Darlene Hooley

Ms. HOOLEY of Oregon

Ms. HOOLEY of Oregon. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to clause 2 of rule IX, I hereby give notice of my intention to offer a resolution which raises a question of the privileges of the House. Whereas the House Oversight Committee has not specified sufficient votes to bring into question the certified 984-vote margin by which Loretta Sanchez won her election, and Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the form of the resolution appear in the Record at this point.

Ms. HOOLEY of Oregon

Ms. HOOLEY of Oregon. Mr. Speaker, I yield time to the gentleman from New Jersey, [Mr. Rothman].

Ms. HOOLEY of Oregon. Mr. Speaker, at this time I yield time to the gentleman from Ohio [Mr. Strickland].

Ms. HOOLEY of Oregon. Mr. Speaker, I yield time to the gentlewoman from New York, [Mrs. McCarthy].

Ms. HOOLEY of Oregon. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from California, [Ms. Lofgren].

Ms. HOOLEY of Oregon. Mr. Speaker, I yield time to the gentleman from Florida [Mr. Davis].

Ms. HOOLEY of Oregon. Mr. Speaker, I would like to especially thank the gentleman from Wisconsin [Mr. Neumann], who allowed us to go first so we may honor our friend and fellow colleague Walter Capps. I would like to begin this special order with a moment of silence in honor of our friend. Mr. Speaker, a number of Members, especially some of the Members of the freshman class who were very close to Walter wanted to pay a special tribute to him tonight. It seems particularly appropriate that we should share a moment of quiet reflection for a man whose reflective, thoughtful style was at odds with the often noisy, clamorous tenor of this body. Even amongst the freshman class, there is a great deal of diversity in the ways my colleagues make decisions. While high-minded ideals play a part in every public servant's decisions, there are few Members who sought a moral grounding for their judgments more seriously and persistently than Walter Capps. He was once quoted as saying, ``The question is, What will I do? Am I being true to who I am? If I go this way, will I have violated anything that is essentially human?'' Plainly Walter's humanism, his morality, his seriousness, his rectitude raised the business of the legislature to a higher level. He reminded us all about our reasons for coming to Congress in the first place. Walter was a different breed, a renaissance man cut from the same cloth from which I would like to imagine that the giants of our Republic's history came. Yesterday on the floor I recalled one of my favorite stories about Walter, how he had told me that when he was laid up from a serious accident and unable to campaign, he had written a book. How remarkable in this age of hard and fast campaigning. I was almost mystified that he could have found time to do such a thing. Later, I learned that it was his 14th book. By now even those of us who were not lucky enough to have known Walter in the short time here have through his tragedy of death come to realize how greatly he will be missed. I will miss him both professionally and personally. I will miss his bipartisanship and his intelligence. I will miss his warmth and his good humor. Congressman Capps' spirit will live on among the Members of this freshman class. He will live through the work that we do. His early and unfortunate death deprived us of something wonderful, but the example that he set for all of us during his time here leaves us something wonderful to live up to. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from North Carolina [Mr. Price].

Ms. HOOLEY of Oregon. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Maine [Mr. Allen].

Ms. HOOLEY of Oregon. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Arkansas [Mr. Berry].

Ms. HOOLEY of Oregon. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from California [Ms. Sanchez].

Ms. HOOLEY of Oregon. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Virginia [Mr. Goode].

Ms. HOOLEY of Oregon. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from North Carolina [Mr. Etheridge].

Ms. HOOLEY of Oregon. Mr. Speaker, at this time I yield to the gentleman from Wisconsin [Mr. Johnson].

Ms. HOOLEY of Oregon. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman. Mr. Speaker, I now yield to the gentleman from Texas [Mr. Lampson].

Ms. HOOLEY of Oregon. Mr. Speaker, I yield now to the gentleman from Texas [Mr. Turner].

Ms. HOOLEY

Ms. HOOLEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Connecticut [Mrs. Kennelly].

Ms. HOOLEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Iowa [Mr. Boswell].

Ms. HOOLEY of Oregon

Ms. HOOLEY of Oregon. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding. I would like to also enter into the Record a tribute from the gentleman from Ohio [Mr. Hall], as follows:

Ms. HOOLEY of Oregon. Mr. Speaker, I would also again like to thank the gentleman from Wisconsin [Mr. Neumann] for so graciously allowing us to do this at the beginning and again yielding time. As irreplaceable as Walter Capps will be for the Members of the House, his loss will I am sure be deeply felt by his district. We express our heartfelt condolences to them. We also grieve with Walter's family, his wife Lois, his children, Todd, Laura and Lisa and the rest of his loved ones. My colleagues and I are happy that he shared himself with us even for so short a time. I can only imagine that in the fullness of time, those that had known him longer will bless and hold dear each day they had the pleasure of his company. Our prayers are with all of you. Walter, we loved you. You will be missed.

