Political Quotes

“Thank you very much for this Special Order hour, which we have decided to devote to the life and career of an extraordinary former colleague, Ron Dellums, the giant who has fallen and whose death has deeply affected this body. We have invited Members who have reminiscences and appreciations to come forward and to participate in remembrance of the life of Ron Dellums. I just have a few things to say. I never had the good fortune of serving with Congressman Dellums, but he was a very close friend of my family's, so, as a little boy, I grew up admiring him. He was an incredibly warm and dynamic, charismatic and brilliant man who really exuded love of people wherever he went. Among his many extraordinary achievements in public life, one of them was to bring into politics and government service our distinguished colleague Barbara Lee, who succeeded him in office and who will be taking over the Special Order hour after I say just a few words, but we should not understate the importance of that achievement. Congresswoman Lee served as his chief of staff for many years; she will tell you that story. Then he backed her for the seat that he occupied, so she is the proud and worthy successor to Congressman Dellums. But I wanted to say that, in a professional field where so many participants are known for putting their finger up to the wind and following simply what the pollsters or campaign donors are telling them to do, Ron Dellums was a diamond in the rough from day one.…”