Jeffrey Balk, the erstwhile chair of the Sussex County Democratic Party, stepped down from his position over the weekend, but not before his situation exposed the rank hypocrisy of the party he represents.
The Democrats in Dover pushed long and hard for a law that bans employers asking job applicants if they’ve ever been convicted of a crime. This law includes no exceptions. But apparently there are some, because according to a statement put out by most of the party’s high-ranking officials,
As Democrats, we believe in the possibility of growth and reform of offenders, but second chances can’t come at the expense of survivors who are still living with the pain of what was done to them. … It’s time for [Balk] to step down so we can uphold the dignity and safety of survivors, the integrity of the party, and the trust of our community. (Emphasis mine).
Oh really? So crime victims’ pain negates the principle of second chances, does it? In that case, perhaps the Democratic Party of Delaware would be so kind as to provide employers with a list of what crimes have “survivors who are still living with the pain of what was done to them.” Because I think it would be a very long list.
I assume this list would include any crime of a sexual nature, but what about violence? Assault, for example? Many of those victims live in literal pain. What about robbery? Victims have to live with the fear that comes from having been robbed, even if it was simple burglary – after all, their homes were invaded, and many live in fear that it could happen again. You see what I’m getting at here: Every crime has victims who have to live with the pain of what was done to them.
Nobody who pushed for the Ban the Box law cared a whit about this when they were advocating for perpetrators who had paid their adjudicated debt to society. I find it particularly hypocritical in a case that happened more than 40 years ago, whose victims are now in their 50s. Have Delaware Democrats attempted to find out if those victims are “still living with the pain”? One tends to doubt it.
So I call bullshit. Sure, they’re on-brand with their compassion for victims now, when their previous compassion for the perpetrators makes them look bad. So compile the list of crimes for which the law does not apply, you blatant hypocrites.
Republicans, for their part, are even bigger hypocrites. Their statement on the controversy claimed, in part:
It is deeply troubling that any political organization in Delaware would tolerate, much less support, someone with such a record of predation against children. … Nothing is more important that the safety of our kids, and no political excuse can ever justify placing them at risk.
Does chairing a county political party put “our kids” at risk? Apparently so, if you’re a Republican. When Vance Phillips, the county’s influential GOP powerbroker, was credibly accused of grooming a 16-year-old political volunteer and raping her after she turned 16, did the party utter a single word condemning him? He ran for re-election after the accusations surfaced and lost his primary, but not because party officials said anything against him.
I already know what the Republicans, who are hypocrites of long standing and frequent practice, will say to this: Phillips wasn’t convicted of anything. There’s a reason for that, and Sussex County Republicans know full well what it is. Phillips himself explained it to his victim, as she described to the media after Phillips successfully petitioned the court to keep his trial closed:
If [the victim] told anyone what was happening, she says Phillips told her, “she would never have a career in politics” because “he was a powerful politician with lots of power over courts and judges and … she would be considered a liar.”
Rather than allow Phillips to hide his misdeeds behind a legal smokescreen, she chose to settle her lawsuit with no compensation in order to speak out publicly about her ordeal:
I was sexually assaulted and raped the spring and summer of my senior year of high school by a family friend and a local politician, Vance Philips. This former Sussex County Councilman befriended me, groomed me, gained my trust, and used that trust to put me in a situation where I was completely vulnerable and then attacked me. He orchestrated the attacks as well as their cover up and threatened me into silence. After breaking that silence, I diligently sought justice through the criminal justice system, but was told by the Attorney General’s office that he would not be prosecuted criminally at this time. In order to obtain justice, and to shed light on what happened, I chose the only other legal option open to me and that was filing a civil lawsuit. …
Vance Phillips fought to have the court filings protected and confidential and I opposed that and wanted the case to be open to the public. To this day he pleads the fifth amendment for fear of self-incrimination and has never denied raping me.
You want to see the list of Sussex County Republicans who condemned Philips for his actions? Here it is:
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No, it’s not written in invisible ink. That’s the whole list, right there.
Personally, I think Mr. Balk probably did the right thing for the right reason: He had become a distraction, and it probably would have been better if he had bowed out quietly, before the damage had been done.
But his misstep pales beside the hypocrisy displayed on both sides of the political aisle. Y’all should be ashamed of yourselves, and I know damn well you won’t be.