[House Prints, 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
A Ceremony
Unveiling the Portrait
of
THE HONORABLE
RICHARD W. POMBO
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Tuesday, July 28, 2015
Committee on Natural Resources
1324 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, D.C.
COMMITTEE PRINT
A Ceremony
Unveiling the Portrait
of
THE HONORABLE
RICHARD W. POMBO
A Representative in Congress from the State of California
January 3, 1993-January 3, 2007
Chairman of the Committee on Natural Resources
for the
One Hundred Eighth
and
One Hundred Ninth Congresses
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PROCEEDINGS
before the
COMMITTEE ON NATURAL RESOURCES
U.S. House of Representatives
July 28, 2015
______
U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
21-310 WASHINGTON : 2016
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
A Ceremony
Unveiling the Portrait
of
THE HONORABLE
RICHARD W. POMBO
COMMITTEE ON NATURAL RESOURCES
U.S. House of Representatives
Tuesday, July 28, 2015
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Artist: Jeffrey Martin
THE HONORABLE RICHARD W. POMBO
Republican of California
House Committee on Natural Resources
Chairman 2003-2007
THE HONORABLE RICHARD W. POMBO
Richard Pombo, former Chairman of the Resources Committee
and Vice-Chairman of the Agriculture Committee, was first
elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1992 and
represented California's 11th district until January of 2007.
During his time as Chairman, he was the key author of several
pieces of legislation, including reforms to our nation's
environmental laws, energy policy, Native American and Tribal
issues, farm bill legislation, healthy forests reform, private
property rights, and international species protection policies.
During his time serving in the House, he also served on the
Transportation Committee, the Merchant Marine and Fisheries
Committee, the Agriculture Committee, and the Resources
Committee. Pombo also served as the Co-Chair of the Speakers
Task Force on Affordable Natural Gas, is a past Chairman of the
Western Caucus, and was a Co-Founder of the Portuguese-American
Caucus. Pombo's work on the protection of private property
rights led him to author the widely reviewed book, ``This Land
is Our Land,'' and to be a staunch defender of property rights
on Capitol Hill. As a rancher from the Central Valley of
California, he currently splits time between his ranch, where
he and his wife, Annette, have raised their three children, and
Washington, D.C.
JEFFREY MARTIN, ARTIST
Award winning portrait and pastel landscape artist Jeffrey
Martin strives to make every portrait flattering, reflective of
individual personality, and stunningly accurate in likeness.
Mr. Martin attended Susquehanna University, graduating with a
BA in English Education. He then attended art school in New
York City at the Art Students League of New York and continued
his education at Penn State University where he earned an MFA
in Painting and Drawing. Mr. Martin taught art classes at
Susquehanna University from 1989-1992 and again from 2001-2006.
P R O G R A M
Welcome
The Honorable Frank Lucas
Former Chairman, House Committee on Agriculture
Remarks
The Honorable Rob Bishop
Chairman, House Committee on Natural Resources
The Honorable Devin Nunes
Chairman, House Select Committee on Intelligence
Acceptance of the Portrait and Remarks
The Honorable John A. Boehner
Speaker, U.S. House of Representatives
Unveiling of the Portrait
Richie Pombo, Rena Pombo, and Rachel Pombo
Remarks
The Honorable Richard W. Pombo
Former Chairman of the House Resources Committee
Member of Congress (Ret.)
Acknowledgements
Richard Pombo Portrait Committee--Darrell Henry, Kristin
Schrader Marcell, Lisa Wallace, Seth Voyles
Curator, U.S. House of Representatives--Farar Elliott
Portrait Artist--Jeffrey Martin
Gavel Resources--Jacquelyn Sommer, Suzanne Youngblood
Photographer--Dana Renee
U.S. Capitol Historical Society--Peter McGuire
Richard would like to especially thank his family, friends,
supporters, colleagues and former staff for being a
part of today's ceremony.
The Unveiling and Presentation of the Official Portrait of
THE HONORABLE RICHARD W. POMBO
CHAIRMAN 2003-2007
TUESDAY, JULY 28, 2015
House of Representatives,
Committee on Natural Resources,
Washington, D.C.
The ceremony began at 4:55 p.m., in room 1334, Longworth
House Office Building.
Mr. Lucas. My good friends, thank you for being here today.
As a Member who has been hung, but in a different room----
[Laughter.]
Mr. Lucas [continuing]. This is the most pleasant way that
this can occur.
