I would have never thought...

....that longtime News-Journal editorialist Ron Williams, of the Delaware Way, would be for something so counter-establishment and innovative as eliminating the bloated, over-priced, mismanaged, heavy-handed Wilmington City Government, in favor of a more efficient, less costly "metropolitan" form of government.

But apparently he is, commenting on jurisdictional tension between state and county police. (In the same article he exposes yet more burrowing of patronage-seeking dregs in the state government, this time involving Harris McDowell and Karen Weldin-Stewart.) :

"Of course, this little flap with overlapping police coverage focuses on the millions of dollars spent annually to pay for overlapping police coverage. If, as I've been told more than once, New Castle County Police is an excellent, nationally recognized department, why do we need state police patrols?

We can also move into the discussion about why Wilmington needs its own police when it could be absorbed into a metropolitan department with the county. But don't hold a breath on metro police, let alone government. It makes too much sense."

Wilmington's careerist electeds and bloated middle/upper gov't management, as well as city-centric patronage, would cease to exist.

The city's operating budget and services would be managed by county government, perhaps with a specific administrative division (given the population concentration and specifically-urban issues).

However both entities (Wilmington and New Castle County) are run by Democrats, none of whom wants any government-reduction/consolidation measures, much less a smart one like this.

Obviously City government careerists don't want their $142M a year patronage scam upset.

Obviously County government doesn't want to have to absorb and deal with the massive wasteful patronage-driven mess that has become the City government. (Who can blame them?).

As long as Delaware is top to bottom Democrat, the party of government, we will never see such progress or common sense come to a state that is so small yet so layered with so much government larder, piled on top of anyone living here, especially in Wilmington.

Thanks for pointing it out, Ron.