NEWS RELEASE

Posted: Jan. 8, 2003

MARKELL: SECOND TERM BEGINS

DOVER – Surrounded by friends, family and supporters, Delaware State Treasurer Jack Markell renewed his commitment to the people of Delaware as he took the oath of office Tuesday for his second term.

“We all join, across party lines, from all parts of Delaware, and with different ideas and perspectives, together in our belief that politics and governance still matter, and that a handful of people can still make a difference,” Markell noted as he began his remarks.

In response to the challenges currently facing Delaware, Markell answered, “As Governor Minner has shown, we won’t wait for the economy to turn around.  Delawareans, our business community, advocacy groups and neighbors down the street expect more from us than that.  Our own sense of responsibility and pride tug at our sleeve.”

He also cited some of the many opportunities Delawareans had seized to give the state a place in history.  “Delawareans, through the years, have proven we are especially adept at seizing opportunities.  In the forming of our nation, in Louis Redding's and Collins Seitz’s fight against segregated and unequal education, in the contest to serve as objective arbiter of America's corporate battles, and in the protection from further development of our coastal zone, among so many others, Delaware has not only been the first state, but it has often been the best state as well.”

He also pointed to the way Delawareans solve problems. “We are fortunate in Delaware to be able to draw upon a long tradition of setting aside our differences, of subduing partisan impulses, when we face serious challenges to our way of life.  But that tradition of working together when the chips are down should not obscure an equally strong tradition among Delawareans of standing up for the values that really matter to us, of maintaining our principles even in the face of the most significant challenges.”

The swearing-in ceremony took place at the Delaware Agricultural Museum in Dover.  After brief remarks by Dr. Wilma Mishoe, there was an invocation by Dr. Harriet Smith Windsor, Secretary of State and then the singing of the Star Spangled Banner by students of the Cab Calloway School in Wilmington.  Treasurer Markell and Chancery Court Vice Chancellor Jack Jacobs, who administered the oath of office, were introduced after remarks by Governor Minner.

During his first term in office, Markell created the Delaware Money School, providing free financial education to thousands of adults.  He also expanded the “Bank in School” program to 25 schools statewide.  Markell held the first ever Money $mart Kids Conference and established the Everywoman’s Money Conference.  Markell’s Financial Literacy Initiatives recently won national recognition for Delaware from the Council of State Governments by receiving the competitive Innovations Award.  In 2000, Markell was recognized by the Democratic Leadership Council as one of the ten rising political stars under the age of 40 in the United States.  During 2001, he was recognized by PhillyTech Magazine as one of the ten most influential technology executives in the Philadelphia region.

Markell, 42, was elected State Treasurer in his first attempt at elective office in November 1998, and was re-elected in 2002, with more than sixty-six percent of the vote. Previously, he held senior positions in the telecommunications industry.  A graduate of Newark High School, Brown University (BA) and the University of Chicago (MBA), he and his wife, Carla, live with their two children in New Castle County.

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