EAST CLEVELAND, Ohio, Aug. 20, 2008
Ohio Lawmaker Dies After Brain Hemorrhage
Democrat Stephanie Tubbs Jones, 58, Was First Black Woman To Represent Ohio In Congress
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Congresswoman Suffers Aneurysm
"CBS News RAW:" Ohio Congresswoman and Democratic superdelegate Stephanie Tubbs Jones has suffered an aneurysm and remains on life support in critical condition at a Cleveland hospital.
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In this May 8, 2006 file photo, Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones, D-Ohio, questions the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections during a meeting in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Mark Duncan)
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Tubbs Jones, 58, died Wednesday evening of a brain hemorrhage caused by an aneurysm that burst and left her with limited brain function, said Eileen Sheil, a spokeswoman for the Cleveland Clinic, which owns the Huron Hospital in East Cleveland where Tubbs Jones died.
"Throughout the course of the day and into this evening, Congresswoman Tubbs Jones' medical condition declined," Sheil said in a statement from the clinic and Tubbs Jones' family.
The liberal Democrat, first elected in 1998, suffered the hemorrhage while driving her car in Cleveland Heights Tuesday night, said Dr. Gus Kious, president of Huron Hospital. The car went out of control and crossed lanes of traffic before coming to a stop, police said. An officer found the ailing lawmaker.
A brain aneurysm is a bulge in an artery in the brain. It can leak or rupture, causing bleeding in the brain.
Several news organizations, including The Associated Press, had reported earlier in the day that Tubbs Jones had died. That report, citing a Democratic official, was corrected a few minutes later when a hospital official held a news conference to say she was in critical condition.
Tubbs Jones represented the heavily Democratic 11th District and chaired the ethics committee in the House. She was the first black woman to serve on the powerful Ways and Means Committee, where she opposed President Bush's tax cuts and his efforts to create personal accounts within Social Security.
"After making history as the first African-American woman elected to Congress from Ohio, the congresswoman worked to expand the rights of all Americans," President Bush said in tribute. "Our nation is grateful for her service."
Tubbs Jones was a firm supporter of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton during the primaries until throwing her support behind Sen. Barack Obama in June. She was to have been a superdelegate at next week's Democratic National Convention in Denver.
The Clinton family released a statement saying they shared a friendship with Tubbs Jones that "deepened through every trial and challenge."
"Over the course of many years, with many ups and many downs, Stephanie was right by our side - unwavering, indefatigable," the statement said. "It was that fighting spirit ... that allowed Stephanie to rise from modest beginnings, to succeed in public service, to become a one-woman force for progress in our country."
Obama called Tubbs Jones "an extraordinary American and an outstanding public servant."
"It wasn't enough for her just to break barriers in her own life. She was also determined to bring opportunity to all those who had been overlooked and left behind - and in Stephanie, they had a fearless friend and unyielding advocate," Obama said in a statement.
Democratic U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich, who also represents Cleveland, was visibly upset Wednesday night when he left Huron Hospital. He held the hand of his wife, Elizabeth, as he recalled Tubbs Jones' energy and spirit.
"She poured her heart and soul into her job," Kucinich said. "She worked so hard and gave everything she could. I'm devastated. Wherever we'd go, we'd speak of each other as brother and sister. It's an incalculable loss."
Tubbs Jones was a passionate opponent of the Iraq war, voting in 2002 against authorizing the use of military force.
Just as the war was starting in March 2003, she was one of only 11 House members to oppose a resolution supporting U.S. troops in Iraq. She said she did so because the resolution connected Iraq to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and said Iraq poses a continued threat to the United States.
Neither of those claims had been proved, she said, adding that was why the United States couldn't persuade the United Nations to support an attack.
In 2005, Tubbs Jones opposed certifying President Bush's re-election because of questionable electoral results in her home state.
Tubbs Jones was known as an outspoken, gregarious lawmaker who wore bright colors and displayed her congressional pin on a gold necklace.
She was a fiery speaker who could inspire crowds at political rallies, as she did while introducing former President Clinton when he campaigned for his wife in January in suburban Cleveland.
