Retiring state Rep. Helene Keeley appointed to No. 2 job at Delaware Lottery Office

EDITOR'S NOTE: This story has been updated to correct Keeley's salary in her new position.

Retiring state Rep. Helene Keeley, the longest-serving Democrat in the state House, has landed a high-paying gig as the new deputy director of the Delaware Lottery Office.

She will start her new job on Nov. 12 — six days after the general election.

"This is an ever-changing industry and one that is getting turned upside down, particularly by advances in technology," said Keeley, who has served on a legislative gaming committee and represented the state on a national gaming organization for lawmakers. "I'm absolutely fascinated by it and look forward to getting to work."

The Wilmington Democrat has spent 22 years in the General Assembly, where she rose to the rank of speaker pro tempore of the House and a salary of $46,291. In 2004, Keeley also was hired in the Delaware Department of Labor, where she currently earns $46,344 a year as a community relations coordinator.

In her new role under Lottery Director Vernon Kirk, Keeley will earn $95,000 a year overseeing the lottery office's finances and human resources for the agency's 56 employees, technology and security. Her last day at the Department of Labor will be Nov. 9.

The lottery deputy director position had been vacant since the former Gov. Jack Markell was in office. Lottery officials and Finance Secretary Rick Geisenberger felt it was time to fill the position, "especially with the move into sports gaming and everything else going on," said finance department spokeswoman Leslie Poland.

Delaware in June became the first state east of the Rocky Mountains to offer full sports betting following a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision in May that legalized those bets nationwide. Delaware casinos sold more sports wagering tickets in less than three weeks in June than they did in any month in 2017.

"They wanted someone who could specifically address the things Vernon can't get to in his day-to-day, such as human resources," Poland said.

The deputy director position did not need to be advertised prior to Keeley's hiring because it is an appointed position filled at the discretion of the lottery director and the finance secretary, Poland said.

Officials in the state finance department reportedly had been looking to fill the post for about a year and reached out to various prospects in the gaming industry with no success.

They finally approached Keeley in May, just days after she had filed to seek election to a 12th term. Keeley announced her decision to retire a month later, telling reporters she struggled with the decision before finally concluding it was time for someone else to represent the Third District. 

"My previous statement about struggling with whether to seek re-election was 100 percent true," the lawmaker said Tuesday. "And when I was approached, I realized this was the opportunity I was looking for."

Former Wilmington City Councilwoman Sherry Dorsey Walker won a three-way Democratic primary for the seat. She is not facing a Republican opponent in November's general election.

Keeley was widely rumored to be seeking a new job but previously only would confirm that she was interviewing at various offices in the Carney administration. Finance department officials said Tuesday that she received her official offer letter in June.

Geisenberger argued Keeley's hiring makes sense because she gained intimate knowledge of Delaware's gaming industry as a longtime member and current vice chairwoman of the House Gaming and Pari-mutuel Committee. She also served as president of the National Conference of Legislators from Gaming States, an organization of state lawmakers focuses on public policy related to gaming.

"Helene has been a strong booster of Delaware's casino and horse racing industries and a great advocate for maintaining a sound regulatory environment that enables gaming to remain an important contributor to our state's economy and revenues," he said in a release.

Keeley on Tuesday said she in no way viewed the job offer as an effort to get her out of the House, where she was the leading proponent for fully legalizing marijuana, along with fellow retiring lawmaker Senate Majority Leader Margaret Rose Henry.

A bill they sponsored to make Delaware the 10th state to legalize cannabis and create a marijuana industry here failed in the House by a vote of 21-15 just days after Keeley's retirement announcement.

Gov. John Carney repeatedly said he was not in favor of House Bill 110, arguing that more time was needed to study the full impact of marijuana legalization elsewhere.

"That movement is not going anywhere," Keeley said Tuesday. "I've already had 10 people tell me they want to be the lead sponsor in reintroducing it again next year."

Keeley joins a long list of former state lawmakers who secured well-paying jobs in the executive branch after leaving the Legislature.

Former Senate Majority Leader Patricia Blevins, for instance, landed a job as the state's animal welfare director after losing her seat, only to resign from the new post five months later.

Former state Rep. Mike Barbieri, who chaired the House Health Committee while working as a state contractor, left his legislative post in 2015 to fill a position as director of the the state Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health, a job he kept for two years.

Contact reporter Scott Goss at (302) 324-2281, sgoss@delawareonline.com or on Twitter @ScottGossDel.

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