By PATRICK JACKSON
The News Journal 12/05/2004
Gov. Ruth Ann Minner remains unbowed as she nears a second term, planning no major changes in policy or cabinet leadership after winning re-election with 51 percent of the vote and a campaign rife with criticism of her record and several department heads.
Minner said she remains firmly behind Correction Commissioner Stanley Taylor, despite a July hostage crisis and ongoing pay complaints from guards. Her main November opponent, Republican Bill Lee, vowed to replace Taylor, saying he had lost the confidence of the rank and file.
Minner, 69, also said she expects Col. L. Aaron Chaffinch, who is on paid leave as superintendent of the Delaware State Police, to be cleared of sexual harassment charges and return to duty. Despite a continuing string of lawsuits from officers claiming unfair treatment, she said she supports the work Chaffinch has done with a force found two years ago to have serious morale problems.
There is no need to change course, because voters endorsed her performance, Minner said.
"I've had a mandate to serve the people of this state since the first day I was elected," Minner said. "It doesn't matter what the ratio is."
During the campaign, Lee criticized Minner for not taking action to deal with problems of low pay and work rules that made recruiting prison guards difficult and contributed to high turnover rates and chronic use of overtime to compensate for vacancies.
Lee also called for changes in the state's public school testing system, which uses test results to determine whether students are promoted and which of three types of diplomas graduates get. He also called for cutting the gross receipts tax paid on all revenues by the state's largest businesses.
The election results have not altered Minner's view on those questions, either.
Minner said she supports the state's system for testing students in the third, fifth, eighth and tenth grades, and using the results to require failing students to attend summer school or be held back. She said she will await January reports from outside experts assessing elements of the tests and the three-tiered diploma system before deciding whether changes are needed.
Any decision on tax cuts of any type must wait for revenue forecasts due Dec. 13 from the state's financial advisory council, she said.
Republican leaders said they think Minner will need to heed their calls for $100 million in tax cuts.
"It is our hope that there will be a tax cut bill on the governor's desk by the end of January and that she'll sign it to help further stimulate the economy," said Rep. Wayne Smith, R-Clair Manor, the majority leader in the House, where Republicans are in command 26-15. Democrats control the Senate 13-8.
Prison changes possible
The campaign focused in part on the state's prisons, where Taylor has struggled to hire enough officers to meet minimal staffing requirements. The system now is operating at about 300 officers below its minimum, although a new recruit class is being trained.
Last summer, guards declined voluntary overtime the state relied on to transport prisoners to court, resulting in some court delays.
Then, in July, a convicted rapist took a counselor hostage at the Delaware Correctional Center and raped her. He was shot to death by a corrections officer. Minner tentatively agreed in September to two improvements sought by officers: eligibility for pensions after 25 years instead of 30, and pay increases linked to the number of years they spend on the job.
But that agreement is not set in stone.
Minner said shorter retirement and a revised pay scale will depend on other state needs, state revenue forecasts and legislators.
"We need to look at all the needs before we determine whether we can do everything in that proposal," Minner said.
Any changes will not include removing Taylor, the governor said.
"Correctional officers in all three counties, at every one of the institutions, in all of the units have told me he is a good commissioner and don't you dare get rid of him," Minner said. "He has my absolute confidence and support."
Senate President Pro Tem Thurman Adams, D-Bridgeville, said Taylor also enjoys support among lawmakers.
"Stan Taylor is a good man and he is well-respected," Adams said. "Some very unfortunate incidents have happened there, but overall, I think he's done a good job."
David Knight, the corrections officers union's executive vice president, said the union does not want to jeopardize vital state programs, but hopes Minner and lawmakers will find room for a new pay scale and career ladder.
"If there is money, we think it should go to corrections," Knight said. He said he had no comment on whether Taylor should remain.
"I think a lot of that will depend on the answers to questions I know he's going to get" from legislators as they review the budget. "I think time will tell on that."
Minner was equally firm in her support for Chaffinch, put on leave with pay in October after Capt. Barbara L. Conley filed a federal lawsuit claiming sexual harassment and discrimination.
