Committee chief a 'political junkie'

Rep. Leon Howard only African-American to lead panel, also loves his wrecker business

By RODDIE A. BURRIS

rburris@thestate.com

After six months at the Legislature each year, Rep. Leon Howard is glad to get back to his wrecker, racing to help emergency crews.

Not that he doesn’t enjoy what he does at the State House; he loves it.

“I’m a political junkie,” he confesses. “I can get a million calls a day, and it doesn’t bother me.”

These days, the 49-year-old Columbia Democrat leads the only standing committee chaired by an African-American or a Democrat, in either body of the General Assembly.

The House Medical, Military and Municipal Affairs Committee, which oversees issues such as health care, chose Howard to succeed Rep. Joe Brown, who led the panel but was defeated in November.

“I like their choice,” said House Speaker Bobby Harrell, R-Charleston.

In times past, though, Howard’s zeal for his “everyday job” as a wrecker was muted.

A rigorous, racist protocol that extended even to towing cars once made Howard and other black towers unwelcome at accident scenes in South Carolina.

“The city, for instance, had only two wreckers that were allowed to do business in the city,” Howard recalled.

Of course, neither of those businesses was Howard’s Garage, which his father, Wilbert, founded in 1955.

He trained Howard and his brother Puff to operate the business in every way from repairing a fender-bender to accounting to rebuilding a Mustang from the ground up.

“No matter how qualified you were, you couldn’t get on the road,” though, Howard said.

He remembered once when he and his brother, hoping to get some business, rushed their truck to a wreck scene being worked by the Highway Patrol.

When they arrived, the trooper wrote them a ticket for coming and made them leave. They left but returned later. “Didn’t I tell you not to come back down here?” the trooper scolded.

The trooper arrested both Howard brothers and called a white-owned towing company to haul in their wrecker, Howard said.

“The South Carolina Highway Patrol was the biggest bunch of racists ever,” he said, recounting other occasions of discrimination and racial profiling dating decades.

Howard was elected to represent the state’s 76th House district, which runs from Harden Street to Clemson Road, in 1995.

Before he ran, Howard said he checked in with other likely candidates. “I had interest in the seat, but I didn’t want a blood bath in order to get it,” he said.

Howard was attracted to politics much as he was attracted to mechanics and antique cars: through his father.

He watched people such as Columbia Assistant Fire Chief Claude Stewart back in the 1950s, former Columbia City Councilman W.R. Rogers, Richland County Councilwoman Bernice Scott and Columbia Mayor Bob Coble.

“Bob Coble is a good, good friend of mine,” said Howard, who cast his lot with Coble by campaigning for the mayor in his successful bid to unseat Patton Adams.

“I was his friend long before he ran for mayor,” Howard said. “It wasn’t based on winning. I was going to go up with him or down with him.”

Another influence on Howard occurred in church. A deacon, Fred Miller, got him excited about working in the church, and it was there Howard overcame his fear of public speaking.

Howard is a trustee at Antioch Baptist Church in Columbia.

One of Howard’s long-standing passions is the NAACP. He uses a catchy jingle to explain how he feels about the civil rights organization: “There is no expiration date on my commitment to the NAACP,” he said.

This year, Howard also leads the 35-member, potential-packed Legislative Black Caucus and is determined to make the body a results-oriented force that truly delivers for the 1.1 million black South Carolinians it represents.

Fellow legislators said it was Howard’s persuasiveness that drew a record turnout of black lawmakers to the caucus’ organizational meeting last week, including seven senators.

Differences between black House and Senate members and difficulties in getting legislation passed in the Republican-controlled Legislature have stymied progress for the caucus in years past.

Howard said the caucus this year is a biblical mix of the young and the old, the strong and those who know the way.

The leadership roles Howard currently enjoys enable his concerns to be heard by those who can help, he says. But he knows it’s all fleeting.

“This power is only for a season,” he said. “You’ve got to do all you can for that season.”

Reach Burris at (803) 771-8398.

LEON HOWARD

Age: 49

Residence: Columbia

Education: Graduate, C.A. Johnson High School; associate’s degree, Midlands Technical College

Occupation: Legislator; president, Howard’s Garage & Wrecker Service

Personal: Single

Political: S.C. House member, 1995-present; House Medical, Military and Municipal Affairs chairman, 2006-present; Legislative Black Caucus chairman, 2006-present; Richland School District 1 board trustee, 1991-94; school board chairman, 1995