Delaware Gov.-elect John Carney names key Cabinet picks

Delaware Gov.-elect John Carney has turned to veteran government administrators for his first few Cabinet picks, including two current department heads appointed by Gov. Jack Markell.

Carney’s team announced Tuesday that he will nominate Department of Transportation Secretary Jennifer Cohan and Secretary of State Jeffrey Bullock to continue serving in his administration. He will also nominate Mike Jackson for director of the Office of Management and Budget and Perry Phelps for commissioner of the Department of Correction.

The state Senate must vote to approve the nominees before they take office. All four appear to have solid support in the Legislature.

Senate Minority Whip Greg Lavelle, R-Sharpley, said he generally approved of the nominees and expected they would be confirmed.

“I’ll be quick to complain and object when someone is not doing what needs to be done, but [Carney] won the election,” he said. “We have to show some amount of deference for a new executive.”

Lavelle said it makes sense to have someone with institutional knowledge and experience, particularly for jobs like the budget office. But he said Delaware could use some “new eyes on old ideas,” and said he would be closely watching to see who Carney picks for jobs leading the economic development, education and environmental departments.

As OMB Director, Jackson would be responsible for developing the governor’s recommended budget, the template from which the General Assembly builds a spending plan for state government. He would play a central role in tackling a deficit that could be in the hundreds of millions of dollars for Carney’s first year.

Jackson is already intimately involved in state finances in his role as deputy controller general.

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He has served as a budget official at OMB, the University of Delaware and the Delaware Department of Education. In his current job, he works closely with legislators on the budget-writing Joint Finance Committee, whose members frequently praise him in public meetings.

“The governor and the people of Delaware could not be in better hands than Mike Jackson’s,” said Melanie George Smith, co-chair of the finance committee. “He is brilliant. He understands finance, and he understands the needs of Delawareans.”

Smith says the OMB director needs to work particularly closely with legislators, and said Jackson’s relationships with lawmakers will be invaluable in balancing the budget.

Cohan has led DelDOT since 2015. Before that, she was director of the Delaware Division of Motor Vehicles and was credited with dramatically improving service there.

A 25-year veteran of state government, she has worked with the Controller General and managed the state’s Clean Water Program, among other jobs. DelDOT is responsible for maintaining and improving Delaware’s roads and bridges, public transit, and other transportation infrastructure.

The department has recently been able to accelerate massive road projects around the state — including the long-debated U.S. 301 tollway project near Middletown — thanks to growing gas tax revenues and a package of Delaware Division of Motor Vehicles fee increases the General Assembly passed in 2015.

The new work comes after years of budget struggles at the agency. Some of the projects have upset nearby residents, who complain about pollution and traffic in the area.

“I think Secretary Cohen has done a good job,” Lavelle said. “DelDOT has been fraught with controversy off and on, and that doesn’t seem to have been the case under her.”

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Bullock has been secretary of state since 2009. He manages the state’s $1.1 billion corporate franchise; chairs the board that runs the Port of Wilmington; serves on the Board of Pardons; and oversees arts, libraries and historic preservation.

Bullock is responsible for running a piece of the state’s unclaimed property program, which has come under siege in courts over the past year. And Carney has called for an expansion and upgrade of the port.

“Secretary Bullock has shown great leadership when it comes to the port,” said state Rep. J.J. Johnson, D-New Castle, whose district includes the port. “I’m glad he will be around for this.”

Bullock is a political veteran, having served as chief of staff to Gov. Tom Carper — whom Carney served as finance secretary — and chief administrative officer for New Castle County.

Phelps has served as deputy commissioner for the Department of Correction under Robert Coupe since 2015. He is the former warden of James T. Vaughn Correctional Center, the state’s largest prison, and has worked throughout the state’s Division of Youth Rehabilitative Services.

Phelps’ job will be to run the state’s prison system and advise the governor on criminal justice policies. He will likely have a key role in efforts to reform the state’s criminal code that legislators and Chief Justice Leo Strine are pushing.

The Department of Correction has struggled to retain workers over the past few years, which has caused overtime costs to skyrocket. Johnson said Phelps will need to tackle that issue and develop strong relationships with the union that represents correction workers.

“I think he can handle the job. He has a strong personality,” Johnson said. “He is going to need some empathy to do what needs to be done.”

Geoff Klopp, president of the Delaware Correctional Officers Association, said his group supports Phelps, but argues he won’t be able to fix the staffing problems unless the state pays corrections officers more. “The salaries we’re getting are nowhere near competitive is the root of it,” Klopp said. “Perry’s a smart man who knows what he’s doing, but we definitely need the support of the next governor, too.”

Previously, Carney had announced some of his top-ranking staffers.

His chief of staff will be longtime aide Doug Gramiak, who served as his chief of staff when he was lieutenant governor and his state director when he was Delaware’s U.S. representative. His congressional chief of staff, Sheila Grant, will be his deputy chief of staff.

Carney’s top lawyer will be Danielle Gibbs, currently a chief deputy attorney general, and his communications director will be Jonathan Starkey, director of public relations at the Delaware State Housing Authority and a former journalist.

Contact Matthew Albright at malbright@delawareonline.com, (302) 324-2428 or on Twitter @TNJ_malbright.