House leader responds to State News…. 

Dear Editor,
 

The State News recently ran an opinion column by State Rep. Pete Schwartzkopf on manufactured housing issues that, through errors and omissions, unfairly characterized the efforts of some of my colleagues.
 

In his column, Rep. Schwartzkopf stated that “a legislator, who owns a manufactured hous­ing community, is allowed to be a member of the Sub- Committee on Manufactured Housing”.  This is absolutely false.  There are nine members of this sub-committee, including Rep. Schwartzkopf.  None of these legislators owns a manufactured housing community.
 

Rep. Schwartzkopf also unjustly asserted that a House Subcommittee Meeting on Manufactured Housing (Jan. 9^th) was intentionally held in a fashion intended to shut the public out.  In fact, the meeting was open to the public and was held in the largest meeting room in Legislative Hall, with a seating capacity of approximately 50.  Among those in attendance were the leadership of the Delaware Manufactured Home Owners Association and more than a half-dozen TV, radio and newspaper reporters.  The meeting came about only after public hearings were held in each county to gather public input on the manufactured housing bills before the committee.  No rational person can legitimately claim that the Jan. 9^th meeting was conducted in anything less than an open, public fashion. 
 

Another unsupported allegation by Rep. Schwartzkopf bordered on libelous.  In his column, he indicted all State House Republican legislators by implying that their reluctance to pass the poorly crafted legislation he supports is to protect state GOP chairman Terry Strine, who is a manufactured housing community owner.  
 

What Rep. Schwartzkopf omitted was that it has been Republican House members who have successfully sponsored the laws that have aided manufactured housing residents in recent years.  Those reforms include: rewriting the state’s outdated Landlord-Tenant Code to improve lease agreements; establishing a relocation fund to help displaced homeowners when a community closes; and limiting lot rent increases to once per year.  Republicans also sponsored a new law to help homeowners resolve disputes without costly litigation, a process that just began within the last few months.
 

Another fact conspicuously absent from the original column is that the areas of the state where manufactured housing is prevalent are predominately represented in the State House by Republicans.  In other words, Republican lawmakers are actively motivated to help the people residing in manufactured housing because these are their friends, neighbors and constituents. 
 

Someone more cynical than I might suggest that misrepresenting Republican legislators’ track record of progress on manufactured housing issues is a political tactic intentionally designed to alienate voters in an election year. 
 

Fortunately, I’m not that cynical.
 

Sincerely,
 

State House Majority Leader Richard Cathcart

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