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Barbara Beel: Welcome, any time if you feel, you know not comfortable with what you said. No problem, we can just backup and start again. Jerry Buckworth: Okay.

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Barbara Beel: Okay. Five, four, three, two. one. Good morning everybody. I'm Barbara Beel and this is the WKEN Open Mike program. Today our guest is Camden and

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Wyoming area Representative Jerry Buckworth. Welcome to the program. Jerry Buckworth: Good morning, Barbara. I'm glad to be here. Barbara Beel: You've been doing some

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rather exciting things lately. Jerry Buckworth: Yes. I've taken a couple trips to Washington and I've become knowledgeable

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in a certain, couple certain areas that we're going to be dealing with in legislature this year. One of those is infant mortality,

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teenage pregnancy. Hopefully that we can bring in some legislation that will help young women

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who give birth to children. And hopefully that we can help provide more care for those people who do get pregnant

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and the high-risk people that we're talking about, the poverty, the teen pregnancy. Those people need proper care.

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And Governor Castle talked in his State of The State Address Jerry Buckworth: about the immediacy of the infant mortality rate, I believe it was in 1984, out of a thousand births,

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there were 14 deaths. There also, I believe a hundred and twenty six women who had not had any prenatal care during their pregnancy, and that's a problem.

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And the problem becomes insurmountable in certain respects because we don't know if this has a bearing, an effect

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on the child as it's growing up. Experts say it does. Experts say that if the child does not have, the mother did not have proper care,

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proper medical attention, proper nutrition, there's a possibility that we may run into a learning disability type situation or an emotional problem

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later on in life that could affect not only physical, emotional development, educational development,

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employment development, and then possibly in a cycle all over again, improper prenatal care and so forth,

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back on the same cycle again. Barbara Beel: Let's back up for a minute. Representative Buckworth, Governor Castle in his State of the State,

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mentioned it as you said and, and in his budget address touched again on the need to focus on young children

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and their special needs. The conference which you two attended and he is Chairman of the National Governors Association

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Human Resources Committee- Jerry Buckworth: That's correct. Barbara Beel: And the main thrust of this meeting last week was focused on the first sixty months.

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It's a pilot program petition he initiated in Delaware, and apparently, it's going to be tried nationwide.

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Where did this come about? How did it start? Jerry Buckworth: I believe on the emphasis of Delaware being one

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of the leading states in infant mortality. The problem, too many deaths, too much improper care for mother and baby. In his address, the budget address,

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he focused specifically on a pilot program to identify in each county learning disabilities in age four-year-olds. And many states even go age three.

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At the conference, we heard several people say that we need to go earlier and identify problems.

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Spend the money now because it's going to be triple or double the cost later on. Because if we can identify and do something

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about the educational problems that are diagnosed, if we can get back to the very beginning and say,

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Mother, you need more nutrition in your diet. Your baby is going to be weak, it could cause some problems later on in life.

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And let's spend the money now so that we don't have to double or triple that it cost later on down the road. We have in the education,

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if I'm just may speak about that. In our school, my school, the seventh, eighth grade at the Caesar Rodney Junior High School,

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we have, the largest department in my school is the Special Education and we're dealing with kids who have learning disabilities.

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And we have kids who have social, emotional, they're maladjusted, and we have a lot of staff members, it's the largest.

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I have ten staff members in our junior high school that deal with those problems. And possibly people are saying, doctors,

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experts in the field are saying some of these things may be done away with if the mothers during their pregnancy have proper care.

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And once the baby is born, they have proper nutrition in and total care. That the doctor,

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they should see a doctor. At the conference, they said at least a newborn should see a doctor at least six times during

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the year. That's the minimum. Barbara Beel: Now, as I understand it, you were asked to attend this conference because you,

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being a member of the House of Representatives in Delaware as the chairman of... Jerry Buckworth: the Committee on Children.

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Barbara Beel: Thank you, I just heard a very strange sound on my tape recorder and I was trying to check that out and lost my train of thought.

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Yes. Where did that come about and how long has that been in existence? Jerry Buckworth: The Committee on Children was formed this past year when

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our legislature for the a 133rd General Assembly, we decided to place emphasis on the child. There's lots and lots of areas

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that the children come into play, not only in the education because we do have an education committee, but we do have areas that we're looking at.

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Teen suicide, teenage pregnancy, a high infant mortality rate. There's all kinds of areas that... child care is another big one.

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There's a task force working on that right now. Incidentally, I'm on the task force for infant mortality.

