Political Quotes

“I thank Chairman Chabot for the opportunity to visit this day about our friend and old colleague. Mr. Speaker, I came to this body in May of 1994 in a special election; and I can't remember whether it was that day or the next day or the day after, but that is when I met Mike. He had a way of charming and disarming you, a way of being warm. Mike, from that very first moment, referenced me as ``Big Frank.'' Now, I am not sure whether he was representing height or girth, but that was his affectionate term. He noted to me in that first conversation we had that he, too, had been a ``special election baby'' and that I was pursuing the route that he pursued, not coming in as a part of a big class, but coming in by myself, as he had done in 1981, getting to know the Members, working the way to the committee that I would want to be on, as he had done. He had a very open-arms sort of a fashion. Now, I will confess that, even at that point, I understood in those days, as a member of the Energy and Commerce Committee, an E&C guy, the unique nature of that committee. But he was always kind and warm to me. And when, as the result of a great compromise--actually, a statement, when we became a part of the majority then not that many months later-- because Mike had served in the minority from 1981 until we became the majority in 1995, in January. He had served in the minority. He understood both sides of the perspective.…”