IN MEMORIAM
The Honorable Pierre Samuel “Pete” du Pont IV 1935 - 2021
BY WILLIAM E. MANNING, ESQUIRE
O
n Saturday evening, May 8, Pete du Pont peacefully slipped away, leaving a huge circle of friends, each of whom will tell their favorite “Pete du Pont stor y” at the whisper of an invitation. That is the paradox about Pete1 — while referred to by the press as a “wealthy scion,” Pete was regarded by Delawareans with a very intimate affection. I would wager that everyone on staff will remember meetings in the Governor’s office (the old one, at the top of the stairs in Legislative Hall, where it belongs) that were interrupted because a local fire company chief or a small town official had dropped in, often with family in tow, just to say “hello.” Delawareans feel that way about their Governors and Pete loved it.
And, speaking of things “paradoxical,” here was a man who, on the one hand, led State government, served in Congress, and ran for President but who, on the other hand, neither trusted nor particularly cared for government. Beyond the things that only government can do efficiently (a very short list in Pete’s mind), Pete believed that government’s highest calling was to grow the private sector and create more jobs — which, by the way, he did stunningly well. One might notice that his other initiatives 34
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ornery, he asked staff to suggest candidates for extinction by veto. His Chief of Staff — yours truly — wondered out loud whether the Delaware Heritage Commission, while a fine organization, was one of those core governmental functions that justified taxpayer funding. And so it was that, after ripping the appropriation for the Commission out of the budget, the Governor’s phone lit up with angry Photo: Hagley Digital Archives calls, many from cousins who — Constitutional amendments limiting served on the Commission. The damage tax increases; carving out a “Rainy Day was repaired, probably at a cost higher Fund” from each year’s revenues so that than the excised appropriation. Lesson they won’t be spent; establishment of a learned — if one decides to engage in bipartisan body charged with estimat- warfare, make sure the stakes justify the ing, in the light of day, future revenues ensuing carnage. — act as a limitation or check on govNotwithstanding his inclination to ernment excess. If asked which piece of shrink government where he could, Pete State government he most admired, Pete did add one new governmental element of would, with tongue in cheek, call out particular interest to our profession. He the Division of Boiler Safety, explaining was uncomfortable with his predecessors’ that he never once needed to meet with practice of relying on a Bar Association its Director. committee to present candidates for Our Constitution gives our Governor an unusual tool with which to shrink government — the “line item veto.” While Pete had once vetoed an entire budget (something of a political train wreck, but it worked out in the end), he had not used his authority to excise a single budget item, leaving the remainder intact. Late in his second term, and feeling a bit
judicial appointment, thinking it a bit opaque. One of his first acts as Governor was the creation of the Judicial Nominating Commission, populated with both lawyers and lay men and women. The Bar Association Committee did not give up easily, though and I recall sitting in when the Committee would come to present its thoughts about a particular
