DOVER, Del. (AP) - The state Senate has unanimously passed a bill to repeal a lodging tax authorization law that prompted conflict-of-interest concerns after it was enacted last year.
The repeal bill sponsored by Sen. Trey Paradee, a Dover-area Democrat, now goes to the House for consideration.
Before Thursday’s Senate vote, Paradee told fellow lawmakers that he never discussed the tax authorization bill with any member of his family before its passage, and that no one in his family was involved in advocating for the legislation.
Paradee said any mistake he may have made was in simply wanting to be “the hero” by sponsoring the legislation after an unsuccessful attempt to have the tax authorization language in the annual capital budget.
“I was led to believe that the legislation had the overwhelming support of Kent County Levy Court … I wanted to help my friends, who subsequently kind of left me out in the cold.”
The bill approved by lawmakers last year allowed Kent County elected officials to impose a lodging tax of up to 3 percent. All the revenue generated by the tax, which was never implemented by local officials, would have gone to the Kent County Regional Sports Complex Corporation, also known as DE Turf.
At the time the bill passed, Paradee’s brother, attorney John Paradee, was a member of nonprofit’s board when the bill passed. Trey Paradee has said he had no idea his brother was on the DE Turf board until after the bill was passed, even though John Paradee’s involvement in the sports complex had been the subject of news reports dating back to 2014.
Just days after his brother’s bill passed, John Paradee, a land use attorney, filed an application with state planners for a commercial project including a hotel, restaurant and retail space on land adjacent to the sports complex. He has since resigned from the DE Turf board.
Trey Paradee on Thursday reiterated his criticism of a newspaper’s coverage of the issue last year, as did Republican Sen. Colin Bonini. Bonini also represents the Kent County area and tried unsuccessfully to get the tax authorization language in the capital budget before Paradee sponsored a stand-alone bill.
Bonini said he told a reporter that the idea that Trey Paradee had done anything wrong was “ridiculous,” but that the newspaper didn’t print his comments.
“That was an accusation of misconduct without any evidence whatsoever,” said Bonini, noting that he rarely agrees with Paradee on any issues.
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