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And I really gotten involved in this. I don't know all the answers and we're going to be trying to work with the governor's office and

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my cohort Representative Jane Moroni with legislation to help combat this infant mortality. That's a subject at hand right now.

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Barbara Beel: Representative Buckworth I'm going to play the devil's advocate. There are so many programs at this time, and it seems each year the taxpayer supports

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more and more programs for welfare recipients, for people who may truly be deserving of help.

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And many of those people who just plain do not want to work. And I don't see, and I'm just one person, But I know that my thoughts

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are echoed because I've had many people, many people speak to me about it. Where do you draw the line? How many of these programs

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should the taxpayers support? Because again, and it's not just welfare people. It's, it's children of rich people

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who get anything and everything in the world. And then there's middle or middle income parents and families whose kids have problems.

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Is there an answer? And how much of the burden should the taxpayer pay? Jerry Buckworth: Well, you're absolutely right.

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There are a lot of programs and we ask every year we come up with programs that do cost money,

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but I don't believe we're throwing water to the wind. I believe that we have found some programs that I believe will

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work that will cost them money at this time. But down the road, if we can avoid large sums of money, triple or double the money that we spend

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now to help these people. And specifically the teenage mother. The high risk, high risk would be those who live in poverty.

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Single-parent, young, not very employable, jobs just don't have the skills. And we feel as though we

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have some ideas that we can help this situation now, at the very beginning, you've got to get that prevention in.

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We've been playing, throwing money down the road and it just has not been profitable for us. We've had to try to catch up,

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so to speak, with the educational problems that a lot of these children come into school with. And there's lots and lots of money.

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We spend lots and lots of money in special education. The federal government, it's unbelievable the rules and regulations that we have

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that tend with, that deal with the special education child, that we deal with the handicapped child in school.

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And we believe if we can get back to the start of things, at the birth, at the pregnancy, at the proper care, the proper nutrition,

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we believe that we can cut off a lot of money that's going to be spent down the road. Barbara Beel: Again, I am going to play devil's advocate.

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And I am certainly by no means trying to make you a scapegoat. You yourself are not responsible for these problems.

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When I go into a grocery store and I see a young mother with two or three kids in tow, no wedding ring, paying with food stamps, buying junk food,

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it just burns me to no end. Especially when they get ignorant about it. And how can you change this? Jerry Buckworth: I don't know if we'll ever

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be able to change all of it. Let me tell you one idea that we have that, that some states are using and I believe we're going to try.

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I think it's been worked in a small degree at the Middletown High School for young teenage boys and girls. It's called a school clinic.

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And it's not only there to help those who have problems in pregnancy. It's there for hygiene and this type of thing.

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But we were trying to promote better values, we are trying to promote better ideas on taking care of yourself. We're trying to give ideas

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about what are you going to do if you are giving birth to a child or if you father a child. We're talking about responsibility

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and taking care of an infant, this type of thing. There will be nurses, there will be checkups,

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this type of thing. Health, this health program we feel, and it's been working in other states, will work in Delaware.

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Barbara Beel: That's a fine answer, but again, we are into second and sometimes third-generation welfare. And its babies having babies.

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Because they know that the taxpayer is going to support them because of a very liberal Congress. And it's got to stop somewhere.

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Because the child is, it's not the child's fault, certainly, when the child is a baby and young child.

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But when that child reaches twelve and thirteen, they know what's going on, and they know that mom and dad are going to be getting

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welfare if they don't want to work. And there are ways of getting around it. We see it every day. How can you, and I'm asking you

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this because you are a school administrator, you deal with young children every day and had been for many years,

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what do you tell them? I'm, I mean, how do you get it to sink in? Jerry Buckworth: Well, in school, I understand exactly where you're coming

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from and I feel like we can only do the best we can with the resources that we have. We do work in in my school,

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we do work in a crew with a career education program. Every teacher in every subject is supposed to work with career awareness,

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building good feelings about the working world. We expose careers to this children. We try to do this, and I'm

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sure that schools throughout Delaware and the nation are doing the same thing that we do have programs that we try to

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get the value of working. And the, the idea that it's, it's very wholesome and necessary thing to do that, to

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to get a job, to get an education, get a better job with the education that you have, and to keep striving.

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I know so many students that go out of high school, 'I'm never going to school again. I'm done with school.' Only to find that well,

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I did go to DelTech because I knew I had to advance in the job I had it was requiring more skills. I did go to Delaware State and

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got my education. I went, decided to go to University of Delaware. These things are happening. These people who say, I'm not going

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back to school are doing that and we just need to keep pressing the idea that you need your education.

