Political Quotes

“I rise to pay tribute to our colleague, and more importantly, my dear friend Congressman Dutch Ruppersberger. By any standard, Dutch has had an exceptional career with 38 years in public office, beginning when he was first elected to the Baltimore County Council in 1985. Even before our time together in Congress, Dutch and I shared a common bond as we are both proud graduates of Baltimore City College High School. Maryland is grateful to be the home of City College as it is our Nation's third oldest public high school and its alumni include three Maryland Governors and the late U.S. Representative Elijah Cummings. Dutch's decision to seek public office began after a serious car crash while he was working as a prosecutor a decade earlier which nearly claimed his life. Dutch credits the facility now known as the R. Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center at the University of Maryland for two things: saving his life and setting him on his political path. I am dually grateful to the doctors at the University of Maryland for their quick thinking and expertise which has, in turn, presented Dutch with the grit, determination, and circumstances to run for office and serve 11 successful terms in the House of Representatives. Dutch is a Marylander through and through, born and educated in Baltimore, and his quick rise in the Baltimore County State's Attorney office was therefore not surprising.…”