For those of you perhaps who have not been a part of this
process before, this is a tradition that goes back about a
century in the U.S. House. It acknowledges the men and women
who have served as Committee Chairmen, who have toiled in the
trenches, dug in the ditches, so to speak, and moved Democracy
forward.
After you retire, and again, for all of my fiscally-
conservative friends in the room, and I am sure a good many of
you are part of helping make this possible, this effort, not a
penny of taxpayers' money was involved in producing a portrait
to commemorate the Chairman's past experiences, which will hang
in the Committee hearing room forever or at least as long as
they don't remember Pombo and I.
[Laughter.]
Mr. Lucas. But I would be remiss if I didn't take this
opportunity to offer a personal thought or two.
I was sworn in in May of 1994 in a special election. Pombo
and I, at that time Pombo was a freshman, were members of what
was the last of the old 40-year Democratic majority. I took the
oath of office down in the well. Speaker Foley was not very
happy about it because I replaced a Member of his side of the
room, took a seat. And I proceeded to the back, having picked
out a zone that looked fairly safe to have a seat.
Lo and behold, I encountered for the first time in my life
a Portuguese Californian.
[Laughter.]
Mr. Lucas. He looked up, and he said, ``Well, at least you
were brief with that speech. Have a seat, Lucas.'' And that is
when I first met the Chairman.
And over the course of our serving together for 14\1/2\
years, something like that, on the Ag Committee together and
working with him in his involvement on Resources, we developed
a relationship that will endure forever.
Richard is one of these folks who, from day one, came
committed to make a difference. Yeah. Farmer/rancher in
California, that is a tough challenge these days, but it has
always been a tough challenge. A fellow who came by way of the
Tracy City Council because he idealistically believed local
government could do better for the citizens.
And then, amazingly, he discovered when he was on the city
of Tracy Council, he used to tell me, that the real problem
wasn't the city council; it was those yahoos east of the
Mississippi River. So when an opportunity came to run for
Congress, a competitive race--you were what, 31 when you were
sworn in?
Mr. Pombo. Yes.
Mr. Lucas. Pombo came charging to where the problem was. He
focused on property rights, focused on agriculture, focused on
preserving our natural resources, focused on making a real
difference from a real person's perspective.
And the thing about Pombo is that he never forgot that
perspective of being a Portuguese in California, being a
rancher, even if he is the knight of something or other in the
Portuguese empire.
[Laughter.]
Mr. Lucas. I don't understand all this nobility stuff.
But he never forgot that, in all the bills and all the
legislation and all the things he worked on ever so
consistently.
I have the greatest respect for him. You do, too, or you
wouldn't be here.
Now, I have vented my spleen. I feel better for having told
the truth.
[Applause.]
Mr. Lucas. I would now like to turn the floor to Chairman
Bishop for whatever comments he might offer.
REMARKS OF HON. ROB BISHOP
Chairman, House Committee on Natural Resources
The Chairman. Thank you very much.
I thank you all for being here. This is a wonderful
occasion to honor the former Chairman of the Resources
Committee, the best Committee in Congress. I understand some of
you think of it as a B Committee, but for those of us in the
West, this is the most important Committee that happens to be
here.
My first session was also the first time that Chairman
Pombo was Chairman of this Committee. So, for me, I judged the
Chairman by the standards that he set. And it is going to be a
very difficult road for me to try and live up to the standards
Chairman Pombo set for this particular Committee.
I am, though, happy to see that we are about the same
height.
[Laughter.]
The Chairman. You have to realize, when I was here, I was
always sitting down at the bottom looking up at him. For my
entire first 6 years here, I always looked up at Pombo. I
always thought he was a lot bigger than that.
[Laughter.]
The Chairman. But I am appreciative of you all being here.
This is a great honor for Richard, and it is an honor for me;
you have to be nice to me because I still get to decide where
this is actually hung.
[Laughter.]
The Chairman. And we all know that is a lie, because the
staff will tell me where to put it.
[Laughter.]
The Chairman. So thank you for being here. Thank you for
your service to the country. Thank you for the standards you
set for this Committee. I am looking forward to trying to do as
well as you did. And we are happy to have you here forever in
these rooms.
[Applause.]
Mr. Lucas. The Speaker of this greatest House of
Representatives, who we all served with on the Ag Committee for
a long time, will bestow a few words upon us and hopefully
accept this fine work of art.
Mr. Speaker.
