Congresswoman’s campaign claims she’s been ‘100% on LGBT issues for 20 years’ despite vote for DOMA
Dallas Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson has been running misleading campaign ads, boasting a perfect record on LGBT issues when she voted in favor of the anti-gay Defense of Marriage Act in 1996.
The issue of the ads surfaced this week after Johnson placed her longtime chief of staff on administrative leave for an email he allegedly wrote in 2010 that criticized a gay staffer.
Despite repeated attempts by Dallas Voice over three days, neither Johnson nor a spokesman for her office responded to requests for comment this week.
Johnson received a 100 percent score for her voting record from the Human Rights Campaign in 2010, but she hasn’t always had a perfect score. Her first score in 1994 was 100, followed by an 89 in 1996 after the 104th Congress.
Her score reflected the 11 points deducted for voting in favor of the Defense of Marriage Act, which prohibits the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages.
She voted in favor of DOMA along with 342 other members of Congress, with only 67 voting against it. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Houston, entered present during the vote. Jackson Lee scored a 100 that year.
Two terms later, in the scorecard for the 106th Congress, Johnson was given a score of 90 for not voting in favor of an amendment to restore $10 million to the Housing Opportunities for People with AIDS program after the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development cut the program’s budget.
Johnson has since maintained her 100 score for the last 12 years. But her current campaign ad that ran in the Voice last week states that she is “100% on LGBT issues for 20 years.” A 2010 ad reads that she had been 100 percent for 18 years.
Johnson is now a co-sponsor for the Respect for Marriage Act, which would repeal DOMA, as well as a co-sponsor of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act and Student Non-Discrimination Act.
In a 2010 interview with Dallas Voice, Johnson said, “When they [the LGBT community] really got my attention was when they [anti-gay conservatives] were talking about putting something in the Constitution,” she said, apparently referring to efforts to pass a federal marriage amendment in 2004 and 2006. “You know, I have never seen them amend the Constitution to take rights away from people. So that’s just the beginning and the end of my philosophy.”
During the current election cycle, Dallas Voice has inquired about whether Johnson plans to sign a Freedom To Marry petition in support of adding marriage equality to the Democratic National Committee’s platform. Johnson’s office has not responded to the newspaper’s inquiries.
HRC spokesman Michael Cole-Schwartz confirmed in an email that Johnson voted for DOMA in 1996, adding that she “has a long history of supporting the LGBT community.”
“While her vote for DOMA in the ’90s was disappointing, we are glad that she’s on the right side of history today calling for its repeal,” Cole-Schwartz wrote.
Openly gay Dallas County District Clerk Gary Fitzsimmons said every candidate for public office needs to be certain that the advertisements they run are true.
“Anybody running for public office including me have to be very careful that we are scrupulously factual in our campaign messaging,” he said.
While he added that Johnson “certainly has an admirable record on LGBT issues,” he said he hadn’t been aware of her vote in favor of DOMA.
In fact, many people, including her campaign staff, expressed shock when Dallas Voice brought the vote to their attention.
Omar Narvaez, president of the Dallas chapter of Stonewall Democrats, said Johnson has always supported the LGBT community and has the most LGBT staffers of any other member of Congress.
“If that is true, than that’s the perfect example of the LGBT community educating an elected official to be on the correct side of equality,” Narvaez said about Johnson supporting DOMA. “I don’t know how many people have a record better than that that are still serving in Congress.”
Narvaez said that there “could be a mistake somewhere” among the staffers who may have overlooked the DOMA vote 16 years ago, leading to the incorrect ads.
The email Johnson’s chief of staff Murat Gokcigdem allegedly wrote in 2010 was sent to the Washington Blade on May 14 and reveals how Gokcigdem didn’t think a gay legislative aide was prepared for a position in the U.S. Treasury Department.
The aide, Christopher Crowe, was seeking a recommendation as one of four finalists for special assistant to the undersecretary of budget and tax in the Treasury Department. Crowe, who headed the LGBT Congressional Staff Association, died last year of a staph infection.
Gokcigdem’s June 2010 email was intended for Johnson, but was mistakenly sent to Crowe.
In the email, Gokcigdem wrote that he couldn’t believe Crowe was a serious candidate because he was underqualified and lacked the “expertise or the vast knowledge,” suggesting that Crowe was only being considered because he was gay.
“It is my personal belief that he has contacts there [in the White House],” Gokcigdem wrote. “And they, as a group watching and supporting each other if you know what I mean.”
He also wrote that Crowe’s performance was “somewhat satisfactory” and mentions that he “had issues with him both professionally and personally” before asking how he should proceed in a drafting a letter for Crowe.
Narvaez said the email is a “non-issue” and should not affect voters’ decisions because Johnson did the right thing by investigating it.
“This is two years later and in all honesty what the email was in regards to had more to do with … helping him than any kind of anti-LGBT bias of any kind,” he said. “I do believe this is all politically motivated.”
Johnson is facing two challengers in the Democratic primary, for which early voting started the day the email was leaked. This is the first time Johnson has faced primary competition since her election in 1992.
Narvaez attributes the email to a disgruntled staffer, citing the scholarship scandal in 2010 in which Johnson awarded scholarships to her grandchildren without knowing it was against the rules.