Tubbs Jones had served as a Cuyahoga County Common Pleas judge and prosecutor before running for political office.
Addressing the Democratic National Convention in 2004, Tubbs Jones recalled her parents, who "punched a clock day in and day out - one as a skycap, the other as a factory worker," until the day they saw their daughter representing their hometown as a congresswoman.
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See all 136 CommentsI have heard of "mean-spirited" in my time, but you take the cake. That is absolutely disgusting. "She didn''t support my candidate, so I don''t care if she dies."
Rent a clue. Learn common decency. You are a walking monument to shameless behavior.
Posted by Alexthek
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It doesn''t matter if she supported my candidate or not. I just don''t like Hillary supporters. I''d have more sympathy if she had supported McCain, Huckabee, Obama, or anyone other than Hillary.
Concorde is an idiot still living in his mothers basement, pay no mind such idiocy.
She is a good woman and I hope she has a seedy and complete recover.
I apologize for my previous comments.
I wish they''d advance full-body screening to the point where it can detect aneurysms and aortic dissections early enough for treatment and be inexpensive enough to do annually. Most aneurysms are there most of your life just waiting to MAYBE strike. We need ways to find them before its too late.
tiddsanbeer - what a sad excuse for a human being you are.....
tiddsanbeer - what a sad excuse for a human being you are.....
tiddsanbeer - what a sad excuse for a human being you are.....
tiddsanbeer - what a sad excuse for a human being you are.....
tiddsanbeer - what a sad excuse for a human being you are.....
tiddsanbeer - what a sad excuse for a human being you are.....
tiddsanbeer - what a sad excuse for a human being you are.....
Posted by airmanc5 at 01:39 PM : Aug 20, 2008
Ms. Tubbs-Jones...to you a hopeful & speedy recovery, and may G-d strike the mean-spirited dead.
Posted by haniel1 at 01:36 PM : Aug 20, 2008
I am a Daily Kos and Media Matters reader AND Obama supporter, you dolt. Just like the righties to find one or 2 losers in the crowd and paint everyone else "in the room" as one of them as well.
Talk about "Haters"! *;*
Is it hot down there nicole!
obama 08!
Posted by airmanc5 at 01:39 PM : Aug 20, 2008
Except if you check it out the haters were all righty-tighties like yourself. At least one of them had the decency to apologize. You are just an eejit.
If the Representative has dies - R.I.P.
obama 08!
Thank you for your statement.
Your one little burst of obscene hatefulness at a time when someone is passing and her loved ones are greiving shows a stark contrast between normal, moral, compassionate people with values and the GOP, which has none of the above qualities.
May God have mercy on your twisted remnant of a soul.
Now, go away.
As a courtesy to Ms. Tubb-Jones, please refrain from hate speech here. If the report that she has died is true, anyone who claims to be Christian should leave it now to Christ.
Sadly, I do not expect such courtesy from GOP,Forever or Tiddsanbeer - whose logon names explain everything. Forgive them Lord, they know not what they do.
obama 08!
If there where more o.j''s Amerikkka would be a better place.
May God have mercy on your twisted remnant of a soul.
Now, go away.
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Posted by roooth
Please don''t associate GOPForever with the GOP. That''s simply stereotyping the many with the bad example of the few. I would hope that we are more intelligent than that.
Tubbs just be gettin'''' her share.
Posted by tiddsanbeer
Is that what happened to your brain?
You''re hooking quite a few newbies today! If they only knew that you make posts not to express your opinion, but to infuriate others. You are as blue as the ocean & by making perverted statements that appear to come from Repub you''re trying to get people to dislike Repubs. (They need no help in that Dept.)
Well, I guess you have to get on with your day suckering people into responding to the stink bait you throw out. Good Luck & Good Fishing!
She was removed from life support at 12:19 p.m. at Huron Road Hospital, the sources said.
http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2008/08/stephanie_tubbs_jones_dies.html
Something interesting about her in wikipedia: "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."
Figures - thanks Pelosi.
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Posted by blackisbest
What is the matter with you?
Have some respect for Stephanie Tubbs Jones, she is a really good person.
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