I just hope my colleagues do not assess the plane has having crashed. What can I say about Dick Gephardt? Dick Gephardt was my candidate for president twice. Twice I believed he was the best person to lead our country in a time of challenge. Dick Gephardt, who was my leader; Dick Gephardt, who in 1981 when I went to the Congress, although a young member of Congress, was already perceive to be one of our leaders, who quickly became the leader, who led us in the majority and led us in the minority. And in both capacities, he did so with dignity, with thoughtfulness, with integrity, caring about each one of us and caring about each country, and carrying about the other side; caring about each and every one of the members, Republican and Democrat.
Dick Gephardt was a great example of how to be a Majority Leader. Dick Gephardt and Jane are my dear and close friends. They knew my wife extraordinarily well. And Judy loved Jane. Judy thought Jane had the sort of same, a little bit of cynicism about all of these politicians who wear the scarlet P if you will. But Jane, thank you for being such a good friend of Judy’s. Thank you for being such an extraordinary partner of Dick’s. And Dick, thank you for being a great leader of our country, great leader of our party and my great friend.
Now, they said Susan Schwab was going to introduce Ken Duberstein. I know Susan Schwab. Susan Schwab is a good friend of mine. I don’t know who introduced Ken Duberstein. I listened intently to the introducer. She never once mentioned Columbia or Panama. It could not have possibly been Susan Schwab.
Susan is my dear friend and she introduced another dear friend. Ken, I appreciate the kind words you said about me. Where’s Ken? Oh, right in front of me. Ken Duberstein has been my friend, as he said, for a long, long time. We worked together when he was in the White House. I was always prepared to listen to Ken because I respected him. I respected his intellectual ability and his intellectual integrity. And he always told me the truth. Sometimes we agreed; sometimes we did not. But Ken was always an extraordinarily good representative, not just of the administration, not just of Ronald Reagan and not just of the successors to Ronald Reagan as Republican presidents, but of the best that is in our country. Ken Duberstein is worthy of your recognition. And Bryce Harlow would be proud of Ken Duberstein. Thank you, Ken Duberstein.
I have served with some extraordinarily fine members of the Congress of the United States. And two of my closet friends beyond Dick are in this room. One a member of my party who gave me one of the first contributions I got from a member of Congress when I ran in the special election of 1981. He gave me a contribution of $500. I had never gotten a contribution of more than $100 or $200 running for the state senate. And I thought that was a lot of money. I look back on that as I am contributing to members very substantial sums of money that you contribute and pass through me and thank you very much. I was chairman of the Caucus. He was the vice chair. But he was senior to me. And clearly, he could have been chair and I, vice chair. And had he stayed in the Congress in my view, he would be the speaker of the House. And I’d be hopefully the majority leader of the House. What an honor it would have been to serve with him as the speaker. Dick and I had the honor of serving with him. And I want to say how much he’s meant to my service in the Congress and to my career. And what a great example he gives not only as a member of Congress, but as a member of the profession that is such an honorable one in this city. My friend, Vic Fazio. Vic, thank you.
I’m sure there are other members here. And I can tell that Ken Duberstein right off was a lobbyist. And he didn’t have to tell me he was a lobbyist. Because he said even though you’ve gone to the other side, you’re still my friend. I said that’s a lobbyist.
But there’s another gentleman in this room who’s not in my party. But he’s my fellow citizen; and my friend. And he represents in my view as fine a person who has served in the Congress of the United States during my term for twenty-nine years. He also in my view should have been speaker of the House. In fact, I went up to Ray LaHood about two weeks into the session in January of 1995. I went up to Ray LaHood and I said, Ray, I think I can guarantee you about 197 votes. All you need to get, therefore, is another 22. And we’ll make Bob Michael the Speaker of the House. What extraordinary integrity, good humor; and the best representative of how we ought to reach across to one another as human beings. There’s only one way to get to the House of Representatives. You can’t be appointed to the House of Representatives. You can’t be appointed to the United States Senate. The only way is for your neighbors, your fellow citizens in your community, whether it’s Peoria or St. Mary’s County or St. Louis to say to you that I have enough trust and faith in you to elevate you to a job of extraordinary responsibility, making decisions for me. My view is those who serve in the Congress of the United States are representatives of our country. And because our country, in my view, is overwhelmingly good, whether, as our president pointed out, is red or blue. It’s not red or blue. It’s the United States of America. Bob Michael was the finest representative of that concept that I know in the Congress of the United States. Bob Michael, thank you for your service and for your friendship.