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It's just a teaching mechanism. We need to keep teaching, I guess, and preaching that an education is vital and that

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it's necessary to... if they're a welfare type situation in the family, that we need to work with these children a little more.

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It's pretty impossible to try to single them out and do this. Schools are large, but we do try to hit in every area that we teach. Math,

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we talk about accountants, we talk about architects who need to know math and scientists in this type

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of thing that they need to, to study, and to get ahead. Barbara Beel: I agree with what you're saying and that's fine and well, but again,

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I have to come back to this concept of generation after generation after generation of welfare. I even heard one young child

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who may have been all of twelve, and who had two kids in tow, who were her's. Someone said something to her

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and she answered, well, if God had wanted me to have these kids, I wouldn't have them. And my mouth just dropped open. I felt like shaking her by

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the head, by her neck. I just, it just seems to me that we throw good money after bad. Something's gotta be done.

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These people, in my opinion, and maybe I have no right to say this, But they should be cut off because they know they're going to get money.

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Jerry Buckworth: We do have people in our society who can hold a job, can work, and that don't. I don't know what the answer is.

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I wish I did. I wish I could come up with some solution that we could take these people off the welfare rolls,

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put them to work. That would be a great thing for our society, for our employment. Everything that we have, people

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who are tax-paying citizens, and that's, that's the name of the game. I think. We need to put those people back to work.

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What's the answer? I don't have it. We feel like if we can, in this one area that I've been talking about, in infant mortality and

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prenatal care in this type of thing, if we can attack some of those problems and we can solve some, we may, we may do a lot for down

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the road for these youngsters who were being born. A better start. Proper nutrition, this type of thing will make

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them better citizens down the road. Barbara Beel: I certainly hope so and I wish you well. I myself have so many doubts about that.

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What else did you touch on at the conference? Jerry Buckworth: Well, I can recall that Jerry Buckworth: Governor Kean from New Jersey

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talked about what they're doing in New Jersey. Couple little things that I can recall. One is that they're having

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a great deal success with the Head Start program which catches children early, and they feel as though it has helped

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their dropout rate, their crime rate. They feel it's going to help down the road as far as employment in this type of thing. That they're Head Start program in

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New Jersey has been successful. And several people talked about their Head Start programs in the various states.

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We heard people from Kentucky. The Governor of Kentucky, Martha Lane Collins was there. We heard, as I said, Governor Thomas Kean,

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Bruce Babbitt from Arizona. Governor Babbitt spoke to us for a short time. And so we heard

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quite a few experts, so to speak, doctors. The one doctor that, from Florida, I can't recall his name, talked about this cycle I alluded to

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earlier, where he said the, he called it a frightening cycle, the poor prenatal care, early development problems,

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educational problems, employment difficulties, low self-esteem, teenage pregnancy, and then we go back to poor prenatal care.

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And we're in the cycle again. We're back to educational problems and employment difficulties again.

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And it really hit home to me. I jotted some notes down for you came today and that was one of the things that I put in.

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I focused in my mind about this first sixty months of a child's life, that there is a cycle and we,

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and it's basically what you're talking about, the welfare problem, that poverty, food stamps, that type of problem

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it is a cycle problem and we have to sort of get in there and chop that away. And hopefully with some of

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the programs that we can come with in Delaware, we can do something about that. Barbara Beel: Now, I have not read

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the program. But, it seemed to me from what I have read and heard in the Governor's speech and the press releases before

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the conference and some after, that this is just an addition to this cycle. Jerry Buckworth: I don't follow... Barbara Beel: What I mean is, okay,

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we've got this cycle. It just seems like we are giving more money to try and solve it. if it solves it, fine.

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But how many times has it been tried to be solved? Many times. Jerry Buckworth: Well, it's just like when we tried to, years and years

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and years ago when I was a youngster, the problem of polio, we put a lot of money into those iron lungs and this type of thing,

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but at yet we finally found a cure. We don't have many people contact polio. When we got the prevention, we knocked out all that iron lung thing.

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And that was tons and tons and tons of money. Because here were people with polio, with the problem, and finally we got to

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the cure that we're able to prevent the whole blasted thing, the whole devastating thing. And so we were able to knock

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out the polio situation. I just using it sort of as an analogy to this situation. If we can get to the root of the problem,

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we can knock out a lot of double and triple expenditures down the road. Barbara Beel: I certainly hope so.

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It does sound like a good program. I guess I've become somewhat of a cynic. And I am tired of my tax money paying for it. Jerry Buckworth: Well I was a cynic before too,

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before I got involved in this area of child development. You know, you're in education and you have the kids come to

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your school and they go to class and they learn English, Math, Science, and Social Studies, the Physical Education and Health.

