A person has to serve two and a half terms in the House to be fully vested for the Congressional Pension.
I bet shes a major b****... DeLay's replacement says staff deleted records and files By JOE STINEBAKER Associated Press Writer HOUSTON — Just three days after being sworn in, U.S. Rep. Shelley Sekula-Gibbs wants Congress to investigate the destruction of files in her office by former staff members of her predecessor, Tom DeLay. Sekula Gibbs said the staffers walked out of her office Tuesday, resigning en masse. A Capitol Hill newspaper, Roll Call, reported the staffers didn't like the way she was treating them. Sekula-Gibbs said in a statement Thursday that seven employees in her Washington office and the district office in Stafford, Texas, outside Houston, "deleted records and files without my knowledge or permission" before quitting. Spokeswoman Lisa Dimond told The Associated Press that the congresswoman had not yet gotten a response to her request for an investigation by the House's chief administrative officer. Sekula-Gibbs, who is serving out the last seven weeks of DeLay's term, said the walkouts were "suspicious" in that the seven took the time to delete files before leaving without notice. Dimond said other staffers discovered the work-related files were missing when they tried to access them. Sekula-Gibbs has raised a few eyebrows on Capitol Hill in her first three days in office, largely because of the mass resignation. She prompted chuckles in The Washington Post and other national publications by telling reporters she planned to resolve such thorny issues as tax cuts, immigration reform and the Iraq war — all in less than two weeks of a lame-duck Congress. And then her staff walked out without warning. The aides' departure left her with a Washington staff of two former Houston City Council aides, an intern on loan from Rep. Michael Burgess, R-Flower Mound, and a congressional aide. Austin Statesman
Forreal . . .this sounds like a MAJOR set back I mean . .When TOM DELAY'S folx think you evil?? Some folx have to realize power alone [esp illusions of power] won't cut it. . .you still have to treat people like people Seems her Expectations were WAY out of proportion Rocket RIver
lol - it gets better. What a stupid woman. Sekula-Gibbs demands probe of aides who quit She says the 7 who left deleted records, brought 'shame' to office By EUN KYUNG KIM and MICHELLE MITTELSTADT Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle Washington Bureau WASHINGTON — The turmoil in newly elected Rep. Shelley Sekula-Gibbs' office deepened Thursday with the Houston Republican demanding a congressional investigation of aides who quit in a mass walkout earlier this week. Sekula-Gibbs said the staffers, holdovers from her predecessor Tom DeLay, deleted records from the office's computers Monday, the day before seven of them resigned in apparent protest of their treatment. "As public servants, they have harmed the 22nd Congressional District and they have brought shame to this office," Sekula-Gibbs said in a statement. "I have a duty to investigate." Sekula-Gibbs was elected to complete DeLay's term. Democrat Nick Lampson will succeed her when the next two-year term begins in January. David James, who was chief of staff under DeLay and ran the office after the Texas Republican resigned in June, flatly denied that he or his colleagues had acted improperly. House rules demand that computers be scrubbed clean before a new representative takes over, James noted. James had previously been unwilling to discuss his five-day experience working for Sekula-Gibbs, but said he could no longer remain silent after accusations against him and co-workers with more than 30 years combined experience on Capitol Hill. "Never has any member of Congress treated us with as much disrespect and unprofessionalism as we witnessed during those five days," he said. He declined to detail specific behavior. Sekula-Gibbs also leveled charges of unprofessionalism against the former aides, saying they "left without notice and their departure raises suspicions." An eighth staffer who left was a part-time employee shared with other offices. The congresswoman, who was sworn in Monday to fill the remaining two months of DeLay's term, has asked the House's chief administrative officer to investigate. The office didn't return calls Thursday, and had yet to respond to Sekula-Gibbs' request, said her chief of staff, Lisa Dimond. Some puzzled by demand Defenders of the departed aides were puzzled by Sekula-Gibbs' actions, saying the former DeLay staff members were hard-working, loyal employees dedicated to the Texas district, particularly at a time when the office lacked a representative. "We had the good fortune of working with them over the years and every one of them, to a person, has unimpeachable character and integrity," said Tony Essalih, chief of staff to Rep. John Culberson, R-Houston. "I hope it is just a misunderstanding," said Essalih, who described Sekula-Gibbs as a dedicated legislator. "I do have a lot of respect for her and I think she's going to do a fine job, but I've never known any of these staffers to be anything but top-notch." A former congressional staffer familiar with the 22nd District's operations also praised the aides. "They know the district like the back of their hand; it has been their lives for years and it was with a heavy heart that they had to leave," the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Sekula-Gibbs' current staff includes two employees who came with her from Houston and an intern borrowed from another congressional office. While Dimond acknowledged the computers were clean when the congresswoman opened the office on Nov. 9, she said the former aides deleted recently created files Monday, the day before they walked out. The files related to research on Ellington Field, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and Medicare, she said. James denied the accusation. "The memos, press releases, and speeches that we wrote for her in the brief time we were there were provided to her electronically or in hard copy, or both," he said. Sekula-Gibbs has attracted national attention during her brief stay in Washington, in part because she came to the Capitol in an electoral quirk. On Nov. 7, she won a special election to fill DeLay's term but fell short as a write-in candidate for the next term. But she's also raised eyebrows with the staff turmoil and ambitious goals that include reforming immigration and cutting taxes during her seven-week tenure. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/4341776.html Ego and stupidity - what a combo!
WHAT AN IDIOT!!! I love it! Lampson, at this rate, will have that seat for the next 20 years. D&D... Better Than a Root Canal!
When he was my Congressman, his voting record pretty closely mirrored what I'd expect the President's to be. He's no liberal, but he's no conservative either.
He's one of several white, conservative to moderate/conservative congressmen redistricted out of office in the middle of the redistricting cycle by Tom DeLay, and the idiotic GOP Lege. They were in majority Republican districts, and were reelected because the people in those districts thought they were doing a good job. Most of them, had this not happened, would have been up for powerful chairmanships on committees in Congress, and other powerful positions. Texas lost that, a natural part of the election cycle violated by this extreme example of partisanship. Republicans have a lot to "thank" Tom DeLay for, as well as other Texans. The guy was, and is, a really evil little b*stard. The darling of the GOP. D&D. Better Than Dyin'!
The district that includes Beaumont was not a Republican district. It is the most Democratic (although moderate) district in the State. IIRC, it was the only district in Texas that Gore won.
Lampson is a 2-year rental who is in office only because of the ballot snafu that kept SSG's name off. He's toast in the next election. He's meaningless.
Off topic, but I like that "no mandate?" which is apparently implying that with all the red on the map, Bush was a clear, obvious winner in 2000. Of course, empty scrubland in the west doesn't really vote and square mileage is not represented in the electoral college, so.......
2000 was a weird election. Gore carried most of the population centers, but Bush carried almost all of the rural areas, small towns, etc. If you were a republican, it made for good, misleading visuals.