REMARKS OF HON. JOHN A. BOEHNER
Speaker, U.S. House of Representatives
Speaker Boehner. Well, let me just say I thank all of you
for being here.
Richard, it is amazing to see you.
[Laughter.]
Speaker Boehner. You know, these portrait unveilings tend
to become a reunion of sorts. And I know a lot of people that
are here, some of you we haven't seen since 2006.
But I remember, in 1992, there was a candidate running from
Stockton, California. Remember that? And we did an event at a
little house out on the front yard. And all I can remember is
this guy was tenacious. He won the seat and got here and was
just as tenacious.
You know, I will never forget, as he was going out the
door, and here he was, on the Floor of the House, pushing for
drilling on the Outer Continental Shelf. Packing the office,
moving out--no, no, not possible. He was still pushing till the
last moment.
If you looked at his work on the Endangered Species Act, I
don't know how many bills, how many times he worked this thing,
but he worked it and worked it and worked it. It never really
got anywhere, but----
[Laughter.]
Speaker Boehner. Listen, a great Member, a tenacious
Member, somebody who did a great job leading this Committee. On
behalf of the House, it is my honor to accept this portrait
into the House gallery.
Richard, God bless you.
[Applause.]
Mr. Lucas. I would now like to call up the Chair of the
House Intelligence Committee, a Representative from the
California delegation.
REMARKS OF HON. DEVIN NUNES
Chairman, House Select Committee on Intelligence
Mr. Nunes. Thank you, Mr. Lucas.
So, Richard, this really is a pleasure and an honor to be
here for you today.
And it was so nice for Richard to shut off the air
conditioning in the Longworth House Office Building.
[Laughter.]
Mr. Nunes. I am quite sure that was a message that was sent
by you to the environmental groups, that this is what happens
if you never reform the Endangered Species Act.
[Laughter.]
Mr. Nunes. If Richard would have had his way back in the
day, he was really ahead of his time, California wouldn't be
having the problems that it is having today with the
implementation of the Endangered Species Act. Unfortunately,
Richard could never get it across the line, although we came
close in the Senate, but I think now California is paying the
repercussions for not listening to a real statesman and friend
like this that we have had only a few times in our lifetime, in
a guy like Richard.
And the Speaker said it very well, that Richard was fierce
and he was loyal. There was never a time that I would come to
Richard and he couldn't do something for me. He would help me
to get to the place that I needed to get to.
And you had a very loyal staff and friends. I haven't seen
a lot of them for a long time. Some of them are still on the
Committee. But the staff was very loyal to you and loyal to
your friends. And a lot of my best friends that I met were
through you in our time when Bishop and I were sitting on the
bottom of the Resources Committee.
[Laughter.]
Mr. Nunes. And I will tell you one of my favorite freshman
stories, and then I will be quiet.
I was only in Congress for a couple months, and I get this
call from Richard on the weekend at my house. He says, ``Very
important. I've got to talk to you. I need you to go with me on
this trip to Alaska.'' And so I said, ``OK, all right.'' So I
dropped everything, changed my schedule, because I figured, if
the Chairman calls, I have to go.
So then we came back to Washington. We flew from here to
Alaska. Well, I realized when I got on the plane I was part of
the problem because it was, like, me, the gentlelady from
Guam----
[Laughter.]
Mr. Nunes [continuing]. Denny Rehberg, and, like, nobody
else, right? So, clearly, he had to have me to at least fill
the plane.
[Laughter.]
Mr. Nunes. And then we landed, outside of Anchorage there,
Valdez, and then we went up to a place called Deadhorse. And it
was, like, 20 below, and I said, ``Well, this isn't too bad.''
You know, I don't think I had ever been in weather below 10.
And you know the rest of the story. We fly to the North
Slope, and it was, like, negative 45 with the windchill. And I
said, ``Oh, my God.'' And then we get out, and the tires on the
plane had frozen--frozen and locked. So you had me, Ms.
Bordallo, and Rehberg out there rocking the plane because the
tires were locked.
[Laughter.]
Mr. Nunes. But I think that is a testament to you, Richard,
because nobody wanted to go up there, but you were willing to
go up there. And you conducted real hearings, made your point.
And, like Rob said, you are a tough act to follow because you
did such a good job.
So congratulations to you and to all your family.
[Applause.]
Mr. Lucas. Chairman Pombo will make comments in just a
moment and, at that point, he will introduce his lovely bride.
That is more appropriate for him to do.
So I think, at this point, could we have the heir and
heiresses to the empire come up?
