Senator Rodney Ellis's legislative record and career in Texas

Senator Rodney Ellis

Texas State Senator Rodney Ellis, a Democrat representing District 13 in Houston, has been a member of the Senate since 1990. He graduated from Texas Southern University with a Bachelor of Arts; he received his M.P.A. (Master of Public Administration) from the Lyndon Baines Johnson School of Public Affairs, and got his J.D. (Justice of the Peace / Law Degree) from the University of Texas Law School. The senator is also a partner with Rice Financial Products Company; he is a shareholder in the Tagos Group; and he is an attorney associated with the Reaud, Morgan, & Quinn law firm. Senator Ellis is married to Licia Green-Ellis and the couple has four children. This paper reviews Ellis' career, his important issues, the controversies he has been involved in and other matters that are pertinent to this legislator.

Senator Rodney Ellis's Career and Community Involvement

Prior to being elected to the Texas Senate, Ellis served as a member of the Houston City Council; Ellis served three terms in the Houston City Council. He also served as the chief of staff for United States Congressman Mickey Leland. While in the Texas Senate, Senator Ellis has served on a number of important committees, according to his web pages on the Texas Senate website. He has chaired the Senate Finance Committee, the Senate Jurisprudence Committee and the Intergovernmental Relations Committee during his tenure in the Senate.

Presently Senator Ellis is the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Government Organization, a committed that examines "…measures to improve the efficiency of state government" (Texas Senate Website). He is also on the following committees in Austin: Senate State Affairs; Criminal Justice; Transportation and Homeland Security; and the Open Government Committees (Texas Senate Website).

Also, Ellis is proud he states on his personal page for having founded the Texas Legislative Internship Program (TLIP), which has grown to be the largest legislative internship program in the State of Texas. About 400 young people have been involved as interns and in fact three former TLIP participants "…are currently members of the Texas House of Representatives" (Texas Senate Website).

Senator Ellis's Recent Activities in Texas

Clearly Ellis has shown through his career that he is on the side of the underdog, on the side of the oppressed, on the side of minorities and women and families. He is an Africa-American but he has defended the Constitutional rights of many different nationalities and ethnicities, and has made it clear that justice should be expected and should be the norm in America.

Ellis has testified in a recent federal trial about the perception that by requiring all voters to have a voter ID the State of Texas is trying to reduce the number of minorities and elderly people who vote. Those two demographics are most likely, based on the history of voting, to vote Democrat. Ellis told the three judge panel that the Republicans in the Texas Legislature "…knew what they were doing, and they intended to do. The bill has everything to do with race," he emphasized (Martin, 2012).

The Senator said that requiring a government-issued card with a photo, or a passport or a license to carry a concealed weapon, "…would have a negative impact on black and Hispanic voters" because those minority groups are less likely to have the documents necessary to obtain a photo ID (Martin, p. 1). Another person that testified before the three-judge panel was Daron Shaw, a pollster with the University of Texas, said in contradicting Ellis that "…there is no evidence that that will occur whatsoever… It will not have an impact on turnout" (Martin, p. 2). It is worth noting that Shaw was once hired by GOP fundraiser and strategist Karl Rove to go to work on the presidential campaign of George W. Bush; in other words, Shaw was not exactly an objective witness to testify before the panel (Martin, p. 2).

Another article in the Houston Chronicle reflects that Ellis has sent a letter to the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools (TAPPS) showing his concern over two very controversial things that have happened recently. One of the issues that Ellis was concerned about related to religion and fairness. The TAPPS administrators refused to reschedule a basketball game for the Jewish Orthodox school in Houston (the Robert M. Beren Academy). The reason the school asked for a reschedule of that game is because it was originally scheduled on the Jewish Sabbath (Mulvaney, 2012).

The second incident that Ellis objected to was the way in which the TAPPS group denied membership to the Houston-based Iman Academy (an Islamic group). Along with the Iman Academy, other Muslim groups have received "questionnaires about Islam that were considered loaded and provocative by school administrators" (Mulvaney, p. 1). Among the provocative questions on the questionnaire sent to Muslim groups was the question as to whether Muslims believe "… the Bible is corrupt" and also the question as to the nature of "…the spread of Islam in America" (Mulvaney, p. 1).

Ellis's letter attempted to coax TAPPS into taking another look at their guidelines to see if they could in the future avoid being seen in "a negative light" (Mulvaney, p. 1). TAPPS is linked to 220 secular and parochial high schools in Texas, so this organization has influence and Ellis knows that pressure brought from a Texas State Senator might prove to be helpful if TAPPS continues to show signs that it is not flexible or just in its policies.

For example, Ellis wrote the following to TAPPS: "For the second time in a week, the views and rules of your organization have clashed with the reality of a changing Texas and have put your organization center stage in the discussion of religious freedom and the best interest of our children" (Mulvaney, p. 2).

Recently Senator Ellis wrote legislation to ban smoking in public places, but it did not pass. Even though the public (though various polls) supports legislation that would prohibit smoking in public places like bars, restaurants and elsewhere, the Texas Legislature has shot down those bills each time they come up (Kuffner, 2011).

Conclusion

The fact that Ellis has authored legislation on a health issue like smoking -- in a state that is usually reticent to enact laws like this -- shows that the Senator is progressive and won't back down notwithstanding the lobbying from the tobacco industry. Also, because he concerns himself with religious and racial justice, and tries to help working families in several ways, Ellis shows that he is a friend of the average person in Texas and does far more than just represent his own constituency in Houston.