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But, these are some of the things that really in the background that, you know, that an education or an educator like myself,

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sometimes doesn't really take a look at it. We're talking about people before they get to school. We're getting those kids,

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we take what society, the best society has in our schools, and we work with them. And if we need

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someone to work with a special type of child, we get that person. Everybody's entitled to an education. But basically what I'm

00:22:00.830 - 00:22:07.170

saying is we've got to go down a little earlier. Okay, we've got Kindergarten now for everybody,

00:22:07.170 - 00:22:15.050

but now we've gotta go a little bit earlier in life. Within that first sixty months, zero to five years old,

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we've got to go down and see if we can make an impression there that will help down the road in education. When I went to school,

00:22:24.650 - 00:22:31.500

we didn't have learning disability classes, or S and E When I say S and E, it's social and emotional problem

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child. We didn't have those people. We did have medically handicapped. I can recall a class and when I was in elementary school,

00:22:41.440 - 00:22:49.600

but we didn't have the learning disability. We didn't have the social and emotional, we didn't have Chapter One Reading, or Chapter One Math that

00:22:49.600 - 00:22:55.200

deals with kids who are a couple of years behind in their English and Math. We have those programs now.

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We may be able to, down the road, I'm talking about several, several, several years, that we may be able to

00:23:04.220 - 00:23:12.500

eliminate some of these programs that we hire people to do and to work in and to work with children. We may be able down

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the road to eliminate some of these things and help all the way around. Have those children in regular classes rather than in special classes,

00:23:20.070 - 00:23:26.470

because sometimes the kids realize, I'm in a special class, I may never get out of here. Those are

00:23:26.470 - 00:23:34.020

problems that we, Jerry Buckworth: you know, the low self-esteem Barbara Beel: Yes. Jerry Buckworth: comes back into being. And so I think it's important,

00:23:34.020 - 00:23:40.370

the thrust that we're working on right now. I think it will help. We won't see it right away, but down the road I think we

00:23:40.370 - 00:23:48.050

will see some effects of this. And I think all states in the nation are working in this area. Everybody's concerned about it. There were people

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from all over the country at this conference. And it was a very good one. The problem I had was I had the flu bug while I was there.

00:23:54.290 - 00:24:05.480

Barbara Beel: I still do. Jerry Buckworth: It was an excellent conference. Barbara Beel: We are running out of time unfortunately, because there are a lot more questions

00:24:05.480 - 00:24:12.550

I would like to ask and I do want to say again, I'm not holding you personally responsible Jerry Buckworth: Thank you Barbara Beel: for any... you're welcome.

00:24:12.550 - 00:24:23.370

Barbara Beel: It's just you are an educator and you are a part of this program and I just, again, maybe I'm a cynic. Well, of course I know I am.

00:24:23.370 - 00:24:35.060

I'm just tired of my tax dollars, when I can barely pay my bills, going to bums, as I see it. To people who simply do not want to work.

00:24:35.060 - 00:24:45.560

And they pass it along to their children. And it is just one vicious cycle. Jerry Buckworth: I think it's a rut people get into, it really is.

00:24:45.560 - 00:24:51.470

I think I would describe it as a rut that we get into and it's very difficult to get yourself by the bootstraps

00:24:51.470 - 00:24:59.600

and pull yourself out. It's difficult, very difficult. The other trip that I had to Washington was about three weeks ago.

00:24:59.600 - 00:25:05.090

I wanted to tell you a little bit about that before we left. Barbara Beel: Yes, that's what I was going to ask. Jerry Buckworth: I joined last year

00:25:05.090 - 00:25:12.710

an organization called American Legislative Exchange Council. It's home-based in Washington. On the board of

00:25:12.710 - 00:25:22.350

directors are legislators from all over the country, Democrats and Republicans. And they have an executive group of people who run the office in Washington.

00:25:22.350 - 00:25:30.440

And last year, about this time, I was invited to Dallas, Texas, to a seat belt conference and found that very interesting.

00:25:30.440 - 00:25:37.370

And I thought the conference was great and I wasn't even a member, the Speaker the House had invited me to go to this conference.