Congress shall make no law abridging the right of the people peacefully to assemble and to petition the government for redress of grievances. What a critical right our founding fathers thought that was. One of the best lobbyists in this room is Father Bill George who represented Georgetown Law … Georgetown University. I went to the law school. I tell people, by the way, I didn’t go to a Catholic school. I went to Georgetown. Those of you who know the Jesuits know exactly what I mean.
Bill George was born in St. Mary’s County, a county in which I live. Bill George, an extraordinary lobbyist, representative. Congress shall make no law to abridge the right of the individuals to redress their grievances and petition their government. That is the right you exercise every day, a right written into the Constitution. No one should criticize that pursuit, that critical pursuit to the success of our democracy. What’s important is that it be exercised, of course, ethically. As I need to exercise my responsibilities ethically. And that the profession of lobbying is conducted honorably.
As Bryce Harlow said, and I quote, “If informed, responsible citizens will devote an increasing share of their organizational skills and ability to influencing public affairs, then America’s liberty and America’s future will be secure. That’s what you do every day. Those are the high standards symbolized by this award, named for a man who lived by them his whole life. As Ken, who knew him, and I did not, so ably described.
Tonight, I want to thank or talk briefly about what we in Congress can do to live by those standards as well. For me, it begins with respect for the work we do and the body in which we serve. I’m proud to be a partisan Democrat. But it’s easy to be so focused on partisan success that we can lose sight of everything else of value. There is something more important than the success of my party. It is, of course, the success of the health of the people’s house and the success of my country.
Contingent on that good name of the House is our authority and our ability to accomplish anything of value at all. If we lose that good name, if we lose the trust and faith of our public, the Congress will not function effectively. I am known as an institutionalist. I’m proud of that reputation – someone committed to constraining partisanship in many ways and that it never spills into abuse of power, no matter what short-term advantages it may garner. The overwhelming number of women and men with whom I’ve served have also been institutionalists. Members like the late Democratic Speaker Tip O’Neil, Bob Michael’s good friend, the former House Republican leader Bob Michael. To be sure, they did not shrink from legislative combat when the stakes required it. But because winning at all costs was never an option, they neither brought discredit on the House nor tolerated members of their respective parties who did. Bob Michael paid a price for that. I respect him for that.
Institutionalists understand that when a member of Congress is prepared to trade away his or her integrity, every one of us suffers. Because each time it comes to light, Americans lose not just faith in that individual, but faith in all of his colleagues. On the other hand, I think it’s clear the Democrats have built a much stronger recent record in waging the fight for high ethical standards. And yes, we’ve been joined by Republicans as well.
We Democrats campaign hard on ethics. Have we always met the criteria that we set? We have not. Have all of your colleagues always met the standard that you have set for yourselves? They have not. And when they do not, it affects each and every one of you and each and every one of us in the Congress of the United States. But the founding fathers knew well that if our democracy was going to work, it would work because people were able to retain, hire and have as their advocates people who understood how to make their point. People who understood their grievance and people who knew who was going to make decisions that would affect their lives, the lives of their children, and the lives of their business.
Very frankly, some of my best friends are lobbyists. And they will remain so throughout my tenure. Let me say to all of you who lobby daily that there are frankly many of us who know that the people that I deal with who lobby as a profession are the easiest people with whom I deal. Why? Because they know that we can disagree today and there’ll be a tomorrow. The people who I have difficulty dealing with believe there is no more tomorrow. For they only have one interest. And you’re either with them on that interest or you are finished from their perspective.
On the other hand, those of you who know your subject and bring me information and bring me people who I can talk to about how legislation will affect them, hopefully make the product I support a better one. And, yes, do we agree from time-to-time? Yes. Do we disagree from time-to-time? Yes. Do we continue, however, in the best tradition of that constitutional guarantee – continue to talk to one another; continue to respect one another; continue to make our individual enterprises better served?
In that respect each and every one of us in this room serves our country and our country’s interest. Do each and every one of us have a special interest? Of course, we do. Do each and every one of us have an obligation to look at that special interest in the bigger picture? Of course, we do. In the premise of our democracy working together, we will do that better. Thank you for this honor.