UPDATE: Carney, Hall-Long take oaths of office

With umbrellas gripped as strongly as the new administration's hopes for a brighter Delaware, Governor John Carney and Lieutenant Governor Bethany Hall-Long have officially taken their oaths of office.

 

Tuesday's rain-soaked inauguration marked the beginning of Governor Carney and Lieutenant Governor Hall-Long working together as a team.

 

In her inaugural speech, Hall-Long referred to Carney, "Your heart, your commitment, and your dedication to our state is really unmatched, and I can't wait to get started."

 

Governor Carney has pledged that his team will not only work hard but work together. He cited plans of working with private investors to retool aging industrial sites in hopes of putting more Delawareans to work, along with the importance of investing more resources in local schools.

 

Carney also acknowledged the unabated gun violence in Wilmington, the largest city in Delaware. According to Carney, part of the solution is education.

 

"Every child deserves a world class education. Many of our schools have made real progress in recent years, and we have a lot to be proud of but the truth is…we need to do better, especially for poor and minority students," explains Carney.

 

In what he calls the "hardest truth", Carney admits none of the goals can be met without first getting control of the state's finances. Among the biggest challenges this new administration faces is the state budget, which currently has a deficit of about 350 million dollars.

 

He says the problem lies with both a revenue and spending problem.

 

"We're at the end of the road for that. There's nowhere else to kick the can," he says. "Working hard and working together with leaders on both sides of the aisle in the general assembly, we will begin to address our long term financial issues without delay."

 

Both Governor Carney and Lieutenant Governor Hall-Long say above all, tackling challenges of any kind is going to take a lot of collaboration throughout the state.