Burnt Orange Report

Pete Sessions Doesn't Represent the Blacks Either

By Byron LaMasters

I've said in the past that one of the reasons I first got involved in politics was when I heard in 2000 that Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Dallas) said at a town hall meeting that he "didn't represent the gays". I had just turned 18, it was the summer before my senior year in high school, and I decided to call the campaign office of Pete Sessions' Democratic opponent Regina Montoya Coggins. I started to volunteer with the campaign, and I really haven't looked back since then.

Well, Pete Sessions has demonstated clearly that he doesn't intend to represent gays and lesbians, but in the past week, he's also clearly demonstated that he doesn't represent African-Americans. It's one thing to vote against the interests of the NAACP, but it's another to screw over a majority African-American neighborhood, and propose to name their post office after one of your campaign donors. That's just what Pete Sessions did. The Dallas Morning News reports:

Few items on the congressional agenda slip through the legislative process as routinely as naming a new post office. But in the case of the Hamilton Park post office, the big slip may have been Rep. Pete Sessions'.

A month ago, the U.S. House approved Mr. Sessions' suggestion that the new mail facility in the historic black neighborhood near Central Expressway and Forest Lane be named for Vaughn Gross, a longtime educator in the Richardson Independent School District. Mrs. Gross served as principal of Hamilton Park Pacesetter Magnet School for five years.

But that five years is the extent of Mrs. Gross' connection with Hamilton Park, some residents complain. They say Mr. Sessions selected her despite the community's suggestion that the new post office be named for the Rev. Robert Price, pastor of the New Mount Zion Baptist Church for 38 years.

Mr. Sessions, who has a child with Down syndrome, wanted to honor Mrs. Gross for her work in special education. He has known her for several years, through her husband Tex, an active Republican Party member and a donor to Mr. Sessions' past campaigns.

[...]

"We have nothing against Mrs. Gross as a person," said Shirley Pleasant, who is leading a petition drive to block Mr. Sessions' bill when it goes to the Senate for approval. "Our major concern is that she isn't currently a resident of Hamilton Park and never has been a resident here."

And Mrs. Gross is white. While residents said they didn't want to make race the focal point of the objections, Hamilton Park occupies a unique place in Dallas County history.

"Mrs. Gross did a wonderful job at the school," said Sadye Gee, long involved in Hamilton Park civic affairs. "But this is a unique black community. We're celebrating its 50th anniversary at this very moment. It's named for a black physician, and we should like to see everything named for a black leader so the children in the future will look at it with pride."

U.S. Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, a Dallas Democrat, echoed that concern.

"It's historically a black neighborhood, and our sentiment is that [the post office] should have been named after someone from the neighborhood," she said.

Finally, Pete Sessions is listening the objections of the Black community, but only after it's become a political issue. Sessions response to this issue is typical of many Republicans who represent Black communities. They only respond when the community protests. Sessions finally is willing to compromise, but it took the community having to make their voice heard about the issue:

Now Mr. Sessions' office wants to make sure that Hamilton Park residents get a say in naming the post office at Schroeder Road and Forest Lane, something that didn't happen before.

"We talked to a variety of people within the Richardson school district who thought it was a good opportunity," Mr. Harrison said. "We are trying to ascertain the views of the community as we speak."

Mr. Sessions learned that residents favored naming the post office for Dr. Price only within the last two weeks, after the House vote, his staff said.

Perhaps the most instructive insight into the mind of Pete Sessions is this:

Dr. Price's supporters sent packets with letters and petitions to both Johnsons early in the post office project. But Sessions aides said they never received that material when he began to represent the 32nd District.

"I don't know whether Sam turned that information over," Mrs. Pleasant said, "but Mr. Sessions, I guess, never consulted with the community, either.

With all the redistricting over the past decade in the area, the residents were confused and didn't know who to turn to. First they were represented by Eddie Bernice Johnson, then Sam Johnson and now Pete Sessions. In the latest redistricting, Hamilton Park has been taken out of the 32nd, so the residents there will have a new congressman next year regardless of who wins the Frost / Sessions race. Instead of going to the community in Hamilton Park and asking who the community would like to name the post office after, Sessions went to his donor base.

In other CD 32 news, Martin Frost and Pete Sessions signed an agreement to disavow outside ads that Frost proposed several weeks ago when a group with racist ties ran attack ads against Frost. The Dallas Morning News has the story:

It's an agreement that's signed, sealed, ready for delivery and, compared with politics as usual, pretty extraordinary.

After nearly two weeks of dickering and bickering, rival congressmen Pete Sessions and Martin Frost pledged Tuesday night to disavow any media advertisement or advocacy action not authorized by their campaigns.

Television, radio or newspaper advertisements? Stay away, they say to all third parties.

Direct mail pieces? Interest groups should save their stamps, the congressmen suggest.

"We believe that this type of communication from 'outside' groups, political parties and individuals does far more to divide and alienate voters than enlighten or inform them," the congressmen jointly wrote in a letter the campaigns say they will distribute to 1,500 interest groups beginning today.

"Voters in the 32nd District of Texas deserve the opportunity to make an informed choice for Congress based on the views expressed by the candidates themselves," wrote Mr. Sessions, a four-term Republican, and Mr. Frost, a 13-term Democrat. "We ask that you show these voters the respect they deserve and honor our request to refrain from unauthorized voter communication."

The Frost campaign has the full text of the pledge here.

And to donate to Martin Frost, Click Here.