The New York Times - USA (2020-12-07)

THE NEW YORK TIMES NATIONALMONDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2020 N A

Transition in WashingtonThe President-Elect

speeches and television inter-
views from the Queen, a restored
theater downtown. His motor-
cade, 20 vehicles long, regularly
brings traffic to a screeching halt,
and gawking drivers appear de-
lighted. Cabinet nominees swan
through the opulent lobby of the
Hotel Du Pont. Suddenly, all of
Wilmington is bathing in the
dizzying warmth of an unexpect-
ed spotlight.
“It creates a little mystique
about the city,” Mayor Michael S.
Purzycki said. “It creates great
curiosity about the city — people
coming by all the time wanting to
know what is going on, tell me
about your city.”
Mr. Purzycki harbors no illu-
sions regarding the colorless rep-
utation of his town: “Wilmington
has always been on I-95 between
Washington, Philly and New York,
you know.” He compared its fa-
mously dull, corporate vibe to the
unvarying “Mad Men” uniform
worn by the legions of lawyers
and chemical engineers who once
populated its downtown: “a white
shirt, a sincere tie and 12-pound
wingtips.”
“It was not a creative culture,”
he said. “It was pretty predictable,
stay within the guard rails.”
The main mystery about the
place seems to be identifying
something, anything, that dis-
tinctly says “Wilmington.”
Ask residents to name a unique
feature and the universal re-
sponse is a long pause.
“It’s intimate,” some will even-
tually say. That’s a euphemism for
small. The population hit a high
mark of almost 90,000 circa 1940
and is now at around 72,000.
Others will point you to the
Court of Chancery. It is not quite
the Statue of Liberty or the Grand
Canyon, but it is a singular institu-
tion in the United States.
Corporate titans use the spe-
cialized court to wage legal Arma-
geddon to control stock shares,
but companies must be registered
in Delaware to present a case.
Nearly 1.5 million are, including
household names like Coca-Cola
and Geico.
When Walt Disney Co. share-
holders balked at the $140 million
severance package paid mostly in
stock options to Michael Ovitz in
1996 after he was dismissed as

president of the company, for ex-

ample, they tried to claw them

back in chancery court and lost.

The court has been around

since 1792, but try finding it. There

is not even a sign for it outside the

12-story, steel and glass tower on

North King Street that it shares

with other courts.

The low profile belies the riches

it generates. Last year, taxes and

fees for corporate registrations

amounted to $1.45 billion, roughly

30 percent of the state’s operating

budget, said Jonathan Starkey,

spokesman for Gov. John Carney.

There is a dark side, too. Se-

crecy laws allow foreign klepto-

crats and other nefarious types to

stash ill-gotten gains anony-

mously, though reform efforts are

underway.

Weighty matters, but not the

stuff of tourist stampedes. People

thinking of tax or financial havens

tend to picture Monaco or Pana-

ma, while Wilmington lacks either

super yachts or a signature hat.

Still, residents point to places

like the booming Riverfront

neighborhood, reclaimed from in-

dustrial wasteland, as well as new

restaurants and galleries down-

town to indicate that Wilmington

is trying to change. “I wanted to

bring some light and energy to

Wilmington,” said Nataki Oliver,

who opened a small gallery called

The Sold Firm to feature Black

artists and to offer painting

classes for children.

Aside from corporations, two of

the three “Cs” that constitute the

city’s holy trinity — credit cards

and chemicals — have faded

somewhat.

Credit card companies rushed

in, starting in the 1980s, after Del-

aware removed all caps on inter-

est rates, as long as the firms

based their operations locally. The

volume of credit card bills means

they have their own ZIP code, but

mergers have diminished the

number of institutions.

The third C is chemicals. E.I. du

Pont de Nemours and Company,

usually known as DuPont, began

in 1802 by manufacturing gun-

powder. DuPont and its fabulously

wealthy owners dominated Wil-

mington for the next 200 years,

creating products like nylon, Tef-

lon and Kevlar.

Its 2017 merger with Dow

Chemical Company largely ended

that reign, even if the family and

the company left traces every-

where. There is a duPont hospital,

a du Pont high school, a Dupont

street and a DuPont country club.

The main area attractions include

three former du Pont estates.

(There are nearly as many

spellings as there are du Pont in-

stitutions.)