00:25:37.370 - 00:25:44.720

So when I got back, I thought that I'm going to join that organization. I really liked it. They do present

00:25:44.720 - 00:25:56.410

issues and throughout the country they have seminars for legislators and executive branch people. And so

00:25:56.410 - 00:26:05.840

this past year, I joined right after the conference. And in November I got a letter, it said you're invited to a presidential briefing. And where

00:26:05.840 - 00:26:12.080

you would be able to sit in a room and listen to the President of the United States and also meet with

00:26:12.080 - 00:26:22.670

some of the cabinet officials. And I thought, boy this is exciting. So I sent my information back in and was told that, I forget the date

00:26:22.670 - 00:26:31.340

January, I think it was the ninth and tenth. I went over on the ninth in the evening. And excuse me,

00:26:31.340 - 00:26:41.390

it was a first week of the Legislature. So it was the 16th and 17th of January. On January 17th, Friday morning, bus picked us up at

00:26:41.390 - 00:26:50.900

the hotel and we went over to the Old Executive Office Building. At nine o'clock, we were seated. I was in the third row.

00:26:50.900 - 00:26:59.500

I was about fifteen feet from the podium. And at 9:15, the President of the United States came in. And that was pretty exciting to be that close to the President.

00:26:59.500 - 00:27:08.060

To see, to me, it was... I was, I was quite excited and I thought the President looked great.

00:27:08.060 - 00:27:15.230

He sounded great, if you recall, it was day that he was to go to, I believe Walter Reed Hospital for his examination. That was the very day.

00:27:15.230 - 00:27:22.040

We saw him in the morning at 9:15. At 11 o'clock, I believe he went for his checkup. And he talked

00:27:22.040 - 00:27:31.640

about the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act. And he also talked about the prospect of a tax increase, which he says that his veto pen

00:27:31.640 - 00:27:40.970

will certainly knock out if it comes his way. Barbara Beel: Let's hope so. Jerry Buckworth: He wasn't there but maybe ten minutes. But it was very, very exciting.

00:27:40.970 - 00:27:50.300

And we heard later after the President left, departed, we heard Secretary Bennett, who's the Secretary

00:27:50.300 - 00:27:57.370

of the cabinet post of Education. And he was very interesting and talked about a voucher system, which

00:27:57.370 - 00:28:11.700

I don't agree with, with our Chapter One school population working with Math and Language Arts. We left the conference,

00:28:11.700 - 00:28:18.710

the the Old Executive Office Building, tight security. I've never seen security so tight, of course we're talking about the President of the United States

00:28:18.710 - 00:28:27.050

and some of the people in the cabinet posts, holding cabinet posts. So we left the Old Executive Office Building

00:28:27.050 - 00:28:33.710

and we visited with the Secretary of the Treasury, James Baker. If you recall, James Baker was the Chief of

00:28:33.710 - 00:28:43.910

Staff at one time for President Reagan. We stay there for about a half an hour. This is in the afternoon. And we also were

00:28:43.910 - 00:28:55.130

able to go to the... You had a choice. You could go to the Transportation Department to hear Elizabeth Hanford Dole or you could go to... I'm in

00:28:55.130 - 00:29:01.280

the Health and Social Service area in Delaware in the legislature, so I went to the Health and Social Service

00:29:01.280 - 00:29:09.110

cabinet meeting and I heard Dr., I believe it's Otis Bowen. He's a new administrator. He just replaced Margaret Heckler.

00:29:09.110 - 00:29:18.230

And basically they talked about the Gramm-Rudman, what they knew of it, the whole administration of Dr. Bowen,

00:29:18.230 - 00:29:26.300

he is a medical doctor and he was Governor of Indiana for two terms, so he's very qualified for this position. And that was very interesting.

00:29:26.300 - 00:29:36.510

He had several of his top people there to, to help with the discussion. Very interesting day. Barbara Beel: But, did you get to

00:29:36.510 - 00:29:45.750

grill any of these people? Jerry Buckworth: Not really. They, we sort of sat back and heard their message in.

00:29:45.750 - 00:29:52.600

And basically they were talking about Gramm-Rudman because they're so involved in it right now. And they're prepared.

00:29:52.600 - 00:30:00.660

They were working with the President to prepare the budget and basically talking about that area. There were some questions and but not too,

00:30:00.660 - 00:30:09.980

not real specific. Not real specific. It was it was nice to hear their side of it. We read a lot about it in the newspaper, but it was exciting to

00:30:09.980 - 00:30:19.490

hear those people face-to-face. Barbara Beel: It will be extremely interesting to see what does become of it. Jerry Buckworth: Well, I think the Gramm-Rudman,

00:30:19.490 - 00:30:26.330

that the big thing now is where the courts that one section in there that's vital, I believe someone has

00:30:26.330 - 00:30:35.240

the possibility of it being unconstitutional. Now that that could be very detrimental. However, the Governor or the, excuse me,

