Paul Clark’s Mark of Cain

At a few political events New Castle County Council President Paul Clark attended people have said to me, “What’s he doing here?” “He gives me the creeps.” “I don’t trust him.”

Some events were progressive in nature and one was labor-related. Although other elected officials would be present and invoked no such criticism, Paul Clark did as if he bore a mark that made him an outsider and unwelcome.

An illustration of the kind of mark tattooed on Clark’s political reputation and persona manifested itself recently:

New Castle County Council President Paul Clark was roundly admonished Friday for an e-mail he wrote criticizing the county's land-use process as too restrictive for developers and signed with an electronic tag from his wife's law firm.

His wife, Pamela Scott, is a prominent attorney with the Saul Ewing firm in Wilmington who represents developers with projects that come before council for approval.

Residents, fellow council members and the county administration are calling the communication inappropriate and troubling, saying they are bothered by the electronic tag and the appearance of a conflict of interest....

The e-mail was sent late Wednesday from Clark's personal account to 24 recipients, including his wife, other development attorneys and the president of the New Castle County Chamber of Commerce.

His wife and other development attorneys? Why send them copies of the e-mail? What legitimate role do they play in the first instance in determining county regulatory policy and legislative change? They represent their clients’ interests according to extant law and policy. If one of their clients want them to formulate a response or suggestions to an e-mail containing recommendations, then let them do so in their representation of their clients without Councilperson Clark’s direct solicitation.

I hope the threatened Ethics Investigation will confine itself to that matter because the electronic tag issue—in spite of its trenchant synchronistic symbolism—was almost certainly a mistake as Clark explains:

Clark -- who is running for re-election in November -- said he was not trying to be secretive and the electronic tag was simply a mistake.

"I'm not the best on the computer," he said. "I sent that from my home computer, which I share with my wife. When I pulled down the e-mail addresses and attachments, that [tag] floated down."

The synchronicity of the tag—the mark Clark bears on him politically wherever he goes—is manifested in the recommendations he makes to grease the skids for land developers. The impact for further NCC sprawl, congestion and pollution are evident. Consider each one separately.

Easing Time Requirements for Developers

Extending the time an approved development plan remains valid from 12 months to 18 months, with the ability for two more extensions. This change could reduce the frequent lawsuits by developers seeking an injunction to stop their plans from expiring.

This would enable developers to acquire approval for superficially compliant development plans and delay substantial progress toward their implementation. That lawsuits are being filed because of the system is hardly the problem. The lawsuits are symptomatic of a system that already allows too much acquisition on the basis of superficial compliance and too little actualization of the plans. That is the problem. Clark’s proposal would extend this system of acquiring and waiting further.

Make Rezoning an Open Season in NCC

Eliminate the tri-annual rezoning process. Developers that need to rezone property can only do so certain times of the year, and this is the first step before such a project can go forward. The change would allow a developer to seek a rezoning any time.

As a result of Clark’s proposal, rezoning for the purpose of development would have no pacing at all. Rezoning for the purpose of development would become a pigs-at-the-trough affair. In the world of land development, it would be the equivalent of eliminating hunting seasons. It would always be open season for rezoning in Paul Clark’s best of all possible worlds. As far as I’m concerned, a tri-annual rezoning process is too often already. I’m quite certain that Delaware doesn’t need more strip malls and condominiums.

Let Them Use Cars

Eliminate a requirement for access to mass transit for Suburban Transition, a zoning classification that allows high-density, lower cost housing such as apartments and town houses. This change would allow developers to put high-density projects in places such as southern New Castle County, where there is little public transit.

Given the skyrocketing costs of fuel, the level of traffic congestion in NCC and the fact of global warming, this recommendation by Clark has the most cheek. If anything we need recommendations on how to get more people on buses and not more cars on our roads. That, it seems to me, is so trippingly obvious that I’m surprised Clark didn’t find this recommendation to humiliating to make.

That identifies the mark Paul Clark wears at political events. It’s the red-face of embarrassment that must be worn by a man who in bad faith is in the pocket of developers and not the citizens he allegedly represents. He is married to the mark and it scripts his actions, even the accidental tags found on his e-mails.
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