Mr. Biden announced that he

would appoint a climate change

“czar” in a speech delivered at the

Delaware Museum of Natural

History. It, too, was founded by a

du Pont heir, an expert ornitholo-

gist who collected 66,000 birds

and two million seashells. The

founder does not get mentioned so

much because in 1996 he shot

dead an Olympic wrestling cham-

pion at a training camp that he had

established on his estate. When

the convicted murderer died in

prison in 2010, he left the bulk of

his estimated $200 million fortune

to a Bulgarian wrestler.

There are other intriguing bits

of Wilmington lore. Swedes

founded the city in 1683, and they

managed to invent the log cabin

before the Dutch ran them off af-

ter 17 years. Bob Marley worked

in a car plant and as a janitor in the

Hotel Du Pont in the early 1970s.

Something grander or more fa-

mous always seems to overshad-

ow hallmark Wilmington mo-

ments, however.

Rodney Square, the heart of

downtown Wilmington, was

named after a founding father

who rode overnight to Philadel-

phia to cast a deciding vote for the

Declaration of Independence. Yet

the midnight ride of that founding

father, Caesar Rodney, never got

the same press as Paul Revere’s

journey. (Wilmington also cannot

decide when it happened. The

plinth for the statue of the gallop-

ing Mr. Rodney bears two differ-

ent dates: July 1-2, 1776, and July

3-4, 1776.)

Mr. Rodney also owned slaves,

and during the protests that

erupted last summer after the

killing of George Floyd in police

custody in Minneapolis, city offi-

cials whisked the statue off to New

Jersey for safekeeping.

There has long been a thorny

relationship between Wilming-

ton’s mostly Black, impoverished

center and its largely white,

wealthy suburbs. Riots that

erupted after the 1968 assassina-

tion of the Rev. Martin Luther

King Jr. devastated the down-

town, and the nervous governor at

the time set a nationwide record

by deploying National Guard

troops for nine months.

The scattered pieces of Wil-

mington’s past have never quite

coalesced into a narrative whole,

said David Walter, a freelance

journalist who grew up here, miss-

ing “whatever that glue is.”

City officials make periodic

stabs at creating the glue by

rolling out new slogans. “A Place

to Be Somebody” was around for

years, replaced by “Wilmington,

in the middle of it all.” The latest is

“It’s Time,” but that tends to pro-

voke the question “Time for

what?” and the mood is more “It’s

Biden.”

He is not exactly new. On the

night that Mr. Biden won the pres-

idency, people from Wilmington

inundated their Facebook profiles

with their Biden selfies.

“My friends not from Delaware

were like ‘Oh my God! You met

him?!” said Dr. Jennifer Horney,

who arrived two years ago to es-

tablish the epidemiology program

at the University of Delaware.

“Everybody has met him.”

The inevitable flood tide of gim-

crack Biden souvenirs has yet to

start in earnest, but there are

some. Scented candles named af-

ter Mr. Biden and Vice President-

elect Kamala Harris cost $

apiece at a gift shop abutting the

Queen theater. Hers smells like lo-

tus blossoms, inspired by her

name, whereas his exudes the

aroma of one of his favorite bever-

ages: orange Gatorade.

Mr. Biden trails only the du

Ponts in getting his moniker

slapped on things. The Amtrak

station was named for him be-

cause he commuted by train to

the U.S. Senate from Wilmington

starting in 1973. The pool where

he worked as a teenager bears his

name.

The Biden Welcome Center is

the highway rest stop located

along the roughly 30 miles that In-

terstate 95 slices through Dela-

ware, between Pennsylvania and

Maryland.

William A. Sullivan, the chair-

man of the Greater Wilmington

Convention and Visitors Bureau,

dreams of installing a selfie-

friendly Biden statue there to

help entice more tourists off the

freeway. “Maybe that will come

next,” he said.

Thanks to President-Elect,

A Little Corporate Hub

Gains ‘a Little Mystique’

From Page A

Diners at the Charcoal Pit in Wilmington, a favorite of President-elect Biden. The city has become the center of the political universe.

MICHELLE GUSTAFSON FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

FRONT PAGE

A refer on Sunday to the Book
Review misstated that the 100
Notable Books of 2020 were
selected by Times critics. They
were selected by Times editors.

SUNDAY STYLES

Because of a transcription error,
an article last Sunday about
cannabis farms facing a devastat-
ing wildfire season misidentified

the location of Sweet Creek

Farm. It is in Guerneville, Calif.,

not Greenville.

