Well, nothing really. But I was endorsed by the 5th Representative District and 18th Representative District Democratic Committees in Bear, adding to the growing list of local and statewide Democratic organizations that have endorsed my candidacy.

As for the number zero, it represents the number of brain cells that appear to have gone into Senator McCain’s half-baked proposal to “reform” health insurance in America that he released yesterday. As the Washington Post points out this morning, McCain’s newest proposal was generated in part by Elizabeth Edwards’ pointed observation that under his last proposal, neither she nor McCain could purchase health insurance due to their pre-existing illnesses. Hence, McCain’s newest proposal: cut off any government incentive for employers to provide health insurance, give already-cash-strapped Americans a $5,000 tax credit to purchase $12,000 worth of health insurance that their employer will no longer provide, eviscerate state regulation of health insurers, and chuck some money at the states to figure out some way to provide coverage to people who are uninsurable due to pre-existing illness. People, we really need to win this election.

Delaware State News, April 26, 2008

Protecting chil­dren from air pollutants and cleaning up lead paint are envi­ronmental issues at the forefront of Matthew P. Denn’s campaign for lieuten­ant gover­nor.

Mr. Denn, the state’s insurance commissioner, is in a Democratic primary battle with Wilmington City Council President Theodore Blunt for the nomination.

Mr. Denn said controlling ni­trogen oxide, sulfur dioxide and mercury in the air means reduc­ing the amount of those hazard­ous substances emitted by the state’s three major power plants in Dover, Millsboro and Wilm­ington.

“If I am elected lieutenant governor, I will urge the execu­tive branch of government to enforce the state’s new emission regulations as written against Conectiv’s Wilmington power plant, and to enforce the agree­ments with the Indian River and Dover plants as written even if those plants seek to get out of them,” Mr. Denn said.

“If that means going to court to defend our stance, so be it … The state should stand its ground, and I think I have a proven track record.”

NRG Energy Inc., which runs the Indian River Power Plant, has an agreement that allows the company to petition the courts to revise the pollution limits.

Dover’s city-owned McKee Run plant has an agreement with a provision allowing the city to have limits waived if it becomes too difficult to reach the goals, which Mr. Denn said is unacceptable.

“People in Dover need clean air as well,” he said.

Mr. Denn said he would tar­get lead-based paint, which can affect the brain, kidneys and bone marrow in children and result in learning disabilities and behavioral problems.

He said he would encourage stricter enforcement of laws re­quiring property owners to elim­inate lead-based paint.

Judge upholds $100,000 ruling by Del. insurance commissioner

The News Journal, April 26, 2008

A Superior Court judge has upheld a $100,000 fine against Blue Cross Blue Shield of Delaware, which the state insurance commissioner assessed last year after finding the company failed to process thousands of medical claims within a state-mandated time period.

The decision by Judge Peggy Ableman affirms a September ruling by Insurance Commissioner Matt Denn, which found that in the first six months of 2006, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Delaware, the state’s largest health insurer, failed to process 10,467 health insurance claims within the required 30 days.

The claims were “clean,” meaning they included all the information necessary to be processed. At the time, the company also lacked formal procedures for tracking the progress of claims, Denn determined.

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Delaware, in a written statement Thursday, said it “continues to stand behind its strong track record of paying claims promptly.”

The company handles more than 5 million claims a year, processing claims in an average of less than four days, it said.

At an administrative hearing last May before Denn, a company executive testified that more than 98 percent of claims are processed within 30 days.

The insurer, in its statement, said it has spent $2.5 million on new technology to speed processing, and increased staffing. The company says it has “materially enhanced our claims management tracking system to ensure claims are paid promptly.”

The insurer left open the possibility of filing an appeal, saying it is reviewing its options.

Denn, who made the prompt payment regulation one of his first priorities after being elected in 2005, said he was pleased with the court decision.

“This will help with my effort to ensure that health insurance claims are paid on time,” he said.

Check out DeSean Jackson, the Eagles second-round draft pick this past weekend, returning a punt against Tennessee. It’s gonna be a good year.

As many of you know, something happened over the last 72 hours that has profoundly changed the playing field for me this fall—a new player has been injected into the mix, and he is going to make September and October a lot more interesting.

I am referring, of course, to DeSean Jackson, star kick returner/wide receiver from my beloved University of California, who was drafted in the second round Saturday by my equally beloved Philadelphia Eagles. For all of us who have pressed our fingers to our temples, closed our eyes, and gritted our teeth the last few years every time the Eagles were receiving a punt, salvation has arrived. DeSean Jackson is unbelievable—he will immediately be one of the top five kick returners in pro football. As an Eagles fan it hurts me to say this, but…well done, Andy Reid.

Now, back to the campaign. This was a slow weekend for me—Zach was pretty sick and wanted his daddy around, so I stuck close to home. But I was pleased to learn that I received the endorsement of the Delaware Stonewall Democrats on Saturday—they are the second statewide Democratic Party group, along with the Progressive Democrats of Delaware, to endorse my candidacy, and I am proud to have their support. And I was also very pleased to see some University of Delaware students, under the erstwhile leadership of campaign director Alyssa Koser, take some time out of their weekends to make some phone calls for the campaign. Alyssa is organizing a Meet Matt event in Newark for May 12th, if you are interested in details just e-mail Alyssa at Alyssa@mattdenn.com.

