BREAKING: Stell Parker Selby Resigns
Joe Edelin breaks the story in Bay To Bay:
“In December, I suffered a serious medical emergency that profoundly changed the rhythm of my life. Since that moment, I have fought every day toward recovery. And while I am proud of the strides I’ve made, I must acknowledge – with honesty and humility – that I can no longer serve this district with the full energy, presence, and focus it rightfully deserves,” Rep. Parker Selby wrote in her resignation letter.
So. This could and should have happened in January. Instead, the Democratic House Leadership covered up the extent of her condition.
Retiring now accomplishes nothing. The 20th RD will have been without representation for the entire first year of this legislative session.
The irony is, as one commenter pointed out, the 20th RD is skewing more and more Democratic. The idea that only Stell Parker Selby could have held that seat was, um, a bad idea. However, due to the cover-up and the Speaker’s lies, the seat is now more likely to flip than it would have had everybody done the right thing back in January.
I think it’s incredibly easy to point and holler about how this decision could have and should have been made earlier. My only hope is that no one here has to ever go through the truly humbling experience of a long term illness or health emergency such as a stroke. This was a woman who served her community her whole life to end up at one of the highest pinnacles to be able to help her community the most… and now has to give that up due to no fault of her own. It must take so much humility, and inner peace and courage to step away from that and kind of, in effect, resigning yourself from being able to do the most simple of tasks.
It’s sad, it’s disappointing, and in the end, we all suffer. I wish her nothing but the best though.
So do I.
But this was hidden from the public until it could be hidden no longer.
She wasn’t coming back, she wasn’t EVER coming back.
And the House Democratic leadership covered that fact up for their own purposes. Which, come to think of it, appear to have backfired.
I absolutely agree that the leadership covered it up, and it will certainly backfire come time to replace her. But, at the same time I do absolutely believe they were trying to give someone who is such a monumental figure in the community time to come to this decision herself. No one wants to be the one to tell grandma she can’t drive anymore, and I think short of there being a vote she would make a huge difference on… they were gonna be hands off in that decision. I think the coverup really ramped up as the press coverage did.
I don’t believe that. They just didn’t want to risk losing the seat. Which, by doing what they did, makes it MORE likely that the seat will flip.
Besides, as someone whose mother-in-law drove through glass windows at a business, sometimes you just have to take the keys from grandma.
This isn’t grandma & her driver’s license. This is politics. It makes me so sad, similar to RBG, that after years of monumental service, the lasting legacy could be someone in their seat that sets back their community.
Shame on leadership for this.
Wishing all the best to Stell, who is an incredibly important person to her community. No one ever wants to see a person of such warmth and service fight to regain their life.
A heartbreaking, yet possibly too delayed resignation to protect the future of voices in Delaware.
You don’t KNOW that!
The flashing red takeaway, Mimi and Kerri are straight up unfit. As a 74 year old who has watched this sad debacle the only description of House Leadership’s behavior is craven elder abuse for their own benefit!
I’ve had several friends suffer strokes in the past couple of years. One remains permanently disabled, one died and one recovered. While doctors will tell the patient possible outcomes, that information is private, federally protected. And in two out of three cases of my friends, the outcome was not predicted immediately. I don’t any of the particulars of Rep. Selby’s disability. Is she being judged for a lack of transparency? I think that information could be regarded as private and exclusively hers. Did she use poor judgement by keeping her private information to herself? I can’t be sure. The GOP kept Al Franken from taking his seat in the US Senate in 2009 for months. If the GOP was the party that actually cared about regular folks being represented, they would not have done that. And given the GOP’s posturing in Sussex County, their taking the lead in spewing criticism regarding Rep. Selby is about 99% hypocrisy. Delaware way Dems are equally hypocritical, as they vote counter to their constituent’s interests on an all too regular basis. Very few connected to politics, including media, manage to keep their integrity intact. I think Rep. Selby had a right to some privacy..
I didn’t judge Parker Selby, I judged the leadership.
The R’s didn’t ‘take the lead’ on her absence.
Parker Selby has her right to privacy. The residents of the 20th RD have the right to representation in Dover. The two are not mutually exclusive.
When you’re an elected official or seeking to be, some of that privacy is lost.
This entire affair was a travesty beyond words. I feel sorry for Stell and her family, but this should have happened months ago.
Happened months ago? How can you conclude that?
Because it was obvious to everybody, especially the Speaker, that Selby wasn’t coming back.
If you haven’t already, go back and check out the CoastTV coverage, especially the Speaker’s answers. She knew, she knew the reporter knew, but she persisted in the cover-up.
I think your perspective might change.
or it may harden.
Always possible.
There’s a not small item of interest on the press side as well: the not-so-impartial reporter who had publicly been supporting Stell’s last opponent and I’m sure will offer lots of coverage for the Special Election. Most of our legit outlets like WHYY and Spotlight also knew about this but weren’t out to score points for someone on it. They knew in December and they knew even more when the oath was done so late.
Meanwhile the House remains unprepared, the bill to require primaries hasn’t moved at all even though they and the Governor both said the process should change when the Senate Specials happened.
That’s a good point. Has that bill even been introduced? It becomes of, yes, primary importance now.
Here’s the bill. Introduced on May 22, here we are on June 24:
https://legis.delaware.gov/BillDetail?LegislationId=142372
Has never been scheduled for a committee hearing.
Oh, the committee chair? Stephanie Bolden.
That bill should be moved to the floor under a Motion To Suspend Rules, and worked before the end of session. Let the people decide.
Gee a cynic would think this Bill was deep sixed exactly because of anticipation of today’s events!
Well, we know that Bolden couldn’t give two shits about this.
However, I would think that members of the 20th RD Democratic Committee would prefer a primary rather than be second-guessed for deciding this by themselves, especially after all the controversy.
Any of our Sussex Spies care to weigh in?