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Stephanie Tubbs Jones

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Stephanie Tubbs Jones
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Ohio's 11th district
Assumed office
January 3, 1999
Preceded byLouis Stokes
Personal details
DiedAugust 20, 2008(2008-08-20) (aged 58)
Cleveland, Ohio
NationalityAmerican
Political partyDemocratic
SpouseWidowed
ResidenceCleveland
Alma materCase Western Reserve
Occupationattorney

Stephanie Tubbs Jones (September 10, 1949) is a Democratic politician who serves as a member of the United States House of Representatives, for the 11th District of Ohio. Her district encompasses most of downtown and eastern Cleveland and many of the eastern suburbs in Cuyahoga County including Euclid, Cleveland Heights, and Shaker Heights. The first African American woman to be elected to Congress from Ohio, she is generally described as a liberal Democrat.

On December 19, 2006, Tubbs Jones was named Chairwoman of the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct for the 110th Congress. Tubbs Jones is also a member of the House Ways and Means Committee.

On August 19, 2008, Tubbs Jones was hospitalized for a brain aneurysm and died the next afternoon after she was taken off of life support.

Personal life

Born in Cleveland, Jones graduated from the city's public schools. She received her undergraduate degree from Case Western Reserve University, graduating with a degree in Social Work from the Flora Stone Mather College in 1971. In 1974, she received her J.D. from the Case Western Reserve University School of Law.

On November 27, 1976, she married Mervyn L. Jones, Sr. They had a son, Mervyn Leroy Jones, II. The couple remained married for 27 years until October 2, 2003, when Jones, Sr. died. Mervyn Jones was charged with aggravated murder and robbery less than a year prior to marrying the future judge, county prosecutor, and Congresswoman. Jones pleaded guilty in 1976 to a lesser count of manslaughter and received "shock probation."[1]

Jones is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.

On August 19, 2008, Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs-Jones was taken to a Cleveland hospital where she was put on life support after suffering an aneurysm while driving her car. Police noticed erratic driving and identified the unconscious Tubbs-Jones when the vehicle finally came to a stop in a field.[2][3][4] She is on life support in Huron Hospital, a satellite of the Cleveland Clinic, and is not expected to recover.[5][6]

Early career

Jones was elected a judge of the Cleveland Municipal Court in 1981, and subsequently served on the Court of Common Pleas of Cuyahoga County from 1983 to 1991.

In 1990, she ran for Justice of the Supreme Court of Ohio replacing Mary Cacioppo, the winner of the Democratic Primary, who withdrew for health reasons. She narrowly lost that race to Republican incumbent J. Craig Wright[7].

She then served as the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor from 1991 until resigning in early 1999, when she resigned to take her seat in Congress. She was succeeded as prosecutor by William D. Mason.

U.S. House of Representatives

In 1998, Jones won the Democratic nomination for the 11th District after 30-year incumbent Louis Stokes announced his retirement. This all but assured her of election in the heavily Democratic, black-majority 11th. She has been reelected four times with no substantive opposition.

Jones was a co-chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee. Some argue her actions angered the White House and her district suffered with the loss of federal jobs. Despite representing a heavily unionized district, she was a strong proponent of free trade. Tubbs Jones most recently took a lead role in the fight to pass the Peru Free Trade Agreement (FTA) in November of 2007, though her efforts have not been successful as of yet.

In 2004, she served as the chairwoman of the platform committee at the Democratic National Convention and as a member of the Ohio delegation. She strongly supported Sen. John Kerry in his campaign to become President of the United States. On January 6, 2005, she joined U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) in objecting to the certification of the 2004 U.S. presidential election results for Ohio.

Being the sponsor she was one of the 31 who voted in the House to not count the electoral votes from Ohio in the 2004 election.[8]

In 2005, she came under fire after being named the congressperson with the fourth-highest (59)[9] total trips sponsored by lobbyists.[citation needed] She was selected by Speaker Nancy Pelosi as chairperson of the House Ethics Committee to watch over the standards of ethical conduct for members of the House. Tubbs Jones was popular in her district, and was routinely reelected against nominal Republican opposition. She received 83.44% of the vote in the recent 2006 elections, against Republican Lindsey String. Tubbs Jones recently faced no opposition in the 2008 Ohio Democratic primary.

Tubbs Jones appeared on The Colbert Report's "Better Know a District" in an episode airing November 3, 2005.


Committee Assignments

  • Committee on Standards of Official Conduct (Chair)
  • Ways and Means Committee
    • Subcommittee on Health
    • Subcommittee on Oversight
    • Subcommittee on Social Security

Electoral history

Ohio's 11th congressional district: Results 1998–2006[10]
Year Democrat Votes Pct Republican Votes Pct 3rd Party Party Votes Pct 3rd Party Party Votes Pct
1998 Stephanie Tubbs Jones 115,226 80% James Hereford 18,592 13% Jean M. Capers Independent 9,477 7%
2000 Stephanie Tubbs Jones 164,134 85% James J. Sykora 21,630 11% Joel C. Turner Libertarian 4,230 2% Sonja Glavina Natural Law 3,525 2%
2002 Stephanie Tubbs Jones 116,590 76% Patrick Pappano 36,146 24%
2004 Stephanie Tubbs Jones 222,371 100% (no candidate)
2006 Stephanie Tubbs Jones 146,799 83% Lindsey N. String 29,125 17%

References

  1. ^ See case No. CR-76-023712-ZA against defendant No. 25759; criminal docket and case summary.
  2. ^ http://www.wtol.com/Global/story.asp?S=8871426
  3. ^ http://blog.cleveland.com/plaindealer/2008/08/us_rep_stephanie_tubbs_jones_i.html
  4. ^ http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/ohio-station-tubbs-jones-may-be-taken-off-life-support-2008-08-20.html
  5. ^ http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/statement-office-congresswoman-stephanie-tubbs/story.aspx?guid=%7B7E95ABB7-478C-42C1-BCA4-1C06C484513C%7D&dist=hppr MarketWatch, per Congresswoman's office statement
  6. ^ http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/08/20/politics/main4366360.shtml
  7. ^ Election Results, sos.state.oh.us, URL Retrieved 23 December 2007
  8. ^ http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2005/roll007.xml
  9. ^ http://projects.publicintegrity.org/powertrips/default.aspx
  10. ^ "Election Statistics". Office of the Clerk of the House of Representatives. Retrieved 2008-01-10.

See also

U.S. House of Representatives
Preceded by Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Ohio's 11th congressional district
1999–Present 		Succeeded by
Incumbent
Political offices
Preceded by
Doc Hastings
Washington
 Chair of House Ethics Committee
2007–Present 		Succeeded by
Present
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