Summer is fast approaching, and while I will be spending mine doing, well, pretty much what I do every day right now, I assume and hope that some of you will be going to the beach. So I thought I would take this opportunity to recommend some books that I read recently which you might want to bring with you.

The book I am currently reading, and will probably be reading for several weeks at the rate I am going, is Taylor Branch’s “Parting the Waters,” the Pulitzer-Prize winning first volume in his series about the civil rights movement. I actually bought this book many years ago, but it is over a thousand pages long, and every time I took it off the shelf I would stare at it for a few minutes, mutter to myself “this just isn’t happening,” and put it back. A few weeks ago, I decided that it would become my official Treadmill Reading Material, and man am I glad I did—it is absolutely riveting. I have read lots of books about the civil rights movement, but this is the best. It is exhaustively researched and brilliantly written. Go get it.

The second is “Starting Out in the Evening” by Brian Morton. I actually came across this one by accident—I read some reviews of the movie that just came out based on the book, and so many of the movie reviewers gushed about the book itself that I decided to check it out of the library. It’s about the relationship between an elderly, marginally successful writer, a woman who decides to write her graduate thesis about him and becomes personally attached, and the elderly author’s adult daughter. I know, it sounds either weird or lame, but it’s actually a great book.

Last but not least is “The Night Gardener” by George Pelecanos. Pelecanos is one of the writers for my favorite TV show, “The Wire,” so when the fourth season ended, I decided I had to check out one of his books. And then I read another, and another, and another. They are exactly what you would expect from the guy who helps produce the outstanding writing for The Wire: superbly written detective stories with absolutely fascinating, believable characters. They are perfect for the beach.

Endorsements from last night: the 12th Representative District Democratic Committee, the 20th Representative District Democratic Committee, and the 22nd Representative District Democratic Committee. As my boys would say after performing the Denn family self-penned favorite “We Don’t Eat Cookies for Breakfast”: THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!

The News Journal, April 22,2008

Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor Matt Denn said Monday he would press for tougher controls on power plant emissions and stepped-up efforts to eliminate lead paint hazards in housing as part a children’s environmental health initiative.

Denn, the incumbent state insurance commissioner, said children are especially vulnerable to mercury and respiratory irritants released by power plant smokestacks, and are too often harmed by exposure to lead paint in older homes despite years of work to eliminate the threat.

Although the lieutenant governor has no direct control over environmental policy, Denn said he would press for “strict and unyielding” regulation of polluters.

He also said that he would urge regulators to uphold current agreements for pollution reductions at Delaware power plants in Dover, Millsboro and Wilmington.

Delaware should examine community housing codes and lead paint standards, Denn said, then press for local government enforcement or state action to assure that houses are safe.

“The bottom line with lead is, the standards exist. We need to enforce them,” Denn said.

Denn faces Wilmington City Council President Ted Blunt in the Democratic primary Sept. 9.

Blunt said Monday that he has joined with City Council members in the past in calling for tight controls on state polluters. He said later that the city’s licensing and inspection program has long worked for removal of lead paint hazards when notified of problems.

“He’s talking about what he would like to do. I’m responding to things that already have been done,” Blunt said.

With my dog Lenny having been recently mentioned in the national press (I stand up to the insurance industry, try to reform health care, and put forward an agenda for Delaware’s kids, and when the national press needs to summarize my campaign in one sentence they use my dog???), I thought it would be useful to address some frequently asked questions about Lenny.

Why did you get Lenny? Contrary to popular myth, I did not get Lenny because I thought having an adorable, personable dog would endear me to voters. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining. But I bought Lenny because I had two pugs when I was growing up (by the names of Muggsy and Hank), and many of my best memories of being a kid involve my dogs. So when we found out that Michele was pregnant, we went out and got Lenny in order to let the boys grow up with him.

Why is he named Lenny? He is named after former Phillies standout Lenny Dykstra. Let me say for the record that the Mitchell Report had not been issued at the time that we named Lenny, and we thought Mr. Dykstra’s performance in the 1993 Phillies championship season was the result of rigorous off-season training.

Who Does Lenny Love The Most? Mrs. Denn. This is a grave injustice. I slept on the floor with Lenny when he was a frightened puppy, I am the one who feeds him breakfast at 3:00 a.m. when he decides that he is hungry, more often than not I am the one who gives him his walk at night. But he clearly loves my wife the most.

What Is His Favorite Food? There is no food that Lenny does not like, and unfortunately this includes things that most of us would not even consider food such as dirt, paper, and…well, I’ll just stop there.

What Is Lenny’s Favorite Campaign Event? No contest: the Apple Scrapple Festival in Bridgeville.

What Is Lenny’s Least Favorite Campaign Event? Any July 4th parade involving temperatures over 90 degrees and walks of over ½ mile.

In honor of the start of the NBA playoffs, I recommend Hoopshype.com, the most comprehensive NBA website in America for true fans.