Delaware
Delaware gubernatorial candidate calls for investigation into primary rival's campaign finances
WILMINGTON, Del. — The chief executive of Delaware’s largest county is calling for a federal investigation into the campaign finances of the state’s lieutenant governor, who is his chief rival for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination.
New Castle County Executive Matt Meyer held a brief news conference Monday to respond to a forensic review commissioned by the state Department of Elections that uncovered significant improprieties in the campaign finances of Lt. Gov. Bethany Hall-Long.
“Delawareans, all of us, deserve to be able to trust our elected officials and know that rules and laws apply to everyone, and apply to everyone equally,” Meyer said, decrying what he called Hall-Long’s “near-decade long illegal conduct.”
The forensic review, conducted by a retired FBI senior executive who is a certified fraud examiner, found that Hall-Long and her husband had received payments totaling $33,000 more than what she purportedly loaned to her campaign. It also found that Hall-Long’s husband and former campaign treasurer, Dana Long, wrote four campaign checks to himself but falsely reported that they had been written to someone else.
Jeffrey Lampinski, the fraud examiner, also determined that, from January 2016 to December 2023, Dana Long wrote 112 checks from his wife’s campaign committee account to himself or to cash, and one check to his wife. The checks totaled just under $300,000 and should have been reported as campaign expenditures. Instead, Lampinski found, 109 were never reported in initial finance reports, and the other four, payable to Dana Long, were reported as being made to someone else.
“The report found that Ms. Hall-Long broke the law,” Meyer said. “The report provides evidence that she tried to cover it up, and was still covering it up until the last moment, when she asked our state election commissioner to keep the report detailing the illegalities confidential and not to release these findings to the public.”
A spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Delaware declined to comment on Meyer’s call for a federal investigation.
Hall-Long’s campaign released a statement describing Meyer’s remarks as “totally unjustified.”
“Matt Meyer’s press conference today was a desperate political attack to distract the voters from the issues that matter most,” Hall-Long said in the statement. “As I’ve always done, I have voluntarily cooperated with the Delaware Department of Elections and I will continue to do just that.”
Hall-Long has been under intense scrutiny since September, when she abruptly announced the postponement of a campaign event with Democratic Gov. John Carney that was to be held the next day, saying she needed to “attend to a personal, private matter.”
In reality, her campaign was in disarray after people brought in to lead the campaign discovered major discrepancies while reviewing years of finance reports. The scandal led to the resignations of Hall-Long’s campaign manager, chief fundraiser and campaign treasurer — who had replaced Dana Long as treasurer only five months earlier.
In late September, Hall-Long said she was working with “independent campaign finance experts and forensic accountants to thoroughly audit the finances.”
In October, she issued a “campaign audit update” declaring that an accounting firm hired “to audit records and receipts” found “no wrongdoings or violations.” She has refused to release a copy of the purported audit.
In fact, according to documents included in the report commissioned by the state elections commission, the firm hired by Hall-Long relied exclusively on information that she provided, conducted no audit, and made no determination about wrongdoing.
“We will not audit or otherwise verify the data you submit to us,” Karen Remick, owner of Summit CPA Group, wrote in a Sept. 21 letter to Hall-Long’s campaign committee.
“Our engagement does not include any procedures designed to detect errors, fraud, theft, or other wrongdoing,” Remick added.
In November, Hall-Long submitted amended campaign finance reports covering a period of several years, acknowledging that she and her husband had made campaign-related expenses using personal credit cards and loans that had not been properly reported.
According to election officials, however, the amended reports still do not bring Hall-Long into compliance with state campaign finance laws. In an email earlier this month, election commissioner Anthony Albence assured Hall-Long that he would not refer the matter to Democratic Attorney General Kathy Jennings, but that he expected Hall-Long’s committee to take “prompt corrective action.”
Why Should Delaware Care?
A recent police shooting of a 19-year-old in northeast Wilmington has become one of the city’s highest-profile use-of-force cases in years. A Delaware Department of Justice investigation into the incident is expected to be closely watched as residents look for answers and justice.
