Why Should Delaware Care?
The state of Delaware has a new governor as of Tuesday, as Bethany Hall-Long took office following the resignation of John Carney, who has become mayor of Wilmington. For two weeks, she has all the powers of the governorship.
It wasn’t the way that Bethany Hall-Long had hoped to take the oath of office, but on Tuesday she nonetheless became governor.
The lieutenant governor was sworn in before a packed crowd of family, friends and former legislative colleagues at a ceremony in the Old State House in Dover, becoming the 75th governor of Delaware and only the second woman to have held the title.
Her term will last less than two weeks, however, as Hall-Long took the oath by a matter of necessity rather than election.
Gov. John Carney resigned from office Tuesday in order to be sworn in as mayor of Wilmington at a ceremony at the Chase Center on the Riverfront later on, having won election in his hometown in the November election.
With Matt Meyer, who defeated Hall-Long in this year’s election, not set to become governor until noon Jan. 21, per the terms of the State Constitution, it left an interim period to be filled by the lieutenant governor.
What will she do?
Hall-Long has all of the powers of the governor until Meyer is sworn in, meaning she could make nominations to boards, pardon convicts, and potentially sign legislation.
It’s unlikely that she will do anything but ensure the steady operation of government, potentially oversee some winter storm response and use the power of the position’s pulpit to discussion issues close to her, like health care, homeless services and substance use prevention.
In remarks Tuesday, Hall-Long said, “we know that my time in this office is brief, and I intend to serve as a bridge between Governor Carney and the incoming Meyer-Evans Gay Administration.”
She did use the opportunity to reflect that she was the “first nurse governor” in American history and to call attention to Delaware’s foster care program, encouraging residents to assist children in need.
“Delaware needs good people to lend their support to the Foster Care Program,” she said. “That’s why I’m asking Delawareans to join me as a Foster Care Ambassador, providing assistance in whatever manner possible. Ambassadors can serve as short-term placements for foster children, spread the word about the program, donate experiences such as summer camp or music lessons, or organize community events in support of foster families.”
The history of interims
Hall-Long’s term is a rare scenario, but in the First State, it’s not a first.
Delaware has actually had three interim governor periods over its history, with the most recent being 2001, when then-Lt. Gov. Ruth Ann Minner assumed the governorship three weeks ahead of schedule after then-Gov. Tom Carper was elected to the U.S. Senate. The major difference then was that Minner was also the governor-elect, and she ended up becoming the longest-serving governor in history.
In 1960, then-Lt. Gov. David Buckson – father of current State Sen. Eric Buckson – became governor for 18 days after then-Gov. J. Caleb Boggs was also elected to the U.S. Senate.
But perhaps the most illustrative example in modern history occurred in 1993, when Dale Wolf became governor for 17 days when then-Gov. Mike Castle was elected to Congress and then-U.S. Rep. Tom Carper was elected governor in what became known as “The Swap.”
In his inauguration speech, Wolf remarked on the short spell that he would have, and invoked Mother Theresa in saying, “God simply calls on us to do what we can.”
The World War II veteran and former DuPont executive had a fairly uneventful turn at the helm, signing two executive orders in his time – one pertaining to how the Delaware’s adjutant general of the National Guard is selected and another that directed state agencies to inform employees about public transit options and their benefits.
Despite his short turn, Wolf embraced the position’s trappings by moving his family to Woodburn, the historic Dover estate that is home to governors. In handing off the governorship, Wolf told his successors that “government policy that stands for the status quo will soon have no foundation on which to stand.”
There’s one aspect of Wolf’s tenure that Hall-Long will surely not want to emulate: he returned to his Centreville home after leaving the governorship to find it had been burglarized.
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