Category — Debates

Jack delivered yet another winning performance tonight at the Gubernatorial Disabilities Forum in Dover.

The debate came just a month after Jack released his plan to help Delawareans with disabilities live full, independent and productive lives, the first such plan released by a candidate for governor in recent memory.

In addition to explaining his Disabilities plan, Jack highlighted the differences between his bold, innovative plans, and the inaction of the Minner-Carney administration:

If we are going to do right by Delawareans with disabilities, we need to do things differently in government. The old ways aren’t working.

When I decided to run for governor, people in Delaware’s political establishment—especially those in the Minner-Carney administration—told me to wait my turn.

Many of those same people warned me not to speak out about the abuse and neglect at the Delaware Psychiatric Center, but I saw that a lot was wrong and I was not going to stand by silently.

By mismanaging the psychiatric center, the Minner-Carney administration failed Delaware’s most vulnerable residents.

As governor, Jack will take Delaware in a bold, new direction. His 83 page book of policy proposals, A Blueprint for a Better Delaware, is full of new, innovative ideas, and turns the page on status-quo politics in Delaware.

As important as it is to get Jack elected, it’s even more important that you keep helping change Delaware for the better once he is in office. Thanks for your continued support.

Jack highlighted his strong support for preserving our environment, and a willingness to stand up to polluters whose activity threatens our health during a debate Tuesday night. The debate was sponsored by the Delaware Nature Society.

Jack’s winning performance impressed former Gov. Russ Peterson, who told the News Journal that “Mr. Markell really is a better candidate for governor…It’s so easy to get trapped in the political world. You have to have a basic conviction and the guts to stand up for it.”

During the debate, which was fittingly held on Earth Day at the Ashland Nature Center, Jack said that Gov. Peterson’s bold vision for protecting Delaware’s natural resources and his willingness to put the people’s demand for a clean environment over special interests would guide a Markell administration. “Russ Peterson didn’t hedge with committees or councils. He didn’t send something to the legislature to be studied to death,” Jack said. “He passed the Delaware Coastal Zone act and preserved our coast for generations.”

Jack also called for a new direction to Delaware’s environmental thinking.

“It’s a new way of looking at old issues where the state simply has not made the progress it needs. It’s an idea that I call ‘Delaware’s Ecology Economy,’ and it recognizes that we cannot thrive unless our environment, our schools, our jobs and our public health and welfare all work as one,” he said. “It recognizes that predatory lenders and predatory polluters are the same kind of criminal - they just rob families of different currency – health instead of wealth.”

Dave Carter of Middletown told us after the debate, “As a scientist with over 20 years of environmental management experience in Delaware, I was particularly impressed by Jack Markell’s emphasis on the use of science to influence his decisions. Delaware’s biggest environmental issues are very complex and require that we make good decisions based on scientific information, rather than doing what is politically expedient. Jack Markell clearly understands what it will take to protect and improve the quality of Delaware’s environment.”

State Treasurer Jack Markell reiterated his promise to make affordable, high-quality health care available to all Delawareans during another winning debate performance Friday morning.

More than 100,000 Delawareans do not have health insurance and thousands more struggle to pay expensive monthly premiums. Despite years of discussions, meetings and reports, Delaware’s uninsured population continues to increase faster than other states. Instead of waiting while thousands of our friends and neighbors go without the care they need, Jack has promised to move swiftly to address this long-running problem.

“We have a state of health care haves and health care have nots — that’s unacceptable,” Jack said. That’s why I’ve laid out in real detail my plan to provide high quality, affordable health care to every Delawarean, and I’m the only one who has done that. Not in the distant future, not one small step at a time, not after another task force studies the problem — now. The issue in this campaign is whether we are going to continue along the path that we’ve been following, or whether we are going to take bold steps toward a stronger, healthier Delaware.”

Jack speaks with Jennifer Pugh, a Registered Nurse, at the debate

Jack’s plan, which is available on the Web site under “Issues,” sets the bold goal of covering every Delawarean with affordable policies that can never be taken away by focusing on preventative care, competition between insurance plans and other cost-control techniques. He is the only candidate running for governor with a detailed proposal for universal health care, which he pointed out is essential for Delaware’s economy to grow in the future because Delaware companies want to cover their employees but often cannot afford it.

“I won’t say we need to take this one step at a time or that your family can go without healthcare another couple years,” Jack told an audience of about 200 at Christiana Hospital. “I’m running because we need bold solutions to problems that can’t wait for another eight years, and in fact, can’t wait another day. Nobody thinks the current system is working.”

More than 500 people packed the Grand Opera House on Thursday night to hear Jack’s bold ideas about education in this year’s first major Democratic debate.

Despite the cold and wind, a dozen enthusiastic students, supporters and volunteers rallied for Jack outside the opera house for an hour and a half, cheering on passers by to honk in support of Jack.

Jack emphasized his proposal to eliminate the unpopular Delaware Student Testing Program and replace it with a testing program that actually helps students and teachers, which drew loud applause form the audience, and discussed other details of his comprehensive five-part education platform that will create a world-class education system in Delaware. Jack won the Rodel Foundation sponsored debate with his strong message of change.