The family of Kadir Skinner, the 19-year-old who was fatally shot by Wilmington police last month, announced Tuesday they will seek $25 million from the city in a wrongful death lawsuit.
The announcement was made during a press conference the family held with their attorneys on the same day that state and city officials released body camera footage from the night Skinner was shot.
The footage shows a chaotic 28 seconds between the moment the shooting officer leaves his vehicle to chase Skinner, before firing his weapon and handcuffing the wounded teen on the pavement of a Wilmington street. Another three-and-a-half minutes pass after Skinner was shot before officers place him into a patrol car and take him to Wilmington Hospital, where he died.
During the press conference, the family’s attorney Harry Daniels referenced that the video also shows a loose dog behind Skinner as the officer begins his pursuit.
“If they continue to shoot and kill our Black men down in the street as they’re running from a dog. If they do not want to hold those who do it accountable, then we’re gonna try to hold them accountable in their pocketbooks,” Daniels said.
The wrongful death lawsuit has not yet been filed. But the attorney said the family sent the city a notice of a claim on Thursday — a required step before the lawsuit can be filed.
Wilmington officials have said officers chased Skinner after they observed him walking out of a home and pointing a gun at a large crowd of people. The family disputes the claim. The body camera footage does not show the moments prior to the foot chase.
Chance Lynch, another attorney for the family, said during the press conference that the body camera footage sparks new questions about the city account.
“Where was this crowd that he waved a gun [at]? Why didn’t they (the city) mention the pitbull? And when he was running away from the police officer, how was he a threat to that police officer?” Lynch asked.
When reached for comment Thursday, Caroline Klinger, a spokeswoman for Mayor John Carney, said questions about previous statements made by police should be directed to the Wilmington PD.
“The details of the incident are precisely what is being evaluated through the investigation,” Klinger said.
Carney did comment on the situation in a Facebook post made before the family’s press conference Thursday. In it, he asserted that body cameras have “limitations” and that the footage from the Skinner shooting “does not capture the totality of the incident.”
The news of the family’s impending lawsuit comes after the June 24 incident sparked weeks of outcry from community members and elected officials who, until Thursday, had called on authorities to release body camera footage.
Community members have also demanded the name of the officer involved, as well as police reform at the local and state level.
Many of those demands were repeated Thursday evening during a rally and march that begin a the site of Skinner’s shooting and ended at the Wilmington Police station downtown.
Four shots fired
Two hours before the Skinner family’s press conference, the Delaware Department of Justice, city officials and Wilmington police released three body camera videos from officers on the scene the night of the shooting.
The videos show two officers near 24th and Jessup streets exiting their police cruiser before pursuing Skinner on foot.
One officer fired four gunshots while chasing Skinner. Wilmington officials have said Skinner sustained one gunshot wound to the buttocks.
The shooting officer then approaches Skinner, who is already on his knees with his hands up, pushes him to the ground, and puts a knee on his back to handcuff him. During that time, the officer tells another officer to “find the gun.”
Skinner is heard saying, “I don’t got nothing.” A crowd then begins to form in the area as Skinner repeatedly says, “I can’t breathe.”
A separate video from another responding officer shows her near the scene, stopping at a spot and reaching down. She then returns to the immediate scene as sound from her body camera turns on. The shooting officer tells her to “secure the gun.” She responds, “I have it.”
Police previously said they recovered a .45-caliber handgun with an extended magazine but did not say whether Skinner was holding it when he was shot.
The officer who fired the shot, who has yet to be identified, remains on administrative leave, according to police.
In a statement, state and city officials said the investigation into the shooting is still ongoing and noted that the officers involved will be identified once a detailed public report is issued at the end of the investigation.
Read more from Spotlight Delaware
WILMINGTON, Del. (WPVI) — The family of Kadir Skinner is calling for criminal charges against the police officer who shot the 19-year-old after the release of officer body camera footage that attorneys say contradicts the police account of the incident.
The shooting happened June 24 after 11 p.m. at 24th and Jessup streets.
Calls grow for body cam video in deadly Wilmington police shooting
Body camera video shows an officer drawing and firing his weapon while yelling commands. In the footage, officers can be heard saying, “He’s got a gun,” as they approach Skinner, who is on the ground.
