Sam Farr: “I rise with deep regret that David Bonior is leaving this institution. I arrived here about 9 years ago. It was in a…”

“I rise with deep regret that David Bonior is leaving this institution. I arrived here about 9 years ago. It was in a special election. But I think of all the people I have met, David Bonior was the kindest person I met. What I have learned over the years of working here is, this is a tough institution; and to survive and to be into leadership, you have got to have tough skin, but you have also got to have a kind and soft heart. The wonderful thing about David Bonior is how much he gives of himself to everybody else's problem. He will come to your district. And when he sees a wrong, he is out there trying to right it, whether it is in the fields of farm workers in California, whether it is in the stockyards, wherever it may be in the United States, where men and women are suffering or are not having a fair wage, a fair treatment in their workplace, David Bonior is the first to be there to understand the problem and the first on the floor to talk about righting that wrong. The people of Michigan are so fortunate to have this person in elective office. I hope they have the good wisdom to select him as governor because he is going to be a great leader in this country as a governor, as he was a Member of the House of Representatives. He rose to a leadership position. Who knows, if he were staying here, he could have been Speaker of the House, perhaps Vice President of the country, and maybe those days will still come.…”