00:30:35.240 - 00:30:42.330

the President has said he's still going to try to submit that budget for a hundred and forty four million,

00:30:42.330 - 00:30:50.540

billion, excuse me. In states we talk millions, in federal government, they talk billions. And so

00:30:50.540 - 00:31:00.380

that the deficit problem is a real problem. Barbara Beel: The deficit still must be balanced by 1991. The part which was

00:31:00.380 - 00:31:07.790

declared unconstitutional by the three-judge panel was the automatic across the board spending cuts should the Congress and the President

00:31:07.790 - 00:31:14.940

fail do their jobs, and cut spending by whatever level is required each year. It's something like, I don't know,

00:31:14.940 - 00:31:31.090

a $119 bill[ion] this year. I spoke with Senator Bill Roth last Friday. He told me that there is an alternate program to the automatic cuts.

00:31:31.090 - 00:31:43.630

The Senate would need to pass a resolution giving the President the power to cut programs, specific programs. And that would

00:31:43.630 - 00:31:52.930

pretty much take the place that the automatic cuts. Jerry Buckworth: I think what he's referring to was what the President referred to,

00:31:52.930 - 00:32:00.610

I believe in his press conference the other night, 'Give me the line item veto.' And I think that's what

00:32:00.610 - 00:32:08.830

possibly Senator Roth was referring to Jerry Buckworth: that would allow the President Barbara Beel: Okay, he did not mention Jerry Buckworth: to X out certain things in the budget that would bring it to a livable...

00:32:08.830 - 00:32:15.610

Barbara Beel: That would be wonderful. Jerry Buckworth: Yeah. Gramm-Rudman-Hollings basically says if the President cannot

00:32:15.610 - 00:32:25.350

come within budgetary limits than the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act automatically kicks in. And the President's budget,

00:32:25.350 - 00:32:36.190

I don't believe they touch Social Security, I don't believe they touch, in the President's budget, Jerry Buckworth: not touching defense. Barbara Beel: Defense, and...

00:32:36.190 - 00:32:43.570

Jerry Buckworth: But the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act Barbara Beel: there was one other. Jerry Buckworth: will touch defense, it will cut defense. If it plugs in automatically.

00:32:43.570 - 00:32:50.860

However, the President says he's going to meet that budget limits. Jerry Buckworth: So that's that... Barbara Beel: That will be interesting, yes. Jerry Buckworth: I think he will,

00:32:50.860 - 00:33:00.530

I believe we will. But, the line-item veto, which would allow him to bring things into the budgetary restraints or requirements.

00:33:00.530 - 00:33:08.630

Barbara Beel: Much as we have in Delaware, I think every single one of these people in the Congress, including the President, should come to Delaware and see

00:33:08.630 - 00:33:17.720

firsthand what our legislature has done. Jerry Buckworth: That's right. We balanced the budget. Barbara Beel: This will be... Jerry Buckworth: The last eight years Barbara Beel: The ninth, exactly. Jerry Buckworth: This will be the ninth year

00:33:17.720 - 00:33:26.000

that we feel as though we balanced the budget this year. And I think that I run into, in the last few weeks,

00:33:26.000 - 00:33:36.620

I've run into several legislators from other states. You say, how do you people do that? And the 98% spending limit, we set 2% aside,

00:33:36.620 - 00:33:46.130

I think has been a great thing for Delaware, that we do have money, so to speak, in the bank, and that we have been able to live within our means.

00:33:46.130 - 00:33:52.940

And that's important. That's a good lesson for the average everyday citizens that live within their means

00:33:52.940 - 00:33:59.980

Jerry Buckworth: and to... Barbara Beel: I think so. Jerry Buckworth: I think it's a good lesson. Delaware's government has been a good teacher in that respect.

00:33:59.980 - 00:34:09.080

Barbara Beel: Also, we have to thank Delaware being a corporate state. Jerry Buckworth: I was looking at... Barbara Beel: Which is extremely helpful. Jerry Buckworth: Yes.

00:34:09.080 - 00:34:18.880

Jerry Buckworth: I received in the mail an excerpt of, in that occurred in Forbes Magazine, about Delaware. It was very interesting. And we have a number

00:34:18.880 - 00:34:25.370

of new banks that are moving into Delaware. It used to be thirteenth banks. I think it's up around eighteen and there's a couple that are

00:34:25.370 - 00:34:33.780

pending out of that eighteen, but we still are attracting business and we're still offering jobs. That's important.

