punish” individual members of the House. ! When you removed me as Chair and member of the Joint Sunset Committee after the last election, I obviously understood that it was the fact that I and others challenged your bid for the position of Speaker of the House that led you to demote and remove me and my likeminded peers. While “to the victor goes the spoils” might be applicable as a motive, the extent of your meting out punishment to those who challenged your bid for Speaker left a destructive tear in the fabric of a system that deserves to have the most qualified and knowledgeable legislators assigned to represent the interests of all Delawareans. ! Unfortunately, my reluctance to confront your vindictive nature at that time only strengthened your resolve to impose the dictatorial atmosphere of fear and compliance among some of my colleagues. ! My failure at that time to confront an unjust system of retribution may have contributed to your willingness to exercise a punitive posturing and demand allegiance that you have not necessarily earned. ! I have been Chair of the House Energy Committee for six years, but in the two years you have been Speaker not a single bill was assigned to the Energy Committee. !! ! ! JOHN A. KOWALKO STATE REPRESENTATIVE Twenty - Fifth District COMMITTEES ! ! HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES STATE OF DELAWARE Energy, Chair Education Health & Human Development Manufactured Housing Natural Resources LEGISLATIVE HALL DOVER, DELAWARE 19901 ! Are you going to seriously attempt to make the claim that not one single bill relevant to energy in Delaware was filed in the past two years? I know that is not true, as I filed many of them myself. ! Your removal of my Chairmanship of the House Energy Committee this year, indeed with no conversation or reason even given, can only be explained by your feeling that your previous “punishment” was not enough. ! I can only surmise that my vocal objections to the Governor’s proposed Newark Power Plant, and its well-earned rejection, was so effective that it had to be further silenced. ! I have long been recognized for my effective work on energy issues in Delaware. As I stated to you, I have also been long engaged in all matters affecting public education, both in Delaware and in the national dialogue regard current reform proposals. ! I have substantial credentials and experience in the fields of public education and energy, and I will not allow your attempts to enforce the “Delaware Way” to stifle my ability to provide that to the public dialogue. ! I am proud of my accomplishments on behalf of Delaware and my constituents. I do not need your permission to continue to fight for my constituents, as you portended to provide in our conversation. As a proud resident of Delaware, it is my duty as an elected official and my moral obligation as a human being to fight for my beliefs as to what is right and what is wrong to the upmost of my ability. ! Previous Speakers earned respect by showing respect, and you should not confuse earning respect with instigating fear and accepting subservience. ! Your blatant attempt to isolate and punish dissenting voices is an unconscionable behavior that has no place in the Democratic Party. ! Your willingness and commitment to the secretive, good-ol’-boy “Delaware Way,” and your stated belief that, in your own words, “Part of my job is to carry the water for the Governor and it’s just that simple,” contradicts the democratic principles of our country. !! ! ! JOHN A. KOWALKO STATE REPRESENTATIVE Twenty - Fifth District COMMITTEES ! ! HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES STATE OF DELAWARE Energy, Chair Education Health & Human Development Manufactured Housing Natural Resources LEGISLATIVE HALL DOVER, DELAWARE 19901 ! Left unchallenged, your tactics will continue to damage the willingness of other legislators to think and speak freely and to publicly express justifiable criticisms on important issues. ! Left hidden, your tactics will continue to damage the democratic principles of our country and hurt the public’s ability to know about important issues and make up their own mind about the best ways to tackle those issues in our State. ! !