Lacy Clay

Early life, education and career

Clay Jr. was born in St. Louis, Missouri, but his family moved to Washington, D.C. when his father, Bill Clay, was elected to U.S. Congress. His mother was Carol Ann (Johnson).

In his teenage years, Clay Jr. attended public schools in Silver Spring, Maryland and graduated in the Springbrook High School Class of 1974. He then attended the University of Maryland-College Park, earning a degree in political science and certification to be a paralegal. Clay is a member of Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity.

Missouri Legislature

Clay entered the Missouri House of Representatives in 1983, the same year that he graduated. In 1991, he was elected to the Missouri Senate.

U.S. House of Representatives

In 2000, Clay Sr. announced his retirement after 32 years in the U.S. Congress on the day filing for re-election closed. As a result, no serious candidates filed for office and Clay Jr. won the Democratic primary—the real contest in this heavily Democratic district—with 60 percent of the vote, and breezed to election in November. He has been reelected six times with no substantive opposition, never dropping below 70 percent of the vote.

For his first six terms, Clay Jr. represented the northern two-thirds of St. Louis, while the southern third was located in the 3rd district, represented by fellow Democrat Russ Carnahan. However, Missouri lost a congressional district as a result of the 2010 Census. The final map resulted in the 3rd district being eliminated and the 1st district absorbing all of St. Louis. Clay beat Carnahan in the August 7, 2012 primary, 63% to 34%--all but handing him a seventh term.

Committee assignments

Caucus memberships

Since his first term, Clay has been a member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. He currently chairs the House Information Policy Subcommittee. He is also a member of the House Financial Services Committee. Ordinarily, House Democrats who serve on the Financial Services Committee would have to give up their other committee assignments. However, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and House Financial Services Committee Chair Barney Frank of Massachusetts granted him a waiver allowing him to remain on the Oversight Committee.

Clay made headlines in early 2007 when, as a member of the Congressional Black Caucus (co-founded by his father), he objected to the possible inclusion of U.S. Representative Steve Cohen of Tennessee, a Caucasian who represents the majority-African American district in Memphis and had made a campaign promise to attempt to become the first white member of the CBC. Although it is not part of the CBC's bylaws that members must be black, all members so far have been black. Clay told Cohen "that he could not collaborate with the Congressional Black Caucus for the benefit of his black constituents 'until your skin turns black.'" In response to press inquiries, he said, "Mr. Cohen asked for admission, and he got his answer. He's white and the Caucus is black. It's time to move on. We have racial policies to pursue and we are pursuing them, as Mr. Cohen has learned. It's an unwritten rule. It's understood." In response to the decision, Cohen stated, "It's their caucus and they do things their way. You don't force your way in." Clay issued an official statement from his office in reply to Cohen's complaint: "Quite simply, Rep. Cohen will have to accept what the rest of the country will have to accept — there has been an unofficial Congressional White Caucus for over 200 years, and now it's our turn to say who can join 'the club.' He does not, and cannot, meet the membership criteria, unless he can change his skin color. Primarily, we are concerned with the needs and concerns of the black population, and we will not allow white America to infringe on those objectives." Some have said that since Cohen represents a district with 60 percent of African American voters, that he has a legitimate interest in helping the goals of the CBC, and the decision should not be solely based on skin color.

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington issued a report in June 2007 saying that Clay's sister Michelle Clay is a registered lobbyist for the Kansas City airport and previously for the city of St. Louis. They reported that in the 2006 election cycle, Michelle Clay's law office, Clay and Associates, received $51,800 in consulting fees from her brother's campaign funds, along with an additional $9,963 for reimbursements. In the 2004 election cycle, Michelle Clay's firm received $52,514 for consulting, and in 2002 Michelle Clay herself was paid $32,000 for campaign management and legal fees. During the 2004 election, Clay's campaign reimbursed his father more than $6,000 for book purchases.

Controversy

In January 2017, Clay became involved in an argument with Republican law makers over the right to have a painting continue to hang in the Capitol. The painting in question shows police officers apprehending suspects, and the police are depicted as pigs. The painting is displayed near the police security checkpoint. Rep Duncan D. Hunter took down the painting only to have Clay re-hang it. Several Republicans, including Doug Lamborn, Dana Rohrabacher and Brian Babin took down the painting, only to have Clay re-hang it each time. Clay then attempted to file a complaint with the Capitol Police accusing Hunter of theft. After the architect of the U.S. Capitol ruled that the painting violated the rules for the competition and ordered its permanent removal, Clay sued to overturn the decision, but his suit was dismissed by a federal judge.

Political positions

During Clay's previous seventeen years in the state legislature, he authored Missouri's Hate Crimes Law which included gender, sexual orientation and sexual identity in the criteria of what constitutes a hate crime.

Clay made it clear that he supports the Employment Non-discrimination Act which would make it illegal to discriminate against employees of any sexual orientation, notably LGBT workers. He also noted that he believes that the 33 states that are allowed to fire employees due to sexual orientation are in the wrong.

Clay has been a consistent critic of the War in Iraq and was among those who voted against the Iraq War Resolution in 2002. Clay's NPAT also displays disagreement with elements of the War on Drugs.

Clay added his name as cosponsor to a bill calling for the impeachment of Vice President Dick Cheney, House Resolution 333.

He was one of the 31 members in the U.S. House of Representatives who voted not to count the electoral votes from Ohio in the 2004 presidential election.

Clay voted against the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008.

Clay is a supporter of the Federal Reserve's program of quantitative easing and claims that it has led to economic recovery since the financial crisis of 2008.

Personal life

Clay married his wife Ivie in 1992, when he was a state senator. He filed for divorce in 2009. Ivie initially found out about the divorce "only through the media." The divorce was finalized in 2011, with Ivie Clay receiving sole physical custody of the couple's two children.