Political Quotes

“I appreciate the chairman, the gentleman from California, allowing me this opportunity to speak in favor of House Continuing Resolution 27. Mr. Speaker, this is a special opportunity for me, as a freshman Member of this body, in many different ways. First and foremost, it's special to me because growing up in west Michigan, my hometown of Zeeland was represented by the gentleman who went from Congressman to Vice President to President Ford at various times. And my father, who was a city councilman for many, many years during that time, actually had an opportunity to work with him and have a bit of a relationship. So I grew up around the dining room table with this lore about Gerald Ford and what it meant to be involved and to give back to your community. The second reason why it was very important to me was because of that time and that era. Being born in 1969, some of my earliest memories surrounded that turmoil of Vietnam and of Watergate, and of that time when, at the time then-Congressman Ford becoming Vice President and then becoming President of the United States. It very much shaped me as I was interested in the political process. The third thing that really makes this special to me was, later on, just prior to this, I was granted the privilege of serving my community in the Michigan House of Representatives, where I voted to replace Zachary Chandler, who had been a Governor, and the statue that represented him, I voted to replace that with Gerald Ford.”