Jackson Lee has a big lead in cash

Saturday, February 20th, 2010

Johnson far behind; Roberts yet to file report

By STEWART M. POWELL and JOE HOLLEY
Copyright 2010 Houston Chronicle

Feb. 20, 2010, 7:26AM

Veteran Houston Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee has built a huge financial advantage over two challengers in the March 2 Democratic primary who are hoping to capitalize on an anti-Washington sentiment to overcome her massive money edge.

The latest financial disclosure statements filed with the Federal Election Commission late Thursday show Jackson Lee with $504,000 in the bank as of Feb. 10, versus $11,185 for Houston City Council member Jarvis Johnson.

The FEC said it had not received a report by late Friday from a third primary candidate, attorney Sean Roberts.

Jackson Lee, who has been raising re-election money for months, easily outdistanced Johnson in the first five weeks after he announced his candidacy Jan. 4. The incumbent raised $69,860 during the first six weeks of the year, while Johnson received $33,793, including a $5,000 personal loan from his wife.

“When you have a politician who has been around the block time and again with deep roots in a community or among special interest groups, it’s a lot easier to tap donors in time of need,” said Dave Leavinthal of the Center for Responsive Politics, an independent group that tracks campaign finances.

Jackson Lee said that her financial edge reflected her strength in the primary, her first serious challenge in 16 years.

“People are willing to put their money where their support is,” Jackson Lee said in an interview. “I’m grateful to have the support of people who want to send Sheila Jackson Lee back to Washington to fight for them.”

Anti-Washington wave

But Jackson Lee’s foes said they believe they can ride a wave of anti-Washington sentiment to victory in a three-way contest that they are trying to transform into a referendum on the incumbent’s constituent service.

In debates and on the campaign trail, Johnson and Roberts — as well as three Republicans vying for the GOP nomination — have criticized Jackson Lee as an ineffective representative of the people back home.

“It’s difficult to get things done in a place like Congress when you’re repeatedly voted one of the worst people to work with … and have staff turnover that makes it almost impossible for anyone to focus on issues that are pertinent to this district,” Roberts said.

Jackson Lee vigorously disagrees. She may occasionally ruffle feathers, she admits, but she gets things done.

Constituency service is “year-round, seven days a week, 24 hours a day,” said the hard-charging transplant from Queens, N.Y., who has lived in the Houston area for more than three decades, raising two children and successively winning elective office as a municipal judge, a Houston City Council member and a Congress member.

“I just want to be called an Energizer Bunny that keeps on working for the people of this great district,” she said.

Back in the district, various constituents are debating whether that energy is put to good use.

C.B. Black thinks so. The 66-year-old Army machine gunner who earned a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star in Vietnam said Jackson Lee persuaded the Army to reissue military decorations he lost in a fire.

“It took a lot of the edge off my bitterness when she and the Army did that for me,” he said.

Continental Airlines CEO Jeff Smisek said the liberal, street-savvy Democrat “has been a tireless advocate” for the needs of his Houston-headquartered carrier, including becoming “personally involved” in getting President Barack Obama’s administration to focus on Continental’s bid to join the 26-carrier Star Alliance.

But there also are some recriminations.

Neighborhood activist Robin Bennett, who sought Jackson Lee’s help on a health initiative for the district, said she found the lawmaker’s staff “rude and disrespectful, and they do not respond.” Bennett said she found state Rep. Sylvester Turner, D-Houston, more helpful.

“When we vote for people, that means they’re hired by us, and sometimes they forget that,” she said. “Sheila Jackson Lee needs to be fired.”

Anthony Love, former head of the Coalition for the Homeless of Houston/Harris County, said the lawmaker tried to thwart his efforts to establish a shelter for homeless veterans in Houston’s midtown area.

“A lot of her friends were against the project,” Love said.

Jackson Lee attributes Love’s complaint to a disagreement within a neighborhood over the location of the facility and notes she called Love to congratulate him when Obama named him deputy director of national programs of the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness.

‘They do know me’

Jackson Lee, a graduate of Yale University and the University of Virginia School of Law, insists her practice of seeking the limelight pays off for constituents. She routinely maneuvers her way into nationally televised coverage of events such as Obama’s inaugural address and State of the Union address and Michael Jackson’s memorial service in Los Angeles.

“When I call people in the Cabinet departments,” Jackson Lee said, “they do know me.”

But Johnson complained that the incumbent opts for the spotlight rather than her district’s plight.

“At the end of the day, people say you need to take care of your district,” he said, “and being in California (at the Jackson memorial) is not taking care of your district.”

Nicole Folk Cooper, editor of a guide to running district offices for the Congressional Management Foundation, said it’s difficult to evaluate members’ constituent service because there is no independent “yardstick” to measure their effectiveness.

“It’s always hard to say who is the best because lawmakers have different definitions of constituent service and different definitions of success,” she said.

Tags: Anti-Washington wave, Election 2010, Houston, Houston Voters, Sheila Jackson Lee, Texas 18th Congressional District
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