Delaware State Auditor Kathy McGuiness will head into the primary race for State Auditor with two misdemeanor guilty verdicts on her record.
Delaware Superior Court Judge William Carpenter threw out one of three guilty verdicts from a Kent County jury earlier this summer, but turned down a request for a new trial. That sets the stage for McGuiness to be sentenced.
The remaining convictions include conflict of interest and official misconduct allegations. The conflict charge involved McGuiness hiring her daughter and a friend for a job.
Richard Wood, McGuiness’ attorney, had argued for a new trial and for dismissing the remaining charges.
The jury had earlier found McGuiness not guilty on felony charges related to her conduct in office.
The state auditor has refused to step down from the post and instead continued her bid for re-election, perhaps in hopes that all charges would be dismissed.
Gov. John Carney opted not to initiate impeachment proceedings until the court took further action. Efforts to initiate removal proceedings in the General Assembly went nowhere.
McGuiness’ convictions have created constitutional issues since she has refused to resign. The state has no guideposts, in large part because no holder of an elective office has faced
McGuiness, a former small business owner and pharmacist, won the office of auditor after serving as a Rehoboth Beach commissioner.
Prior to her indictment, McGuiness had been viewed by some as a possible candidate for governor.
Leaders of the Delaware State Senate issued a statement urging McGuinness to step down.
“As leaders of the Delaware Senate, we called on Auditor Kathy McGuiness to resign when she was first indicted on multiple criminal charges in late 2021. We again called on her to resign when she was found guilty of those crimes by a jury of her peers.
After she repeatedly refused to put the public’s interests ahead of her own, we held a special session where the Senate voted to call on Governor John Carney and our colleagues in the House to begin removal proceedings, a Constitutional power granted to the General Assembly that was dismissed as political theater.
Delawareans have had enough.
Now that she has been tried and convicted of multiple crimes and her request for a new trial has been denied, Kathy McGuiness owes it to the people of Delaware to do what is right and step down before she is forced out of the elected office that the Attorney General, a jury and a Superior Court judge all agree she used to violate the public’s trust.”
Lydia York, who is facing McGuiness in the Democratic primary, issued the following statement:
“The decision to convict Mrs. McGuinness for crimes committed in the course of her duties as the Auditor of Accounts show plainly that she cannot continue serving as an elected official. The people of Delaware deserve leaders who can be trusted to always do the right thing and to follow the letter of the law. The current Auditor has done the opposite.
“I have faith in the people of Delaware. I trusted a jury of Delawareans when they found the Auditor guilty of crimes. I trust that the electorate of the Democratic Party will see fit to remove her from office if she does not go of her own accord. I am a lifelong Democrat and I believe that we should clean up our own house. I believe that Delaware Democrats will do just that on September 13th.”
