Political Quotes

“I thank my colleague for setting up this Special Order. Bill Gray was a total guy. He would have been able to handle this; that's for sure. I do want to start by offering my condolences to the family, to Bill Gray's religious family, his community, and actually all Philadelphians who knew him and not only respected him, but loved him and admired him for the work that he did on behalf of Philadelphia and on behalf of the Nation and on behalf of the world. I think we've all heard a bit about his extraordinary public service both here, of course, in the House and also then when he went on to, of course, help lead the United Negro College Fund. What I wanted to say was a little more personal. I think my colleague knows this. Congressman Fattah knows some of this history. But when I first decided to run for elected office, I went first to City Councilwoman Marian Tasco, who was part of the northwest coalition of elected officials who came out of the community that was Bill Gray and the people who he supported and provided inspiration to. She was interested in helping me run for the State senate, and she said, Well, Allyson, I'm going to help you out, but there's one really important person you're going to need to be on your side. It's an interesting district.…”