Delaware official Mike Kozikowski repeatedly pitched David Tackett a newly created county job paying $76,295 while Tackett was considering a primary challenge. Tackett secretly recorded the 90-minute restaurant meeting, filed to run hours later, beat Kozikowski, and has now turned the audio over to the FBI.
There are awkward political meetings, and then there is the meeting where you offer a potential rival a $76,295 government job while he quietly records the entire conversation on his phone. Delaware has produced the second kind.
New Castle County Recorder of Deeds Mike Kozikowski met County Councilman David Tackett at Cosmos Restaurant near Newport on June 24. During the roughly 90-minute conversation, Kozikowski repeatedly discussed a newly created county position and told Tackett exactly what it paid.
Tackett was considering challenging Kozikowski in the Democratic primary at the time. He was also secretly recording, which turns an ordinary restaurant booth into a surprisingly efficient evidence-storage system.
According to WHYY, Kozikowski told Tackett that his experience talking to the public made him a good fit for the position and emphasized the salary: $76,295. The offer came even though county law bars sitting County Council members from holding another county office, meaning Tackett could not simply accept the job and keep his existing seat.
Hours after the meeting, Tackett made his choice. He filed to run against Kozikowski, which has to rank fairly high on the list of ways to decline a job offer.
Then he beat him. Tackett won the September 15 Democratic primary with 52.2% of the vote, ending Kozikowski’s 24-year run without a primary challenger and leaving Tackett unopposed in the November 3 general election.
The story might have ended there as a particularly savage piece of campaign folklore. Instead, Tackett’s campaign filed a complaint with the Delaware Attorney General’s Office and included the recording of the conversation.
Now the FBI has the audio too. WHYY reports that a white-collar-crime agent in the bureau’s Wilmington office contacted Tackett on October 1 and specifically requested a copy of the recording, which Tackett’s campaign later sent over.
The FBI’s request does not establish that Kozikowski committed a crime, and federal prosecutors have not announced charges. The U.S. Attorney’s Office said Justice Department policy prevents it from confirming or discussing an investigation, while the FBI has not publicly described the scope of its inquiry.
Kozikowski previously told WHYY he did not believe the offer was improper because Tackett had not formally filed as a candidate yet. His argument was essentially that Tackett still had a choice: take the position or file against him, and Tackett chose the second option.
That defense is now being reviewed against a recording that lasts an hour and a half, which is a lot of context for investigators to work with. Most politicians fear the ten-second hot mic; this one comes with feature-film runtime.
Tackett says he does not know what federal investigators will ultimately do with the audio and is prepared to cooperate. He has framed the conversation as something that could be considered a bribe, while leaving the legal conclusion to prosecutors.
The political ending is already brutal regardless of the legal outcome. A veteran officeholder met a possible challenger, discussed a well-paid county job, watched the challenger file anyway and then lost the primary to the same man who had recorded the whole pitch.
If this were a scripted political comedy, an editor would probably complain that the ending is too neat. The rival did not merely reject the job; he took the recording, took the nomination and may soon take the office.
Now the FBI gets to decide whether any laws were broken. Tackett, meanwhile, gets to prepare for January with the sort of campaign story that will be extremely difficult for anyone at the office Christmas party to top.
