Democratic Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee — who is running for mayor of Houston, a city in the Texas district she represents in the House — has long had a reputation as one of the hardest people to work for on Capitol Hill.
If you wanted a glimpse into just how hard things are, consider a recording that leaked from her office just days before early voting in the open mayoral race started.
The audio — which remains unverified, according to the Houston Chronicle, although it certainly sounds like Jackson Lee and would track with her reputation — was released to Texas-based outlet Current Revolt on Saturday after being circulated on social media.
In the clip, a voice allegedly belonging to Jackson Lee inappropriately (and quite coarsely) upbraids two staffers about the location of papers that were somehow involved in her appearance at an event for Ovide Duncantell, the late founder of the Black Heritage Society and a Houston political fixture.
The recording seems to have been done by one of the staffers or someone in close contact with him; the Washington Examiner’s Jenny Goldsberry speculated that it “appeared to be recorded by the staffer himself as shuffling is heard when he reaches for his cell phone promising Jackson Lee he will contact another staffer about a paper she had given them.”
“I don’t want you to do a g****** thing. I want you to have a f***ing brain,” Jackson Lee responded.
“I want you to have read it. … That’s the kind of staff that I want to have. So if some other stupid motherf***er did it, and I don’t have the information — nobody sent me the information. I need to, uh, ensure my, um, schedule and, uh, you know, if, if Boo Boo did it, s***-a** did it, f***-face did it.
“And nobody knows a g****** thing in my office,” the voice allegedly belonging to Jackson Lee continues. “OK? Nothing. I gave it to you.”
She then confronted a second staffer about the papers.
“So when I called Jerome, he only sitting up there like a fat a** stupid idiot talking about, uh, what the f***? He doesn’t know. OK? Both of y’all are f***- ups,” she continued.
“It’s the worst s*** that I could have ever had put together,” Jackson Lee added. “Two g****** big-a** children. F***ing idiots serve no g****** purpose.
“Ain’t managing nobody. Nobody’s respecting them. Nobody gives a s*** about what you’re doing and you ain’t doing s***. And this is an example of it.”
Tell us how you really feel, Jackson Lee (allegedly):
WARNING: The following post and recording contain graphic and blasphemous language that some will find offensive.
Leaked audio obtained by @CurrentRevolt shows Democrat Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee berating a staffer: “F**king idiots serve no goddamn purpose … Nobody gives a shit about what you’re doing and you ain’t doing shit!”
(WARNING: Explicit language) pic.twitter.com/Lzl4AmKhkS
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) October 21, 2023
The Chronicle said Jackson Lee “has long had a reputation as a demanding, sharp-talking boss. But any audio- or video-recorded evidence of her berating anyone has never surfaced, so the unverified recording immediately took off on social media.”
It is worth noting that the original individual who shared it “did not respond to repeated inquiries, sending the message under an apparent alias,” the Chronicle reported.
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That said, Jackson Lee also wasn’t willing to disavow the authenticity of the audio, instead attributing it both to her closest Democratic rival in the mayoral race — state Sen. John Whitmire — and conservative media outlets. (That’s quite some dissonant team-up.)
“This is a low handed political tactic meant to discredit a thriving mayoral campaign and distract voters ahead of the early voting period,” Jackson Lee’s campaign said in a statement.
“It’s unsurprising that these attacks have originated from extremely conservative blogs and political operatives backing John Whitmire.”
Of course, if one’s behavior at work does not involve regularly calling people “s***-a**,” “f***-face,” “f***-ups,” “stupid motherf***er,” “big-a** children” and “f***ing idiots,” it would be relatively easy to say these weren’t words that came out of Jackson Lee’s mouth.
To say that it’s a “low handed political tactic meant to discredit a thriving mayoral campaign” without a denial is, instead, to say this isn’t behavior Houstonians deserve to know about in a mayoral candidate. Which isn’t going to quite make the grade as an excuse, particularly in the party of “safe spaces” and “act your wage.”
How one acts in private is a pretty effective way to judge one’s temperament for leadership.
If this is some AI deepfake or otherwise doesn’t involve Jackson Lee, the congresswoman should speak right up.
Likewise, if this undated audio was recorded some time ago but no longer reflects what Jackson Lee believes is appropriate behavior in the workplace, that too should be made clear.
Perhaps it’s a dirty trick, John Whitmire suddenly being able to manipulate “extremely conservative blogs” with audio of Jackson Lee.
If it’s actual audio, however, it’s an effective “dirty trick” — inasmuch as it reveals that Jackson Lee is 73 going on 17, mentally.
With this kind of attitude toward her subordinates, she shouldn’t be in the House of Representatives, to say nothing of whether she should be able to run one of America’s largest cities.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