Ms. HOOLEY of Oregon

Ms. HOOLEY of Oregon. Mr. Speaker, I rise to a question of the privileges of the House, and I offer a resolution (H. Res. 295) pursuant to clause 2 of rule IX. The SPEAKER pro tempore [Mr. Hefley]. The Clerk will report the resolution.

Ms. HOOLEY of Oregon. Mr. Speaker, I demand a recorded vote.

Ms. HOOLEY of Oregon

Ms. HOOLEY of Oregon. Mr. Speaker, to Lois and her children, I offer my condolences. We all suffered a great loss last night. Walter was an absolute joy to be around. He was a devoted public servant and he was a good friend. The first time I met Walter he talked about the car accident, in the middle of a campaign, and it was a serious car accident. I said, ``Well, what did you do and how did you carry on?'' He said, ``Well, I wrote a book.'' I said, ``You wrote a book in the middle of a campaign while you were recovering from this accident?'' He talked about that as the most normal thing in the world. I think to most of us, that was rather surprising. One of the things we will miss about Walter is the thoughtful way he approached legislation and legislative problems. We will miss his absolute unwavering commitment to the people in this country. We will miss his pleasant smile, his easygoing nature, his calmness, and, most of all, his great sense of humor. Even though he was here only a short time, his spirit, his energy, and his commitment made a difference to all of us and to all of our lives. Walter, we will miss you.

Ms. HOOLEY of Oregon

Ms. HOOLEY of Oregon. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to clause 2 of rule IX, I hereby give notice of my intention to offer a resolution which raises a question of the privileges of the House. The form of the resolution is as follows: Whereas, Loretta Sanchez was issued a certificate of election as a duly elected Member of Congress from the 46th District of California and was seated by the U.S. House of Representatives on January 7, 1997; and Whereas a Notice of Contest of Election was filed with the Clerk of the House by Mr. Robert Dornan on December 26, 1996; and Whereas the Task Force on the Contested Election in the 46th District of California met on February 26, 1997 in Washington, D.C., on April 19, 1997 in Orange County, California, and October 24, 1997 in Washington, D.C., and Whereas the allegations made by Mr. Robert Dornan have been largely found to be without merit: charges of improper voting from a business, rather than a resident address; underage voting; double voting; and charges of unusually large number of individuals voting from the same address. It was found that voting from the same address included a Marines barracks and the domicile of nuns, that business addresses were legal residences for the individuals, including the zoo keeper of the Santa Ana zoo, that duplicate voting was by different individuals and those accused of underage voting were of age; and Whereas the Committee on House Oversight has issued unprecedented subpoenas to the Immigration and Naturalization Service to compare their records with Orange County voter registration records, the first time in any election in the history of the United States that the INS has been asked by Congress to verify the citizenship of voters; and Whereas the INS has complied with the Committee's request and, at the Committee's request, has been doing a manual check of its paper files and providing worksheets containing supplemental information on that manual check to the Committee on House Oversight for over 5 months; and Whereas some Members of the House Oversight Committee are now seeking a duplicate and dilatory review of materials already in the Committee's possession by the Secretary of State of California; and Whereas the Task Force on the Contested Election in the 46th District of California and the Committee have been reviewing these materials and has all the information it needs regarding who voted in the 46th District and all the information it needs to make judgments concerning these votes; and Whereas the Committee on House Oversight has after over nine months of review and investigation failed to present credible evidence to change the outcome of the election of Congresswoman Sanchez and is pursuing never ending and unsubstantiated areas of review; and Whereas, Contestant Robert Dornan has not shown or provided credible evidence that the outcome of the election is other than Congresswoman Sanchez's election to the Congress; and Whereas, the Committee on House Oversight should complete its review of this matter and bring this contest to an end and now therefore be it; Resolved, that unless the Committee on House Oversight has sooner reported a recommendation for its disposition, the contest in the 46th District of California is dismissed upon the expiration of October 31, 1997.

Ms. HOOLEY of Oregon

Ms. HOOLEY of Oregon. Madam Speaker, I want to bring to the attention of the House the fact that history was made in my district last Saturday. Liz Heaston, a 20-year-old junior, made college football's first ever play by a woman. Playing for the fifth-ranked undefeated NAIA Willamette University football team in Salem, OR, she entered the stadium late after playing in an earlier soccer game and kicked an extra point following the Bearcats' second touchdown at the end of the second half. Not only has Liz Heaston made history, but she has also demonstrated to everyone that with hard work, dedication, and the ability to dream, you can accomplish anything. Good work, Liz.

Ms. HOOLEY of Oregon

Ms. HOOLEY of Oregon. Madam Speaker, a bipartisan group of freshmen legislators have crafted a campaign finance reform bill that can pass with strong support from Members on both sides of the aisle. This is not a radical measure. It is incremental and focuses exclusively on areas of consensus between Republicans and Democrats. No partisan poison pills were included in the bill. I urge the leadership to bring a measure up that appeals to both sides like this one, not a bill loaded with partisan politics. Madam Speaker, the American people want to see reform, not political games on this floor. It is time to bring up campaign finance reform measures that address the issues we all agree on.