In 1961, George Howard Bunting Jr. piled into his 1951 Pontiac (with no air conditioning and no radio) to come to Bethany Beach to be a lifeguard.
He got paid $48 per week for the job, worked seven days each week and had to clean the beach. He also had to swim the length of the boardwalk before work. The last person to do it had to swim it again at night.
“I came in last a lot,” Bunting said.
The furthest thing from his mind in 1961 was politics, but 43 years later, it is what is doing.
Through the years, he was able to acquire some property in Bethany Beach — something he had wanted to accomplish. He started his own business in 1974 and was working near the Chamber of Commerce in 1979. In 1982, he was asked to run for state representative.
“I think they were looking for a warm body,” Bunting said. “I didn’t know much about politics.”
He faced Bill Scott and won by 50 votes.
He served in the House from 1982 to 1984 and 1986 to 1996.
Bunting is now a state senator and has been so since 1996.
These days, his job is still an all-day affair, but he no longer has to swim the length of the boardwalk. Instead he gets his exercise by walking around Legislative Hall, going to various meetings, and standing up and sitting down while in session.
He represents the 20th district, one of the busiest districts in Delaware. It encompasses 10 towns; it is top in sheer geographical size and among the top two or three in population.
Bunting found out last Tuesday morning that the expected completion date of the Indian River Bridge project may be pushed back until 2009, and he was hoping that it would still be kept as a project. He also had some complaints of his own about the project and made a phone call to express his concern about traffic around the Inlet and marina.
According to Bunting, Delaware has about $1 billion in highway projects planned but doesn’t have the funding for them all. That is why the issue of raising tolls on some roads has surfaced. He also found out that each legislator was going to have $75,000 cut from their district’s budget for suburban street projects.
On June 28, Bunting welcomed another reporter to his office, this time from the News Journal. Patrick Jackson saw that Senate Bill (SB) 45 was on the agenda for the day, along with 19 other bills to be discussed during the senate session.
Bunting was not planning on working on the bill during this session and said he would table it until the next, which will begin in January. It deals with physical education requirements for students in kindergarten through 12th grade.
SB 45 came with a price tag that many deemed inappropriate, including Bunting. Spiros Mantzaznous, a lobbyist for the American Heart Association, also met with Bunting about the bill that day.
Mantzaznous is the leading lobbyist for the bill and discussed the possibility of starting the bill in the House next session, instead of the state Senate, in order to have a better chance for the bill to pass.
“The great thing about democracy is that you can pass legislation, but it may be ineffective. But we can change it,” Bunting said. “We are in a constant state of evolution.”
Bunting then ran to a meeting regarding the details of the replacement of Chris Bradley, the assistant that he shares with Sen. Robert Venables. After that quick meeting, the bells tolled in the office area, signaling for the senators to enter the chamber and have their legislative session begin for the day.
Lt. Governor John Carney, president of the senate, called the session of June 28 to order at 3:15 p.m.; nearly 45 minutes after they had originally planned to start the session for the day.
Session begins much like grade school, except for the presence of prayer. Following that prayer, everyone in the chamber recites the Pledge of Allegiance. Roll is then called and business begins for the day. According to Bradley, most of the legislation on tap for the day was pretty much a slam-dunk to pass.
True to his word, the first three bills passed rather quickly, garnering little discussion from the senators. A representative from the Delaware State Police talked to the senators about counterfeiting, a problem that he said is increasing and which was the topic of one of the bills.
That happens often in the senate — letting people talk on the senate floor.
“That is the beauty of a small state,” Bunting said. “It can touch people personally.”
The fourth bill of the day got more attention than did the first three. It was a bill to make “Texas hold’em” poker a legal fund-raising activity for fire companies and other non-profit organizations. It had its opponents, those concerned mainly about security. Nonetheless, the bill passed.
Bunting stood up in his support of the bill — a logical step, considering the district he represents has nine volunteer fire companies.
Six more bills went on to pass in the senate that morning. In the middle of the agenda, the senate decided to pass some nominations for positions at various organizations, including emergency 911 phone operators and University of Delaware Board of Trustees members. They also recognized a Legislative Hall police officer who was retiring after three years in Dover.
Around 5:30 p.m. the senate recessed into caucus. In caucus, Republicans and Democrats break into their respective parties and discuss the hot topics for the day and figure out how they are going to vote. During that day’s caucus, each senator also received a copy of the proposed budget, on which they will eventually have to vote.
Caucus lasted nearly two hours on June 28, before the senate reconvened to go though more nominations. They finished for the day around 7:30 p.m.
Bunting doesn’t stay at Legislative Hall much longer than the end of session. He is one of the few senators who have more than a 50-mile trek home.
“I try to limit myself when I leave here,” Bunting said. “It’s hard not to bring it home.”
Editor’s Note: Point intern Dan Graybill spent June 28 with Sen. Bunting in Dover.