Emanuel Cleaver: “In 2003 I was teaching at the Bloch School of Business at the University of Missouri in Kansas City, serving as a talk…”

“In 2003 I was teaching at the Bloch School of Business at the University of Missouri in Kansas City, serving as a talk radio show host on NPR and pastoring a congregation. I received a phone call from Congressman Ike Skelton, who began the request for me to give up my peaceful and loving life to run for Congress as my predecessor, Karen McCarthy, had decided not to seek reelection. I chose, in large part, to pursue this office at the request of Congressman Ike Skelton. Mr. Chairman, I have three sisters whom I love dearly. From the age of about 3 to about 7, I made requests repeatedly to my parents for a brother. I'm not even sure I knew how that brother could come into existence, but I made the request nonetheless. That never happened, but I can say here in this Chamber, Mr. Speaker, that, if I had had a brother, I would have liked for his name to have been Ike. If I had had a brother, I would have liked for him to have had the patience, the intellect, and the spirit of Ike Skelton.”