What's Driving Miss Shelia?

Not surprisingly, Lee made few close ties to other lawmakers. While other members played cards together, or went out for lunch or dinner, or at least chatted casually on the floor of the House, Lee would stand apart and alone. "She doesn't have any close friends among the members," says a former aide. "And as a consequence, it's very difficult for her to get things done."

Lee often touts her appointment as whip to the Congressional Black Caucus as an indication of respect from fellow African-American members. But a former legislative aide explains that the whip's job isn't a coveted one. And besides, Lee has brittle relationships with other caucus members -- notably with California's Maxine Waters, who campaigned for Washington in his race against Lee.

"She's a loner," comments a former driver who attended events with Lee. "Sometimes you'd feel sorry for her because she was always alone. You'd see a crowd of congressmembers gathered together at some point in time, and she was there but always outside of the group."

That lack of connection hurt Lee two months ago, when she sought a coveted appointment to the Commerce Committee. Though Lee had the advantage of belonging to the Steering Committee, which decides appointments, she could not secure the recommendation of the Texas delegation. The delegation instead recommended Gene Green, and usually that decision would have settled matters; most often, the Steering Committee simply accepts a delegation's choice. But Lee refused to back off and contested Green's nomination in committee meetings. He was appointed anyway.

A staff member tried to discuss the matter with Lee, and remembers this response: "I don't care. Fuck them. I'm going to do what I want to do. I'm representing the people."

The question, of course, is how effectively she is representing them.

In Houston, Lee has become legendary for cruising every possible funeral, marriage or political gathering, and for seizing such opportunities to deliver thinly veiled political speeches. Last year, when her office coordinated Barbara Jordan's funeral, some local black officials grumbled that Lee had used the affair to burnish her own image, hogging all the camera angles with President Clinton.

The carping was even louder when Lee staged a Houston memorial for Commerce Secretary Ron Brown, who died in a plane crash in Bosnia. Even Lee's own staff thought the memorial smacked of political opportunism. "She tried to give the impression she was a personal friend of his, which was not true," says a former legislative aide.

James Daily remembers one grim task that usually fell to a junior aide, Sean Connally. The Lee district office would occasionally call Washington with instructions from the congresswoman to produce letters commemorating the funerals of constituents' loved ones.

"We wouldn't know who they were," says Daily. Often, Connally used the Chronicle obituary as reference when typing the letter of condolence.

Lee says constituents expect her presence at their loved ones' gravesides: "Let me frankly say to you, I will continue to go to funerals because I am a member of the family. I have enough caring, have been around this community long enough and gone to enough churches, that there are people I know who pass away, and so I'll be there -- not out of any need other than to say this is a community family. This is what is comfortable to many of my constituents, and if I can provide a measure of support or dignity or added respect to the homegoing of their loved one, I will do that."

Even her detractors admit that her tactics have strengthened her support in the 18th District. But many question the taste of politicking at funerals. A lobbyist for a corporation that strongly backs Lee calls the spectacle "grotesque." And a former aide goes even further: "Personally, I think it's obscene and disrespectful to family members who are grieving. She's just campaigning."

Lee's supporters explain her high staff turnover by saying that most employees don't share her zeal for serving her district. After all, they say, didn't young Lyndon Johnson provide superlative constituent services while chewing through staff like a lawn mower?

Former Lee staffers point to a major difference between Lee and LBJ. "There are no good constituent services in her office," claims one. "How can you have it when you have such instability? Where do you have any follow-through? Each time you have to keep learning the issue over and over."

They also point out that Lee uses staff in ways that promote her own image at the expense of constituents. When staffers are required to accompany Lee to events or put in appearances on her behalf, they have less time to secure passports or track down late Social Security checks.