BOOK REVIEW

The hardcover fiction best-seller

list and the combined print and

e-book fiction list last week, using

information from the publisher,

misstated in some issues the title

of a mystery that plays a role in

Anthony Horowitz’s new thriller,

“Moonflower Murders.” It is

“Atticus Pünd Takes the Case,”

not “Atticus Pund Takes the

Cake.”

AT HOME

An article last Sunday on Indige-

nous podcasts referred incor-

rectly at several points to the

podcast host Sterlin Harjo. He is

a man. An article in the same

issue about the new rules for this

year’s ski season misstated the

price of renting out the entire

Eagle Point resort in Utah. It is

$15,000 a day, not $10,000. An-

other article in the issue, about

writing a form of poetry called a

cento, misstated the century that

the word cento came into use. It

was the third century, not the

16th. And an article about bar

trivia games moving online mis-

spelled the name of a founder of

the Learned League trivia site.

He is Shayne Bushfield, not

Busfield.

SUNDAY REVIEW

An article on Nov. 26 by Pope

Francis misidentified the source

of a quoted line by Friedrich

Hölderlin. It is “Patmos,” not

“Hyperion.”

Errors are corrected during the press

run whenever possible, so some errors

noted here may not have appeared in

all editions.

Corrections

Contact the Newsroom

[email protected] or call

1-844-NYT-NEWS (1-844-698-6397).

Editorials

[email protected]

Newspaper Delivery

[email protected] or call

1-800-NYTIMES (1-800-698-4637).

place Dr. Robert R. Redfield as the
leader of the scientific agency at
the forefront of the nation’s pan-
demic response.
Dr. Vivek Murthy, who served
as surgeon general under Presi-
dent Barack Obama, will reprise
that role for Mr. Biden. A telegenic
confidant of the president-elect,
Mr. Murthy will become one of Mr.
Biden’s closest advisers on medi-
cal issues and will lead much of
the public outreach on the pan-
demic.
Jeffrey D. Zients, an entrepre-
neur and management consultant
who served as the head of Mr.
Obama’s National Economic
Council and fixed the bungled roll-
out of the health law’s online in-
surance marketplace, will become
a coronavirus czar in the White
House, leading efforts to coordi-
nate the fight against the corona-
virus pandemic among the gov-
ernment’s sprawling agencies.
Some medical experts, who
have been pushing the Biden
team to name people with medical
or public health expertise to serve
in health leadership positions,
were caught off guard — and un-
happily so — by the news of Mr.
Becerra’s selection.
In a letter sent last week to Mr.
Biden, five leading medical
groups — the American Academy
of Pediatrics and the American
College of Physicians among
them — called on the president-
elect to appoint “qualified physi-
cians to serve in key positions crit-
ical to advancing the health of our

nation.”

One person familiar with that

effort said people involved were

“astounded” by the selection of

Mr. Becerra, and suggested that

Mr. Biden elevate Dr. Murthy to a

cabinet-level position.

But in an interview on Sunday

night, Dr. Ada D. Stewart, the

president of the American Acad-

emy of Family Physicians, one of

the groups that sent the letter, de-

scribed Mr. Becerra as “a good

choice” and “an experienced leg-

islator and executive” — even as

she conceded that her group

would “prefer, of course, to have a

physician in this position.”

“We’ve already seen his com-

mitment to health and equity, and

those things can’t be overlooked,”

she said.

Mr. Becerra’s experience in

Washington may also help Mr. Bi-

den secure legislative changes to

bolster the Affordable Care Act, a

central promise that the presi-

dent-elect made during the 2020

campaign.

Mr. Becerra, 62, served 12 terms

in Congress, representing Los An-

geles, before becoming the attor-

ney general of his home state in

2017. He is the first Latino to hold
      that office, and while in Congress
      he was the first Latino to serve as
      a member of the Ways and Means
      Committee. He also led the House
      Democratic Caucus, which gave
      him a powerful leadership post.
      An outspoken advocate of im-
      proved health care access, Mr. Be-
      cerra said in 2017 that he would
      “absolutely” support Medicare for
      all, a proposal for government-run
      health care that Mr. Biden has ex-
      plicitly rejected. A source familiar
      with the selection said Mr. Be-
      cerra would support the presi-
      dent-elect’s call for strengthening

and preserving the A.C.A. and

would not be pushing Medicare

for all while in office.

As California’s top law enforce-

ment official, Mr. Becerra helped

lead legal fights across the nation

for access to health care, focusing

in particular on dismantling barri-

ers for women struggling to get

medical services.

