Ken Calvert: “I first met Sonny a little over 3 years ago. The only contact I had with Sonny prior to that is when I had dinner at his…”

“I first met Sonny a little over 3 years ago. The only contact I had with Sonny prior to that is when I had dinner at his restaurant in Palm Springs, Sonny's. We both share that common background. My family was in the restaurant business for close to 45 years. Three years ago we started this relationship and we became very close, both as friends and as colleagues. We represented most of Riverside County, shared a district line in many communities together. And he always just was so excellent at what he did in representing his constituents, and let me put a word in for his staff, especially Brian, his chief of staff, who did an excellent job for Sonny over the years; Frank, Beverly, the whole staff. I would like to talk briefly about the last time I saw Sonny. I got a call on a Friday afternoon that, this was two weeks before Christmas, that Sonny wanted to have a meeting, and I am sure all of us were busy, all had things that we wanted to do that Sunday two weeks before Christmas, but Sonny wanted to meet with us, it was important. And we were all there: Jerry Lewis, George Brown, Duncan Hunter, myself, Sonny, meeting in his office to talk about something he loved, something we all care about: The Salton Sea. And for two-and-a-half hours we sat in his office and we discussed ways we could finally resolve this issue that was important to every one of us.”