It’s been an interesting time watching a gubernatorial transition as a resident and a journalist. The last time I was this close to a transition of power was when I played the bells with the Newark High School band for Gov. Jack Markell’s inauguration in 2009. I was 16, mind you.
I’m not certain if this is especially fascinating because Matt Meyer held only one elected office before he became the Delaware governor, or if it’s because he spent the last two years talking about the need for outside perspectives in the state government.
True enough, we are a state of neighbors as Markell had said once and, for better or worse, people know each other and that can help ease compromises or find solutions. It can also be a detraction as those who are party to the Delaware Way can be less inclined to swim against the current. Meyer is not afraid of that, not one bit.
It’s fascinating watching Meyer develop his leadership style in the last four months. It’s certainly eye-catching when you see the governor of the smallest state make repeated headlines in the Guardian, a United Kingdom based outlet that leans to educated liberals, signaling his interest to work with businesses on controversial corporate law reforms and taking a harder stance on President Donald Trump’s policies than before.
We’re also getting more real-time responses in policies than I can remember in recent history. Outside his own interviews with the Delaware Business Times earlier this year, the governor has talked with the Delaware Public Media about the Port of Wilmington, Spotlight Delaware to talk about how he supports the boycotts of Avelo Airlines for operating deportation flights and WHYY for possibly rolling back the electric vehicle mandate.
He has also made transparency one of the core tenants of his campaign. But when you bring an iconoclast into the mix of a tightly-knit community of neighbors, it’s also bound to show others the cracks in the system. And no situation best demonstrates that then the heated situation at the Port of Wilmington.
This is a project that now requires both private and public support to see a $635 million container terminal built near Edgemoor which many state officials believe is key to maximizing opportunity there. In the years past, the port has seen breakbulk goods and fresh fruits as well as cars. But the dream is to multiply the goods handled there – and create hundreds of new jobs – by investing millions of dollars from federal, state and private sources.
It’s also been shrouded in controversy, possibly dating back to when former Gov. John Carney and his administration started negotiations with Enstructure in 2023. It also continued when state officials transferred $200 million to the Diamond State Port Corporation quietly and quickly during Gov. Bethany Hall-Long’s short tenure.
Of course, all of this has since been overshadowed by the ugly fight over who is in control of the Port of Wilmington.
Is it Meyer, who had to take a case to the Delaware Supreme Court to have his five nominations for the port board under consideration? Is it the elected state legislators, who fought the governor on that issue, rejecting two of his nominees to the board and since restarted an independent board of its own to have its own discussions?
It’s been four months and each day that passes, that answer becomes murkier and murkier. All the while, Meyer has told the Delaware Public Media that it’s time to move forward on the port, but he has no idea when he will nominate more appointees to be considered.
The Port of Wilmington Expansion Task Force held its first meeting this week and, by all reports, no one from the Meyer administration attended. Furthermore, his aides have suggested that this board has no authority to act.
In particular, I was taken by Senator Darius Brown’s assessment of the situation during this task force, as reported by the Delaware Public Media. Not only did he blast the governor for his “indecisiveness on state revenue” among other matters, but he also warned that “the executive office is not a dictatorship, and Matt is not a king.”
Brown also “remain[s] hopeful that this administration will mature sooner rather than later and that the governor would stop listening to bad advice.”
Meyer campaigned on the ability to shake things up with innovative solutions and out-of-the-box thinking. But, as we have seen on a global scale and here in the U.S., instability leaves everyone uneasy.
Right now, what we need is a cohesive front in Delaware – particularly when I’m still getting reports about how federal grant cuts are seeing more Delawareans get laid off. We still have no idea if the SEPTA cuts will come to fruition, and if they do, how that would impact on the thousands who use it for school and work here.
Delaware needs a unified front. There are valid arguments about the Port of Wilmington expansion, the transparency in funding it and how it should be handled. But the uglier this dispute gets, the less confident people will be in their state government in a time when we are reeling from the latest news found on our cell phone screens.
In a year where the state has to be very careful in budget deliberations, I do believe state and elected officials need to consider if this is the path we need to walk down this moment.