Skinner repeatedly tells officers he is unarmed and says he cannot breathe.
“I don’t got nothing. I don’t got nothing,” Skinner says in the video.
Footage shows officers handcuffing Skinner and kneeling on him while he continues to say, “I don’t got nothing. I can’t breathe.”
Skinner was shot in the rear.
READ MORE | ‘We need answers’: Family disputes details after man killed in Wilmington police shooting
A second body camera angle shows a crowd forming as officers instruct people to back up.
Video from a third responding officer appears to show an officer picking something up from the grass and returning toward the crowd and the officers with Skinner.
In the footage, an officer can be heard saying, “Secure the gun,” and the officer wearing the body cam says, “I have it.”
Attorneys for Skinner’s family, along with family members and community supporters, gathered at Shiloh Baptist Church in Wilmington following the release of the video to demand justice.
“Regardless if he had a gun or not, he was still shot in the back, running from police, not having been a threat,” attorney Harry Daniels said.
SEE ALSO | Family releases witness video after 19-year-old fatally shot by police in Wilmington
Attorney Chance Lynch said the footage showed “an unjustified killing.”
“What we saw and what we witnessed was an unjustified killing,” Lynch said.
Attorneys for the family contend the video disputes the police version of events. Wilmington police previously said Skinner came out of a home armed and waved a gun at a crowd before officers opened fire.
“The video that I saw, I didn’t see a crowd, and I did not see Kadir coming out of a residence. I did not see a crowd, and I did not see Kadir pointing a firearm at a crowd,” Lynch said.
Attorneys and the family maintain that Skinner was running from a loose dog.
The family also announced a $25 million claim against the city of Wilmington for wrongful death. They are seeking criminal charges against the officer who shot Skinner.
The Delaware Department of Justice is investigating.
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Delmarva Power objects to applying legislation to interim rate
The debate among commissioners over the breadth of their oversight on utility rates comes as the company has pushed back on the group, limiting its interim rate increase to half of its total request, even while it faced criticism from commissioners that it is “cruel” and “tone deaf” for continuing to press for rate hikes.
Delmarva Power, an investor-owned utility, serves 344,000 residential and nonresidential customers in the state. Its parent company, Exelon Corporation, is the nation’s largest regulated electric and gas utility.
Its customers pay a supply and a delivery charge for gas and electricity. The supply of energy comes from PJM Interconnection, a regional grid serving Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and several other states. Delmarva Power profits through the distribution fee.
Delmarva Power Region President Marcus Beal said they need to file rate hike requests to recoup money it spends on improving and maintaining the infrastructure.
“Our equipment is extremely expensive, the items that we buy, the transformers, they’re very large, complex things to build,” Beal said. “Even something as simple as a treated pole of a certain size can be very pricey, so we spend a lot of money on the grid itself.”
Under Delaware law, interim rates can be approved seven months after a rate case is filed, while the full petition is being considered by the commission. Prior to the legislation, 100% of the rate request could be implemented. The bill caps interim rates at 50% and allows 75% of the ask to go into effect after 12 months. The bill also puts limits on Delmarva Power’s infrastructure spending.
Delmarva Power spokesperson Matt Ford said the commission overstepped its authority to cut the interim rate as much as they did and the company has argued in its PSC submissions that SB 326 did not apply to the rate increase request filed in December because it had yet to be signed into law. Meyer said he signed the bill Monday.
“Delmarva Power further reserves its objections to the applicability of the legislation, should it become effective, including its impermissible retroactive application,” the utility company said in comments filed Monday afternoon with the commission.
In addition, Delmarva Power has objected to halving $23.2 million in distribution system improvement charges as part of the interim rate commissioners approved. The fee allows utility companies to recover project costs and depreciation between full rate case proceedings.
“My suggestion is, if you don’t like it, appeal it,” Iorii said.
It’s unclear whether the utility plans to appeal the order. Ford said they were reviewing it and its implications.
Tweedie said he hopes they decide not to appeal.
“If they appeal this, what they are essentially saying is, ‘We want to extract more money from our customers than the commission intended to allow,’” he said.
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