Delaware Democrats turn to a current member of New Castle County Council for their candidate in the upcoming special election for County Council president. 9th District Councilman Timothy Sheldon topped civic activist Bill Dunn at a nominating convention held by county Democrats Monday night at William Penn High School in New Castle.
“We have selected an excellent candidate in Tim Sheldon,” said New Castle County Democratic Chairman Erik Schramm, in a statement. "His years of experience serving our county as County Council member will equip him to serve our county and its residents well.”
Delaware Democratic party officials did not release the final vote count, saying only that Sheldon won the majority of votes cast by the over 200 Democratic committee members who attended the nominating convention.
Sheldon says his decision to run was not a difficult one. “Compelled to run because all the (Democratic) county council members came to me and asked me to run,” said Sheldon. “[10th District councilman] Jea Street told me it was my destiny. The other ones said we can get along. They know I’m fair-minded . They know I’m moral and there will never be an ethics problem."
Sheldon says ethics will be a point of emphasis in his campaign. He says one of his first acts if elected will be to introduce a resolution seeking an advisory opinion from the Ethics Board on how new County Executive Paul Clark is handling potential conflicts of interest involving his wife, Pamela Scott. Scott is an land use attorney with the firm Saul Ewing LLP. Clark’s first executive order last week ordering county employees to exclude him from all land use cases involving Saul Ewing, delgating decision making in those cases to County Attorney Gregg Wilson. "I think it would help all of us [Clark and County Council],” said Councilman Sheldon. "It puts it in a perspective that people can say the County Ethics Board did its job and we did it by the letter of the law."
Sheldon will face Republican nominee Tom Kovach in the race to replace Clark, who was elevated from Council president to New Castle County executive when Chris Coons left the county executive’s office to become Delaware’s junior U.S. Senator earlier this month. The GOP named Kovach, the former 6th District state represenatative, their nominee last week. The date for the special election has not been set yet by the New Castle County Board of Elections, but will likely be in late December or early January.
Sheldon was first elected to County Council in 2004 defeating Republican Cheryl Corn for the 9th District seat by 229 votes. He was re-elected in 2008, running unopposed. He admits running opposed in what is expected to be a low turnout special election presents a challenge. “It’s right after the holidays. People are tired and getting back to work. Some people are getting back from vacations. It could be miserably cold. So, you’ve got to get the message out to bring the people out,” said Councilman Sheldon.
No date has been set yet for the special election for New Castle County Council president. It will be scheduled within 45 days after the Department of Elections is officially notified of the vacancy. That official notification has not come yet from County Council President Pro-Tempore Penrose Hollins. Hollins has until Thursday, Thanksgiving, to make that notification.
DFM News spoke to Councilman Sheldon immediately after his nomination Monday to discuss his decision to run and the issues he considers critical to New Castle County voters:
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