Senator Robert Venables, Pray for Yourself

Delaware State Senator Robert Venables, Democrat, once opened the General Assembly with a prayer in which he asked the Almighty to help bloggers and the media come to an important realization:

[O]n the first day of the legislative assembly, Senate member Bob Veneables called on God for help with bloggers and the media. He led the opening prayer in the Senate, during which he asked the Almighty to help bloggers and the media understand that each member of the senate had been elected by at least 40,000 voters in their district and they (the senators) know best how to operate the senate.

So the state Senators best know how to operate the Senate. Let's take a gander at an example of the operation of Senator Robert Venables' wisdom within the state Senate:

The head of Fry Manufacturing, the Laurel french-fry vending machine firm that got a $50,000 allocation from this year's bond bill, is married to a niece of Sen. Robert L. Venables -- head of the Bond Bill Committee and the legislator who added the money to the bill.

Although Venables' role in securing the $50,000 grant for company co-owner Mike Ruggiero does not
appear to
violate state law or Senate rules regarding conflicts of interest, it has raised eyebrows both in the public and on the Bond Bill Committee, the 12-member General Assembly panel that writes the annual legislation to fund school and highway construction projects….

Venables, D-Laurel and a legislator since 1988, did not inform fellow committee members or Delaware Economic Development Office officials of his family tie with Ruggiero, co-owner of Fry Manufacturing and the senator's next-door neighbor.

Just so we are clear: Mike Ruggiero, whose company is the grant recipient, is both the husband of Venables niece AND his next door neighbor. How cozy.

When the News Journal first asked Venables about the propriety of awarding a grant to his next door neighbor, did the wise and godly Senator Venables tell the News Journal then that Mr. Ruggiero was also his niece's husband?

Venables also did not volunteer information about the relationship to The News Journal in an initial interview on Fry Manufacturing, or in a follow-up interview on whether he felt there were any ethical problems in directing state dollars to a next-door neighbor.

The article in the News Journal indicates that there was some merit in awarding the grant to this company. But that has little to do with the conduct of Senator Venables in this matter. At a minimum Senator Venables should have made his relationship with Mr. Ruggiero known to DEDO and the Bond Bill Committee and recused himself from any involvement with the vote on his relative's/neighbor's grant.

I suggest Senator Venables ought to pray for himself and ask God to open his mute mouth in similar situations in the future. Otherwise he could create the reputation that he is corrupt.