00:34:33.780 - 00:34:44.150

We are putting people to work. Barbara Beel: Also, the one good thing about that act was that, should it not produce a certain amount

00:34:44.150 - 00:34:51.830

of jobs within say, I think it was a three-year period, then the act would Barbara Beel: be, the law would be null and void. Jerry Buckworth: Yes

00:34:51.830 - 00:34:59.580

Barbara Beel: Most of those banks which have come into the state have hired at least that many, if not more. Jerry Buckworth: Well, I think the law that

00:34:59.580 - 00:35:05.420

that three-year limit was, now don't quote me on this, but I believe it was 18 thousand jobs within

00:35:05.420 - 00:35:10.430

three years and I think Barbara Beel: I believe you're right, yes. Jerry Buckworth: I believe that we are knocking on the door of

00:35:10.430 - 00:35:18.920

that of that the legislative restraint, so to speak, that was placed on, on that three-year program. So the banks have helped us,

00:35:18.920 - 00:35:30.750

but other industries have come in and we're always looking for good, clean industry that hire people and pay a good salary.

00:35:31.150 - 00:35:40.620

Barbara Beel: One comment and then I want to ask you one quick question. When are you going to invite the Congress to come to Dover?

00:35:41.560 - 00:35:49.820

Jerry Buckworth: There are certainly welcome all the time. We don't see our Congresspeople in the Legislative Hall very much. Of course they're busy about the same time we're

00:35:49.820 - 00:35:58.850

busy in session, they are in session. We see two Barbara Beel: of them in Delaware a lot. Jerry Buckworth: We do. Barbara Beel: There is one that well,

00:35:58.850 - 00:36:07.220

golly day I have to say he was downstate last week. I don't know whether he had to use roadmap to find Dove or not.

00:36:07.220 - 00:36:18.600

But I think he owes his constituents more than what he gives us. Now, the other two are here all the time and very accessible.

00:36:19.030 - 00:36:29.320

And I just, perhaps... I'd better stop here. Jerry Buckworth: I'm not going to comment at all to that. Barbara Beel: I know. I don't expect you to. It's just that dog-gone-it

00:36:29.320 - 00:36:38.090

They're here to represent us and that's exactly what they should do instead of running all over the world and not reporting back to their constituents

00:36:38.090 - 00:36:47.510

except by a letter. Jerry Buckworth: Well, I found out an interesting thing the other day. That are our representatives in

00:36:47.510 - 00:36:56.810

Washington, most of the time, come home every night to Delaware. We are that close. And I thought that was interesting. So

00:36:56.810 - 00:37:04.310

the accessibility to your Washington Representative I think is good here. I do.

00:37:04.310 - 00:37:14.010

Barbara Beel: Above that canal for at least one. Jerry Buckworth: I do like the idea that Representative Carper does Jerry Buckworth: does have his town meetings. Barbara Beel: Yes

00:37:14.010 - 00:37:21.000

Jerry Buckworth: So he is accessible Jerry Buckworth: to the people and I think that Barbara Beel: Yes. Jerry Buckworth: the people appreciate Barbara Beel: Appreciate that. Barbara Beel: Yes.

00:37:21.100 - 00:37:28.070

One last question. What are some of your major goals for this legislative session?

00:37:28.070 - 00:37:39.140

Jerry Buckworth: Well, one would be the pilot program to identify learning disabilities in the four-year-olds that Governor Castle has spelled out,

00:37:39.140 - 00:37:46.710

I'm interested to see what his actual program will be and I stand ready to work with him on that.

00:37:47.500 - 00:37:56.180

Also we're looking into the fact that we want all children in Delaware born healthy.

00:37:56.180 - 00:38:05.040

Now that's a big statement and that's, but we think that programs like the one that sort of sketched out today will help do that.

00:38:05.140 - 00:38:16.610

So my job in the children and also Health and Human Services. There's going to be a big report

00:38:16.610 - 00:38:25.430

soon on childcare that's a task force that are summing up their position now and that will be brought before us.

00:38:25.430 - 00:38:35.790

So that's something that Representative Maroney and myself will be looking at. The possible legislation that may come out of this childcare task-force.

00:38:35.790 - 00:38:46.060

We've worked recently on the area of some of the divorce laws and child support and this type of thing. Some of that we've

00:38:46.060 - 00:38:51.380

gotten through the legislature, but there's some other areas that still need to be touched on. The divorce laws are very,

00:38:51.380 - 00:38:59.900

very, I'll use the word touchy because you have to work within some federal, federal guidelines. So those are some areas that

00:38:59.900 - 00:39:09.770

we're, we're looking at right now and I will be specifically working on. Barbara Beel: And you had mentioned roads prior to this program. Jerry Buckworth: Yes. We will be

00:39:09.770 - 00:39:19.400

looking at roads in my district. Those people who are from my district who are listening in today, if you have a problem with the road,

00:39:19.400 - 00:39:28.310

I would certainly like to know about it so that the possibility of trying to get some repair work through this bond bill coming coming forth.

