By Eddie Phillips, Cape Gazette Staff
After a unanimous vote of the Dewey Beach commissioners, Richard Hanewinckel remains on the ballot for the Sept. 15 elections.
A special meeting of the town commissioners was held Saturday, Sept. 8, over Hanewinckel’s eligibility as a commissioner candidate in the Sept. 15 election. City officials said Hanewinckel did not have the proper business license for his various real estate listings beginning in 2005. According to the agenda, a complaint filed Sept. 5, questioning Hanewinckel’s eligibility, sparked the meeting.
Attending the meeting were commissioners Mike Eisenhauer, Claire Walsh, Dale Cooke, Bob Fitzgerald and Mayor Dell Tush.
Hanewinckel, who testified during the meeting that he had not paid business license fees prior to 2007, is scheduled for a trial on a misdemeanor charge of operating a business without a proper business license. That trial was initially scheduled for Friday, Sept. 14, but Town Manager Gordon Elliott has asked for a continuance.
Tush’s name appears on campaign signs along with Hanewinckel and candidate Diane Hanson. Also appearing on the ballot are candidates Paul Bauer, Steve Huse and Charlie Pollard.
At the Sept. 8 meeting, testimony began rather awkwardly with a search for a Bible for witnesses to swear upon. The Good Book was nowhere to be found, however, so witnesses instead took an oath to tell the truth.
Elliott testified that when Hanewinckel purchased a belated 2007 business license, Elliott asked Hanewinckel if he owed anything else to the town, to which Hanewinckel replied he did not. Later, when listings of Hanewinckel’s from the previous two years were brought to Elliott’s attention, Elliott said he had no choice but to write up warrants for Hanewinckel. Elliott said that before he could finalize the paper work on Thursday, Sept. 6, he was given an envelope containing a check from Hanewinckel for the owed fees. But Elliott said he had already begun the paperwork and at that point had to file it.
Hanewinckel stood at a podium and sipped from a Styrofoam cup as he testified to the commissioners, who served as a jury. Hanewinckel, who works as a Realtor at Long & Foster in Rehoboth, said that he has not sold any properties since he began in 2005 and did not think a business license was necessary until he made a sale. In later testimony, Anna Legates and Rick Judge both said that general practice in the real estate industry is to buy the license when a sale is made.
Elliott had testified earlier in the meeting that a business license must be purchased before a property is listed for sale.
Hanewinckel was asked why he felt obligated to buy the 2007 license without a sale, but did not feel it was necessary to have the previous licenses under similar circumstances. Hanewinckel said he was not trying to defraud the town because that is too big a risk for a political candidate. He maintained that he didn’t realize he needed a business license to list properties in Dewey Beach. “To me,” he said, “selling is business, that was my interpretation.”
Hanewinckel’s girlfriend, Marcia Schieck, testified that Hanewinckel is a man of character who honestly did not know he owed the fees.
Hanewinckel’s supporters also brought up the case of Deibler v. City of Rehoboth Beach, which languished in the court systems from 1981 until 1986. In that case, the defendant, who was a candidate in Rehoboth, was originally declared delinquent because he owed city taxes. That ruling was later overturned, court records show.
Dewey town attorney John Brady said Deibler was protesting the taxes of Rehoboth and under federal laws, people have a right to protest a tax and it does not prevent them from running for office. Hanewinckel on the other hand, said he was ignorant of the law and had not presented any evidence that his situation was a protest.
However, speaking after the meeting, attorney Joan Claybrook, president of The Public Citizens Group in Washington, D.C. said the Deibler case demonstrates that owing money to the town for any reason does not prevent a person from running from office.
After a long deliberation, Mike Eisenhauer made a motion that Hanewinckel is qualified and should remain on the ballot. That motion was unanimously approved as all the commissioners voted “yes.”
Contact Eddie Phillipps at eddiep@capegazette.com