This past week, I interviewed Chris Coons on my University of Delaware radio show. He's running for US Senate in Delaware this year (he's the presumptive Democratic nominee), and he's currently the County Executive for the largest county in the state. While I asked him about a variety of topics, I was struck, especially in this era, by his vigorous defense of government and the good that it can do in American society. The interview is posted below.
To be clear, I have no ties to his campaign. I'm just a (newly-minted) Delaware Democrat who doesn't want to see Joe Biden's old seat fall into Republican hands this year. And I have a radio show, so this was a good opportunity as a netroots progressive to ask him about his campaign. Nobody from the campaign has authorized or seen this diary in advance.
The part I want to highlight is at the start of the second part of the interview, but I've posted the first half as well, further down. The interview was recorded by phone on May 19th, 2010, and it aired on the May 20th show. Partial transcript below clip 2 of 2.
Bill: Briefly could you describe the job of the County Executive that you currently hold, for those who don't know much about it, and could you talk a bit about what steps you've taken to make government work better for the people of New Castle County?
Chris Coons: A County Executive is the same thing as a mayor or a governor. I'm directly elected by half a million people to run the second-largest government in Delaware. We deliver services like police and paramedics, parks and libraries, economic development, sewers and housing. And, uh, I've taken real steps to make sure that it's a more efficient and well-run government. We've got a top to bottom performance review, for example, where we've set real standards, we've made them publicly accessible, we've held our mid-level managers accountable to them, and as a result, we've been able to have negative growth budgets; the most important one being last year where in our budget crisis we actually reduced overall county spending. I think that's just part of being a responsible government leader. There's folks out there, who are cynical about what government can do. I'm not. I believe government can help build safer and stronger communities. And in my role as County Executive, I think I've executed and delivered on that. I want to bring that insight and that ability to serving as the next US Senator for Delaware. I think I can do that in a way that reflects Delaware's values. As my wife and I look at what we see going on in Washington, we see folks who are more interested in fighting over the next election than in laying the groundwork for the next generation. And I think it's important for us to send folks who haven't been in Washington for decades, who don't know all the lobbyists and the ins and the outs and the rules, but who bring a common-sense/rooted-in-Delaware willingness to make the Federal government both more efficient and more effective for us.
Chris Coons is running to make the government better for the people it serves. He's not running to make it smaller for the sake of making it smaller, and certainly he's not running to destroy government.
Rep. Mike Castle (R-DE-AL) has been in the House for 18 years, and he now votes in lockstep with the party that wants to obstruct the government from getting anything done. And if Castle isn't the GOP nominee this fall, it will be teabagger challenger Christine O'Donnell, who certainly thinks all government is bad government.
It's great to have a solid Democrat like Chris Coons step up to the plate every now and then and remind us why we have a government and that government is good and can be a force for positive change in people's lives. I think County Executive Coons understands that because he's been in local government for the past ten years, where it's easier to see the direct, positive impacts that good government (and good governance) can have on people's lives. By and large, Joe Biden was a damn good U.S. Senator, for Delaware and the nation, and I'd guess that probably has at least something to do with his role on the New Castle County Council, which is where he was when he ran for US Senate successfully back in 1972.
We need to keep this Democratic Senate seat out of Republican hands. Having seen him in action, I am confident Chris Coons can defeat either Republican this year, if given the chance. This is a year for outsiders and younger candidates with fresh ideas. If you're in Delaware, you're probably already pulling for him, but if you're outside Delaware please consider supporting his campaign, any way you can.
On the web: Chris Coons for US Senate
ActBlue: Chris Coons for Senate
FULL INTERVIEW:
Other topics covered include: Filibuster reform, education policy, foreign policy, terrorism, and energy and the environment.