The Delaware NAACP threatened legal action if the Democrat-led Senate continues its scheduled ethics inquiry into Sen. Darius Brown’s behavior after he was acquitted from misdemeanor charges on Thursday.
During a small Sunday rally, members also demanded Brown be immediately reinstated to the committee seats he was booted from last year following his arrest in the spring.
Delaware NAACP President Richard Smith stated that the organization could sue if the Senate does not give back Brown his committee seats.
Similarly, New Castle County Councilman Jea Street threatened to call for an outside investigation into the senators leading the ethics inquiry.
“We will ask for a federal investigation of them and their procedures if they continue to move forward,” Street said.
The rally was held at Ezion Fair Baptist Church in Wilmington’s Southbridge neighborhood. Around a dozen people were there. Brown did not attend.
NOT GUILTY:Jury finds state Sen. Darius Brown not guilty of misdemeanor charges
Members emphasized the disparities in how Brown has been treated by officials compared to white lawmakers who have faced criminal and ethical allegations in the past.
“What we have witnessed is a public lynching,” said Rev. Provey Powell Jr. of Mount Joy United Methodist Church, referring to Brown’s criminal trial.
Speakers, which included members of the Interdenominational Ministers Action Council of Delaware, highlighted the accomplishments of Brown and demanded that Senate President Pro Tempore David Sokola reinstate him to the assignments he lost in the course of the trial.
“We are upset and disappointed in the leadership of the Senate to stand back and find other charges on him,” Smith said.
Despite his acquittal, Senate leaders are moving forward with an ethics inquiry against Brown – the first of its kind in 35 years.
ETHICS INQUIRY:Delaware Senate will persist with ethics inquiry into Sen. Darius Brown despite acquittal
Leaders said they would conduct the probe regardless of the outcome of Brown’s jury trial when they first announced plans for an ethics review in November.
On Thursday, a jury found Brown not guilty of offensive touching and disorderly conduct, both misdemeanors, of which Delaware State Police charged him in May after police said the senator punched an acquaintance and threw a glass of water at Talleyville’s Taverna Rustic Italian Restaurant.
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However, that isn’t the only reason Brown, who did not respond to a request for comment for this story, faces an ethics inquiry. Senate leaders decided to launch it after a November incident when Brown allegedly got into a heated verbal altercation with Rep. Melissa Minor-Brown, a New Castle Democrat, during a criminal justice bill-signing press event with Gov. John Carney. It’s unclear what the altercation was about.
Brown lost his role on the high-profile Judiciary Committee which he used to chair after his arrest. Then, he lost his seat on the high-profile Bond Committee after the November incident. He is not expected to regain those committee seats as a result of his acquittal, and it’s unclear if he ever will.
Brown is up for reelection this fall.
Other Black lawmakers, so far, aren’t weighing in. Delaware Online/The News Journal reached out to almost all Black Caucus members this week, asking if they believe Brown is being treated fairly by Senate leadership. None provided comment.
Black Caucus member Senate Majority Whip Tizzy Lockman, a Wilmington Democrat is chairing the ethics inquiry.
It would also mean dismissing the allegations of their other Black Caucus member, Rep. Minor-Brown, who claims that the November incident was just the latest example in a “disturbing pattern of behavior toward women.”
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But Brown, who is the only Black man in the Senate and one of only four Black men in the entire General Assembly, has received noticeably different treatment compared to at least four other lawmakers who have faced criminal or ethical allegations over the past few years.
Rep. Andria Bennett, a Dover Democrat, faced no immediate repercussions from House leadership after being arrested in December 2020 after a domestic dispute, the charges of which were later dropped. Sen. Brian Pettyjohn, a Georgetown Republican, also appeared to face no repercussions from former Senate leadership for his arrest in 2017 for a felony gun charge at a Maryland airport.
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Many of the speakers at Sunday’s press conference highlighted those differences in treatment.
“The standard should be the same for everyone who has broken the moral or ethical guidelines set by our state,” said Bishop George Gibson II, a speaker at the event.
The phrase, “enough is enough” was repeated throughout the remarks of many of the speakers during the event.
“There was a presumption of guilt from the beginning,” Street said.
Ethics issues have also gone unchecked. House leadership dropped an ethics complaint last summer against Rep. Gerald Brady, a Wilmington Democrat who used an anti-Asian slur in an email making light of sex trafficking.
Former Senate leadership in 2019 also chose not to launch an ethics investigation into Sen. Trey Paradee, a Dover Democrat after he sponsored a controversial hotel tax in Kent County that raised questions over a possible conflict of interest. The tax solely benefitted a nonprofit whose board Paradee’s brother sat on, and subsequently bolstered an adjacent development championed by that same brother.
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Senate President Pro Tempore David Sokola and Senate Majority Whip Lockman did respond to requests for comment. .
Lawmakers return from their six-month break on Tuesday. The ethics inquiry is expected to start later this month, with the six-person Ethics Committee first adopting rules on how to conduct it.
Sarah Gamard covers government and politics for Delaware Online/The News Journal. Reach her at (302) 324-2281 or sgamard@delawareonline.com. Follow her on Twitter @SarahGamard. Contact the reporter at jcastaneda1@delawareonline.com or connect with him on Twitter @joseicastaneda.