In April, Mr. Becerra led a coali-

tion of 22 state attorneys general

in challenging a Mississippi law

that prohibited doctors from pro-

viding abortion services past 15

weeks. In a statement at the time,

Mr. Becerra called the ban “un-

just, unlawful, and unfair.”

“Laws like Mississippi’s are a

systematic attempt to undo a

woman’s constitutional rights un-

der Roe v. Wade,” he said. “I will

continue to stand up for safe ac-

cess to reproductive care and de-

fend these rights for all women.”

Mr. Becerra’s office boasted fre-

quently of the many lawsuits he

had filed against the Trump ad-

ministration, including suits chal-

lenging the president’s immigra-

tion and environmental policies.

His activism in fighting the Trump

agenda in court earned him praise

from leading progressives in the

Democratic Party.

In September, Mr. Becerra said

the tally of his anti-Trump law-

suits had grown to 100.

But Mr. Becerra also partnered

with Republican counterparts at

times, joining a bipartisan group

of attorneys general in August to

urge the Department of Health

and Human Services and other

agencies to increase access to

remdesivir, a drug that has shown

promise in treating Covid-19. He

also worked with Republicans to

prevent student vaping.

Born in Sacramento, Mr. Be-

cerra grew up in a working-class

family; his mother emigrated

from Mexico, and he was the first

in his family to graduate from col-

lege. He attended Stanford as an

undergraduate and received his

law degree there in 1984.

Mr. Biden was impressed by Mr.

Becerra’s personal story, accord-

ing to a person familiar with his

thinking. In particular, the presi-

dent-elect liked the fact that Mr.

Becerra served clients with men-

tal health needs shortly after

graduating from law school, the

person said.

While in Congress, Mr. Becerra

was a fierce advocate of the Latino

community and became deeply in-

volved in efforts to overhaul the

nation’s immigration system. He

also promoted plans to build a na-

tional museum devoted to explor-

ing the culture and history of

American Latinos. The House

voted this year to create such a

museum.

Representative Filemon Vela,

Democrat of Texas, praised Mr.

Biden’s choice of Mr. Becerra, call-

ing it “historic” and saying the

California attorney general was

the right person to lead the

sprawling agency during the

worst public health crisis in 100

years.

“Becerra will lead an agency

that will play a crucial role in over-

seeing a massive immunization

effort and help manage a bol-

stered federal response to tackle

the worsening Covid-19 crisis,”

Mr. Vela said. “He will also help

shape the Biden administration’s

efforts to build on the Affordable

Care Act.”

In the late 1990s, Mr. Becerra

traveled to Cuba and visited with

its leader, Fidel Castro, which in-

furiated Republican members of

the Congressional Hispanic Cau-

cus. They resigned, saying they

were “personally insulted” by the

visit.

Mr. Biden’s selection of Mr. Be-

cerra to replace the current secre-

tary, Alex M. Azar II, comes as the

president-elect is under increas-

ing pressure from the Latino com-

munity and the Congressional

Hispanic Caucus to diversify his

cabinet. Mr. Becerra is the second

Latino Mr. Biden has chosen for

his cabinet after the selection last

month of Alejandro N. Mayorkas,

a Cuban immigrant, as secretary

of homeland security.

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham of

New Mexico had been thought to

be in line for the health secretary’s

job, but she apparently fell out of

the running. Instead, news leaked

last week that Ms. Lujan Grisham

had been offered, and turned

down, the position of interior sec-

retary.

The leak prompted Senator-

elect Ben Ray Luján of New Mex-

ico to use a private meeting with

top Biden advisers to rebuke the

incoming White House chief of

staff, Ron Klain, and other senior

Biden officials for their treatment

of Ms. Lujan Grisham, according

to a Democrat familiar with the

discussion.

If approved, Mr. Becerra’s

nomination would create yet an-

other statewide office in Califor-

nia to be filled by Gov. Gavin New-

som, who was already consider-

ing candidates, including Mr. Be-

cerra, for the Senate seat being

vacated by Vice President-elect

Kamala Harris.

Mr. Becerra has been Califor-

nia’s attorney general since 2017,

when Ms. Harris was elected to

the Senate and Gov. Jerry Brown

appointed him to fill her seat. His

term would expire in 2022.

Selection for Health Secretary During Pandemic Is Seen as a Surprise

President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. chose Xavier Becerra, who

has made health care a priority as California’s attorney general.

RICH PEDRONCELLI/ASSOCIATED PRESS

From Page A

Jonathan Martin contributed re-
porting from Washington, and
Shawn Hubler from Sacramento.