Like any other job, there are some days as Lieutenant Governor where you feel like you are just spinning your wheels. And then there are days like yesterday.
For those readers who either live outside of Delaware, or live in Delaware in a soundproof chamber, the Governor, the Vice President of the United States, and a cast of literally thousands jammed the former General Motors Boxwood Road plant yesterday morning to hear California-based Fisker Automotive announce that it would manufacture its new line of plug-in, hybrid sedans at Boxwood. If the project is successful, it will put thousands of Delaware autoworkers back to work doing what they do better than any automakers in the world. It has already leapfrogged Delaware to the front of the pack in the international race to be part of the new green economy.
About eight weeks ago, the Governor and I were riding in a car together to Sussex County, and he said to me “have I told you about the latest with the Boxwood plant?” When I said no, he began to spin out for me a story that I am going to let him tell if and when he is ready, but it is a story of how the Governor personally rolled up his sleeves and worked the e-mail, phones, and shoe leather to start the ball rolling with Fisker. He wasn’t bragging, it was just me and him, but he should brag about it. As the story quickly unfolded, people like Senator Carper, the Vice President, and the UAW representatives for our local autoworkers became critical players. Fisker has said over and over how important its positive impression of the Delaware workforce was in making its decision, and as for Senator Carper, he had that same look in his eyes for the last couple months that Brian Dawkins used to get when he was closing in Michael Irvin. Without them, Fisker probably wouldn’t be here. But I am incredibly proud of our Governor for getting things started and for so effectively galvanizing the entire state around this project. When Delaware Economic Development Director Alan Levin and I were talking before the announcement yesterday, he said “People are going to be amazed when they find out how quickly all of this happened.” He’s right, and as almost every speaker yesterday noted (especially the guys from Fisker) the fact that the Governor was able to respond to the unfolding events so effectively is the reason this chapter had a happy ending. We don’t know what the end of the story will be–even though Fisker is an incredibly impressive company that makes dazzling cars, the hybrid auto business is a relatively new type of business. But we do know that yesterday at 10 a.m., there were 49 other states that wished that they were Delaware.
As if that weren’t enough, the Governor and I got to close out the night at the annual Teacher of the Year banquet in Dover. I have never been to this event before, but I’m going to try not to miss any in the future. It was absolutely inspiring to hear the stories of the 20 nominees. One that will stick with me is the story told by Capital School District elementary school teacher Amy Bowen, about how she asked her students at the end of the year to write an essay about someone they admired. She said that she collected and read the essays, and amid all of the ones about sports heroes and entertainment stars, was an essay from a student who had been a problem student at the beginning of the year before he settled in. His hero? His teacher, who he said he hoped never to disappoint. She keeps the letter in the back of her teaching materials, and looks at it when she is having a bad day. There was not a dry eye in the house when the story was over. Special congratulations to the new teacher of the year, Mary Pinkston. Regular readers of this blog know that I think what is going on in our classrooms is the single most important thing happening in our state right now, and it was a privilege last night to be able to learn more about twenty of our teachers who are going above and beyond for our kids.
Quite a day.
Lieutenant Governor's Blog
The Official Blog of Delaware's Lieutenant Governor Matt Denn
