Dan Crenshaw: “Before I introduce and call on a couple of my colleagues, I would like to say a brief word about my longtime friend and…”

“Before I introduce and call on a couple of my colleagues, I would like to say a brief word about my longtime friend and mentor, C.W. Bill Young. I first met Bill when he was in the Florida Senate. He was the Republican leader in the Florida Senate. He was the minority leader. I think my colleagues might be interested to know that he was the Republican leader, minority leader, not because he gathered all the votes of the other minority members, the Republicans; he was the Republican leader because he was the only Republican in the Florida Senate. You might say maybe that diminishes that leadership role, and I would say just the reverse is true because Bill Young was such a great leader, such a man of courage and conviction that he would stand up for whatever he believed, even if there was no one there to stand up with. I think it is because of that conviction, because of that commitment, that we are here tonight to honor his legacy. I found it interesting that about 25 years later I found myself in the Florida Senate, and I became the first Republican to be elected president of that body, and I got a note from Bill Young. He said, ``We've come a long way.'' Of course when I came to Congress, he was there to help me become a member of the Armed Services Committee because he knew that I cared about the military. He was there to help me become a member of the Appropriations Committee and the Defense Subcommittee which he loved so very much.…”