For my former boss, Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee
SJL passed away this week, and I wouldn't be where I am without having worked for her years ago.
Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee passed away this Friday.
Even as I type this, I can hear myself explaining to someone on the phone: “Jackson Lee. Two words. No hyphen.”
People often got her name wrong, but they often got other things wrong about her too.
SJL and me, circa 2019, when I ran into her at an event on Capitol Hill.
My first job on Capitol Hill, at the end of 2002, was as a staff assistant answering the phones and sorting mail in the office of Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, or SJL, as all her staff referred to her. I wasn’t from Texas - I was from Ohio - but there weren’t many Democrats from Ohio and I’d gone to probably a dozen interviews by that point and not gotten any offers. Up until SJL hired me, I was working as an unpaid intern several afternoons a week, doing temp work the rest of the working hours, and waiting tables on nights and weekends. Between all of this, I could afford the $550 a month rent on the room I rented in a group house on Capitol Hill.
I had met with a chief of staff for a different member of Congress - a kind man from another district in Texas - who had said to me, in a sort of a-ha moment, “I know where you can get a job tomorrow!” And before I even knew what I was saying yes to, I was already agreeing to the opportunity. I met with SJL’s chief of staff who liked the fact that I was working three jobs. He told me later that it showed I’d be a good fit.
And surprisingly, I was.
SJL had a reputation - she was tough on her staff, she had high turnover, she always asked for time to speak on the floor and in committees, and she constantly fought for the underdog, even if she thought herself to be it.
Staffers would make all sorts of comments when they found out I worked for her; our TVs were all turned to CSPAN and she would appear so frequently it became a sort of game for others to spot her. But what so many people didn’t understand about SJL was that she used the floor of the House of Representatives to express her views precisely because she could. It was one of the few venues offered to someone in the minority party to make a statement. (It wasn’t until 2007 that Democrats controlled the House, and it was years before social media gave everyone a platform). She would meet with groups and organizations and listen to their issues and then ask one of us to write something up. Then she’d march onto the House floor and recite her own version of it - the talking points occasionally referenced, sometimes the papers rolled up into a tube in her hand.
These groups that she was speaking for would be thrilled. They felt seen. To them, SJL was a champion, advocating for them in the nation’s capital. I had friends whose bosses spoke only a handful of times a year, but SJL could be counted on to speak several times a week, sometimes multiple times a day.
And at night SJL would take staff with her to receptions and events - a long list packed with every invitation possible for any group or cause SJL wanted to support. When she’d show up, she wanted to speak. More than once, I’d received a call that she was on the way and had to frantically find her both talking points and a speaking slot. If she’d heard about from colleagues and hadn’t been invited, that wouldn’t deter her, and she’d sometimes show up unannounced, or with very little heads up notice, and we’d still have to find her talking points and time to speak. (It was very hard being her scheduler - a job I never held but I know had a high burnout rate.)
And yet, nearly every time, people were able to accommodate. Most were glad to do so, because how many members of Congress really give freely of their most valuable resource - their time?
Me at my desk when working for SJL, probably 2004 or 2005. Not sure when this picture was taken, but you can tell it’s SJL’s office because the map of Texas behind me.
SJL was an unapologetic liberal champion - arguing in the House Judiciary against the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy which kept gay people out of military service (she was right, the policy was repealed). She voted against the Iraq War, arguing that too many people would die for a war that we didn’t have enough evidence for (she was also right, yet again). She was a stalwart supporter of abortion rights, refugee rights, and the state of Israel. She and I went to an AIPAC event together - and were sitting at the same table - which was unusual, staff often ate in the back or not at all - and I recall a comment she’d made about Israel and her understanding of its role in the world. And this was also classic SJL - the staff came along. She knew what mattered to you, and how to include you.
It was why, when she was going to endorse Howard Dean (quite early, I should add), she told me to run down to the car and come with her, because she knew I was a fan and wanted to meet him*.
It was also why, when she did give brief words of praise, a curt nod and a “you guys did good on this” it was the sort of pure, unadulterated compliment that came without any sense of perfunctory obligation.
Yes, we had our harsh moments. There were the occasions when speaking spots couldn’t be finagled, when talking points scratched out in mere moments were of subpar quality, where an overbooked schedule led to miscommunications - and SJL hated miscommunications. (Don’t we all). But she knew more than most people about what it means to be underestimated and what it is to take the opportunity you have and work as hard as you can from every angle - even when it might seem repetitive, or others belittle you for it.
I read the New York Times obituary for SJL, and I can still hear her voice, telling me to call them back and let them know they left a few things out. Or maybe she would have left a copy on my desk, with notes in the margins she wanted to see changed. But if I could make any changes, I’d ask them to show the human side of her and to explain that she stood for more than just herself. The hard work and drive that she could never quite turn off was actually on behalf of the people she represented and the issues she fought for, right up until she died.
When you’re 22 years old, three years at a job is an eon. But SJL promoted me, she gave me more responsibilities (there were moments where she took them away too, but the work always wound up coming back). I couldn’t imagine doing that job now, with kids and other responsibilities, but at 22 years old I had the sort of idealistic energy that comes from being young and working in a place like Capitol Hill. I couldn’t have asked for a better experience - and despite everything, I couldn’t have asked for a better or harder working boss.
*I am sorry that I don’t have more photos of me with SJL - they exist someplace but so much of this was pre-digital camera and pre-google photos so I don’t have easy access to them. For years I had a photo of us with Howard Dean that I kept framed at my desk, but now I can’t seem to find it anymore.
Thanks for this up close view of the Congresswoman. Such a big loss.