Joe Barton: “I rise in support and honor of the late Congressman Charlie Wilson of the Second Congressional District of Texas. I…”

“I rise in support and honor of the late Congressman Charlie Wilson of the Second Congressional District of Texas. I didn't know Congressman Wilson in his salad days. I didn't get elected until 1984. By that time, he had calmed down, apparently quite a bit. But I can now state it, since the statute of limitations has expired, I voted for Congressman Wilson six times. I lived in east Texas, in Crockett, Texas, in Houston County, in the Second Congressional District, and we didn't have a Republican primary, and I don't recall that we had a Republican opponent against Congressman Wilson in the time that I lived in Crockett. And so my choice was to vote for him or not vote at all. I chose to vote for him. I never went to one of his town hall meetings down at the courthouse on the square because I felt like he was doing a very good job for those constituents in east Texas, including myself. He was a strong defender of the military, very strong on what we call Texas values. He worked quite a bit on the Big Thicket in east Texas. He was an environmentalist ahead of his time. When I got elected in 1984, I made it a point to get to know Congressman Wilson, or Charlie Wilson, because I had been his constituent and I knew of his reputation. I just felt like he would be a good guy to get to know. And he was. He was a really, really good person.”