00:39:28.310 - 00:39:36.350

That's where we get most of our road work through is the bond bill. And we're going to be working on that very soon after we get back in,

00:39:36.350 - 00:39:43.430

which will be, when I say get back in, we go back into session. We're off at this time now for Joint Finance Committee hearings,

00:39:43.430 - 00:39:51.110

but we will go back into session after the middle of March, somewhere around the 17th, I believe stands in my mind.

00:39:51.110 - 00:39:59.440

I don't have a calendar right in front of me. But so there's a lot going on, a lot of interesting things, lot of exciting things.

00:39:59.440 - 00:40:10.310

it's exciting to be a part of it. And hopefully I'll hear from some of the people for today's program. I don't know. There's people

00:40:10.310 - 00:40:16.110

have certain ideas on things and I'm sure that Barbara Beel: I may hear from them more than you.

00:40:16.110 - 00:40:25.040

Jerry Buckworth: I encouraged people to call me Barbara Beel: Just don't send your bills for a pothole damaged to cars to Representative Buckworth.

00:40:25.040 - 00:40:35.000

Jerry Buckworth: Potholes? I want to know about potholes. because we try to get those taken care of. Barbara Beel: You just don't need the bills personally. [Laughter] Let me ask you this. Can people

00:40:35.000 - 00:40:41.840

sue the state successfully for damage done to their cars because of potholes? I know in other states it

00:40:41.840 - 00:40:49.610

has been done successfully. Jerry Buckworth: I don't know. That's an answer I have to give you. I don't know. I guess it's something that they would have

00:40:49.610 - 00:40:58.610

to try for themselves. I don't have any experience or knowledge on that subject. Barbara Beel: One last question. And again,

00:40:58.610 - 00:41:09.340

I do this all the time, will you be running for re-election? Jerry Buckworth: I anticipate running for reelection, yes. Barbara Beel: And this will be your fourth... fifth term.

00:41:09.340 - 00:41:16.520

Jerry Buckworth: Fourth, I will be running for my fourth. Barbara Beel: Oh okay. Jerry Buckworth: Yes, I'm completing my third term

00:41:16.520 - 00:41:24.040

this session. Barbara Beel: Golly, is that all it is? Jerry Buckworth: I think it's Barbara Beel: It goes quickly to me. Jeery Buckworth: It does go quickly, yes.

00:41:24.040 - 00:41:32.900

Barbara Beel:Yes. Jeery Buckworth: I've been very, very excited. I've always said when when the excitement leaves me, I'll decide to step down

00:41:32.900 - 00:41:39.950

and I'm still excited about... I still get excited every day I walk into Legislative Hall. There's just an aura about that place

00:41:39.950 - 00:41:49.640

that awes me and I'm excited when I walk in there and and I try to do the best job I can for

00:41:49.640 - 00:41:57.970

the people that I represent. Barbara Beel: Well, I would imagine it would be a great feeling to know that you had been able to help in

00:41:57.970 - 00:42:08.600

the slightest way to do your bit for mankind as corny as that sounds. But many people never even try. Jerry Buckworth: It's a nice feeling

00:42:08.600 - 00:42:16.820

when somebody stops on the street and says, you know, that night I called you, that person you got me

00:42:16.820 - 00:42:22.400

involved with took care of my problem and I appreciate it. And of course, you know, sometimes they call me and then I call

00:42:22.400 - 00:42:29.210

somebody and we try to get those people together. A lot of times it takes care of itself. You know, they are helped and

00:42:29.210 - 00:42:40.520

that's the important thing. Barbara Beel: We are way out of time. And again, I want to say I was not trying to put any blame on you.

00:42:40.520 - 00:42:55.340

I guess I was more or less giving you my own attitudes and feelings and playing devil's advocate. At any rate, I wish you

00:42:55.340 - 00:42:59.150

luck with your programs. Hopefully they'll work. Jerry Buckworth: Thank you. It's been a pleasure to

00:42:59.150 - 00:43:04.970

be with you this morning. Barbara Beel: Thank you. We've been talking today with Representative Jerry Buckworth. I am Barbara Beel,

00:43:04.970 - 00:43:08.940

and this has been the WKEN Open Mike program.