David Thomas: “The one thing that I enjoy almost as much as anything since I came to Congress with Jerry was to indicate that he is…”

“The one thing that I enjoy almost as much as anything since I came to Congress with Jerry was to indicate that he is leaving with my ability to say Mr. Chairman. When we first came, we were not completely believing that we would ever, ever be able to be in the majority. It was a long difficult haul. But Jerry was key to making it happen. There are a lot of people around here who hold a lot of opinions and we never really know where they stand. Neither of those are a problem with Jerry. He believes certain things. He believes them very strongly. He will let us know exactly where he is on those issues. That means that it is a joy to work with him--if we are on the same side. If we are not, it is full combat. Since we are almost always on the same side, it has been an absolute pleasure to work with him.”