John Doolittle: “I had the privilege of representing the adjoining region to Bob Matsui, who represented the City of Sacramento and…”

“I had the privilege of representing the adjoining region to Bob Matsui, who represented the City of Sacramento and certain surrounding areas. He and I got to know each other pretty well. We had some real contentious issues, one specific contentious issue that the Chamber is aware of dealing with water supply and flood control in our region, and we battled over that for a long time. Bob was a fearless advocate for his constituency, and it always impressed me as we went through this process of advocating our points of view and coming to the realization that we would be best served by trying to find some common ground and putting that into law. We got to know each other on a personal basis, and it was really a delightful experience. I think our constituents assumed we were bitter enemies, but that was not the case. The disagreements were never personal, and we actually became friends, and I always enjoyed seeing him. I knew he was a good family man.”