Darrell Issa: “authoring this bill was a unique pleasure for me, for I have known Ron Packard for all but 2 years of the time that he…”

“authoring this bill was a unique pleasure for me, for I have known Ron Packard for all but 2 years of the time that he was a Member of Congress. But what I did not know until I arrived here was what kind of a special Representative Ron Packard was while he was here in Congress. Time after time Members on both sides of the aisle would come up to me and talk about something special they had with Ron, perhaps a difficult situation long into the night on a piece of legislation either here on the floor or in committee, or some piece of appropriations that both sides were wrangling with how to make it work. And Ron would quietly smile, give a kind word, listen, and try to make things happen. That attitude, that way of doing business, was what everyone remembered about Ron. What we also remember about Ron Packard is that he was able to have that unique talent so seldom found in this body, but so admired when it is found. Ron was able to be fiercely partisan in his beliefs and totally open and bipartisan in the way he approached problems, in the way he dealt with Members on both sides of the aisle. Ron was known as a man who was already not only an adult, but a father and on his way to being a grandfather before he discovered the game of golf. He did not use golf as a tool against anyone, he used it as an opportunity to come to the other side of the aisle to say, let us go talk about something and maybe catch a round of golf.”