The congressman from the 5th District is Emanuel Cleaver, a Democrat first elected in 2004 and the current chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus. Read More

The congressman from the 5th District is Emanuel Cleaver, a Democrat first elected in 2004 and the current chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus.

He grew up in Waxahachie, Texas, in a three-room shack with no plumbing or electricity. He graduated from Prairie View A&M University, moved to Kansas City and earned a divinity degree, and then became pastor of St. James United Methodist Church. He was elected to the City Council in 1979 and elected mayor in 1991. As mayor, Cleaver voiced support for the Clinton administration’s changes in welfare policy, which he described as “corrective surgery.” He backed expansion of downtown’s Bartle Hall Convention Center and supported the renovation of the deteriorating Liberty Memorial, the country’s largest World War I memorial. After leaving office, he hosted a radio talk show.

In December 2003, Democratic Rep. Karen McCarthy announced that she would not run for re-election, and Cleaver was widely expected to succeed her. Few expected just how tough Cleaver’s road to Congress would be. In the primary, he faced former National Security Council aide Jamie Metzl, who raised substantial funds. Metzl hammered Cleaver on ethics issues, questioning the propriety of a loan that Cleaver took out to purchase a car wash business and his failure to pay $36,000 in back taxes on the business. Cleaver won the primary by 60%-40%.

In the general election, Cleaver faced Republican businesswoman Jeanne Patterson, who had $3 million of her own money to spend. Like Metzl, she made an issue of Cleaver’s ethics, emphasizing bribery and fraud convictions of Cleaver’s allies, though there was no evidence that he was involved in any crimes. Cleaver said that Patterson was politically inexperienced and was trying to buy the seat. Cleaver won 55%-42%. In his Kansas City base, which cast 48% of the vote, he led 71%-27%. Patterson took Jackson County 54%-43%.

In the House, Cleaver’s voting record is near the center of the Democrats, though he became more loyal in the years his party held the majority. He led Black Caucus members seeking to play a role on environmental issues and got a seat on Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming. She designated Cleaver to act as a liaison with mayors and faith communities on those issues. He proposed changing House rules to require members to lease energy-efficient vehicles in their districts. “The public would rather see a sermon than hear one,” said Cleaver, whose own taxpayer-leased car runs on used cooking grease. (He drew criticism in 2009 when it was revealed that the car’s $2,900 monthly cost was higher than that of any other House member.) When Republicans opted to kill the global warming panel after reclaiming the majority in 2010, he called the decision a “travesty.”

On the Financial Services Committee, he testified for a bill to protect employees against discrimination because of sexual orientation, citing discrimination against his gay cousin. Cleaver initially opposed the creation of the Troubled Assets Relief Program, but backed a revised version in the face of constituents’ anger. He also voted in favor of taxing bonuses paid to AIG executives in March 2009, but later acknowledged it was an ill-considered reaction to public outrage. His idea to create a Green Impact Zone in Kansas City became reality in 2009. He has been among those calling for travel and trade sanctions to be lifted on Cuba.

Cleaver continued preaching regularly at his church in Kansas City, but stepped down in 2008 in favor of his son. He has easily won re-election. In November 2010, he also won unanimous approval of the Black Caucus to be its chairman. He promised to work with Obama, whose relations with the group have been tempestuous at times, but also indicated he would not hesitate to part company with the president if the CBC perceived he was more concerned with his political fate. “We may be moving down two separate paths toward 2012,” he said.