Or, An Op-Ed in the Delaware Business Times
In this past Friday’s edition of the Delaware Business Times, I have an opinion piece making the case that Delawareans should approach the corporate franchise like fossil fuels – and recognize that there are costs that come along with these revenues, as well as benefits.
Recently a front group representing the interests of corporate lawyers paid to run a series of long political essays on Delaware’s leading nonprofit news site. This “spon con” was framed as basic education (“Civics 101”) – but its unnamed authors made some odd claims.
Notably, they argued that Delaware’s dominance in the “corporate law industry” – and the state revenues it provides, the so-called “corporate franchise” – was “not like finding oil underneath the land.” Rather, the Alliance to Protect Delaware’s Future claimed it was “the result of careful tending” by “corporate leaders and government officials.”
But how different is Delaware’s corporate franchise from the oil industry, really?
…
ike oil revenues in Alaska, the corporate franchise in Delaware helps fund state government. In fiscal year 2025, business entities domiciled here paid $2.25 billion in revenue, making up some 33.7% of the state’s general fund – a considerable portion, albeit much higher now than in the past.
The benefits are obvious. But what does the corporate franchise cost Delawareans?
The clearest example of the “resource curse” in action is our politics. The “Alliance to Protect Delaware’s Future” doesn’t just spread money around to propagandize its peculiar views for fun. Alongside its partner organization, First State Future PAC, it invests in incumbent politicians who have a proven record of passing the specific alterations to Delaware law that large outside corporations demand. These organizations are new, but this style of influence peddling isn’t: lawyers hired by Silicon Valley oligarchs routinely draft legislation to benefit their clients – interference that Delaware’s governor has actively solicited.
Industry’s demands bend the judiciary, too. It’s not uncommon for members of the state’s top courts to take jobs at major corporate law firms after they leave the bench, where they advise clients – and state officials – on the past, present, and future of Delaware law.
These arrangements might be politely described as “regulatory capture.”
Like the oil business, the corporate law industry extracts wider costs. …
Read the whole thing over at the DBT.
Dael A. Norwood, “Viewpoint: Like Fossil Fuels, the Corporate Franchise Costs Us Dearly,” Delaware Business Times, September 3, 2026, https://delawarebusinesstimes.com/news/viewpoint-dael-norwood-corporate-franchise/.
Dael A. Norwood 