Newly surfaced information reveals select Democratic House staff members were asked to sign a document presented as a non-disclosure agreement in 2023 prior to the start of the Legislative session in January 2024.
While the employee handbook for House staff does include a confidentiality section — which notes disclosure of confidential information without appropriate approval may result in disciplinary action, up to and including termination — the new document added language specifically around the confidentiality of legislators’ emails.
The new language in the crafted "House of Representatives – Democratic Caucus Non-Disclosure and Confidentiality Policy" says "Copying, forwarding, dissemination, or any other reproduction or use of a Representative’s e-mail communications for purposes other than those set forth herein is prohibited."
And contrary to the employee handbook, this version of the policy requires a signature from the staff member.
Recently elected Majority Leader Kerri Evelyn Harris (D-Dover), who served as Minority Whip last session, says she cannot yet disclose how many staffers were required to sign the documents.
Harris says she was not made aware of the documents until the caucus organizational meeting on Friday, November 8, when the party elected new leadership.
State Rep. Madinah Wilson-Anton (D-Newark) says this is a "bold-faced lie," noting she personally found out in late September of this year when staffers approached her after finding out the documents were not enforceable and potentially illegal.
“I was concerned to hear that they had signed agreements in the first place, but to learn that they were made to sign them, weren't given time to review them privately and weren't given copies to keep was really concerning," she said.
She says she was further disturbed to find out that the policy was only carried out with select members of staff.
"The perception that the staff had was that it was kind of a test of loyalty. If they spoke up and were critical of actions that leadership had taken or ideas that were being brought forward in meetings, they were made to feel like they were not free to speak their minds and actually counsel the members that they worked for, which is concerning for a lot of reasons," Wilson-Anton added. “My perception of it all was kind of like this culture of “yes” men and women – fear and intimidation, and that's just a really terrible place to work. I mean, I felt really bad that the staff didn't feel comfortable sharing that with me prior, but I understand that they were worried about legal issues.”
Evelyn Harris said she did make an initial suggestion to have some form of a confidentiality policy for House staff prior to last session.
"I had heard from both staff and members of our caucus that there was concerns about information leaking at times that were not appropriate and some things that could have been considered confidential — I did feel like that it made sense for us to have a confidentiality policy," Evelyn Harris said. "I did not know that changes had been made."
"I was not a part of that, and even me learning about that was during the [caucus organizational] meeting, and then the details followed that. So, I do feel it's a little unfortunate that we were not able to do the investigation before conversations that happened in the caucus [meeting] left the caucus room," she added. "It really did put our staff in an uncomfortable position that they should not have had to have been in, and I'm happy that we were able to get to the bottom of it, figure out what the issues were and solve for them."
Evelyn Harris says the leadership team does intend to look at their confidentiality policies moving forward, noting she believes privacy is important when dealing with government affairs.
"I think that my concern is, with the jumping of the gun by members of the caucus who assumed that there was something nefarious, they did put a coloring on it that is not healthy in this climate — our political climate right now, when there's general distrust of government. When the reality is, most voters would feel like 'yes, there should be a sense of confidentiality when dealing with my emails, when talking through legislation' and things like that, until it's a point where it makes sense to go public."
Evelyn Harris clarifies the confidentiality policy does not keep staff members from reporting incidents of abuse or harassment.
House Speaker-elect Melissa Minor Brown released a statement Friday agreeing with Harris, noting confidentiality is important in some cases, but the signing of non-disclosure agreements was not the proper way to go about it.
“While I believe confidentiality should be maintained around sensitive constituent matters, I can clearly state that this current leadership team does not support the process in which this action was carried out, and we are discontinuing this process immediately. These documents will be effectively voided, and no staff member will be asked to sign an NDA as long as I am speaker. This is not how I conduct business," the statement read.
Following the public surfacing of the non-disclosure document, Laura Wisniewski, who served as Chief of Staff to former Speaker Valerie Longhurst, has moved into the role of Special Assistant to the Chief Clerk. The current Chief of Staff position has not yet been filled.
Wilson-Anton says the incident is a poor reflection on the state legislature when the new legislative session kicks off in less than two months.
"Our country — our state is in a moment where people are looking for leadership. A lot of people are very uncertain about the future, and we have a new leadership team, and this is just— I think a really terrible way to get started, and I hope things able to calm down and staff are able to be reassured before we come back in January, but this is really a terrible way to start."
The news comes following an onslaught of government transparency issues just within just the past year in Delaware, including fraudulent activity with opioid settlement grant funding, instances of state employee compensation double-dipping, embezzlement within the Unemployment Insurance Fund, campaign finance violations and general FOIA concerns with school boards and public meetings.
According to a study conducted by the Center for Public Integrity, Delaware ranks 48th in government transparency and accountability.
