Posted by denised in 
If the average length of stay for a chief of staff in the U.S. House is close to 7 years and you’ve gone through 11 in 11 years, it might be that you’re the meanest member of the House.
That’s what folks have been saying about Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) for years. She regularly appears in Washingtonian Magazine’s list of the “Best of Worst of Congress” and boy do her aides have the stories to back that ranking up.
One aide shared a story about her parents coming to the congressional office for a visit only to witness Jackson Lee “screaming” at their daughter and calling her a “stupid idiot” for a scheduling snafu. The Huffington Post also shares this story…
Yet another staffer remembers requesting a meeting early on in her tenure to ask how best to serve the congresswoman. Jackson Lee’s response: “What? What did you say to me? Who are you, the Congresswoman? You haven’t been elected. You don’t set up meetings with me! I tell you! You know what? You are the most unprofessional person I have ever met in my life.” With that, Jackson Lee hung up the phone. According to the same staffer, Jackson Lee “would always say, ‘What am I a prostitute? Am I your prostitute? You can’t prostitute me.’”
Jackson Lee is also apparently fond of referring to select members of her staff as “stupid motherf****ers. Classy.
Since I’ve never met a horribly bad boss who was willing to admit how lousy he/she really was, it comes as no surprise that Jackson Lee issued a statement that says her staff works hard and has fun. So do sadists. But I wonder if she’d consider, just for a moment, that she just might be a horrible boss. Maybe? Possibly? What are the odds that all 11 of your aides were “stupid mother****ers”? I mean that annoying dude, maybe. And the young woman who could never quite get it right, possibly. But all 11? All of them??
I’ve always maintained that it is possible to be a stern, all-about-business boss without being rude and condescending. Snarky, controlling, verbally abusive bosses are often incompetent people with few discernible management skills and even fewer social ones. Too bad they’re always the last to know – or care. Read more about the meanest member of the House here, and check out her “stupid m-effer” rants here.
