Jonathan Starkey and Jon Offredo

The News Journal

DOVER -- In a speech halted at times by tears, Delaware state Treasurer Chip Flowers said Friday he will serve out the remainder of his term and abandon his re-election campaign in the wake of harassment allegations by his former deputy.

"Effective now, and for the remainder of my term, politics is now my past, not my future," Flowers said at a news conference in which he announced he will move to Massachusetts with his fiancée to start a new life.

Days earlier, Flowers was responding to questions about the harassment complaints filed with the Dover Police Department by Erika Benner, his former deputy. She accused Flowers of making harassing and threatening statements in text messages and phone calls after an incident before a July Fourth parade in Dover.

"All of you know that these lies are going to follow me in Delaware after re-election," he said. "If I seek to achieve higher office, they will still follow me and, in effect, my family life would be horrible, always having to look over my shoulder to see who's lying on me and always coming before this podium. I don't want to live like that."

Flowers, who tried to hold back tears as he made his announcement Friday, said he was moving to a place where he can leave this controversy behind. His fiancée, Megan Lallier, stood by his side.

"With a heavy heart, my fiancée and I have made a decision to relocate from the state of Delaware to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, our second home," Flowers said, "a place where my life is not the topic of the paper; the great policy debates and discussion are. In short, a place where I fit in.

"This move, my wedding and my future are my priorities," he said.

Flowers' move to abandon his campaign for re-election comes after he sunk hundreds of thousands of dollars of his own money into his political committee.

The decision also means that Sean Barney, a former aide to U.S. Sen. Tom Carper and Gov. Jack Markell, becomes the presumptive Democratic nominee.

"While Chip Flowers and I disagreed on several public matters, I wish him the best in the next chapter of his life," Barney said in a written statement.

Republicans Ken Simpler and Sher Valenzuela, who both called on Flowers to step down Thursday, will face each other in a Sept. 9 primary election.

Gov. Jack Markell, a Democrat, said in a statement that he will support Barney's campaign this fall.

"Sean is a great candidate who has spent much of his life in service to his country and the people of Delaware, and I look forward to supporting him," Markell said in a written statement.

Flowers also used the news conference Friday to insist he did not act improperly toward Benner or her 16-year-old son before or after an incident before a Fourth of July parade in Dover.

"My actions on July Fourth were strong, based upon the actions and threats by her son to me and my fiancée," Flowers said. "Having a 6-foot-4, 16-year-old come up to my car window, bang it, stick his middle finger at the people inside and say '(racial slur), I'm going to f you up' is serious and dangerous."

Flowers said neither he nor his lawyer had been contacted by Dover police and he was not aware of Benner's first claim of harassment when it was filed on July 6. He said Benner "initiated contact" with him after filing her initial harassment complaint. Benner denies doing so.

"She contacted me clearly knowing that I had no idea that she had filed any complaint with the Dover PD," Flowers said. "Since Dover PD did not contact me, unbeknownst to me, this put me in a very dangerous situation, because I was not warned about what Ms. Maczuba Benner had done. During this time, she asked for forgiveness for her son. We texted and talked numerous times during the month of July and early August."

Flowers said the two communicated until Aug. 7, when Benner filed her second complaint. He said he and his lawyer are working with police to resolve them.

"We are confident these matters will be dropped in short order," he said.

Both Flowers and Benner have dealt with previous accusations. Benner was charged on Feb. 6, 2012, with terroristic threatening and three counts of non-compliance with bond after an incident with her ex-husband, but all of those charges were dismissed, records show.

During an altercation, Benner told her ex-husband that "I just applied for a gun license and I can't wait to get it, cause I'm going to shoot you in the head with it and it's going to feel so fu----- good!" according to court records.

A month later, Benner was charged with offensive touching in Kent County Family Court, the same day her ex-husband, Joseph Benner, was charged with the same offense, court records show. The charges against Benner and her husband were later dismissed. Benner also was arrested and charged with first-degree, criminal trespass and criminal mischief on Feb. 9, 2013. The criminal mischief charge was dropped and the criminal trespass charge was resolved with probation before judgment, a first-offender style plea where the defendant is put on probation and a finding of guilt is not entered if the defendant stays out of trouble. The Associated Press first reported on her record.

Flowers' past includes separate abuse allegations from two former female acquaintances. One filed protection-from-abuse order against Flowers in 2004, claiming that Flowers punched her in the face. It was later dismissed. The other came in 2006 and the woman tried unsuccessfully to drop the charges and dated Flowers again. Flowers was acquitted, according to records.

Rep. John Kowalko, a Newark Democrat, said he spoke to Flowers on Thursday when he informed him that he was considering resigning. Earlier in the week, Flowers and his fiancée ate dinner at his house. Kowalko said he considers Flowers a friend.

"It's a sad day for Delaware and Delaware politics. I think social and mainstream media have been led willingly or unwittingly down the path of vindictive and unsubstantiated character assassination on a good man and his reputation," he said. "The ultimate result is the exposure of the hidden and unsavory underside of what we call 'The Delaware Way.' "

In a written statement, Delaware's Republican Chairman Charlie Copeland said Flowers has long been the center of controversy and the announcement Friday morning "brings to a close yet another scandal in Delaware's Democratic Party."

"Controversy and the Democrats seems to go hand-in-hand these days, and the Chip Flowers scandal is right there with Jack Markell's campaign finance scandal, the Medical Examiner's Office scandal, and the growing list of other scandals that make the case for bringing an end to one-party rule in state government," the statement said.

Robert Byrd, a longtime Dover lobbyist, called Flowers a "very bright guy" and said he did not have a conversation with the treasurer before the announcement.

"But the way I read this, he's just decided he's going to change his life and he's going to go someplace else, and he's decided that his endgame in Delaware politics is not going to work," Byrd said. "I know that his endgame in Delaware politics was one of the senior positions."

State Finance Secretary Tom Cook, a member of Markell's cabinet, worked with Flowers on the Cash Management Policy Board, sometimes clashing with the treasurer. He also did not discuss the decision with Flowers.

"I think he's making the right decision by putting his family first," he said. "I think that he obviously put a lot of thought into this and he certainly feels that this is the correct path forward. I'm sure he was well thought out."

Sean O'Sullivan contributed. Contact Jonathan Starkey at (302) 983-6756, jstarkey@delawareonline.com or on Twitter @jwstarkey and Jon Offredo at (302) 678-4271, joffredo@delawareonline.com or on Twitter @jonoffredo.