I have to comment that Rachel wasn't even a threat to
anybody's life when Pombo came to Congress.
And whether you want to admit it or not, you used to
entertain us on the back row when you would come visit us as a
4-year-old.
[Laughter.]
Mr. Lucas. So let's all take a deep breath.
I sent Pombo several copies of various cartoons from 10
years ago, and I asked if any of those were going to be the
face in the portrait. He denies that. Therefore, let's unveil
him.
[Applause.]
Mr. Lucas. Former Chairman of the House Resources
Committee, former Vice Chairman of the Agriculture Committee,
The Right Honorable Richard W. Pombo.
[Applause.]
REMARKS OF HON. RICHARD W. POMBO
Mr. Pombo. I want to just start off by thanking everybody
for being here and everything that went into this event here
today.
You know, this is something, after I left, I wasn't coming
back. I didn't want to do a portrait, I didn't want to do
anything. And because of the encouragement of former staff and
my kids, my family, I finally agreed that I would do the
portrait. And I am glad I did, because I am having a lot of fun
with it.
And I want to thank, of course, the Speaker for taking time
to come over here.
Mr. Chairman, thank you for doing this for me.
And thank Frank and Devin, who are two of my closest
friends, two of the guys that I know we will always be friends
no matter what. And those of you that are in this political
world know that there are not very many people here you can
call your friend till the end, but those are two of the guys
that always will be my friends.
The other one that I commuted back and forth from northern
Virginia for 14 years with, John Doolittle, who is here, he
came in for this.
[Applause.]
Mr. Pombo. And Jim Costa is here. Tom McClintock is here. I
don't know who else I am missing that walked in, but----
Mr. Lucas. Congressman Weller is here.
Mr. Pombo. Oh, yeah, Jerry is here, and Congressman Burton.
But thank you, everybody, for coming over and, again,
making this.
You know, first of all, this whole thing was just a team
effort from the beginning to the end. It started back in 1992
when I called my wife, I was thinking about running for
Congress, so I called her, and I said, ``What do you think
about moving to Washington? '' She said, ``Yeah, that would be
fine. Did you guys find a ranch up there? ''
[Laughter.]
Mr. Pombo. Not thinking that I was dumb enough to want to
run for Congress. But, after I explained it to her, she went
along with it, happily, I guess.
But she has been there from the beginning and always
supported me and helped me get through everything. My kids,
Richie, Rena, and Rachel, who, when most of you saw them last,
they were a little bit smaller.
But, you know, I say this was a team effort from the
beginning. I see guys here that were with me in my very first
office when I first opened up in the Longworth building, a
couple floors up. Guys like Tom Pyle and Chris D'Arcy, Jack
Victory, those guys were in the first office when I first got
here, and we had a great staff.
And I was one of those who had always believed that I
didn't have to be the smartest person in the room, I just had
to have them working for me. And I was lucky that I always had
such great staff through the whole time I was here. Steve Ding,
my former chief of staff, deserves a lot of credit for that
because he put together a heck of a team, both in the personal
office and then on the Committee.
And, you know, all of you got together and joined me in
this battle, and we went to war over this. We knew going in we
were outmanned and we were outgunned, but we were going to
fight, and we were going to do what was right.
It gives me a great deal of pleasure to see so many of you
here today that worked for me, that worked with me over the
years, because you guys are still fighting. You haven't given
up. And that is what it is all about. You have to keep
fighting.
There are a few things in the painting that I started
thinking about what I was going to do and how I was going to
make it. Of course, I had to do it casual because that is me.
But, when it comes right down to it, I looked at what the
jurisdiction of the Committee was. And, at the top, we have the
longhorns for the cattle grazers out West. In the background is
Shasta Dam, and it is the development of the greatest water
project in the world. We have a logging truck and an oil rig at
the bottom. And hanging over the chair is a Native American
blanket that was given to me when I was Chairman by a Tribal
Chairman.
And, to me, that embodies what the Committee was, and it
embodies all the work that we did over the years. So I wanted
to make that part of the official portrait.
So, all of you, thanks for being here. I appreciate it. You
know, I had so much help: the guys over at Gavel with me, my
former staff, Sophia here on the Committee. Everybody pitched
in to make this all work.
So, thank you. Enjoy yourselves. Have fun. To my
colleagues, thanks again for coming over.
[Applause.]
[Whereupon, at 5:15 p.m., the ceremony was concluded.]
[all]