Dallas attorney Taj Clayton and state Rep. Barbara Mallory Caraway, D-Dallas, are running against Johnson in the primary.
Caraway didn’t respond to requests for comment, and Clayton declined to speak out against Johnson’s record.
Clayton said he is in favor of marriage equality and opposes DOMA.
“I’m in this race not to tear down but to build up our community and the constituents that I seek to represent so I’m running on my own record,” Clayton said. “Her votes speak for herself — all of them.”
This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition May 18, 2012.
It look like South Dallas and Oaklawn have the dummest voters on Earth.
Evidently they are not as “dum” as you, preppystudent.
98.6% An AMAZING record!
98.6% is an AMAZING Record, thank you Congresswoman Johnson for your support of the LGBT community. This article seems petty.
98.6% lifetime score is an AMAZING record. Thank you Congresswoman Johnson for your support of the LGBT ommunity!
I live in south Dallas and we want this low life stealing from children “thug” out of office. Yes South Dallas and Oak Lawn have stupid voters. There are more important issues at stake in this country than being gay. 30 years of EBJ is 30 years too long. Were are term limits????? If you don’t have “thug” tendencies south Dallas will not vote for you.
Come on Phillip… stop drinking her Kool-Aid. It’s an insult to our community that she “reaches out” to us touting a pro-LGBT record when she voted for the DOMA. The DOMA is the SINGLE STRONGEST PIECE OF LEGISLATION used to discriminate against us nationwide.
If her support is so strong, why is she so quiet about Obama’s gay marraige endorsement? The truth is that she supports us when it’s convenient but come election time, she’s scared of the bible-thumping gay-hating members of the black community.
Wait Lewis, but she is a co sponsor of the repeal of DOMA, the original co sponsor of Matthew Shepherd Hate Crimes Legislation, the original co sponsor of Employee Non Discrimination Act and so on. and let me get this right, her record is 99% on Gay issues instead of 100% over 20 years. Who has a record to match that in this area on our issues? Henserling? Sessions? Anyone who has ever been to Washington to advocate for LGBT issues has always found her door open and a receptive ear. Not an easy thing to find in Washington.
Fireplug- Right, you actually calling me dumb that I’m going to vote for someone that will bring change to our offices? You must be out of your mind, what ever happened to character? My questions is why have other Gay people don’t think about ther other issues? What about the econmony? Job? Gas Prices? We got to take care about that, Gay Issues and immigration are issues I care about also, but we got to get theses 1st 3 issues first out of the way until you touch the others. I guess I’m dumb too if I want to vote for someone other than Price as well?
EBJ also has a dubious record with conflicts of interest and insider scholarship awards that can’t be condoned, no matter her seniority or the work she has done. I’m sorry that there’s the potential to lose her seniority in the House, such as it is, but I’ve been disappointed with her office in recent years.
Preppy student, go back to school and educate yourself PLEASE! Thru EBJ’s dollars brought back to this district it is estimated that she has created upwards of 40,000 jobs across North Texas and district 30. And Simon, I am not sure how a record of supporting LGBT issues is dubious….
Yes “Preppy student” Dallas and the gay community have dumb voters like PHILLIPand Sebastian. People like Phillip and Sabastian are why Dallas is so far behind other big city’s on the gay issues. Phillip and Sebastian and others like them don’t even know about the bad economy or the jobless in their community. Phillip and Sebastian seem to have tunnel vision and are selfish and only think of their own and are too busy bar hopping and finding a new trick every night to know what is really going on in the world or even in their own community. EBJ along with many other elected officials in the Southern Sector should be in prison but their is a double standard for Black politicians in Dallas. That’s a true fact because John Wiley Price is still walking the streets. If the Gay’s feel the only way they can get ahead is by entrusting crooks and Thugs to achieve their agenda then the Gays have lost their way. One problem with the Dallas community they have NO leadership. The Stonewall Dem’s. are a JOKE and the reason more and more Dallas gays are turning RED and leaving the Blue party. Last week the voice listed all the winners they have endorsed over the years. WHERE ARE THE PEOPLE YOU ENDORSED THAT ARE NOW OR HAVE SERVED PRISON TERMS. YOU DON’
T HAVE A GOOD TRACK RECORD.
Wow, Michael, what a pointless, brainless rant! So all black politicians in Dallas are “crooks and thugs” – what a stunningly racist statement. You sound like you belong in the Republican party. And more gays in Dallas are turning red – any proof of this asinine statement? You sound ignorant enough to beleive in a party that would deny your right to exist. The Stonewall Democrats do more in one day to promote our community’s rights than you will do in your entire pathetic lifetime.
Go crawl back underneath the rock from where you came.
show me where i said all black politicians in Dallas are crooks. You can’t retain what you read. Did you have one too many cocktails already honey. Bless your heart John Loza
Sebastian- I will give you some points though for the money she gave getting the Green Line started and yes she did, however, after the scandal, it just something that scares people. And BTW i’m getting a degree thank you very much. Michael- I agree with John’s comment, not all Black politicians are crooks. Eric Johnson is actually someone who is really good, great guy and all. Yes, Price is like that but not all of them.
As a crook, that is what I meant to say.
Michael, what a tough, intellectually sound response you offer! Bless your tiny little mind Michael.
Loza, michael sounds an awful lot like sharon boyd. must be her drag name.