Calvin Dooley: “I rise today in memory of our colleague and friend Walter Capps, whose generosity of spirit enriched this Chamber, the…”

“I rise today in memory of our colleague and friend Walter Capps, whose generosity of spirit enriched this Chamber, the State of California, and this country immeasurably during his tenure in the U.S. House of Representatives. He brought to this House the same intellectual rigor and deep compassion that allowed him to excel as a professor of religious studies at the University of California at Santa Barbara, as an author, as a U.S. Congressman, and as a husband and father. Representative Capps was a man of patience and principle whose leadership in the House, while brief, had a significant effect on his colleagues. He did not enjoy conflict, yet he fought with passion and sensitivity for the issues he felt were crucial to his constituents and to his own conscience. He did not make decisions lightly, but, once decided, his opinions were profoundly argued and vibrantly supported by his actions. He did not consider himself a politician, and resisted the deal-cutting and personal attacks that represent the worst part of government. Yet he himself represented the best of what politics can be, as an independent thinker, a sympathetic listener, and a devoted advocate for the concerns of his constituents and of all Americans. Walter was a man of faith, not only of the spiritual kind, but of the political kind. He had faith in the democratic process, and had faith that it would allow him to be elected even after an initial defeat.”