Another look into Sheila Jackson Lee’s past antics – IOTW Report

Another look into Sheila Jackson Lee’s past antics

Wednesday, 27 December 2017, 21:00 MJA Uncategorized 21

Another blast from Sheila’s past. ChristianPDX sends me an article written about Sheila Jackson Lee back in February of  2002.
She was first elected in 1995, but it didn’t take her too long to become the queen bee of Congress. *eye roll*

Weekly Standard: Sheila Jackson Lee, Limousine Liberal.

WHEN SHEILA JACKSON LEE first came to Washington in January 1995, the Texas Democrat railed against the Capitol’s silk-stockinged elite. “The American people want reform, not phony but real reform,” she said in her debut House speech. “They want to know that the days of free meals and free trips and special privileges are over. . . . As Members of Congress, we should not be using public office for private gain.” How times change.

It’s about 200 paces from the awning of Jackson Lee’s Capitol Hill apartment to the marbled steps of the Cannon House Office Building, where her office is. Most people think the walk is a pleasant one. Red-brick townhouses give onto tree-lined streets; crossing guards ensure no one is run over. It’s the kind of neighborhood where you might expect to find the Republican party’s headquarters–and do. They’re right next door to Jackson Lee’s building. In a city that consistently ranks among the nation’s worst for commuting, Jackson Lee would seem to have it made. But apparently it’s not convenient enough. Jackson Lee is routinely chauffeured the one short block to work–in a government car, by a member of her staff, at the taxpayers’ expense. And apparently in violation of House rules.

As Jackson Lee noted on her first day in Congress, the use of public funds for private ends is a major no-no, and the political graveyard is strewn with officials who forgot that. In 1991, John Sununu stepped down as President Bush’s chief of staff after a series of gaffes involving subsidized transportation, the final one being a limousine stop at Christie’s in New York to look at rare stamps.

In 1994, top Clinton aide David Watkins was forced to resign after a picture caught him using the president’s helicopter for a golf outing. And then there’s the case of former House Ways and Means chairman Dan Rostenkowski, who was charged with widespread malfeasance, including the use of government staffers and cars to routinely run errands. In 1997 a federal appeals court dismissed these latter charges against the Chicago Democrat on the grounds that the line between “official” and “unofficial” use of public employees and cars is blurry.

But the obvious fat-cat implications in these and other cases have led the various branches of government to define the scope of official travel more narrowly. None is more strict than the House of Representatives. According to the Congressional Handbook, the bible of dos and don’ts for House offices, “commuting expenses are not reimbursable.” These costs are defined as “transportation expenses incurred by the Member or employees between their residence and duty station.” A spokesman for the Committee on House Administration confirms that the use of a government-leased vehicle for commuting purposes and the use of a public employee as a driver are both violations of House rules.

Of course, every lawmaker is expected to know the Congressional Handbook. But Jackson Lee was also provided a copy of these guidelines when her office leased the car that she rides in to work. Should the House Ethics committee pursue the matter, the Congressional Handbook states Jackson Lee could be “personally liable for payments under any lease not in compliance with House Rules and Committee regulations.” These expenses include not just the cost of the lease, paid for from her office allowance, but maintenance and fuel, for which she is also reimbursed. Jackson Lee declined comment for this story, but when the alternative weekly Houston Press raised similar issues in 1997, she said: “Anything my staff does in my office is pursuant to congressional rules . . . [and] whatever staff does is pursuant to congressional business.”  read more

21 Comments on Another look into Sheila Jackson Lee’s past antics

  8. Small Minded and ill tempered.
    And those are her good qualities.

    She’s owed all the perks of the office and all she can get away with, after all she’s part of the elite governing the nation.

  9. this is just a symptom of a larger cancer … namely the self-loathing & hatred of the majority of the black population in the United States
    face it, they largely hate the country that supports them with the greatest freedoms and benefits anywhere on the planet (… don’t see many of them moving back to Africa or any other ‘enlightened’ country in-mass, do ya?)
    they eagerly vote for such charlatans as Jackson Lee, Marion Barry, Maxiwig Watters because they think it pisses off Whitey (& it does)… all the while they are actually harming themselves & their progeny (whom they’ve never cared about … argue me wrong) more.

    think I’ll get me an undersized Cowboy hat & ride around on a tricycle for votes …. thus proving my point

  11. btw, I could go on & on about the profound wisdom of that great paragon of Black Self-Government, Marion Barry ….

    “The contagious people of Washington have stood firm against diversity during this long period of increment weather.”
    “If you take out the killings, Washington actually has a very very low crime rate.”
    “First, it was not a strip bar, it was an erotic club. And second, what can I say? I’m a night owl.”
    “Bitch set me up.”
    “I am clearly more popular than Reagan. I am in my third term. Where’s Reagan? Gone after two! Defeated by George Bush and Michael Dukakis no less.”
    “The laws in this city are clearly racist. All laws are racist. The law of gravity is racist.”
    “The brave men who died in Vietnam, more than 100% of which were black, were the ultimate sacrifice.”
    “I read a funny story about how the Republicans freed the slaves. The Republicans are the ones who created slavery by law in the 1600’s. Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves and he was not a Republican.”
    “What right does Congress have to go around making laws just because they deem it necessary?”
    “People blame me because these water mains break, but I ask you, if the water mains didn’t break, would it be my responsibility to fix them then? WOULD IT!?!”
    “I am a great mayor; I am an upstanding Christian man; I am an intelligent man; I am a deeply educated man; I am a humble man.”

    … seriously …..

  20. At the zoo the other day. In one of the cages, occupants were throwing fecal matter at viewers. Pretty sure this was one of the offending primates. Later in the day it was seen chasing males, trying to either breed or steal food.

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