So long, Shelley — for now

Shelley Sekula-Gibbs told the Chronicle this morning that she will resign her seat on the Houston City Council as soon as the results of Tuesday's Congressional District 22 special election are certified, paving the way for her to head to Washington to spread a little sunshine around the halls of Congress. For a few weeks, anyway.

Sekula-Gibbs, a write-in Republican candidate to fill out Tom DeLay's expired term in the House, beat out three other Republicans and a Libertarian to take the CD22 seat, which she'll hold for a couple of months. Sekula-Gibbs lost the general election to Democrat Nick Lampson, who will take office in January. But until then, the 24-karat-haired Sekula-Gibbs said she'll take her House job seriously:

"I made a commitment to the voters of District 22," she said at the start of today's regular council meeting. "It would be really wrong of me to say I don't want that vote and that responsibility."

She said she believes she can accomplish something — lowering taxes, for example — during the weeks she's in Congress. Sekula-Gibbs plans to fly to Washington tonight; she said she doesn't know when the special election results will be certified, but as soon as they are, she'll officially step down from her council seat here (leaving Carol Alvarado scrambling to find a new best council buddy, we imagine). There's still a year left in her term as an at-large councilmember, so a special election could be held to replace her — and the at-large seat would likely be attractive to a number of candidates both on and off City Council.

As for the future, Sekula-Gibbs didn't rule out a run for the CD22 seat in 2008: "Certainly, 2008 is just around the corner," she said. "I am not going to be campaigning at this juncture."