She accused Chaffinch of telling sexually offensive jokes and demeaning stories about women at work, and talking about sexual relations and his sexual desires and skills. It also alleges he has thwarted attempts by women to professionally advance in the police force.
That lawsuit was the latest in a series over three years claiming discrimination in hiring, promotions and discipline. Lawsuits have been filed by black officers, white officers claiming reverse discrimination and women officers.
A 2002 investigation of state police employee practices headed by former state Labor Secretary Lisa Blunt-Bradley found general feelings that favoritism, political allegiance and race and gender governed promotions and assignments.
Minner said she hopes reforms and subsequent procedural changes will start to put those problems behind the state.
"We have totally changed the [promotion] test; we have changed the way we do promotion and evaluation," she said. "I think we're doing much better now, but we have to get beyond the old lawsuits and the ones recurring from them."
Placing blame
Minner placed part of the blame on conflicting court opinions.
"We have one court who tells us we need to diversify and they've given us an outline of how they want us to do it. Then we have troopers who are filing suits saying they're discriminated against in reverse," she said. "It doesn't matter what we do, we can't win."
Smith says he thinks the best answer may lie in going with a strictly merit-based hiring and promotion system.
"To me, it seems that would get around the worst of the problems," he said. "The Delaware state police provide excellent service and protection for the people. Using that kind of a system would eliminate a distraction."
House Speaker Terry Spence, R-Stratford, has pledged to make hiring more troopers a priority in the new year. Spence tried to do that last June, but was rebuffed because the budget bill was already done.
The budget will dominate Minner's work until she delivers her proposal to the General Assembly next month.
Minner expects to again emphasize education, and said the state may need to overhaul the system for reimbursing bus operators who transport most of the state's public school students.
Minner said she wants to continue to move toward a goal of offering the option of full-day kindergarten in all school districts by 2008, and provide math specialists in all middle schools to build on the results of paying for reading specialists in all elementary schools.
She said student testing and diploma issues must be tackled after reports are submitted by two panels of experts looking at the tests - particularly the eighth-grade math test - and the system that awards a basic, standard or distinguished diploma based on scores on 10th-grade tests.
"I'm not tied to any kind of diploma system," Minner said. "I just think we need to recognize those students who are doing an outstanding job and working hard in school."
She said she's not ready to ditch the student testing program.
"I think our standards and accountability are reasonable," Minner said. "Delaware scores keep going up and our students are doing better. We're producing better students to go on to college or technically challenging jobs."
That disappointed Yvonne Johnson, co-chairwoman of Advocates for Children's Education, a group whose goals include elimination of the diploma system and a switch from Delaware's custom-made tests to standardized tests.
"I support high standards and have no opposition to tests, if they're fair," Johnson said. "We hope the task force will come up with good recommendations on the math part of the test, but we think they should look at the whole test and come up with something that fairly measures our children against students from around the country."
Helping bus operators
Minner said helping bus operators may involve adjusting a 30-year-old formula used to compensate them for fuel, insurance, equipment purchases and maintenance.
A working group of contractors, budget and education officials are now looking at ways to fix the system. Adams said he thinks something needs to be done.
"It's a really bad problem. There are people who are putting their own money in to keep their buses running and are getting killed" by losses, he said.
That all could leave little room for the $100 million in cuts in gross receipts and personal income taxes sought by GOP leaders, who failed with a similar effort this year.
Minner said she's never been against cutting taxes, but wants to make sure a tax cut in one year also is affordable in future years.
"Taxpayers will tell me, even business people who want that tax cut: 'Don't cut our taxes this year and raise them next year. Keep the state running on a good, sound basis,' " Minner said. "If we can see that we can continue to sustain the budget, we are going to be quite happy to [cut taxes]."
A. Richard Heffron, a senior vice president with the Delaware State Chamber of Commerce, said business leaders would like to see a gross receipts tax cut early in the year, but are prepared to wait until the 2006 budget is hammered out in late spring.
"If the governor is happy with the numbers in December, she might even propose something and it would be done, but that's not likely," Heffron said.
Contact Patrick Jackson at 678-4274 or pjackson@delawareonline.com.
